SFGAm Opening Weekend Photo Trip Report

[DejaVu2001]

Opening Day May 7th
When the park opened at 10:00, I went straight to get my Season Pass processed. This was a very good idea since the line very quickly got beyond insane. Even though I was 2nd or 3rd in the building, I still had to wait 20 minutes because the printers went down after my picture was taken, so they had to re-enter data on about 20-30 Season Passes including mine.

I was going to start my season on Whizzer but the line was to the entrance and they were only running 1 train since the second train was still being warmed up on the storage track with a tarp and space heaters. I ended up riding Demon first in the Stride train. After Demon, I went to American Eagle. Red side was open with 2 trains. Blue side only has one train and just started testing as I got off the ride.

Then I went to Little Dipper which wasn't open yet because it kept getting stuck in the brake run. So I went to Batman and rode. After that, I went back to Little Dipper and waited a few minutes for it to open. I was on the first train in row 2.

I don't really remember much about the middle of the day other than it raining twice. Whizzer got its second train going around noon, but between going to Burger King for lunch and the two times it rained, I ended up not getting to Whizzer until 5:00. Despite both trains having been warmed up with the space heaters, both trains were running extremely slow even with a full load of riders.

Ended up getting on Bull around 7:00, also rode Eagle a second time and then got last ride of the night on Whizzer.

Sunday, May 8th

When the park opened, I went directly to Whizzer and waited about 10 minutes for it to open. Even though Sunday felt considerably warmer, they still kept the second train off getting heated up until noon, so only rode once. Afterwards, I went to Viper, since it was still before 10:30, the lift didn't slow down at the top.

At this point, I started to feel a little sick. But I still went on Bull and Demon. Probably not a good idea. I took a few hours off from riding after that, but wasn't really feeling much better, so I went on Dark Knight and Sky Trek Tower then left.

Updates

Sky Trek Tower's entrance is back in its original spot in Carousel Plaza
Great America Raceway is dead
Go Karts in Yukon Territory look bad, but open up a lot of new spots for pictures of Bull, Demon, and Little Dipper
Superman: Ultimate Flight is running 1 train. The 2nd train is still in rehab. Line was very bad. Sucks for anyone that would actually consider waiting for Superman.
Major coasters are getting broken camera/cell phone displays like Diamondback at Kings Island
Little Dipper and Raging Bull have new logos on the trains
Whizzer has had both trains painted
Little Dipper is sponsored by Dean's Milk

[DejaVu2001]

KIDZOPOLIS









MagiQuest



Great America Raceway






Go Karts

[DejaVu2001]

Riptide Bay








Webcam


Tower Entrance


Ride Trains





TDK no Preshow




Broken phone display


Little Dipper sponsored by Dean's

[Goku1910]

...............

[Bob O]

Excellent photo's!!!! Sadly very little good news. The go-karts look awful ,what a waste of space!!! And its sad that a 6 month off season isn't enough to rehab all of the coaster cars!!! And bad news getting good rid of a good kids attraction like the Great American Raceway, it was a attraction my kids always enjoyed, especially when they could steer the cars.

How much 50th Anniversary stuff did they have in the park, and any pictures of it??

[DejaVu2001]

^ Very little 50th anniversary stuff. There were some sweatshirts in Carousel Souvenirs but not much else. I think the 50th celebration was way cut back except for Texas after Shapiro left.

[ragingbull1331]

So is Great America Raceway dead forever?

[Cole]

So is Great America Raceway dead forever?

Yes.


-Cole

[acquaz10]

Yeah, the cars will be moved to SFNE eventually.

Your KIDZOPOLIS doesn't look quite finished yet, it looks very bare. Riptide Bay looks great though.

[onyxhotel08]

I wonder why they are ripping the concrete so early. No matter what goes there next season, it is very early. I cannot wait to see those old SWF queues go. 3 years is too long to leave them there.

[DejaVu2001]

^ Whatever that concrete is from, it is not from Raceway or Splashwater Falls. Everything appears intact under the piles. I see no way that all of that concrete could possibly be from Raceway.

[acquaz10]

I wonder why they are ripping the concrete so early. No matter what goes there next season, it is very early. I cannot wait to see those old SWF queues go. 3 years is too long to leave them there.

I believe the ground isn't stable in that area so there going to have to do a lot of work filling it in or something like that.

[scott2608]

I wonder why they are ripping the concrete so early. No matter what goes there next season, it is very early. I cannot wait to see those old SWF queues go. 3 years is too long to leave them there.

I believe the ground isn't stable in that area so there going to have to do a lot of work filling it in or something like that.

Stable or not they have a lot of work to remove all the concrete and fill it in with the soil from HH and set the footings for a new coaster before it gets cold and the ground freezes.

[Paradise]

Hopeful construction in August.

[Necropolis]

Ugh....looks like opening weekend wasn't as great as it sounded. I probably woulda been disappointed had I gone and considering the off-season was 6 months long!! All that wait and opening day wasn't smooth. Maybe new coaster operators started opening day, thus slower coasters? IDK. Computers at pass processing center didn't work well, whizzer's line was all the way back to the entrance plus the trains were running slower than usual, Demon still has the fruity Stride advertising , AE blue side was testing, Little Dipper breaks kept getting stuck, RAIN, and the Superman line is STILL bad . Wow. Very disappointing. Glad I didn't go opening weekend even though I had intentions of going. Sounded like a crowded day. I knew it, my gut was right again! I'll definitely go to the park before the kids get outta school and crowd the park. Ugh.

[tribar]

I heard yesterday S:UF had a 2 hour wait

[Goku1910]

yeah, we're waiting on that 2nd train

[CstrFan512]

IDK how this weekend went, but i just hope i get great weather and fast/short lines for when i go on the 22nd. i would think that 6 months of off-season would be enough to rehab at least all the cars on ONE ride.

[BMRider]

They only have 4 months for rehab. November-December is prepping everything for the winter and most of the maintenance guys use their vacation time before the break so it is a skeleton crew.

[tribar]

yeah, we're waiting on that 2nd train

They had two trains running today

[Galvan]

Ahh yes, typical Bob O, negativity.

Excellent photo's!!!! Sadly very little good news. The go-karts look awful ,what a waste of space!!! And its sad that a 6 month off season isn't enough to rehab all of the coaster cars!!!

FYI: Cedar Point's opening weekend consisted of TTD not opening until 4pm on opening day, MF having just two trains running, Maverick not opening until 1pm on opening day, Mantis running ONE train the entire weekend. Disaster Transport not running at all during the day on Sunday.(Which is inexcusable that an indoor coaster would be down because of weather). A multi-million dollar flat still under construction, a relocated flat still under construction. One Train ops on Blue Streak. Raptor at times on Saturday running one train. Maxair not running and sheets of black plastic covering the ride. 1 employee running the entire kiddie section in front of Maxair/Wicked Twister (circa SFGAdv 2004) and Power Tower running one leg of the ride.

Need I go on?

[UWW-10]

Sounds like America's Roller Coast wasn't really rolling too well either.

This is the exact reason why I just skip opening weekends/opening weeks for the most part. I've come to realize that rehabs/mechanical issues are quite evident at this time of the year. Who exactly knows what you're going to find year to year with annual rehab? If it were the other way around and someone was injured or killed due to a faulty inspection/missed mechanical problems....then some people would be all over the place bashing these parks because they neglected safety and should have been more cautious in their inspections and rehabs. Can't have it both ways....