ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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 5/14/2006 10:02:37 PM
Well, this was my 1st 3 day weekend since my trip to Disney World in july (not counting the one in Oct. when I was "converting" myself to an overnight job from a morning job), so I decided I'd do something special instead of just hanging out at the mall all 3 days (only did that 2  )
The park opened at 10:30am, I set out around 9:15am, as I wanted to stop at my local Safeway store to buy a Season Pass (I thought I could avoid taxes by buying it in VA, but I was wrong, oh well, 2 minutes of my life wasted)
I arrived at the park a little after 10, the first thing I noticed was that parking is now $15. Yikes. I thought it was $10, the whole point of me getting a season pass (other than a possible trip to SFNE) was so I could have a day of fun for the $10 parking fee. It doesn't matter anyway, the next time I go I'm taking my dad and sister in for free with my season pass coupons and my dad will be driving. You know the old saying "he who drives pays the parking fee", so oh well.
Now onto the actual park. They now let people in (past the metal detectors and ticketing) 30 minutes before the park opens which is good since it always caused a back up. They will let you go up to that theater that's across the bridge before security has the two directions roped off. The WB characters dance to help time go by, it was better than nothing, and you can go to the main street shops or get your season pass processed (which I did)
So 10:30 came, and I was off to my favorite ride there Superman Ride of Steel. It opened around 10:40, some last minute testing. I was thrilled to see that they were running 2 trains, something I don't see that often with that ride. The only row with a line was the front, so I took the back. When the train pulled back to the station there was someone waiting for the back but they let me switch seats to go on again. I stayed on for one more round. i was gonna do one or 2 more, but then they did something stupid (hey you guys I was talking to in that Kings Dominion TR topic, here's what I'm talking about).
They decided to take one train off. Yup, you heard me right, they decided that there weren't enough people in the park, so they would close the ride down after only having it open for 10 minutes to take off a train. That's right take a train off (not put one on) And in the process of taking it off, the stupid maintenance guy somehow managed to break the rides power connection. I waited a couple minutes, got fed up and went to Batwing.
There was something wrong with the train sitting in the station that's normally used (the one furthest from Superman) so they were using the other one, no biggie there. Even though it was a 1 trainer, there were 3-4 people waiting for all but one of the rows (the 2nd to last) so I took that one and had it to myself. I got to go on 4 times without getting off, and then the line got long so I went back to Superman with it's 2 uhm, sorry 1 train. It was a walk on, in the middle cars, I grabbed a random one and went around 3 times (maybe a 2nd train wasn't necessary, but still, TAKING ONE OFF??), after than I was a little nauseated, I thought I'd try Wild one, since it was a bit calmer.
Something REALLY cool (at least IMO) that they did with the Wild One station is they put up pictures along with Facts and Figures of large wooden roller coasters at other Six Flags parks (Colossus, Great American Scream Machine in GA, Texas Giant), they also had a sign up in the front of the station saying "Giant Coaster 1917-1984, Wild One, 1985-Present", I thought that was cool. It used to be at a park in MA. I did tower of doom after that since it was a walk on, and then headed to lunch.
After lunch at Panda Express, I decided to let the nausea go down a little more by blowing some time in the arcade, I first looked at the one by Shipwreck Falls, nothing really interested me, so I went to Coyote Creek. This is where something really funny happened. I saw one of those "Dance Dan
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Fedor
Posts: 59
Registered: 5/5/2006
Rank: Senior Critic
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5/14/2006 11:18:16 PM
Hey, what mall do you play DDR at? I used to go to the Virginia Center Commons Mall every week and play DDR. There were usually 5 guys better than me.
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Fedor
Posts: 59
Registered: 5/5/2006
Rank: Senior Critic
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5/14/2006 11:20:32 PM
Ok, you went today? And it was not busy at all? Thats cool, maybe I should get a pass to there after all if rides are walk-ons like that. But still, the way you describe this place sounds like they don't operate it very well.
