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May 1st 2004: Detailed Trip report

Let us know how your day at the park was.
Postby Aero737 on May 1st, 2004, 10:52 pm
Hey, I just got back from the park.


We left here to get gas and a little food around 7:30 AM. I was surprised to see everything dry. We arrived at the park around 9:30.

We got in line at the enterance where I saw Dave and Tom (Coasterdude and his brother) and Mike was somewhere behind me (I thought I saw you but I wasn't sure).

Well, we got in the park at 10 AM (no National Anthem) and we took a left to head twords V2. The guys had the carasoul plaza roped off so you couldnt leave to watch the show. I heard a lot of bass and there was confetti cannons going off. Well, the chains dropped and we were off. Most everyone stopped at S:UF but a brave few ran through the new mardigras section to V2.

V2. We got beaten by 1 kid so Tom Crean - Traitor rode the front row w/ him, while me any my bud rode back row. GREAT fun! It's been quite a while and she was running great. New supports look clean (It got a bit of a repaint). We quickly hit up the ride for another shot, this time in the front. 20/10 (yes, that is twenty out of ten!)

We trotted over to the freshly painted and chipping/peeling Batman the Ride. Got in line. The new graffiti free wall looks okay. Got a walk on front row ride. Good stuff, ride running fast and smooth. It may be louder now with the chipped paint. There were pieces as big as my fist on the ground. 9/10.

We walked twords American Eagle and saw the new Revolution ride. Me and Kyle took a ride. Very Fun! One of my new favorite flat rides. Not nausiating at all. We had all the weight on one side of the car to we pulled some massive g's. 8/10 (for a flat!).

American Eagle was running both sides. We chose red. Good ride, albiet it was slow. My friend got sick on the ride though. :roll: 4/10.

After that, we wondered into Southwest Territory. Just as we walked by giant drop we heard this horrible grinding and screaching noise from the top of giant drop. Apparently the ride had an E-Stop and the pull cars were stuck half way up the tower. A few people were also stuck on the ride on the ground (the ride had just dropped).

We rode raging bull. Good ride, seemed slow. Not too thrilling. 8/10.

We walked over to the Viper to see how that was. A 4 train wait for the back row. :roll: One of the longer lines we had to wait in all day. The ride was giving out aittime with sides of more airtime. Seatbelt does NOTHING to hinder airtime! 10/10!

We rode Stargate 3000 aftet that. Kind weird. Nothing was changed except a big banner was put up and it played different movies on the computer screens. Interisting movie, although I had no idea what was going on. LoL! 6/10

Before lunch we rode Sky Trek Tower. Fun ride, good to see the whole entire park again. Batman looks so stupid (in my opinion).

We had lunch at Gurnee Mills' food court. Good to walk around there for a bit. Took us around an hour.

We brought a camera back into the park and did some filming. We saw action near DeJaVu so we headed over there.

We got in the mini line and everyone ended up leaving infront of us because the rideops were preaching their standard 'this ride will not be opening soon' deal. We ended up being the third group in line behind Dave, Tom, and Mike. While we waited, it miscought 4 times. Kinda interisting to hear and see because it makes one hell of a noise. We got video that might be making it to this site soon. Well after a good camping and chat, the ride finally opened.

We got the 1st 2004 ride on DeJaVu on the back row (Public ride). Good fun, just as I rememberd it except the ride was crawling. As we went up the 1st tower after the ride made a full run, I was yelling "Don't Catch-Don't Catch" and when we finally cought the catch car I let out "AWWWW DAMN!" :lol: 8/10.

We did some more filming including at trip on Sky Trek Tower.

Our fun was on S:UF. After watching DeJaVu miscatch we were talking about being on a ride and getting stuck. Well, we got on a trusty B&M and it let us down. Just as it was drizzling and windy we were on S:UF back row. Ride went normal but when we hit the midcourse we took an unsually stong stop and stayed stopped. Kyle knew we were in an EStop right away. Ride op came running to tend to us while the mechanics toiled in the station. We ended up getting stuck on the midcourse for about 10 min. First time ever getting stuck on anything for me. 2/10 for ride, 10/10 for fun :wink:.

