SFGAm 2013 Updates 9/14 Update

[CstrFan512]

Glad to see the red train operating once again. I feel like RB got all three of it's trains earlier in the season this year than in years past, but i don't have the specific dates.

[bludowise68]

I was the first customer of Raging Bull's Red train first day of the season today.

[Stoogie]

Raging Bull had all three trains running today. When did NAMTAB get its second chassis? Saw two train op on it. I didn't get chance to get on it as I chipped my tooth eating some popcorn. Must get back there soon.


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[[jonrev]]

A few weeks ago.

[DejaVu2001]

^^ Batman has been running 2 trains since May 18th.

I'm going on a 9 day coaster riding trip in the Southeast starting tomorrow, so I won't have any more SFGAm updates until July 1st.

[Ilovthevu']

June 19th Update
This path in Carousel Plaza is blocked for igNight pyro. Seeing as this blocks the entrance and exit for Columbia's upper level, I would guess the Carousel must close before igNight, although I haven't been able to confirm this or get a closing time.

As for other rides affected by igNight, Triple Play and Sky Trek Tower close at 7:00pm (why Tower closes, and why it closes THAT early, I have no idea). Hometown Fun Machine and Whizzer close at 8:45pm. Keep in mind that these are the times that these rides must finish operating by, so the lines will close earlier to accommodate everyone in line. I'm assuming these times will be pushed back an hour to 8:00 and 9:45 when igNight moves back to 10:00pm this weekend.

To me, this doesn't make a lot of sense at all. They are closing 4 family rides really early rather than just 15 minutes (including the Columbia & the Scenic Railway), yet they want familes to stay for this Ignight thing all the way at the end of the night. Also, they are running some of their other - where families would go to see - shows at dumb times such as the Pictorium which only goes up to 4 pm I think, or the day I went Dancin in the Streets was only during a 2 1/2 hr window - 4, 5, & 6:30 pm shows. With the shows especially, it seems like they are doing it better for them.

They only have to run the air conditioner for 2 1/2 hrs, and the employees only have to stay there for that amount of time, but I think shows should be spaced out throughout the entire day instead in a small amount of time like how it used to be. So, back to the families doing stuff at night, based on those times, they can't go to the Pictorium or Dancin in the Streets at night. Families probably won't be riding water rides at 8:30 pm either. If Six Flags goal is to try to keep families in the park later at night, they need to give families more of a reason to stay at night by having shows, and keeping rides open as long as they can. Instead, it's just a money saving thing. Close the Tower, Triple Play, Train, etc just because they can, and now they have an excuse.

[DeathbyDinn]

^ Triple Play closes so early because the sitting area in it's exit is used as a control room during igNite.

[BURTONxBLUNT]

Red trains boarding riders today(: finally!

[Ilovthevu']

So, today is Smurf day. Who's going to Smurf day, and trying to get in early?

"The first 200 guests to arrive dressed like a Smurf will receive a wristband for early ride time access – wear ALL blue, your favorite Smurfs’ gear OR dress like an actual Smurf to participate!"
Each wristband allows one guest entry to the park 30 minutes early for exclusive ride time. Check-in will begin one hour before scheduled park opening at the Front Gate entrance for event wristband distribution. Entry to the park will begin 30 minutes before scheduled park opening"

So, you have to get there at 9:30 am, and than dress entirely in blue (probably blue socks too), in a smurfs costume, or have a smurfs shirt on to go into the park at 10 am, and ride for an extra 1/2 hour on select rides. Seems like too much of a pain for just a 1/2 hour. Do you know how many people are going to try and do this? A lot more than 200...

[BLADE]

Red trains boarding riders today(: finally!

Red train is running great. It has all new upholstery and new shiny wheels. Probably had my best ride in a few years on Raging Bull last night.

[Ace]

June 19th Update
This path in Carousel Plaza is blocked for igNight pyro. Seeing as this blocks the entrance and exit for Columbia's upper level, I would guess the Carousel must close before igNight, although I haven't been able to confirm this or get a closing time.

