Photo TR - Julie and Kevin tackle SFoG! 10/9

The day after our random fun day at Adventure Science Center, we started the day early to head for Six Flags over Georgia. I've been to the park four or five times and make it a priority to visit every season, but Kevin had never been!

I picked him up at 6:00am at his hotel and we started off in search of breakfast. We stopped at a McDonalds, where we both had breakfast sandwiches and hash browns. Just as we arrived, I realized that I didn't have my wallet, so we had to turn around, which put us about half an hour behind schedule.

We stopped at the Tennessee Welcome Center near Chattanooga and got chocolate milk, which has been the tradition for years now. We arrived at the park around 12:30m EST and ate a picnic lunch of sandwiches, cheese cubes, pickles and biscotti in the car before heading inside. They had parking trams running, which I'd never seen before, even on crowded summer days.

As we entered, we had the obligatory group photo made, then rode the sky buckets over to Cotton States area. Our first ride was Ninja since it was the first we passed, and it was a walk on. I'd heard the tip from bunches of people here that the first row of the last car was the best place to sit, and everyone was right! It was by far the most pleasant ride I've ever had on Ninja...I didn't get head bashed at all, and while it wasn't smooth, it was definitely rerideable in those seats.

Next stop was my baby, Great American Scream Machine. I love everything about the coaster. It is the consummate classic coaster to me. We rode in the back, and it still continues to pack great drops, tons of airtime and lots of speed! All the negative comments about it recently are completely unwarranted in my opinion, and this coaster kicks some major A$$. Kevin loved it too, and we both loved that we waited less than 5 minutes for it.

Superman: Ultimate Flight was the next stop. This coaster is in a three way tie for my #1 coaster (TTD and S:RoS SFNE being the other two). Kevin had only ridden two really crappy flying style coasters before...X-Flight at Geauga Lake and Tomb Raider at Canada's Wonderland, so I was excited to see his reaction to a *good* flying coaster Smile

We waited around 20 minutes for it, which was the longest wait of the day. Almost needless to say, he loved the ride, and agreed that it's barely even comparable to X-Flight and Tomb Raider.

We stopped to rest for a moment and got some Dippin' Dots. We both read the sign wrong, and we both read it to mean that a medium cup was $3.50. Turns out they were $6 a piece! Someone needs to make the sign clearer! Being too embarrassed to return Dippin' Dots, we paid it and sat outside. We chatted with a mom and son about coasters, and we encouraged him to try Ultimate Flight since it was his first day riding coasters.

We climbed the hill up to the carousel next and decided to ride the Rockin' Tug since Kevin hadn't ridden one of those either. Well, he hated it, go figure! We rode the carousel next, which is lovely, and includes depictions of Jesus making out with half-naked women.

We descended the hill, and headed for Canyon Blaster. This was the only credit in the park I didn't have, so I was stoked. Kevin found out the hard way that the lap bars are not male-friendly when the male ride op shoved the bar down into his crotch. His voice was still kinda high and squeeky last I spoke with him. Canyon Blaster is a nice coaster though...I was expecting something smaller, but this is a well fleshed out family coaster. It was nicely themed too throughout the queue and station.

We took in Monster Plantation, which is a favorite. It's so bad, it's good. It's so horrible, it's adorable. It's so ugly, it's cute. We waited about 15 minutes for it, so it and Superman were the only two significant waits of the day. Kevin liked it, and responded the way most people do to it....shock, mixed with horror, mixed with delight.

We decided at this point to circle back across the front of the park, then head to Gotham city, picking up the credits along the way. The next coaster was Georgia Cyclone...which has always been one of my least favorite coasters because it's so rough. Well, I'm not sure if it was what seat we were in, or if it's just changed, but it wasn't too overly rough this time! It shook us a bit, but it provided some absolutely insane airtime this time. I'm not sure if maybe it was always that rough, and I just percieved it as rougher than it was. Since then I have ridden Predator and Mean Streak, so maybe my perspective on what's rough has changed! Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when this coaster didn't beat the life out of me.

Georgia Scorcher was next, and it's a nice stand-up, but nothing to write home about. The g-forces make my legs itch, which is why I prefer Chang and Mantis to Georgia Scorcher.

I'd asked Kevin if he wanted to do the indoor Scrambler, so as we passed it, we hopped in line. We ended up waiting inside the building through three ride cycles before we got on. It's definitely one of the fastest, strongest Scramblers I've ridden, and the best themed! On the way to Gotham City, we got sidetracked in the old Great Gasp area by spraypaint marks on the sidewalks. We found the first couple of vertical pieces of Goliath, then watched a informational video about it.

We passed on Freefall and headed into Gotham City. We got in line for Mind Bender first, and basically walked into the last car. I love this coaster as well...truly a top notch coaster. I do feel sorry for it though, as two of my top five coasters are in the same park, so I feel like I don't give Mind Bender the credit it deserves! It's a fantastic ride though, with great drops, great airtime, and best of all, just those tiny little lap bars holding you in during the inversions!

