Going on a Saturday, I found out it's not that bad.I took Pace bus 284 again from Rosemont, just like I did the first time I went earlier this year.
This time, I went alone. I wanted to use my Twicket on a 10 to 10 day, so I chose that day. I was pretty much tuned out the whole ride there, listening to my iPod. I'm glad about that too, there were some very annoying and crazy black girls on the bus.
Got to the park a little after 10am, bolted off the bus, got past Superman and to the front gate in 5 minutes.
The metal detectors were not being friendly with my belt, I had to take it off to get through. An annoying prospect. After I dealt with the metal detectors, I had to get to the bathroom to re-organize myself, get my belt back on, get my little black waterproof camera case attached to my belt, and put my phone and iPod in it. After I got that taken care of, I made my way over to Raging Bull.
I got to Raging Bull at around 10:30ish, got front row on Yellow train. It was my 50th ride on Bull, and I was listening to Metallica's Death Magnetic while I was riding it! That was fun. After my 50th ride on RB, I headed over to American Eagle for what I thought would be a ride on the red side, but red side was closed, so I took a ride on blue side-front row. Now this is where things got good, at first I thought I was going to take a front row ride on Eagle alone, and I was totally fine with that since I have been alone riding coasters at SFGAm before, and it really didn't bother me. But, alas, I was joined by a girl by the name of Christine. It also at this time on Eagle that a ride op told me that I couldn't ride with my ear-bud headphones on, so I took them off and began to talk to Christine. I found out that this is her second visit to SFGAm, and that she is here with a small group.
Anyway I thought, "It was nice to meet her, but now i gotta get on with the rest of my day." After Eagle, I made my way to Iron Wolf hoping it would be open, it wasn't yet, they were doing a little landscaping. So I continued on my way heading towards V2. I made it as far as Camp Cartoon, when someone stopped me from behind. I turned around and it was Christine! The girl I met on American Eagle! She asked me if I'd like to join her group, I said yes. We headed back to Revolution, where the rest of her group were at. There I met one member of her group, Teddy. Christine and I decided to get on Revo, while Teddy stayed behind. it was then that Revo broke down just before we got on it!
So we got out of line, Revo had 3 of our group stuck on it. We waited a good 15 minutes for Revo to let the trapped people on it out. I then met the rest of Christine and Teddy's group after they were released from Revo. Robert, Melanie, and Gabby. It was an awesome group we had. The three girls in our group and Robert wanted to ride the Fiddler's Fling, so me and Teddy waited for them. Iron Wolf was now open, and it was decided that me, Teddy, and Rob would ride Iron Wolf next. The three girls, Christine, Gabby, and Mel didn't go on Iron Wolf with us. I taught Teddy and Rob the trick to riding Iron Wolf without getting pain from it. For them Wolf wasn't all that bad at all, no pain, no gain, all because they knew the trick.
After Iron Wolf, we headed for Batman The Ride. BTR front row, it was me, Gabby, Mel, and Christine. To my actual surprise, Batman was hauling ass, running a lot faster then I remember it running ever before!
What did they do, grease the rails? I also got head-rushed and my feet nearly fell asleep on Batman. I almost greyed out too. Weird or normal for people who have taken so many rides on BTR that they know it forwards and backwards?
Anyway after the ride on Batman, we took a ride on Whirligig. My head was still spinning from Batman, and a ride on Whirligig didn't help it much at all. But I was fine, just a little dizzy. After Whirligig, we all made our way to The Dark Knight to meet up with a few more people from Christine's group. TDK had a line of 60 minutes, I would not wait 60 minutes for TDK, I already been on that ride in 2008! But we wouldn't ride it until after lunch.