As for other rides affected by igNight, Triple Play and Sky Trek Tower close at 7:00pm (why Tower closes, and why it closes THAT early, I have no idea). Hometown Fun Machine and Whizzer close at 8:45pm. Keep in mind that these are the times that these rides must finish operating by, so the lines will close earlier to accommodate everyone in line. I'm assuming these times will be pushed back an hour to 8:00 and 9:45 when igNight moves back to 10:00pm this weekend.

To me, this doesn't make a lot of sense at all. They are closing 4 family rides really early rather than just 15 minutes (including the Columbia & the Scenic Railway), yet they want familes to stay for this Ignight thing all the way at the end of the night. Also, they are running some of their other - where families would go to see - shows at dumb times such as the Pictorium which only goes up to 4 pm I think, or the day I went Dancin in the Streets was only during a 2 1/2 hr window - 4, 5, & 6:30 pm shows. With the shows especially, it seems like they are doing it better for them.

They only have to run the air conditioner for 2 1/2 hrs, and the employees only have to stay there for that amount of time, but I think shows should be spaced out throughout the entire day instead in a small amount of time like how it used to be. So, back to the families doing stuff at night, based on those times, they can't go to the Pictorium or Dancin in the Streets at night. Families probably won't be riding water rides at 8:30 pm either. If Six Flags goal is to try to keep families in the park later at night, they need to give families more of a reason to stay at night by having shows, and keeping rides open as long as they can. Instead, it's just a money saving thing. Close the Tower, Triple Play, Train, etc just because they can, and now they have an excuse.

You say it like they close every attraction down in the park for hours on end. These attractions never have significant lines and there are plenty of other things to do in the park if families don't want to see ignite (even though I think it was a well done family oriented show).

[Ilovthevu']

^They don't have big lines because of HIGHER capacity! If Batman the Ride could hold 1000 people on one train, I'm sure, there would never be a line for that either. I don't know the real capacity (That's a guesstimate) of the Scenic Railway, but there is a ton of people that ride can hold. What I can never believe is that the park had one of the greatest things going on before with the train, and the "scene" at the other station, and they just ruined it, with an awful storyline that one year (the year with the antique car on the hill), and than now they go to the stupid get off the train, and go in a dumb maze during Fright Fest.

When they had the Scooby-Doo thing, and the chainsaw people in the other station, that line would be so mobbed to get on the train. They brought in extra fences because the line was so much, but last Halloween, I didn't see very long lines because of the pay thing, and the other side they had 2 Halloween decorations up.

Ace, if you go to Disney, you will see that short lines doesn't really mean that people aren't riding it. Spaceship Earth which is at Epcot when I went always has a 5 minute line, but yet the capacity of the attraction is supposedly 2400 people per hour! That's a little less than THREE Batman the Rides. Batman the Ride could get a 1000 people per hour, but it's probably about 900 unless they are really, really, really fast. Than, you get pukings, and what not, and it could be 800 in some hours. 800 X 3 = 2400 people. Now, capacity is a little less for Batman the Ride though because of 7 rows =28 per train.

The opposite goes for something like the waterpark. People always tend to say that it's so popular that they even think it's more popular than the regular park, but in reality, those slides do not hold the same capacity that a roller coaster can hold. How many Tornado rafts do you have to send down in order to = 1 Batman the Ride train? Yes, there are people in the waterpark - no doubt, but it's nowhere as popular as the regular park is. It's really misleading. I would even venture to say that 1/3 of the people in the waterpark don't even go on the slides / water stuff. They just lounge around which there is nothing wrong with, but still.