We really didn't have too much more to do so we did another park loop. We rode V2 once more in the back and rode Iron Wolf. No headbanging on IW at all. Sweet. We got a good ride on the bumper cars.

We left before 7 because we had ridden everything and it was cold. Pizzahut pizza for my pizza! It was free too!

All in all it was a great day to start the season!


Notes:
Eagle's station is repainted along with the understructure.
No more onridephoto on american eagle (for the time being at least..)
Raging Cajun will have an onride photo
Seatbelts take nothing away from the wooden coasters airtime
Demon is not compleatly painted
DeJaVu is still blotchy (paint wise)
New screens on all the photobooths
Dipin dots are up to 7.00 for a large 6.00 for a med and 5.00 for small
Pop is still 3.00 :D


Total Rides
3 V2
1 S:UF
1 Revolution
1 DeJaVu
1 AE Blue
1 AE Red
1 Raging Bull
1 Viper
1 Whizzer
1 Iron Wolf
1 Rue le Dodge
2 Sky Trek Tower
1 IMAX
1 SSA

Oh, BTW, The IMAX movie is great this year. It is about top speed and features the Porche Cheyanne (sp?), the LeMons, Mountainbiking, sprinting, and fighter jets. The best parts involve the Porche GT2! :D
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Postby zjohn1988 on May 1st, 2004, 10:58 pm
Last edited by zjohn1988 on January 16th, 2005, 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Great America Guy on May 2nd, 2004, 9:16 am
Wow sounds like you had a good time. But arent the paint chips just from the trains wheels making an impression in the track
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Postby twixmix0303 on May 2nd, 2004, 11:17 am
I was next in line for row 7 while you guys were stuck in the MCBR. I believe a sensor in the next block was out, and the train in front of you wasn't clearing as it pulled into the station. After figuring out what it was, the mechanics replaced it in about 3 minutes. Great job Six Flags mechanics in your quick fix!
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Postby ShortChilli on May 2nd, 2004, 12:21 pm
What exactly happens when a ride miscatches?
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Postby w00dland on May 2nd, 2004, 12:26 pm
I'm assuming your talking about Deja Vu. From what I saw yesterday, there are many brakes (One set after the station, another set before the loop and another set after the loop) for miscatches. The brakes will stay shut until the train is pulled up a certain amount of height. If the train doesn't make it that high for some reason or another the brakes will catch the train so it doesn't go back and forth forever. Thats just what I saw yesterday.
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Postby SfGaMownz on May 2nd, 2004, 2:49 pm
Wow $7 for Dippin Dots thats freaking crazy, even $5 for a small. Pop will probaly rise up to $3.25 by the end of the year to :lol:.
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Postby coastrcorey on May 2nd, 2004, 8:07 pm
Yeah, there's two sets of brakes, one for each lift. If the catcher opens early, or there is a miscatch, the brakes will prevent the train from valleying in a spot that would be hard to get it out of (aka between the loop and the boomerang).
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Postby Aero737 on May 2nd, 2004, 8:35 pm
Yes, if DeJaVu miscatches on the second tower, the trims in the loop will engage and stop the train from entering the loop and possible vallying between the loop and the cobraroll. If it miscatches on the first tower (in the station) then trims directly above the que line going into the cobra roll stop the train from entering the cobraroll and possible getting stuck in it or between the loop and the cobraroll. The only place that the train can't get pulled out of is between the cobra roll and the loop. To get the train out of there, the must take it off the track.
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Postby RagingBullFan on May 2nd, 2004, 11:15 pm
For anyone that can't visualize whats going on during a miscatch, I'll have a video in a few days for everyone. :)
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Postby Papas on May 3rd, 2004, 11:29 am
I do, I love watching Vu miscath :D. (Even though I can see it almost everyday at SFGAm).
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