We jumped into a gift shop for a bit, and made a potty break before getting his last new credit of the day, Batman. This Batman is good, but is only average compared to other inverted B&Ms that I have ridden. This ride was a true walk on, making us wait only seconds in the queue. It is smooth as glass though, as are almost all B&M inverts I have ridden. The gift shop contained many unique items also, such as a Vertical Velocity keychain and a Kingda Ka playset modeled by Batman.

At this point, we made a startling discovery. As we tried to decide what to get for dinner, we realized that we had inadvertantly been acting like Robb and Elissa all day! I mean, we'd started the day with a meal at McDonalds, had taken plenty of coaster photos, spent a little too much time oogling at the constuction spray paint marks, and had successfully credit whored the park in one day! So we said...Carrabbas for dinner! Might as well end the day the Alvey way too.

I said that if he didn't mind, I'd love to ride Great American Scream Machine one more time since I love that coaster so much. So we hopped on the Sky Buckets again and made out way back to Lickskillet. On our last ride, I decided to try and keep my hands up, which is something I almost never do on coasters. But I did it, and it made the ride even that much more fantastic! I will miss this coaster this off-season!

We were both tired and starving by this point, so we headed back to the front of the park. We made a stop in a gift shop where I got a t-shirt (which ended up being too small for me!!) and we found lots of random busts of Shakespeare and stuff in between all the park merchandise.

Our last stop of the day was at Guest Relations to see about getting directions to a Carrabbas. We ran into Mary and Blair working there, and they were by far the most helpful Six Flags employees we'd ever encountered! I had questions about the season passes for next year, and about Goliath and all. As Mary went to Mapquest to get our directions, Blair was asking if we were in ACE, and we said no, that we were in something better that was free and friendlier Smile

So we told him about TPR, and he promised to check out the site. We also said to look for his picture in a few days because I would be saying nice things on TPR about the both of them!

Mary came back with my directions a few minutes later, and we thanked them very much for their help. We found the Carrabbas very easily and were seated right away. Everything on the menu looked great, so we started with a sampler appetizer platter. It has some great fried cheese and bruschetta...and squid! Blech! Kevin ate all the squid, despite the waiter trying to get my to try some. For our entrees, I had Mezzaluna (chicken, spinach and ricotta ravioli) and he had seafood skewers with cavatappi. The food was great, but the herb olive oil and bread was my favorite part of the meal! We were stuffed when we left.

After making stops in the bathroom to "learn Italian", we started the four hour drive back to Nashville. It wasn't as bad as either of us thought since we had each other to keep each other awake. Once we got home, we exchanged digital pics on his sisters laptop, then said our good byes. We'd had an awesome day, and I was so glad that Kevin had enjoyed it. It's one of my favorite parks, and I was glad that it was one of his favorites too.

-Julie (Carrabbas pics will be posted later!)

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:44 am Post subject:

Great pix, as always!

Shari

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:49 am Post subject:

Aww, you found Viper merchandise?

I LOVED that coaster... ugh. My first coaster with a loop...

RIP Viper... 2001

Taiko Cry Red

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:59 am Post subject:

They still have Viper shot glasses and even shirts I do believe Taiko Rolls Eyes

About the Cyclone, its hit or miss. It can range from kick A$$ to kinda crappy, so you got it on a good day.

Blair is a pretty cool dude.

Nice report!

- Joe, who takes having Carrabas nearby for granted Taiko Laughing Red

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:05 pm Post subject:

You know, you have posted many great pictures and TRs in the past (including the infamous axe-murdering duck) but the Jesus picture is the BEST PHOTO EVER! Amazing photo. I'm still laughing...

dt

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:07 pm Post subject:

LOL!

I never thought it was a GOOD IDEA to act like us, but you made it seem fun! Glad you liked Carrabbas...

No mention of Acrophobia? Was it working? Did you ride? Am I just dumb and missed it?

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject:

That's great that you got a pic of some helpful employees at the park. I like that, when people are appreciated for going the extra mile (oh, how cliche') in being helpful, for your visit there.

And might as well ask now - having never had 'them'... what ARE dipping dots Question

Everybody takes theme park food for granted here, which is great (go Turkey Legs) but a few times I've seen things, like the dots and wonder, what exactly they are?

Inquiring old minds want to know for future pop quizzes. Taiko Happy

Great TR Julie w/Kevin.

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:11 pm Post subject:

Great TR, Awesome pictures! I actually like Ninja, I think its got a great layout, but anyway, I like to ride with my hands up on coasters, it makes my stomach not as ticklish as with my hands down!

Face Book · Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:12 pm Post subject:

OMG! That was hilarious!!!! Viper Postcards, pimpin' at Six Flags, and even some multi-colored toung action!

--Robb "My favorite was Jesus getting some action!" Alvey

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject:

Elissa - Neither of us like drop towers, so we didn't ride Acrophobia. It was open all day though, and always seemed full!

Bill - Dippin' Dots are little balls of hard frozen ice cream. We both got rainbow ice, which are like water popcicles, but they also have ice cream flavors like cookie dough, cookies n cream and mint. They're really great, and look like little marbles when you first get them. They are very, very cold!

-Julie

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