We decided to head to Burger King, across Grand Ave. for lunch. Rob was kind enough to pay for a taxi ride there. I had a few burgers and fries with a fruit punch/lemonade drink. After lunch at BK, we walked back to the park. Once again, I had to deal with the metal detector hassle, mainly with my belt. Once we were all back together, we headed for TDK, at least the line for it went down to 30 minutes. Some in the group hadn't been on TDK. I at first didn't want to ride the crappy TDK, but then I was like, "Ok, I'll ride it with you." After TDK, I convinced Mel to ride Superman with us, (she wouldn't ride V2 earlier in the day, so we skipped it). She was afraid that she would fall out from a hanging position on V2 and Superman. In the end we rode Superman, and she wanted to ride it again in the end. We didn't have time to get back to it, neither would I later on.
After Superman, we headed for Roaring Rapids for a wet ride, Christine didn't want to get wet, so she stayed behind while the rest of us got in line for RR. We got soaked on Rapids, a few direct hits from the red,white, and blue capped water cannons will do that. After RR, some in our group wanted to ride King Chaos. Me, Teddy, and Mel stayed off KC because we don't like spinning, twirling, puke rides like that.
After KC, Mel wanted to get back to Raging Bull, so we headed back to Raging Bull going through County Fair to do it. It turns out that they had passes for a free ride (no wait) on any ride they wanted. I think it was a backstage pass or something. They got them because they were stuck on Revolution for 15 minutes earlier in the day. So, we headed over there, and along the way lost Teddy for a bit, he stopped for a pizza, and had to catch up to us. We got to Raging Bull, and we waited for Teddy to get to us, we were hanging around the test seat, and I decided to take a seat in it. Then Mel wanted to sit in it. Finally Teddy got to us with a pizza box. Teddy decided not to ride Raging Bull, since he had pizza. Christine also didn't want to ride it a second time.
This was the best part of our day, and my day too. We had four backstage passes or "Free ride passes" and we got to Raging Bull's station platform via the exit path in like 1 minute. Now, Melanie wanted to ride 3rd row. I said something along the lines of, "we got these passes, we got to the station so quickly, just for a 3rd row ride, why not take advantage of them for a FIRST row ride?" At first she wanted to do first row, but then she changed her mind and wanted to do 3rd row. She had never been in the front row of Raging Bull before, neither had Rob too. We convinced her to go back to first row, actually I convinced her. She was still afraid for first row, we walked over to first row on the red train, and she had no choice but to join us in the first row. It was me, Gabby, Mel, and Rob in the first row on the Red train of Raging Bull. After the ride was over, Mel was like, "AWESOME! I will never do 3rd row again!"
She was happy that I'd convinced her into first row.They wanted to get stuck on Revolution again after that for more free passes! LOL.
After RB, we took a ride on Viper. It amazes me that Viper didn't have much of a line, well it said 30 minutes, and it was like 20. All of us took a ride on Viper. After Viper, it was like 6:00. The group had to get back to the bus to leave, Rob and Teddy were the bus drivers. so we parted ways, said our good byes. They left the park, and I continued on to American Eagle.
Once i got to American Eagle, I was happy that they were racing the trains. I took a ride on the red train. Now, I remember that the red train used to be alot faster then it was on Saturday evening. I mean in the large helix at the end by the highway, the red train always used to shoot ahead of the blue train on the inside track, right? What happened? Did the AE crew slow down the red side a little bit more to give the blue side more of an edge in the race? Why? Red side is superior! I was like during the whole ride on the red side, "Come on Red, faster, faster, FASTER!" I don't remember ever the red side disappointing me like it did on Saturday. In the end, Blue side had a good lead on us, and we ended up losing! I was like, no I want to be on the winning side, and I re-rode the Eagle on the blue side just so I could WIN! This turned out to be a huge mistake, I was sitting in the front on blue side. As we were climbing the lift, blue for a second pulled ahead of red as was expected now. Then, we began to slow down, red pulled ahead of us, then blue side got stuck at the top of the lift hill right before the crest. I was like, "Why did we have to get stuck up here?" The second time a red train came up the lift beside us, someone spit on me, that pissed me off. I was up there looking down the first drop for 15 minutes or so. Then finally, we were released and finished our ride on blue side.
