Just got back. Lines were ok sometimes today. By the end of the day the line for Joker was overflowing bigtime despite them not using the whole queue. Batman was completely filled in its inner queue. Whizzer line was real short, at the stairs around 7:40. X-Flight line was to the keyhole and moving real well, minimal flash passers late afternoon. Then it broke for about 10 minutes. It's getting more and more bumpy and rattley toward the end. Rode left side this time. Didn't have as much fun as right side last year. Seems like parts of the ride are better on one side and not the other. Demon had about 3 lines of its queue filled also in late afternoon when we went on. For whatever reason, that ride is easier on me that Raging, Viper, Joker, and X-Flight. Would include Eagle in that but I haven't gone on it this year. Maybe I'll try one ride to see if it's as Mean Streaky as it was last year. The flat rides seem to be taking forever. Extremely slow operations on the Balloons and Condor. Slower than any other year I've gone here.
These passes are getting too complicated. I guess they have sales and upgrade deals here and there. Now they aren't selling the deluxe dining because deluxe automatically gets upgraded to platinum. But we bought a shopping pass the other day and we were told when we upgraded to platinum dining to go get the shopping pass refunded at guest services(since shopping comes with platinum dining along with a yellow bottle). The people at guest services are courteous enough, but the supervisor informed us it was an "exception" to get refunded in this case and that "usually all sales are final". To me refunding something after buying a duplicate seems like basic customer service. Or they could offer a lower price to upgrade for people who already bought a shopping pass or yellow bottle. Any other company I've dealt with besides Godaddy would be reasonable about something like this. Six Flags still seems like they'll nickel and dime their customers while shoehorning as many in as possible.
There was way too many people there. No hot water again. I'm beginning to think Great America does not even have water heaters. I wrote them about that before and they wrote back and assured me they'd look into it. Isn't it kinda a health hazard? All these people washing hands with cold water? Who knows what the dining places are washing with cold water. Food lines were really long everywhere, longer than the ride lines we stood in. Places kept running out of stuff too. Bathrooms were a mess again. Pavement sticky everywhere. The employees in Capone's and Whizzer really seem like they wanted to get out of there asap. I've never seen so many trying to close down before the actual closing time. Usually Great America is very good about letting people stick around after closing.
Not sure how Joker is affecting the lines in the rest of the park. Looking at the queue sites, everything looks like Fright Fest wait times. Except they have Whizzer at 55 minutes when it was more like 15. My guess is that the side of the park with Joker/Batman/Goliath is drawing way more people than Hometown/Southwest/County Fair. There were probably 500-800 people waiting for Joker and then minutes later we arrive at Whizzer and there's no line. The lots weren't anywhere near full, but it felt almost like a typical Fright Fest day. And it's true about the entertainment, I saw a few costumed characters and some dancing in hometown square, but nothing else. Seems like the shows have been gutted. Nothing in Pictorum. Only 2 showings of EFX. I wish there was a lot more to do besides stand in line for rides I've been on a million times each and some of which I've been on better versions of elsewhere.
To answer Cliffhanger, any major, non-prefabricated wooden coaster at a major park receives attention and retracking of select sections by carpenters at least weekly, which is why certain sections feel smoother and different from week to week, and why Eagle Blue is always horribly rough if it is open in the first few weeks of the season and it didn't receive off season retracking in sections. I will be very upset if they didn't get at least a good head start on seasonal retracking and carpentry work when they had it down for a month doing repainting.
Wisco Woody wrote:...any major, non-prefabricated wooden coaster at a major park receives attention and retracking of select sections by carpenters at least weekly...
I didnt know retracking was such a regular thing. I would have thought it would be a major ordeal with work taking months and big $$. Good to know that Eagle gets regular maintenance. By the way, Eagle's lift hill and station look BEAUTIFUL. A little white paint makes a world of difference to that attraction. Its such a different experience speeding through pristine white supports going back into the station. They really need to save up to finish the helix and mid-ride hills!
Hello all! I have been a long time reader, and figured I would join in the fun! I did Kind of have a fun little idea about Jesters and how it may be returning for the 2018 season. Jesters does have that heads attached to the top of the car, and what villain do we know that wears a Jesters outfit. Harley Quinn. It wouldnt suprise me if it was repainted and rethemed to match Harley and reopen as Harley Quinn's Spinsanity. Thoughts on that??
batty13 wrote:Hello all! I have been a long time reader, and figured I would join in the fun! I did Kind of have a fun little idea about Jesters and how it may be returning for the 2018 season. Jesters does have that heads attached to the top of the car, and what villain do we know that wears a Jesters outfit. Harley Quinn. It wouldnt suprise me if it was repainted and rethemed to match Harley and reopen as Harley Quinn's Spinsanity. Thoughts on that??
I like that, but I think that six flags is gonna save that name for a bigger attraction
batty13 wrote:Hello all! I have been a long time reader, and figured I would join in the fun! I did Kind of have a fun little idea about Jesters and how it may be returning for the 2018 season. Jesters does have that heads attached to the top of the car, and what villain do we know that wears a Jesters outfit. Harley Quinn. It wouldnt suprise me if it was repainted and rethemed to match Harley and reopen as Harley Quinn's Spinsanity. Thoughts on that??
I like that, but I think that six flags is gonna save that name for a bigger attraction
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Six Flags Over Texas used it for a rethemed Troika. Over Georgia used it for a Tilt A Whirl.
batty13 wrote:Hello all! I have been a long time reader, and figured I would join in the fun! I did Kind of have a fun little idea about Jesters and how it may be returning for the 2018 season. Jesters does have that heads attached to the top of the car, and what villain do we know that wears a Jesters outfit. Harley Quinn. It wouldnt suprise me if it was repainted and rethemed to match Harley and reopen as Harley Quinn's Spinsanity. Thoughts on that??