In comparison for Triple Play, I know it's capacity is higher than Giant Drop, Orbit (Orbit could get a higher capacity, but the problem is that so many people go single though it still would be less than TP if it was FULL), I think that Triple Play is higher than Condor because of the slowness of checking the seatbelts with Condor rather than just a lapbar, definitely higher than Ricochet, higher than Jester's Wild Ride, higher than East River Crawler because of amount of seats & seatbelts again, same thing with Fiddler's Fling as ERC, and of course better than Hometown Fun Machine. I might even be able to argue that Whizzer with 2 trains operation has less capacity than Triple Play. Triple Play = 28 seats *2 = 56 people, and Whizzer with 2 FULL trains only equals 48 people. Triple Play is probably even higher than Ragin Cajun also. Balloons is also lower with 12 cars of 4 people = 48 people plus you have to wait for the person to unlock your car door which takes time as compared to when it first opened.

[BURTONxBLUNT]

Xflight had the mist working Friday not sure if it had been before but yesterday was 1st day I saw it running(:

[CoasterNick3157]

^ Finally

[Stoogie]

All the water effects were on last Thursday.


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[Ilovthevu']

So, what's wrong with Orbit? At the park yesterday, they had the Orbit stuck up in the air. Is it really bad something wrong with it? Is it working today? Also, I seen that they have Demon's yellow train near the train crossing. Today, on facebook people are saying that the park had a power outage!

[CoasterNick3157]

All I know is that East River Crawler still not operating.

[coasterkidd100]

The Orbit did not operate today either. The park did experience a power outage but only the rides lost power. All of the food stands and stores had power. Some rides were down for almost two hours.

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

Is the train still only running round trip only?

[DejaVu2001]

^ I'll find out tomorrow.

[scottm13]

Is the train still only running round trip only?

Nope, the train has been stopping in both stations for a few days now. The entrance to the home town square is on the north side of triple play.

[BURTONxBLUNT]

-east river crawler is still being worked on
-orbit was still down today and almost lowered to the ground
-demons yellow train is now on the transfer track with water dummies in the seats which means it should be tested soon
-coke stand by superman is open
-train now stops in both stations
all I have for Sunday, June 30th!

[Ilovthevu']

I just wanted to mention that for the Orbit, I know I'm the one that said what's wrong with it but I remembered something. Maybe about 3 weeks ago, I was on the Orbit, and it started smelling like it had a burning smell. It was a warmer day, but still. Something seemed wrong. It also seemed like it was stopping weird with too much of the noise that the thing makes when it does stop.

[DejaVu2001]

June 30th Update


For some reason, SFGAm is closing Sky Trek Tower and Triple Play at 7:00pm for igNight. I can think of no reason that would need them to close 3 hours early, so I'm going to assume SF is being cheap here.


Hometown Fun Machine, Whizzer, and Columbia Carousel close at a much more reasonable 9:30pm.


Orbit broke




Crawler seems to be making no progress, in fact, it looks worse than it did before my trip. Fence is back out, and the forklift is back in.


Superman Coke is open


SFGAm has started offering premium items on the Dining Pass for a $1 fee. Most parks have been doing this all year.




Twix


Demon yellow train on the storage track with water dummies


Hometown Station has reopened. This is the only entrance and exit. And yes, there are crowd issues.




Lots of people were cutting through the trees


repiV started 2 weeks early. The ride was good, the crew was horrible. With the line at the entrance, and a grouped station, it should have been a 25-30 minute wait. I waited 51 minutes, and every train was stacked.


repiV's Flash Pass employee was the best I've ever seen. This is the fullest the station ever got, and there were never empty rows.

[DejaVu2001]

July 2nd Update


If SFGAm expects Flash Pass to group Viper's station, they better start training them how to do it, because this is absolutely unacceptable.


Demon was running all 3 trains this morning with Yellow train testing with water dummies


X Flight has had the front row on the left side of Train 2 tied off for over 2 weeks now


Demon broke down around 12:00 and ended up being evacuated. The train stayed here for 2 hours before they were able to get it back to the brake run


After they got black train through the ride, they sent red train. This is as far as it got, and it stayed here the rest of the day. I would expect Demon to be closed for at least a day or two.