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Fedor
Posts: 59
Registered: 5/5/2006
Rank: Senior Critic
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5/14/2006 11:23:47 PM
The collection of coasters sound great though. I'll probably get a pass there just cuz of the variety of different types of coasters. If you buy a certain pass, is it free parking or do you ALWAYS have to pay for parking. If you always pay for parking, I probably won't do it. thats like $40 a visit for gas and parking after paying for a pass.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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5/16/2006 10:51:48 AM
Nice trip report. Ya the coaster came from Paragon Park in Hull MA. Never went to this park. too far away. It like many of the closed parks in NE are now Condos.
SFAm really looks like it could be so much more. there is no reason to have that level of down time. but I can understand the Removal of the train. why have uneeded wear and tear.
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ABR
Posts: 277
Registered: 3/22/2003
Rank: Silver Critic
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5/16/2006 10:13:54 PM
You do have to pay for parking, however you can get a pass for around $50 (includes your first time parking fee) if you think you'll be visiting several times (the season pass pays for itself in one visit, the parking pass takes 4) If you do want to get that deal where the season pass is the same price as a regular ticket, you have to get oe before memorial day.
And about the walk ons, other than the first season the park was open as Six Flags (in 1999, when all of DC and Baltimore went crazy about having a Six Flags so close), I have never experienced extremely long waits at this park. With the exception of 2 face, usually everything will be 5-10 minutes assuming 2 trains are running on Superman and Batwing. I really do think that this Six Flags has a great variety of coasters. Compare this place to Kings Dominion. Sure, KD may have 11 roller coasters (and with the addition of Italian Job, and not counting the kiddie coaster or the closed flight of fear), but look at what they have:
Hurler, Grizzly, Rebel Yell, Scooby Doo. 4 wooden coasters, usually 1 GOOD one is plenty. I know many people are crazy about them, I think they are alright (every park needs to have at least one), but I like steel better.
Hypersonic XLC. Does this even count as a coaster? The launch on Volcano is kind of on par.
Ricochet, Italian Job and Avalanche. HOW MANY ****ING FAMILY COASTERS DOES ONE PARK NEED? Avalanche is pretty good, but not for major thrills, I didn't like ricochet all that much. Can't comment on Italian Job. But really, Taxi Jam and Scooby Doo ARE ENOUGH for the mommies and their babies.
Anaconda, Volcano, Shockwave. All good in their own way.
They also seem to have a few too many launch coasters as well, the lift hill builds suspense.
Let me compare this to Six Flags America:
Wild One and Roar. I don't really care for Roar that much, but Wild One is an old favorite that I like better than any of the woodies at KD.
Mind Eraser and Two Face. In my opinion, a park doesn't really need more than one inverted coaster. Even though these two are very unique from each other, and offer a completely different experience from the other. Kings Dominion has Six flags here.
Joker's Jinx. A typical steel looping coaster (every park needs one), except with a launch instead of a lift hill. A near replica of flight of fear, except it's outside and only has one station.
Batwing. A true original. None of the parks around here have a flying roller coaster. Great ride for this park, and provides a unique experience.
Superman. As you probably saw, I do plan on visiting SFNE this summer to ride the "Super" Superman Ride of Steel, but this ride is great. It's the one I could just stay on all day and not get tired of. Hyper coasters are my favorite kind of roller coaster, and since Kings Dominion and Hersheypark don't have one, this is a stand out as well.
So the two parks have about the same number of unique rides.
But when all is said and done:
Kings Dominion should have less wooden roller coasters and more of a variety of other kinds of coasters. They also need to do something for thrill seekers instead of constantly building coasters for families, that's what Disney is for. Yes, I am curious about Italian Job, but it's not going to drag me down there this season as a new high speed thrill ride would.
Six Flags should get a new ride (they are probably getting a heartline twister next year), since they haven't had one in a while.
Anyway, I go to the Springfield Mall in Springfield, VA. There are 2 arcades there, one has a DDRMax2 machine, the other has a DDRExtreme Machine and an In the Groove 2 machine. Great place for DDRers.
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