April 26, 2003
Click on the links for pictures!
My 10th trip to SFMM: $25
Meal at
SFMM: $10.37
On-ride photo: $9.00
Waiting eight minutes for the money seat on X:
priceless.
I came on this trip for three reasons. It was
cheap, I love X, and I wanted to make Scream! my 75th roller
coaster.
I went on the trip and none of my friends could
make it, so I thought I would have a day of coastering alone. I’ve split off
from my group at amusement parks before, so it’s no big deal, but the nine trips
I’ve made to SFMM before have been with someone. Before the bus arrived to pick
us up, I met Aizhan.
Aizhan was a very cool person to hang out with and she enjoyed the roller
coasters, which is always a plus!
We left Arizona early and we arrived in California
to eat breakfast really early. The sun was rising so I took a picture
of it. Very pretty! We stopped at Denny’s
and I got the Moons Over My Hammy. Sorry, no picture this time.
We arrived at SFMM two hours before the park
opened! Sweet! After they let us through the security gates, we went to the main
gates. We were right up front with about three rows of people in front of us. X
was testing before the park opened. It was a good sign.
The gates opened and it was the running of the
bulls to X. We ran past people up the hill to X. We were there as they opened
the queue and there were line jumpers everywhere. We got to the area before the
station and the employee who tells people which way to go let us go either way.
You know what this means! Parking lot side, baby! We walked straight from the
entrance to the queue to the station. We were that far in front! The only
waiting we did was in the station. Of course, I made for the back seat. The line
for the back is right there and there were only four people in front of us and X
was running two
trains. Sweet. Two guys in front of us asked us if we wanted to get in
front of them. Double sweet. We waited a little bit and it was our turn. From
the beginning of the queue line, I started my timer on my watch. Eight minutes
from there to sitting in the seat. Ahem. EIGHT minutes! The longest I’ve waited
for it was 4 and a half hours, and the shortest was about 45 minutes. Nothing
will beat this wait. That’s simply incredible.
Oh my gosh. I love X so much. I took two
pictures from the lift
hill. The first drop is going to take a lot to beat. The last time I
rode it, the cold and wind made it go a little slow through the course. Today
was warm and not windy, so we FLEW through the ride. Inversions, half and halfs,
raven turns, ahhhh! I love this ride. It’s simply the best roller coaster I have
ever ridden. Aizhan seemed to enjoy it too. I got that from all the
screaming.
We got some pictures of X and Viper
then got in line for Viper. Some of the queues were closed for Viper so the back
of the train had a long line. I told an employee in the station that the queue
wasn’t open and that people were spilling out on to the midway. She started
telling people to go into the other lines. It helped a little.
Viper is a great ride. The back seat delivers nice
forces down the drop and in the inversions. Viper has good laterals and vertical
Gs. The corkscrews offer some nice hangtime. Our photo got taken but the
headrest in front of Aizhan covered her face.
After the ride, Aizhan told me she wanted to ride
something that “just goes up and down.” Goliath
it is! (Hey, I didn't cut off the 'H'!) We walked all the way down to it and got
in line. Remember the flaw in Goliath I talked about in my last trip
report? Check out the
photo. After waiting about 20 minutes, we were in the back seat. The
last time I went, my friend told me that SFMM doesn’t allow single riders in
back seats for whatever reason. I saw a single rider in the train before us. We
got in the back and began our ride. The first drop delivers great airtime and
the camelback does, too. The brakes didn’t seem to be on very much at all and
the helix seemed a little more forceful than the previous times I’d ridden it.
Goliath became Aizhan’s favorite roller coaster.
Next up was Scream!
Scream!
would be my 75th roller coaster and my second floorless coaster. I
decided to wear my Kraken
shirt to celebrate this little milestone.
We waited 20 minutes for the front seat. Scream!
was pretty good, but the seat vibrated a bit. I rode in the front row to get the
floorless feel. I lifted my feet in the dive
loop because the illusion got to me that my feet would hit a rail! The
zero-G
roll is the best element. The cobra
roll has a nice snap to it. The helix
after the brakes (which were barely on) was nice, but the speed
hill after it was great! There’s some good airtime in it and you fly
through it really fast. The corkscrews are fun and the finale is twisted and has
a small pop of air. Scream had some vibration thing going on in the seats.
Aizhan noticed and pointed it out to me. I noticed it in the first three
inversions. Scream!
was good, but not as good as I thought it would be. The vibration takes
something away from the ride. Maybe it just needs time to break in. I just hope
they fix the stacking
problems. We waited over a minute in the brake run and a train finished
the course and waited behind us as the train exited the station! 7/10
Next up we went to Gold
Rusher. I waited about five minutes for this one. That was the longest
I’d ever waited for it. The park sure was a little crowded today. Check out
the
line. The front seat is fun. I like this ride a lot, but the back seat’s
better.
