The Official West Coast Bash 2012 Update Thread!

[rosscoeI own the website www.donkey.com]

A big thanks to Robb and Elissa for a great day on Saturday, my first ever WCB and had a great day. Only did SFMM and was happy with everything I got to do. ERT was fun, I would have liked some of the effects that have been done in years past. Next year will do both days.

Over all one very happy person, great friends, good food, new credits, a lot of fun....

One more note about Knott's:

I also want to say, separate from the even itself, it's quite obvious that the park has really turned a corner, and in a good way. I don't know how much of that is related to the new GM, but I really saw a difference in the park staff.

While certain rides have always had amazing crews (namely Xcelerator) I saw an improved attitude around the park on Sunday. Of special note was the Silver Bullet crew who was simply hauling A$$ all day. But it wasn't just about "efficiency", it was the entire package.

Not only that, but the park was probably the cleanest I've seen it in AT LEAST a decade, and because of all of that, it was probably the best "Knott's Day" I've had in probably a decade.

And while I'm still having issues reconciling the "I want to bring back the history of Knott's" coupled with "I want to play Ace of Base and John Mayer in Ghost Town" I'm willing to go with it for now because of all the positive changes I've seen (while hoping they will come up with some kind of compromise in this instance).

Guess that's just a long way of saying "Keep up the good work Knott's". Nobody wants to see you succeed more than your fans.

[SharkTumsSite Admin]

This is already a novel, but there's more to say and I wouldn't say it if I didn't care. I sorely missed Apoc ERT. We made the best of it, opening and closing the park at GCI's sexy beast. It left us hungry. Apoc was destroying in the dark!

I do want to put it out there that there were emails exchanged where I specifically asked for Apocalypse to be added to the night ERT line-up, among other things. While I personally didn't mind not having "All Coaster ERT" this year, I felt that another 2-3 coasters would have dramatically increased the offering for night ERT. I had put in a request for Apocalypse, Riddler's, and Green Lantern for night ERT. Apoc and Riddler's as they weren't on either ERT schedule, and Green Lantern as it was the "new coaster", I figured people may want to have as much opportunity to ride it as possible. (Had no idea the single rider line would be opening that day.)

I also asked about other things, like the water challenge that had been done at SFOG and SFDK, any kind of backstage tour, even if it was standing in a dirt lot like we have done before, and if there were any "re-themes" that could be done to any of the rides as they were done in the past.

While the park DID honor my request of having a season passholder price this year, which we did not have last year, I too felt that the night ERT line-up just didn't quite stack up to years past, and I most certainly voiced my concern.

On the other hand, Knott's not only said yes to everything I suggested (double the Xcel ERT, all the tours, etc) they kept throwing in ideas of their own to make the event even better! In fact, there were even a few ideas that we simply couldn't do this year, and I'm hoping we can put into the event next year.

I hear that everyone did have a great time at SFMM, but I hope for next year's WCB, they listen to what the group wants, and can do their best to accommodate. After all, we brought well over 500 people to the park, the majority of them being full price, non-season passholders, and I don't think that adding one or two more coasters for the evening was too much to ask for.

Let's hope for a better WCB in 2013! And to those of you who didn't go to Knott's this year, I hope you make that a priority for next year!

--Robb

I can vouch for Robb...we tried so hard with SFMM, but they really just didn't seem as into it this year as in years past. Even when we showed them examples of events we've done this past year at their sister parks like Deep South Bash at SFoG and Bizarro Bash at SFNE, they just couldn't match that level or quality of event.

We have other parks asking for us to host bashes and would love for us to bring them 500 members, hopefully next year SFMM will be more into it or we'll see a San Diego/Orange County Bash or back to a good ole Bay Area Bash!

[Jew"It's not small, but it is very 'average.'"]

^Don't forget USH!

[buckaroo234Holy crap you have a HUGE donkey!]

This is already a novel, but there's more to say and I wouldn't say it if I didn't care. I sorely missed Apoc ERT. We made the best of it, opening and closing the park at GCI's sexy beast. It left us hungry. Apoc was destroying in the dark!

