larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 6/1/2005 12:31:35 AM
Unfortunately this whole trip was marred with me having a bad cold. My head was killing me, I was constantly dehydrated and I was sneezing and coughing so violently that my whole body hurt and I even gave myself a bloody nose.
The park is right off the highway and there are plenty of eating options right outside the park and that's a good thing because it's 8:30AM and I'm hungry. Go to IHOP then get through the front gate by 9:30AM. FYI - the other chain eateries within a two minute drive from the front gate are Outback, McDonalds, Burger King, Cracker Barrrel, Joe's Crab Shack, Olive Garden, Wendy's, Subway
The park opens at 10AM, but they let you into the front part of the park. The first thing you see as you enter the park is a majestic double decker carousel. It's ten stories high, you have to see this in person to believe it. Now I'm not a carousel buff but this is a thing of beauty. I think they borrowed famous horses from other carousels and had replicas carved in the same manner.
The only major ride you can get on the queue for is S:UF, so I get on that line and ride in the last row on the second ride of the day. Respect the Pretzel Loop! Unfortunately, The Condor has a sign on it saying it is not running today. Next I decide to abandon my strategy of walking in a circle to hit the other low capacity ride, Deja Vu. A 10-15 minute wait and I'm on. I love Giant Boomerangs and I'm now 3 for 3 as they were all operating at SFGAm, SFoG and SFMM.
Head over to Demon, which is excellently themed but still rough. Then Viper, a big woodie which also turns out to by a disappointment. However, it is this part of the park that I first notice how well themed the whole park is, with the Southwest Territory leading the charge. Building facades are geat and they take the simplest rides like a Falling Star and turn it into a stagecoach in the dustbowl, make a tower drop into a mine themed ride. In this area I ride Giant Drop (Drop Tower) and Richochet (spinning ride like Downdraft at Knoebels).
Next up the County Fair section, excellently themed Midway area, and ride American Eagle. The pavillion that houses the start of the queue is unique to look at. There run the left side (Red) forward and the right side (Blue) backward. Early in the day only the forward side is running and I ride it. They later open up the backwards side but with only one train and after waiting 30 minutes they start experiencing problems, I never do get to ride backwards.
I stop for what appears to be an overpriced Giant pretzel and cheese. However, the pretzel really was huge and filling. I'm already thinking about what to eat later in the day and SFGAm gives you plenty of options throughout the park.
At this point I realized I was out of cough drops and ran back to the car and right as I got to the car it started raining, so I come back into the park with cough drops and my waterproof SFMM windbreaker. Of course the rain stops as soon as I enter the park.
Next up since the line is short after the ride I head to the slow loading and underrated Ragin Cajun (Spinning Mouse). Then over to Iron Wolf, which is a stand-up similar to The Georgia Scorcher. Then over to Batman: the Ride. It's nice to see that this station is still well themed with the special effecs and message boards still working.
Then I decide to go to ClaimJumpers. Beef and Cheddar sandwiches are the speciality and since I'm close to cattle country and cheese country I decide to take a chance. The sandwich wasn't great but very edible and they overstuffed the sandwich (unlike Ted's Cheesesteaks at SFGAdv).
Next I relaxed and sat through NASCAR The IMAX Experience
I finally get onto Whizzer and then decided it was time for Raging Bull since the park would be closing in 60 minutes. The line was still over 30 minutes this late in the day. There were a couple of instance of line jumping that security didn't bother to address until 6:45, when<
Message updated 6/1/2005 12:34:36 AM by larrygator
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/3/2005 9:44:43 PM
Sorry that you didn't feel well, that's unfortunate. Still, I'm glad that you got to add this great park to your repertoire, it really is under-rated. 
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coaster05
Posts: 6207
Registered: 2/29/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/3/2005 10:03:23 PM
I am still surprised the viper disappointed that is one of my more underrated coasters.
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/4/2005 12:02:48 AM
I didn't hate Viper, it's just not a 9 or 10 in my book, more like a 7 or 8. It is unfortunate that I did not ride it more than once, because I'm a big proponent of riding woodies multiples times to get a good feel for the ride. However, there is so much to do at SFGAm making it tough to get a 2nd ride in.
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J dawg m7
Posts: 40
Registered: 7/12/2004
Rank: Coaster Critic
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6/4/2005 12:52:15 AM
I live like 45 minuites away from sfgam. Its an awsome place. Stinks you had to go that early. 
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coasterwom
Posts: 1446
Registered: 3/23/2001
Rank: Platinum Critic
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7/20/2006 6:23:54 AM
Has anyone been to SFGam in 2006? Whatis parking cost/tube rental cost?
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Cyclonic
Posts: 2636
Registered: 7/19/2002
Rank: Experiment 626
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7/20/2006 12:50:50 PM
You know, there is this thing, it is called a search, why don't you use it, I am sure you will find newer trip reports, and probably even the information you are looking for.
Oh, look, there was a newer report less then half way down the page...huh
http://www.themeparkcritic.com/Forums/ViewTopic.asp?TopicID=154722&ForumKey=9
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The insensitivity rolls on...
"Why is our oil under their sand?"
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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7/20/2006 9:58:28 PM
Quote:
coasterwom said:
Has anyone been to SFGam in 2006? Whatis parking cost/tube rental cost? |
You know, I could answer at least the first part of your question, but I'm not going to. Cyclonic put it perfectly - you know how to get here on the web, I'm sure you can figure out how to get to another site that would give you this information. Then there's the old-fashioned way of just calling the park too, that may work, you never know...
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