I was like, "F*** blue side, this is what I get for betraying the red side, I'm going back to red for another ride, blue sucks." I got back to red side for a front row ride, now this time as we were going up on the red side, we slowed down towards the top of the lift hill, near the crest again. I thought, "Oh no, we're not about to get stuck up here AGAIN!!!?" But it turns out, they slowed us down, just so they could get the blue side ahead of us! I was pissed off now, first I get stuck at the top on blue side, then next they slow the red side down. They were rigging the races, it was not fair. I had enough of American Eagle after that, I don't like it when they (the AE crew) don't play fair. It was a lop-sided race, with the advantage going to one side or the other.
After my disappointing rides on Eagle, I went to Iron Wolf, found out it was closed because someone threw up on it, great, what next?
It was I guess around 7:15-7:20 now. I was thinking, "What coasters have i not rode yet? V2, Demon." I headed over to V2 for a front row ride. It was about 8pm by the time I got on V2. The ride op behind the control panel on V2 was acting a little weird too, or just into his job wayyyy to much! It was funny.
So at 8pm, I was thinking, "Do I have enough time for front row rides on, Batman, Superman, Viper, Raging Bull, and Demon?" No there was not enough time, so I headed for Batman for a front row ride. Batman was STILL hauling, freaking faster then I remember! I got head rushed again, thanks Batman!
Night rides on Batman are great too! After BTR, I skipped Superman, and made my way directly over to Viper for a front row ride at night. It was alot of fun. It was going on 9pm (10 to 9), after my ride on Viper, so as soon as I got through Viper's turn-style on the platform, I bolted at super speed down Viper's exit ramp, all the way to Raging Bull. I made it to Bull, at around 9pm. Got front row on the teal train and a night ride which was awesome. Oh, it was my 52nd ride on Bull.
After RB, it was like 9:25pm, time to walk over to Demon. I now like ending my days at SFGAm with multiple re-rides on the Demon. I got 8 rides in a row on the Demon, 2 in the front seat, and 6 near the back row (11th row, since two people nabbed the very back row before I could get it!)I shouted, "Turn the lights off, it's the Demon!" at the ride op in the booth, and he was unsure if he could do it. I remember last year, one ride op was playing with the lights, flicking them on and off, and we began to shout and cheer for them to be off, and he was like, "If you want the lights off, make a lot of noise!" We screamed and shouted so loud that he turned the lights off for us, and it wasn't even Fright Fest yet! But Saturday night, the ride op in the booth couldn't turn the lights off for us. He wasn't allowed to do so.
What's up with that? Why won't the Supervisors allow the ride ops to turn the lights off in the ride area? I mean it's the Demon, and the lights off would make it a little scarier. Also, there are sometimes when a ride op will give us an extra ride or two on the Demon after the park has closed, and then the Supervisor comes and ends our fun. Do the ride ops have control over the music that plays on the rides?
Anyway after we got kicked off the Demon, I headed back to the main gate, got a few more maps from Guest Relations at the front gate, and made my way back to where the bus would be (behind Superman).
The bus wasn't even there yet, it didn't get there until like 10:20! That would of been time for at least a good 2-4 extra rides on the Demon if the ride op hadn't cut us short at 10pm. Oh well, it was quite a fun day, and I got to ride a lot of things.
I took some video's with my iPod of that day, I'll see if I can find a spot to upload them, then I'll link them here. Anyone know a good site to upload videos?
P.S. Did anyone see me that day? I was wearing a black Metallica Death Magnetic t-shirt, and blue jeans. I had a small black camera case on my belt.
AE: Red: 2
AE: Blue: 2
Batman The Ride: 2
Demon: 8
Iron Wolf: 1
Raging Bull: 3
Superman: 1
The Dark Knight: 1
V2: 1
Viper: 2
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Roaring Rapids: 1
Whirligig: 1