I do want to put it out there that there were emails exchanged where I specifically asked for Apocalypse to be added to the night ERT line-up, among other things. While I personally didn't mind not having "All Coaster ERT" this year, I felt that another 2-3 coasters would have dramatically increased the offering for night ERT. I had put in a request for Apocalypse, Riddler's, and Green Lantern for night ERT. Apoc and Riddler's as they weren't on either ERT schedule, and Green Lantern as it was the "new coaster", I figured people may want to have as much opportunity to ride it as possible. (Had no idea the single rider line would be opening that day.)

I also asked about other things, like the water challenge that had been done at SFOG and SFDK, any kind of backstage tour, even if it was standing in a dirt lot like we have done before, and if there were any "re-themes" that could be done to any of the rides as they were done in the past.

While the park DID honor my request of having a season passholder price this year, which we did not have last year, I too felt that the night ERT line-up just didn't quite stack up to years past, and I most certainly voiced my concern.

On the other hand, Knott's not only said yes to everything I suggested (double the Xcel ERT, all the tours, etc) they kept throwing in ideas of their own to make the event even better! In fact, there were even a few ideas that we simply couldn't do this year, and I'm hoping we can put into the event next year.

I hear that everyone did have a great time at SFMM, but I hope for next year's WCB, they listen to what the group wants, and can do their best to accommodate. After all, we brought well over 500 people to the park, the majority of them being full price, non-season passholders, and I don't think that adding one or two more coasters for the evening was too much to ask for.

Let's hope for a better WCB in 2013! And to those of you who didn't go to Knott's this year, I hope you make that a priority for next year!

--Robb

I can vouch for Robb...we tried so hard with SFMM, but they really just didn't seem as into it this year as in years past. Even when we showed them examples of events we've done this past year at their sister parks like Deep South Bash at SFoG and Bizarro Bash at SFNE, they just couldn't match that level or quality of event.

We have other parks asking for us to host bashes and would love for us to bring them 500 members, hopefully next year SFMM will be more into it or we'll see a San Diego/Orange County Bash or back to a good ole Bay Area Bash!

As much as it pains me to say this with SFMM as my home park, but sea world/legoland/knotts as a bash or in some form, leaving SFMM out completly, or treating USH to some love next year with Transformers opening. I guess we will have to see what SFMM does. Im also mostly just pissed about the add on dinner that gave me food poisoning, although it did introduce me to some awesome people.

[JJ728When I grow up, I want to breed donkeys!]

I'd like to thank Robb, Elissa, and SFMM for hosting Saturday's event (I was not able to make Knott's this year). I had a great time as always!

I just have a couple of things that I would like to add as constructive criticism to SFMM's WCB. But first off, I'd like to say that I think the Q&A this year outdid last years with the amount of detail they shared and the volume of questions they took. The prizes they handed out made everyone go into total geek out mode, and it was awesome. Morning ERT was outstanding, and I appreciated that they scrapped Scream for Riddler's Revenge, taking into account the many people that traveled or can't make it to the park consistently so they could get their rides on the one train wonder. Stuffing your face with doughnuts for breakfast is a healthy start to an enthusiast's day, always a pleasure.

I'm totally satisfied with just four evening ERT coasters instead of the whole park, if they were "better" rides for lack of a better word, no pun intended. I would've traded Viper and Revolution for some Apocalypse and Ninja action. After countless amazing Tatsu rides, I headed over to X2. I really can't handle more then a couple rides on X2 (my fat A$$ gets totally screwed no matter which seat I sit in), so after I was done there I didn't have any desire to ride Revolution or Viper just to get hammered again. I guess what I'm trying to say is the quantity of coasters don't make ERT sessions, nor does opening rides that are just "nearby." I just don't want to ride Viper and Revolution more then once (as a matter of fact, I never ride them in probably over two-thirds of my visits). It's also very easy for non-locals and inconsistent visitors to get rides on them since there's hardly ever a line for them after the morning. Amazing ERT sessions = amazing coasters you want to ride again and again nonstop. Not to say that the ERT session wasn't amazing (hell, Tatsu was open!), but SFMM could have done so much more with the same amount of effort by opening different coasters.