We went to Revolution
next. The wait was only 20 minutes. Revolution
in the back seat is really fun. There was some minor head banging. The loop
pulls some really nice Gs and they are pretty sustained through the whole
thing.
We headed to Log
Jammer next. It’s pretty fun and has some nice scenery along the ride.
Aizhan didn’t know that the second drop was the largest so she got pretty scared
when I told her that the best was yet to come. What a fun ride!
We got some food
at Food Etc. Boy, this stuff is pricey. It’s not that good either. I see why my
friend had us leave the park for lunch last time. Oh, this is crazy! Since 1999,
I have made two trips a year to the park. I think I’ve gone too many times
because this time I recognized an employee at Food Etc. I don’t know his name,
but I recognized the face.
After eating, Aizhan wanted to ride another water
ride so we walked to Arrowhead
Splashdown. I noticed that Ninja
was running today. I rarely see it running. The wait for Splashdown was 20
minutes. She wanted a photo on the ride so we checked it out at the exit. The
photo was OK, but she decided not to get it.
We walked around and she tried her hand at a game.
One dollar would get a very light beanbag that you would toss at a balloon
hovering over a column of air. The prizes were kind of small so the game
couldn’t have been too difficult. She missed. Just to the left!
While walking around, we saw some kids fighting with those little inflatable hammers. They were socking each other really hard! This kid got a good hit.
Then I did something random. That's all.
We hit Gold Rusher again. This time we rode in the back. It's still fun after all these years!
We decided to go to Arrowhead Splashdown again
since she wanted a photo to show to people back home in Kazakhstan. The line was
a little shorter than before, and I took some pictures
from the bridge that passes over the ride. Right before the first drop, I looked
at the operator sitting there and I said, “Sir, my feet are wet.” Down the last
drop, I covered her face and made a nasty face to the camera. I really should
have bought that photo since it was so hilarious. She was a bit upset but I told
her we’d get on again to get a good photo.
We hopped back in line and waited about 12
minutes. She sat behind me this time so I couldn’t put my hands in front of her
face. Before the last drop, I saw the operator and told him, “Sir, my feet are
still wet.” This got a laugh out of him. The photo was pretty good. I made a
crazy face to the camera and she smiled.
ThrillShot
started testing and I snapped a picture.
The ride would test all day. I have a few pictures of
it.
We got in line for FreeFall. I tried the penny trick which was awesome! I even caught it before the vehicle curved to the brakes.
We walked over to see if Batman and Scream! had
short lines, but they didn’t. We were thirsty so we went to the Colossus Cookery
where we were told to Eat
Out Loud! I asked a woman for a cup for ice water and she gave me a
small thing. I looked to my right and Aizhan got a huge cup of water. That’s
what you get for batting your eyelashes to the guy who gave you the cup. Here’s
a comparison of the cups.
We got in line for Riddler.
A sign said the wait would be about two hours, but the wait was only about one
hour and 45 minutes. While waiting in line, a train
stopped on the lift. I guess someone had a loose article with them
because employees walked up to them, walked around, then left and the lift was
started again. We got in line for the back since it had less people in it. No,
not because it’s awesome there. :) I’ve heard that the #2 train on Riddler,
Jerry, is the fast train. I could see it going through the
course while waiting in line. It seemed to be going a bit faster than
the other trains.
The sun had set, but it was still light outside. We were up next and guess who
shows up? That’s right! Jerry! Yes! I started yelling and jumping around because
I was excited. The sun was down, Jerry was up, and we were in the back. This was
a great
ride. The inversions
and forces are great and it’s incredibly smooth. The oblique
loop is a lot of fun. The brakes are hardly on at all, but I didn't
notice any airtime dropping
out of them. The last corkscrew is the greatest corkscrew I have ever
been on hands-down. No wait: hands-up! That’s how I rode Riddler! Wheeee!
We headed to the Orient Express and made our way down the side of the mountain. We got a cool view of one of Revolution’s turns. We rode the Grand Carousel and had a good time. I rode on my high horse while she kicked back.
After that, we hung out in the Flags store. We put on some dorky sunglasses and bought some candy. Aizhan and I tried on some stupid hair things. There was an ugly orangutan in there so I took his picture. Then Aizhan decided to give him a hair thing and hang out with him. Wow, we’re goofy.
Now it was time to leave. We got in the bus and drove right by X. It flies through the course at night. The next time I come to SFMM, I have to get in a night ride on X. Yeah. That’ll rock. I love this park, even after ten visits. We finished our time in California with a meal at In-N-Out Burger. This trip will be remembered.
