OK, let me start with the basics: most of the coasters (I think 4 out of 7, or 5) had broken down at least 1ce during opening day. Some of the rides were down, also. Let's see which broke down... Superman 1ce (I'll get to that story later), Batwing at least 4 times, Joker's Jinx at least 4 times, 2-face: the flip side was down the whole day like usual, panguin blizzard river was down (I know it sucks, but it takes people off of the coasters), hmm.... what else.... Roar and Wild one were fine (of what I know).... OH! I forgot about Mind Eraser. I'm almost positive it broke down at some point. I just know that most of the good rides were down.
Now, about Superman.... Well, for this trip, I went with my brother, and at most six flags parks, they open 30 minutes early, they just keep you in a certain area. (Please comment on that, because I've heard differently.) So, me and my brother run to superman as soon as they let us go (@ 10:30, the opening time), and we are 2nd in line for the front. (For some reason, during the whole day, only the blue train was running and the red was nowhere to be seen.)As soon as everybody was crowded, they couldn't get the ride going after they took out the water jug dummies (or something) for testing. That took half an hour. Then, this handicapped guy came from the exit and got to go on the first ride of the year, so we were 3rd in line. After the people who were in front of us went, they couldn't get their restraints open (the whole train couldn't). They had to jump start each individual car, and that didn't work. They had to use a backup battery, and this whole thing took about 10 minutes after the train pulled up. So we are about 45 minutes waiting. For some reason, they couldn't open the 6th car, so they took another 10 minutes on that. We FINALLY got to go on (after making sure everything was working correctly) after 80 minutes (= an hour + 20 minutes).
The last time on superman for the day, at about 6:15 (the park closes at 8:00), we didn't think that it would be our last ride of the day. We got in line, and it took about 55 minutes to get in a designated line, so we chose the front again, so waiting that long wouldn't waist a good ride. we got in line for the front at about 7:10, and we were the sixth group (only 2 seats across, so the 11th and 12th people). EVERYBODY was using flash passes from the other end (we didn't get flash passes because we didn't bring very much cash), so we knew it would be a long wait. We ended up waiting until 8:10- YES, 8:10- until we got to ride (finally!). They couldn't close superman until about 8:20 because so many people were still in line then.
On all the coasters that broke down during the day (not the ones for the whole day), it would have been really scary to be on. Like I already mentioned on S:ROS, people couldn't get their restraints up, so they were locked in. On Batwing one of the times, the front car was just up the lift hill, when they stopped suddenly. They were there for about 20 minutes, looking up at the sun, and it turns out one of the girls in the 5th row didn't have her restraint all the way down. On Joker's Jinx, the brakes failed (or something), and people were stuck on the ride on the brakes. So, nobody could board the other train because they would just hit the one with people stuck on it.
For the coasters, every one had only 1 train running except for wild one, roar, and joker's jinx. Horrible day, even though I hope to go back in 2 weeks (I have a season pass). If you don't have a season pass (to your six flags), and you don't hate the park, and its REALLY close to you, then you get all these coupons, and they treat you well, and you get this bottle for soda and you get free refills the first day you go. Hopefully, you made it through ALL of my article. (Don't forget to add, lawrence!)
As for opening day, it was hot. I didn't know that they were having a cheerleading competition, as well as, a marching band competition on opening day also! The park was packed!
We arrived at the parking lot at 11:30am & sat in the parking lot for thirty minutes waiting. They had a number of turnstiles open but with so many people attempting to enter the park, it took a while.
My buddies & I had already renewed our season passes online. Thank goodness! The season pass processing line was out into the parking lot. I guess since a pass only costs $54.99 everyone was jumping on that deal. Me & my buddies proceeded inside the park.
We headed straight to Roar. It was a walkon. We actually rode twice. Then we went over to the Wild One & rode that. About a five minute wait. Next we tried Jokers Jinx, but it was jam packed. Decided to do Superman & Batwing, but both of them were jampacked also. While walking back from Batwing, I ran into a female college friend who turns out was coaching a team competing in the cheerleading competition. Since the sun was beaming at this time & the lines were outrageous, we decided to get some food & check out the cheerleading competitions inside the Justice League stadium. It was cool to get some shade & get some laughs from seeing the cheerleaders falling while trying to do those stunts! Took me back to my college days when I cheered & would drop a female in a minute...LOL! We stayed in there the rest of the day (trying to be mack daddies with the ladies...LOL). So it was a pretty good day for me. I'll be out of town this weekend but I will definately be back next weekend if I don't do Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens.
Yes, it was hot, and the forcast said it was supposed to thunderstorm at 1:00. He checked his phone at 2:00 after nothing happend, and the forcast said it was supposed to thunderstorm at 4:00. (We actually wanted it to thunderstorm, so everybody would go out of the park, and then there would basically be no one after it cleared up.) We didn't think there was going to be a cheerleading competition or a band competition, either. We met a band director for "Phenoxvill County" in line for Superman. They came all the way from Penn, and they wanted to see DC. I don't think that they had a competition at SFA, i just think that they had a relaxation time there. You know, after the concert, you go to somewhere to have fun?
As for the season pass, I didn't have enough free time to upload my season pass at home, so I had to do it there. Good for us, my brother wanted to get there early, so we were there at 9:15. We waited in line for the "updater" for 20 minutes until they opened it. We were early in line, so it didn't wear us out. When we got inside, there were only about 25 people in line, so it must have gone up in population during the day.
Lawernce, do you have a season pass, or a premium one? I have a premium, so i get this book with coupons, like one free dip'n dots, and buy one get one free funnel cake, if you didn't know. That's also where you have the "invite a friend free" pass and stuff like that.
Like I said before, I was waiting for superman at 11:30, so i didn't know what the lines for Roar were like, so i was surprised when you said that. When I got to ride roar later in the day, though, it seemed like it was a little bit better than last year's ride.... I don't know what made it that way, though, it just seemed really good. My brother tried taking a video of Roar from the 2nd seat, and it was REALLY funny seeing him trying to keep it still. We were going to get in the front, though (I didn't know what he was planning), but some kid and his mom used flash passes. The people who were going to ride in the 2nd row the time we were going to ride in the front were nice enought to let us go in their place. Roar is more fun in the back, anyway, because you don't get enough speed (or wind) in the front, and that's the only reason anyone would sit in the front (besides the view, but roar isn't very tall or fast).
My brother and I DID actually go in to see the cheerleading competition, just to see how it was like. You are correct, it was hallarios. I liked the shade, though. There seemed to be a breeze when we went in, so that helped. I think we were in for about 15 minutes, somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00. We were sitting on the 1st bleachers to your right, as soon as you came in. What cheerleading team was your collage friend coaching, and where were you guys sitting? I want to know where because I might have seen them.
We thought that the whole crowd for the cheerleading stuff would clear out after they were done, but it turns out that all of the kids on the teams and their fans just went to the rides after their performance, so that was a letdown.
I won't be at SF this weekend, too, because I'm really busy. I hope we do get to see each other, though!