I like that, but I think that six flags is gonna save that name for a bigger attraction
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Six Flags Over Texas used it for a rethemed Troika. Over Georgia used it for a Tilt A Whirl.
You make a good point. Idk I was thinking one of the newer Enterprises we're coming to great America. Like the Harley Quinn from sfot. That's what my prediction is for 2018, either that or water park expansion
Theirs was called Catwoman Whip. Would not be against it.
My 5 Wishes for next year: - Funtime Star Flyer - Zamperla Giant Discovery - Demon Revamp with Soft Straps - Camp Cartoon into DC Superfriends Land - Proslide Rocket Slide
So at the Park today, I rode all the major coasters and thrill rides except Superman, most of them twice, and saw EFX 360 which was pretty good. Rode Joker, Batman, Goliath, and Viper 3 times each, and they were all very good.
The real shocker: I did a total of 7 circuits on Raging Bull, including 2 in the front row. Holy crap, Bull and its crew was fantastic today. Absolute minimal trim braking, and most circuits had only one third to one half of the usual grab on the MCBR. The airtime in both front and back was both more abundant and more powerful than I've ever seen on this coaster. The powerful sustained g force was so fantastic I actually got a minor g force headache and leg pain on a couple rides, something I previously only experienced on Raptor and Maverick at CP, and Batman maybe once after 5 or 6 rides in a row.
I went to Joker right at opening, waited 5 minutes, then did single rider line right after. I waited until the end of the day to ride again via SRL for 5 minutes, but after 6 pm the regular line only looked about 10 minutes long. It was Wednesday, so most other lines stayed under 20 minutes until about 2. In short, I really enjoy Joker and its ability to whip through more than one spin.
On two of the rides I got a near double backflip, including one where I was actually able to use my 210 lb body weight to hold an upside down stall for a couple seconds after a 540° rotation. Top 5 in park?, probably not, but a very well executed and welcome addition, though it doesn't feel like it's on the same level of importance or time-value as X-Flight, Goliath, and Justice League.
I've been on 3 different Star Flyers- a Funtime one at SFStL, which is 223 feet tall, a Mondial one at Adventureland Iowa which is 301 feet tall, and a Zamperla one at Kentucky Kingdom which is 125 feet tall. I can safely say that the most thrilling was by far the Funtime one, followed by the Zamperla one. Height means nothing. We don't need a record breaking one when a regular model can work just as fine.
Demon doesn't need to go to the scrapyard. You might not like it, but many younger riders love it. It's usually people's first coaster that goes upside down, and still has some good ridership(especially during Fright Fest). In addition to younger riders liking it, a lot of Upper Management also likes it. It's not going anywhere. And as Justin said, soft straps(or even the Lapbars that Sunkid is using) would make the ride a lot more enjoyable.
As for the Water Park, it doesn't matter what "The Park Needs". It matters what makes money. The park has clearly been making an effort to increase availability to the waterpark, and trying to make a profit off of it. Adding a gate from the parking lot, charging non-passholders for admission, etc. If a waterpark addition will make more money than a flat ride, then the park is going to add the waterpark addition. Yes, we all want flat rides, but the park cares about making money. They could care less about what less than 1% of their attendance wants to add.
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:Demon doesn't need to go to the scrapyard. You might not like it, but many younger riders love it. It's usually people's first coaster that goes upside down, and still has some good ridership(especially during Fright Fest). In addition to younger riders liking it, a lot of Upper Management also likes it. It's not going anywhere. And as Justin said, soft straps(or even the Lapbars that Sunkid is using) would make the ride a lot more enjoyable.
If anything deserves to go to the scrapyard, its BB. That ride is looking pretty rough. Demon is still great, I ride it multiple times every trip. You'd be surprised how many kids are on it, and they seem to like it. I hear lots say "Let's do that again!" afterwards. I doubt they will replace the restraints though. If there's nothing wrong with them, they won't be changed. And those Sunkid restraints look scary, haha. But it would be cool to have a sound system on the trains!
I have to admit, I was in the "Demon must go" group for a while. That is until my daughter rode it when she was 5!! She loved that ride. IT's a great entry level looper coaster and has a purpose. But if they did replace it, hopefully it would be with something else that has a similar height requirement.
Single Day Ride Count Record
50 rides 8/17/2018 (Without Flash Pass - Coasters After Dark)
I actually like the Demon. I'm not against removing it... I would like to see what replaces it. But I'm not praying every night they remove it. I ride it every single visit to SFGAm. I'll enjoy it now and whenever it goes I'm ready to move on.
If demon gets some revamps (padded restraints, possibly newer track, especially at corkscrews) that ride would be awesome! We could definitely use a zamperla giant discovery, endeavor (idk how to spell lol) and a starflyer, and we would be good. A 223ft one would be fine, it doesn't have to be mind blowing heights
maxwellt wrote:Mach always looked like a fun little show, but is it annoying for people waiting/boarding xflight?
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More so annoying if you are trying to get to the bathroom and have to wade through all the people.
Favorite @ SFGAm - Eagle ~ Favorite Steel - Skyrush ~ Favorite Wood - El Toro 35 Rides on Eagle in 2015 68 Rides on Eagle in 2016 102 Rides on Eagle in 2017 9 Rides on Eagle in 2018