[ChrisradJason X versus the Robot Space Donkey!]

^ I do, actually!

It was supposed to be 'Mr. Six' chasing the whole train, but my camera had to auto-focus and ended up only shooting the back end. Surprisingly, that ended up looking better.



Also, sorry R.D. - if anything happens to Revolution because of this incident, I take full credit.

[ChrisradJason X versus the Robot Space Donkey!]

Since I made my last comment late last night, after a combined total of 8 hours of sleep for the whole weekend (if that), I apologize if I was too critical toward SFMM. I should also take a moment to thank Robb and Elissa for the incredible effort they put into this weekend, and every other TPR event.


If this had been my first SFMM WCB day, I would have thought it was an absolute blast - the ERT, private lunch, Q & A, etc. However, based on my 2010 and 2011 SFMM WCBs, I saw the changes that took place this year. Additionally, I was at many SF parks during the TPR trips this summer, and I know what's capable when TPR gets together with a park.

So really, it was a VERY fun day at SFMM, but I did miss the tours and other perks.

Also, regarding Q & A, there were A LOT of questions that were dodged - I know of at least 4 or 5 from the people I was with that didn't even get mentioned, or scoffed at without answers.


For instance, I had a pretty legitimate question - "What's with all of the new JBL speakers and flat screens - they are in Colossus' queue, X2's, Goliath's, etc. Are they sponsored by JBL?" Etc.. there was more to it.. I guess my question had to do with the amount that the speakers/TVs/installation costs, when SFMM is/was having financial issues. Seriously, why would they put thousands of dollars in multimedia in Colossus' queue?

It's really not a big deal that my question wasn't answered, but they did read a card where someone commented on how nice the new speakers/screens were. I know I shouldn't bitch, but some of the more serious questions weren't even answered/mentioned. Don't get me wrong - it was an incredible day, and it is still nice to be able to have the Q & A session to begin with.




Knott's - if you're reading this - WOW! I would have gone to the Knott's day for the lunch alone - I can't even begin to describe how amazing the entire day was.

[MrSum1_55I just swallowed a whole donkey!]

As much as I hate to say it, it does feel like SFMM went a little light on the event this year. In past years, they have put on some much better events, and I was a little surprised there wasn't much planned for this year. They had only one backstage tour, and even with that tour, only a few people got to go on it. (I was one of them). I really hope this doesn't start a trend of a downward spiral.

However, I almost feel bad posting this, because SFMM's weakest WCB is still better than 99.99% of days of your life. (The other .01% is Knott's WCB)

At SFMM, I found that I was still in the park trying to get at least one lap on all the coasters well into night ERT. By comparison, at Knott's I had literally ridden everything worth riding by lunchtime. I know it is a smaller park, but Knott's offered more in the morning, making covering the park a lot easier. In fact, I spent a good portion of my afternoon at Knott's simply enjoying the ghost town. When I felt like riding something, I did. But, most of the time, I just looked in some shops, did some people watching, etc. This is strange for me since I am not usually the type of person who likes to ride rides open to close. Instead, I found myself just enjoying parks the way they were meant to be enjoyed.

In fact, Knott's seemed to have the opposite problem of SFMM's event. There was almost too much to do, especially in the morning. Substituting ERT for front-of-the-line passes was a really nice twist, but I think I would have preferred normal ERT. However, this did give us an extra 30 minutes, and the GP got to stay later.

The biggest dissapointment with Knotts' day was something that really wasn't the park's fault: Xcelerator broke down during the entire last 20 minutes of operating. Yeah, that's the worst thing I can say about the day.

[NyteowlWhat would donkeys be like on the moon?]

This being my first WCB I can't really complain and I had a blast, but it does seem like SFMM was lacking a bit. As previously mentioned though the add on dinner did introduce me to some awesome people who I ended up hanging out with the rest of the night and all day at Knott's .