gus1971

So cool!

This year I was lucky to go back to Tokyo Disney Complex again and also to have my first visit to Alton Towers and Phantasialand. So, top 10 coasters in 2017 (all new): 1) Taron (Phantasialand) 2) Black Mamba (Phantasialand; I found it better than AT's Nemesis) 2) Nemesis (AT) 3) Smiler (AT) 4) Winjas (Phantasialand; both Force and Fear, although I have enjoyed Fear better...) 5) BTMRR (Tokyo Disney) 6) Raik (Phantasialand) 7) Space Mountain (Tokyo Disney) 8) Colorando Adventure (Phantasialand) 9) 13 (AT) 10) Spinball Whizzer (AT) Unfortunately, I have reached AT in a very busy day and was not able to ride Air/Galactica, Rita, Oblivion and their Mine Train)

Amazing report! The pictures are mesmerizing... You're pro!

Thanks a lot, Elissa! So, KD it is.

Hi guys! I will have an unplanned trip to DC area later this week. So I am kinda reserving Oct 15 (Sat) to visit either Kings Dominion or Six Flags America. I haven't been to KD since 1997. So my last coaster at that park was OL:FOF. No Volcano, Intimidator, backlot coaster, or any other newer addition. On the other hand, I have never been to SFA. So I am looking forward to your advice on which park to should go. I am crazy for airtime (more than inversions). Unfortunately, my choice would have been Hershey park if I had the time. But I will need to visit a park closer to DC (2h drive is ok!). Basically, I believe it would be Intimidator vs Superman. Based on your experience, how bad would the crowds be during these last season weekends? Thank you all very much in advance for your hints. Best regards, Gustavo.

Hi guys, awesome to see the report listed in the main page. Thanks! Me too! I rode it in its glorious day and it was a smooth face-paced twisted ride that really got me thrilled. Now, it is a pain machine I want to skip badly. Anyone else has ridden it recently to corroborate (or not) with my opinion? Could not agree more on this. It is a very very fun ride either way. Although I miss a more family-oriented coaster @ SFMM (to me, old Colossus and Revolution filled this blank nicely in the pest), TC is thrilling and the green track is amazing. The odd, twisted, bumpy start also adds a lot to the fun. Now I am looking forward to riding other Rocky Mountain beauties... From all reported here, they seem to be doing magic with old wooden coasters such as Texas Giant, The Rattler, and so on. I am glad you are enjoying the report. Cheers to you all!

