My first visit to the park since June of 2007. I am so glad I finally got back to Great America, as I was almost two years over-due for a visit to my favorite park. My friend and I hit the highway at 7am for our three hour drive to Gurnee. We were treated to an excellent day at the park. It felt so good to be back. We arrived at about 10:30, and stayed until about 5:30. Here are a few of my observations from the day.
Employee Friendliness: Wow, that's about all I can say. Drastic difference from two years ago. We'll see how long into the season it lasts
Cleanliness: I don't know how many times we heard "The cleanest park in the world" today, but the park was quite clean. I liked seeing that any employee that was walking around was carrying one of those clamp sticks, even the security guards!
Rides:
**Iron Wolf was worse than ever. Even in the front row, the beating was unavoidable. Once a year is enough for me. **The Dark Knight was a first for me, and after reading all of the reports on it, I was prepared for a letdown. But... I actually liked it! For what it is, I thought it was a fun ride, and it was clear to me that the younger kids get a kick out of it. TDK is probably not something I'd wait more than 15 mins for, but I did find it to be an interesting little ride. **Ragin' Cajun is a ride I haven't ridden since 2005, so it was good to be able to use the single rider line to avoid what was most likely a 15-20 min line. Still like this one, better than TDK! **B:TR and Demon felt smoother to me that I last remember, especially Demon. No lights in the tunnel, so that kind of stunk.
All other coasters were as good as I remember them. We had to wait a bit while Whizzer was stuck on top the lift for about 10 mins in the late afternoon. American Eagle Blue opened as we were walking across the parking lot leaving.(Darn!) Also rode Orbit, Triple Play, Revolution, Sky Trek Tower, Giant Drop, and King Chaos(this ride stunk!).
Overall, the park seemed to be in much better shape that it was two years ago when I last saw it. Looks a little bare without Deja Vu, but I don't miss it. Buccaneer Battle is coming along nicely. I liked Raging Bulls new sign(finally rid of that retarded purple bull sign!!), and Hometown Fun Machines new sign looked nice as well. The music up by the carousel was a little loud for the area, but I guess it was alright. I liked the big new "Attractions Operating Today" sign.
It truly was a GREAT day to be back at the park, with minimal lines, small crowds, friendly employees, and just about all rides running!
For the attraction board, it's in the wrong place. If your coming from the left side in the park, you can walk by it. It's a big sign, but you can just walk by it and not notice it. I think it should be more where you are buying your tickets (even above the ticket booths.)
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Are they more efficient? I wouldn't say so. The only thing that bugs me is the load and go procedure they do now. There are hardly any people on the ride, and than there are maybe 4 people in line, and they could just open the gate, and let them on. This was Ricochet, so they could have just opened the 2 cars for the people that were in line. It wasn't me in line, but I don't get the point of ignoring them when the ride isn't filled up. Sometimes, saying I want greater capacity means the customer waiting more which makes no sense in this instance.
Since in the topic you are talking about the Dark Knight, and observations I want to say something about the Dark Knight again. I know there is a lot of stuff saying that the Dark Knight is junk. If you don't like mice coasters, you probably wouldn't care for this ride. So, please mice coaster haters, it will not please you ever. Some people might say the theming is horrible. Why, I wonder is it horrible? It is themed quite enough in my opinion. The story is quite easy to figure out. It's bad vs good story in which Batman is about.
The first part of the story is simple. We are fleeing the city because of the Joker taken over. So, the lift hill is like you are on a train. The station is like a train station, and there are rats around it. In the preshow video, you have ticket booths along with a clock which is typically of a train station.
I was observing people on the ride, and I noticed that their heads don't move, but more on that later. I don't get it?? After the train, you have a sign with a arrow which isn't much of anything, and than you turn a corner, and see Batman on the roof looking for the Joker. Most people never turn their head to see him there. I agree that this is pretty poor putting a Batman in that location. Okay, so I get that. Than, you get the typically graffiti of the Joker with the Ha Ha. I think people can see it, and get it.
Than, there is a billboard thing with the evil Joker clowns. Next, you have the Joker clowns firing a weapon at a police station, and it's burning because of them. I don't think people realize this because they are so worried about where the roller coaster is going, and not worried about what's going on around them. Part of the problem is that this ride doesn't stop for people to look around much. It keeps on going, and going, and going unlike other mice coasters that have trim brakes. After that you see a green sign, and I forget what it says. It doesn't really matter in my opinion.
The conclusion is that a bunch of Joker's goons shoot at us from a truck when we are going by. On the right side, you see Batman on a motorcycle to try and save us. Sadly, that's the end. Yes, there is no fight to the death, or we don't see Joker or his goons dead, but it's a story. I think what it's missing though most importantly is the Joker. You would think they would have put a statue of him in the ride because that's what the video is about. Joker is taking over. That's how the ride connects to the video!!
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Have you noticed that the boarding of the water rides is ridiculously SLOW????? They need more rafts on Roarin' Rapids, more Boats on Yankee Clipper, and more Logs On Logger's Run, They will probably need More boats on Bucaneer Battle too, 80 ppl at one time? seems kind of slow to me.
