Crowds: Moderate
Weather: Nice and Sunny all day
Time in Park: 8 hours(11-7)
Rides closed today: DejaVu
Today I decided I would take it slow and just do pretty much what my friends from my youth group wanted to do. I mean, I usually come at opening and leave at closing, but with the group, that was impossible.
So the bus left at 8:35 from Rockford and took the side roads due to an accident that was reported. We arrive to the park at about 10:30 and take a picture and finally get into the park at 11. We(my group) played a game to see if we could all get pass the picture takers. The best way to do that is walk by yourself and look at the sky. It is pretty funny.
Superman's line was full and out the entrance so we saw King Chaos running and took a ride. The line was just out the entrance, but short. We waited 1 cycle and got on. First off, if you have broad shoulder's, this ride is not fun even before you get on. Then the ride starts and flips and stuff. This part is pretty fun. Then the half way part comes and you pretty much slowly dive into the little pool. Interesting ride. I would give it a 6. Some people that I heard talking, hated the ride because it was too short.(30 seconds to about 45.)
We saw Cajun' test once, but it stopped, so we went to Batman to see the last 4 or 5 switchbacks in use which gave a 25 minute wait. We just sat in the 3rd row and had a fun ride. Intense as always. Then we saw Cajun begin a block check, so we joined the 5 person line. Then after the mechanics stopped testing, the operators show up, then 2 got the hard-hats and checked behind the ride after the ops tested the ride. The girls in front of us left right before all that happened, so we were the first in line. We noticed King Chaos was stuck with riders, then it tested and re-opened. Then Ragin' Cajun opened at 12:10 after 20 minutes of waiting and we got first dispatch and 2 more of us got second dispatch. Spinning was wild and we had a fun ride. It was only running the 2 yellow cars and the green car with all 4 seats open. The purple and other green car were on the transfer all day. Props goes out to park operations for only using the last 2 swtichbacks in the line and letting it flow out. It kept the line shorter than what it would've been. I think they kept it that way all day.
Now it was getting hot so we wanted to ride Roaring Rapids. The line was a straight away to the exit so it was only 20 minutes. The waterfall before the tunnel wasn't on. I was barely wet. Mostly my shorts were. It was getting near 1, so we looked in Heroes to see if there was any new mercandise. Since it was about 1, we went to Columbia Carousel to check in with our group leader, and noticed Whizzer was stuck on the lift and had an empty line. Now we were off to Triple Play which was a one cycle wait. I got a yellow car, and yes it spins before the other two colors. It was fun as it always has been. Now I noticed that the Whizzer train was gone so we went to stay outside the line while it was testing. After 5 minutes, it reopened and we got the 2nd train out so we could all get on the same train. They forgot to check our seatbelts, even though they were on. The ride was awesome and fun and was running 3 trains.
Now it was time for lunch so we got pizza and drinks from the Firehouse.
Then we went on Sky Trek Tower, which was a walk-on. Nice views, and it showed a full front parking lot, excluding spaces left over from Prefered Parking. Then we went to Stargate, which had a 5 minute wait. It's sad that I pretty much memorized the story. Then when the operators were suppose to give the spiel, they couldn't stop laughing and it took 2 operators and 5 minutes to say cross your ankles and raise your hands. I was laughing at the situation. The ride was neat as it was the other 6 times I have been on it.
Now we wanted to ride Raging Bull which had a line using only using 3 switchbacks with 3 train operation.(It opened with Teal and Yellow and added Red in the early afternoon) The ride was running great and they weren't stacking that much. We waited 25 minutes for the back row. Viper was next where the line was almost a straight away to the exit. We decided to wait and it only took 25 minutes due to a blocker in the station. There were 2 rows blocked off every train and 5 rows every other train.
We had to check in again and sat around for a bit. Then we hit up the Demon which was using all but 2 of the swichbacks near the station. We waited 20 minutes. They were running the yellow and red trains. We got the red train and had the smoothest and best ride ever on the Demon.
We noticed Iron Wolf was stuck on the lift, so next was American Eagle Blue Backwards where we waited 5 minutes. The ride was kickin and it was the most even race that I had ever had on it. The trains were equal the whole ride and in the helix it also stayed even. It was crazy.
Iron Wolf just re-opened with a short line so we hopped in for a 10 minute wait for the front row. They were not stacking as much as earlier in the season so the line was faster. The ride was great and forceful and it is kicking some major a** this year. It was about 6:30 now so we had one more ride. Either V2 or Superman. V2 had a full station and some swtichbacks so we said screw that and went to Superman. The line was shorter than it was all day. It was only an hour. Near the station we noticed security had to be called for something. We went to the back row and enjoyed the ride. Now it was about 7 so we met up with our group to leave for dinner and head home. It was a great day with not too long of lines, but it was still busy. We arrived home around 10.
Jeff's 20 Random Notes of the Day:
1. DejaVu never opened and there wasn't any activity.
2. Security had to go into the Reflection Pond to get a shoe that was in the middle of it.
3. There is a new Six Flags sign in front of Columbia Carousel.
4. Sylvester is the best Looney Toon dancer at the Six Flags Party.
5. I never would've been able to find B&M floorless wanter even if I tried.(sorry, but i notice you posted yesterday at 6, so I'm not sure you went.)
6. It looks like V2 has some new metal stripping on the upper side of the train. Does anyone know what that is?
7. They have new Stargate banners inside the queue line. There is about 3 or 4 and they are pictures from the ride.
8. They need to paint the Triple Play queue and fence to match the new colors. The colors do look nice though.
9. There is an umbrella where the fastlane on Superman cuts into the line.
10. I saw a lot of Security who either caught line jumpers or just walked around the park and showed their presence.
11. They have a new show schedule pamplet in some gift shops. It is nice and has a schedule to follow if you wish to see all the shows in one day.
12. The lights in the Demon tunnel were not flashing and the sound effects weren't either.
13. The Go-carts take up a lot of space.
14. The superman crew was running as fast as they could to stop stacking. It sounded like the were chalenged to pick up capacity.
15. They stopped operation on Superman to get someones shoe on the brake run.
16. I heard Demon had some downtime in the morning.
17. DejaVu's signs were turned around at the entrance(Like line now forming and boarding passes) When you see this, don't expect the ride to open. But be surprised if it does.
18. I didn't get to see the park at night, but Raging Bull's line was down to 5-10 minutes in the early evening.
19. "Man, Oil prices went up again!"
20. What happens on the bus, stays on the bus.
Fine one more note, if you see a ride broken down, stay in the area. When the ride reopens, many people have already left the queue, so the line should be shorter than it will be the rest of the day. We used this advice for the Whizzer and Iron Wolf.
Next visit- Next Wednesday for Coasters after Dark and the next morning and early afternoon. Until next time......
