SFGAm June 6th - Tornado Sunday

[CoasterDave316]

Wow, what a day at the park. Got to the park at just after 10 and walked to Raging Bull. I had heard it was going to rain so I put a poncho in my pocket. I had 2 friends with me, 1 took the poncho and one didn't (he would regret this later).

We got 4 rides on Bull with no line in the morning, just kept going through the fastlane part to get in line again. Next we went to Viper, one ride very fun as usual. After Viper my friends wanted to ride Richochet, since they like riding the flats...as do I. So we rode it, then went on Demon.

No waits for any ride yet. Went to Eagle Blue and rode that with a little line on the stairs but no big deal. The trims were on pretty light so I had a pretty good ride on it. Went on Fiddlers Fling, and East River Crawler since my one friend can't fit on anything with seatbelts.

Then we headed for lunch. Got back and rode Rue Le Dodge. Right when we got out it just started raining (not that hard though but enough to close the rides). Me and my friend Mike had our ponchos so we decided to go wait in line for Superman since we expected it to get shorter because of the rain delay and we figured it would be shorter once it opened up.

While waiting in line through very very heavy rain, my friend Jeorge who declined the poncho eairlier was soaked. Then the Tornado sirens went off. At first I was sort of wondering if they were the Tornado siren or not, so I asked the employee. They confirmed they were the sirens, I asked what to do. They told me "If you see a Tornado run like hell". So its nice to know that if there is ever a Tornado at Six Flags they have a well thought out procedure.

After 3 tornado warnings and about 4 hours later we finally got on and were the first in line. We rode the back row, for a great ride. Nice water effects under the first drop and Pretzel loop due to flooding. My friend's Mike and Jeorge loved it, so they got right back in line. Most the people in the park had left after the first tornado siren so it was only a 20 minute line. Went and rode the back seat again for another ok ride....waiting seems to make the ride better.

Went to the bathroom and started to head towards Batman. While in front of where PowerDive used to be a BIG lightning flash comes out of nowhere, followed quickly by a very LOUD crack of thunder. Everyone around me and myself included all ducked down, it was crazy. Never seen lightning like that before. Immediatly after that it started to downpour again, so we ran under a overhang and took cover and got our ponchos on again.

We decided to go ride Rue Le Dodge again until the rain stopped. So we walked over there and by the time we got out of Rue Le Dodge it had stopped. Went back over to Raging Bull and saw nothing was going on there. So we rode Chubasco, then my friends wanted to play a few games in the arcade.

While they were doing that, I noticed Raging Bull starting to test so I went and got in line. They followed shortly and Bull opened not to long after. Got another 5 rides on it without much of a wait. Went around the park again riding V2, Iron Wolf and Batman. Then went to ride Bull 2 more times to finish the night.

[edit: since somebody brought this back I decided to fix the formatting]

[Dre]

Yeah my brother was driving from up north back to his home in Kenosha when he actually saw a tornado!! He got a picture of it touching down. But I'm assuming there wasn't actually a tornado near the park though when you were there?

[DejaVu28140]

That lightning yesterday scared the hell outta me! Everyone around me screamed and ducked! Since my friends and I didnt check the forecast for the weather that day, we got soaked because we didnt bring ponchos or anything! So we ended up going up to a park employee and asking him for garbage bags! It was funny walking around the park in garbage bags. Except for the rain delays, it was a fun day since majority of the people left! Can you believe it, i rode V2 4 times in 20 min? Isnt that odd? -brian

[SFGA 11]

Does SFGAm sell ponchos in the shops?

[coastrcorey]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do... That would be dumb if they didn't, because I'm sure it's a money making thing on rainy days.

[twixmix0303]

Wow, almost 1 year later than the last post!

Anyways, you can go to Target and get cheap ponchos for about a dollar that come packed air tight in a small plastic wrap about 3/4 the size of a deck of cards. They're small enough to carry around and come in different colors so you're easy to spot against the sea of yellow ponchos. Of course, once you open it, you can't squish it down smaller than 4-6 inches and you need to find something else to put it in, but they're so cheap you can just get a new one each time you use one.

[punkbunny24242]

Since this topic was brought up again.. yeah they sell overpriced bright colored ponchos in the shops. Of course being a girl in the rain I thought I was going to melt so I bought one and it was this horrible yellow color and I still get called Big Bird 4 years later. Very fitting since my real name in Robin. Anyways yes they do

[rctfan1556]

Dang, I forgot what that day was like last year but it sounds like it was freaky. Hey at least you got all them rides on the coasters even with the weather.

I always look forward to rain days during the summer cause I know no one will be there so I can go and not have to deal with the crowds.
I got an idea, we should orginize a SFGAm World rain day meet.....lol, just kidding.

[UnBullievable]

Man, does this bring back memories. I remember working Demon crew that day and we were in charge of getting everybody in the Giant Drop/Deja Vu area into the railroad tunnel. Then being the only one who would go out with the sirens blaring to make sure the operations log book was closed. That was one hell of a day...

[Papas]

Hmm I wonder why they sent you .

[twixmix0303]

Man, does this bring back memories. I remember working Demon crew that day and we were in charge of getting everybody in the Giant Drop/Deja Vu area into the railroad tunnel.

Oh, now I feel real safe. And just what happens if one of the old guys who works the train goes mad and decides to barrel right on through?

[Papas]

First park ops doesnt allow the rides to be operating and you would think SOME ONE would stop him.

And the Scenic Railway crew is great, so shutup!

[twixmix0303]

I was just kidding

[w00dland]

Scenic Railway Crew=Nicest guys in the world. And they will actually talk to you, answering with more than a "Yes or No" answer.

[twixmix0303]

Yeah, they're some of the nicest employees in the park. They always wave whenever they pass by and I'm in line for Demon or American Eagle.

[UnBullievable]

Hmm I wonder why they sent you .

I don't know. Maybe because I was the only one willing to face the wrath of Mother Nature.

And all the rides were closed come the tornado warning, so we didn't have to worry about getting molded into the rails ^_^

[sixflagsgirl17]

While waiting in line through very very heavy rain, my friend Jeorge who declined the poncho eairlier was soaked. Then the Tornado sirens went off. At first I was sort of wondering if they were the Tornado siren or not, so I asked the employee. They confirmed they were the sirens, I asked what to do. They told me "If you see a Tornado run like hell". So its nice to know that if there is ever a Tornado at Six Flags they have a well thought out procedure.

For one, I don't even think they knew there was going to be a tornado that day, how were they supposed to have thought out a plan while they are serving you on the rides you go on? They are kept busy by guests like you for 12 hours a day in the summer and they don't even get to leave until 2 hours after the park closes. So it's not their fault they didn't have a set plan right away. And who ever told you to run like hell, you should have reported and asked for someone else's advice.

[CoasterDave316]

It was a person who was sweeping the rain off the paths who told me "To run like hell". Im not going to report somebody for something so stupid. And I did ask other employees and nobody really had a set plan of what to do that day.

You don't plan on having Tornado's a day, a Tornado procedure isn't something you just work out on the day you think there might be one. It's something you should have planned out in advance.

That's why come spring, all school's have you practice the tornado procedure. Weather and Tornado's can be unpredictable, and just because they didn't plan on having a Tornado that day doesn't mean they shouldn't have a policy in place for such a thing.

There was one employee there who did seem to know what happened, and when the weather was starting to get really bad he made everyone take shelter under Pizza Orleans roof.

Also just a note when quoting a post don't quote the whole post. Only leave the paragraph you want to quote and delete the rest. Also, no need to bold your whole post.