As a farewell to 2015, my family and I headed for a road trip in California, starting in LA all the way to San Francisco by the Pacific Coast Highway and then back to LA in 2016 early days. We managed to stop by SFMM and spend a full day at this park to get to know its latest additions such as Full Throttle (YOLO), Green Lantern and Twisted Colossus. Following TPR fellows' advices, we got a Platinum Flash pass that has entitled us to get as much rides as possible that day. The park was full but not overcrowded. Longest waits were for Batman, the ride (about 2h), Superman, Yolo and, as expected, Twisted Colossus. We arrived before gates were open and after getting the FP device, headed straight for TC to queue normally since FP allows only one ride on this coaster. However, I could not refrain from stopping by and queueing Yolo first, once its line was really short in the early day (about 15min). As Yolo was also a single-ride on FP, we decided to get advantage of it. 1) FULL THROTTLE - what an amazing smooth and fun ride. Launch was decent into the very tall vertical loop. Ride was somehow short to me, but again very enjoyable and thrilling. I was hoping more from the backwards launch, speaking the truth. The brake-run on the way down the outside loop hill was cool. Leaving this coaster, we went all the way to Twisted Colossus. Queue was still reasonable that time and we decided to wait to ride it instead of using our Flash Pass credit that early. 2) TWISTED COLOSSUS - we were so looking forward to ridding the new revamped Colossus, an old passion since “National Lapoon`s Vacation” flick. It was the best ride of the day. The coaster was not as intense as other SFMM ones such as X2 and Tatsu. TC delivered a top notch ride: smooth, fun, thrilling, great first drop, fun station-to-lift section, etc. My only criticism on this coaster is not the coaster itself, but, for some reason, trains were not running in perfect sync (second and third rides with no sync at all). I do believe the coaster is to be much more exciting when you do experiment the racing/dueling trains. And that was not delivered that day. The closer we got to that was to share the lift - while in blue track, with a bit advanced train in green track. So I do missed going thru the inversions all along the second train. Other than that, Twisted Colossus rules. After TC, we started to revisit the old coasters. 3) SCREAM - the brand new paint coat makes this coaster pops from the skyline. It was a cold and beautiful blue sky day, and Scream orange and blue supports and tracks were inviting any incoming guests to ride it. Although B&M is my third favorite coaster brand (after Intamin and Schwarzkopf) and that I do enjoy a lot their designs, for one reason I tend to believe that they are somehow getting lazy in terms of the coaster elements. IMHO, turns out that SFMM B&M coaster collection (Scream, Batman, Riddler) delivers very similar layouts and ride experiences: lift, curved down-hill into loop, Dive-loop / heart line flip... mid break run, 2 corkscrews, brake run. So all these 3 rides deliver very little variation in terms of ride experience. Point to the amazing high positive forces that Scream delivers in its helix. 4) APOCALIPSE - nothing good to say about this one. For one reason I tend to believe that SF take poor care of their wooden coasters. Not only at SFMM, but also at other of their venues. Wooden coasters are my favorite. But Apocalypse really stood for its name: it was almost the end of the world (at least it was almost the end of my day!). The coaster was rough and tough, as a mix of old Psyclone and Flashback. It was THE worst ride ever! And I do recall riding this coaster like 4 years ago and having enjoyed it quite a whole lot. The sound boxes were removed from the trains and I could see some nails needing hammering. I would bet trains had square wheels. OMG! It was painful and led my party to a collective migraine. We left the coaster feeling so uncomfortable that we had to stop and rest for a while and do easy rides such as the bumper cars. 5) GREEN LANTERN - amazing, amazing, amazing! 11 out of 10. What an wild and unpredictable ride, packed of intense forces and feelings. It was not totally new to us once we rode INSANE at Grona Lund. But it was so good to ride this crazy Intamin machine once again. 6) SUPERMAN - only one track was running that day, but I had the chance to ride it backwards for the first time. It's fun. Regular fun. 7) NINJA - the coaster was running fabulous. Although I am not very fond of Arrow`s, and giving the age of the coaster, Ninja was in great shape. A wild and twisting ride among the trees. 8) TATSU - needless to say this is one of my favorite B&M coasters. The pretzel loop is still very intense to me and I always feel I will black out when the train dives into this element. Not to mention that this beast flies beautifully along the hillside and top, mingling with other structures like the observation tower and Revolution. I do think it is in need of a new coat of paint. 9) GOLIATH - I love the first half of this coaster. Excellent drop, great airtime hill after the turnaround. But as all rides at SFMM are full of curves and helixes, I wish Goliath could be a air-time coaster packed of crazy hills only. The second half of it is too intense to me, with very high positive G`s and many twists. 10) GOLD RUSHER - painful. Seems to be neglected. As it seems we are aging fast, we did not have the stomach to bear riding X2, Viper and Riddler that day. So we saved these rides to a future visit. Flash Pass saved the day. Nevertheless, I must say day paying extra money per person for X2 and having only a single ride on Yolo, Superman and Twisted Colossus kind of upset me. Thanks to all TPR members who advised us to get it, in previous posts. Hope you all enjoy the pictures. We, for sure, had a blast at the park. Happy 2016 to you and yours! Wish you all a year full of happy thrills and rides. Gus. SFMM welcomes the Holiday Season Superman and Lex Luthor Drop Tasu More Tatsu Tasu sexyness Tatsu's pretzel loop Tatsu Apocalypse the killer ride Twisted Colossus has great trains A rare moment were traiins are almost 'n sync. Twisted Colossus waking up killer instincts in its riders. Scream Scream interlocking corkscrews What a coaster skyline! c More of Green Lanter Goliath Batman the ride Batman and my fave invertion Batman The main plaza Full Throttle is amazing More Yolo The crazy drop into brakes Because You Only Live Once!!!

SFMM collection. Added Green Lantern, Yolo and Twisted Colossus to my collection. Cheers!

Guys, Want to thank you all so so much for the advices and inputs. I've been a couple of times to SFMM. Not as often as I would like. So I am looking forward to riding the new additions such as YoLo, Twisted Colossus, Green Lantern and Lex Luthor Drop. All the best to you all!

Thanks, mate!

Hi TPRs! Looking for advices here: - I am planning to visit SFMM on Dec 27 (Sunday) on my way from Los Angeles to San Francisco for NYE. Any guesses how bad the crowds are going to be? Flash pass seems an option, but since it is bloodly expensive (and dollar exchage rate has skyrocket facing Brazilian Real) I would like to avoid. Main targets at SFMM: Full Throttle (*), Twisted Colossus (*), Green Lantern, X2 (**), Goliath. Checking the options, I would have to spend $250 bucks on top of park tickets to get Platinum pass. However, even the Platinum pass allows only 1 ride on (*) and extra fee for (**). Is that so? Is that worth it? Any inputs are welcome. Cheers to you all from Rio. Anyone coming for the olimpic games? Would love to meet anyone from TPR here. Gus.

I could list so many rides I avoid or dislike. But the top ones are: - Gwazi (BGT; RIP) for being so rough - Flashback (SFMM; RIP) for being so painful - Grizzly (PGA) for being so lame - B&M Flying machines with pretzel-loops for almost making me faint. - Small World (Disney`s MK) - for having a mind-erasing song that you'll keep singing along for 3 encarnations in a row... Event though, If I were invited now, I would ride any of the aforementioned ones now.. LOL Cheers from Rio, Gustavo.

Cedar Point Hershey / Knoebels and Kennywood Europa Park Alton Towers and, for sure, visit Tokyo Disney Complex again. Ah! Meet you guys personally and enjoy a TPR trip along with you.

Thanks a lot, Tea!

Hi everyone! I believe I will have a day off while in London and I am planning a visit to Thorpe Park. Does anyone know how bad the crowds generally are be on regular Tuesdays? Any need to get the "fast pass" kinda tickets? Also, what's the discount for TPR Members? Thanks a lot in advance. Cheers from Rio! Gus.