Photo TR: SFoG in less than an hour!

Well I was suppose to go to SFoG yesterday, march 11th, leaving my house at like 6:30 am...but after drinking saturday I FINALLY woke up about 1:00 PM lol. I was suppose to go with a friend who hasn't been since 95-96 and they did infact call but I dont even know what I said to them on the phone when they called about 5 something. Well we decided to head out anyway and I figured we would have basically no time in the park but I just wanted to go ride GOLIATH and I needed to renew my season pass, which I wasn't going to but the crafty Six Flags decided to send me one in the mail so I can be forced to renew! So I had mapped out the plan to my friend that we were going to get there, get in the park, ride goliath then Superman:UF then head over to Batman and if we were lucky Mindbender. We get there and some man is arguing at will call (where we had to purchase upgrades and tickets)...oh before that, my great experience started at the front gates where I was told to "just go ahead" instead of paying the small price of 15.00 to park! Well i'm still waiting and watching soo many trains fly by on goliath and some chick walks by with a name tag on dressed in regular clothes. I asked to make sure I was in the right place to purchase my upgrade and the first thing that came out of her mouth was "you know the park closes at 6 right?". I let her know that I basically came to ride Goliath (yep drove 3 hours for it lol) and probably 2 other coasters and she immediately stated "hummm...probably S:UF and Batman". I was like yep!!

 

Finally got into the park and went straight to Goliath. As far as the park for this season, I didn't really explore since I had less than an hour but from what I see everything looks the same with the addition of new paint all over the place and signs about home depot. Got to Goliath and got on the second train out in the backseat. My friend chickened out stating that he will catch the next coaster . That ride is really great. For some reason it looks smaller to me than last year it still packed a punch. After that we headed over to S:UF. Once he saw that he was like nooooo! Folks...the last coaster he rode was then Scooby Doo Ghoster Coaster now Fairley Odd Coaster @ Paramo.....uhh I mean Carowinds. Needless to say I had to ride this one alone also. Walked over to gotham city and went straight to Batman...which had no wait at all. That coaster is SICK!! The G forces on that coaster should be illegal. What suprised me is that they now have an onride section for the coaster (I have never seen it before). It was now almost 6 and time to leave. I was shocked at the characters at the front of the gate bidding farewell to the patrons but was even more thrown when it seemed like every office employee was all lined up giving their goodbyes! After being held up at gun point by Marvin the Martian I finally made it to my car and back home!

 

The only gripe I had about the day is that I had to take ANOTHER picture even after showing them the pass I recieved in the mail about a week ago...I STILL dont understand the logic in that one! But they made up for it for suggesting that I use the bring a friend free pass for the day instead of my friend paying the 49.99! Now the people next to me wasn't happy because they complained that they would have brought someone if they knew they would get in free...SUCKERS!!

 

Here are the pictures. This was my first time taking my cannon rebel EOS to the park and it was quite an experience. I am somewhat "skilled" in photography now and notice alot of things than before I started my photography classes! Enjoy! Oh yeah I basically used "auto" for the pictures so that can give you an idea of what is possible with that awesome camera without having to edit them to your liking!

Have to give mindbender some love also!

Thats the six flags I know and love!

Only thing missing is a train on the left side!

More loopage!

Man that coaster looks good now...really glad its a lighter shade of yellow to contrast with goliath.

Can I take it home...

Using manual settings now...the sun is no longer on my side!

I adjusted the shutter and film speed and sweet! A much better shot, the background is over exposed but my subject, the coaster, is perfect!

Using automatic didn't quite render what I wanted so...

...Still waiting on that logic...(for some reason I looked fat yesterday, and the say before, and the day before lol...)

me: can I take a picture w/ my pretend son?

Marvin: Hells no bro-ham empty those pockets! This is Six Flags fool!

...I wonder what the kid would look like...

Sunset.

You can sorta see the placement of the onride cameras.

Dear Six flags, you guys really know how to dissapoint people! You open this cool coaster with a great theme and then basically stop at that one...way to tease us!

Inside the bat cave.

No flash...

lol lol...no comment.

Lets play "Where's the rider?"!

Yeah yeah...

No comment...POS!

C'mon no day is complete without this shot!

Pretty pretzel but you can see the paint is fading a tad bit.

55mm zoom gets very close to the action!

Kinda an overview of the pretzel using a 18mm zoom.

Fly like an eagle...or a firehawk!

Overview.

That looks like a long way up!

"she'll be coming 'round the mount...curve when she comes"

Finally made it!

That place has some of the best bar-b-q but they were close.

Zooming in @ 55mm to get a closer shot.

This is where I should have used a faster shutter speed to freeze the train for better clarity but who cares im here to ride!

Wasn't as intense as I remembered

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee

"Hi...I like theme parks, however I dont like riding rides...can someone explain the logic in that. Until they do I will still come to theme parks and not ride!"

Ahhh...the reason I came!

Switching the angle, still using automatic, it renders a better shot.

Kinda overview shot...see what happens when you use automatic...the picture comes out dark because its based on 18% gray.

It's soo pretty now...

Hey whadda know! Scorcher has been painted!

Very nice. I have a Canon EOS 20D and unless I'm snapping pictures of random stuff or friends I try to avoid automatic settings as much as possible. Manual all the way!

Great photos Jarvis!

 

I like Scorcher's new paint, looks good, especially on the best B&M stand up there is.

I wish SFoG would take down the sky-coaster swing thing which sits in front of The Great American Scream Machine. It really ruins what used to be a very pretty view of a great coaster.

 

Regardless of what was said in the post above me, I think that's one of the most beautiful pictures youve taken

I love the look of freshly painted coaster track, especially when it's a B&M. I would love to get down to SFOG, mostly for Goliath but i'd love to get on Scorcher as well. I loved Mantis and everyone says Scorcher is so much better.

 

Great trip report, even if you were only there for an hour.

Manual is fine when it's tough to get the shot that you want but I stick to Aperture Priority to Shutter Priority. Even in full auto the shots turned out great.

 

I also shoot in RAW so I can make small adjustments to white balance and exposure afterwards.

OH MY GOSH!!!!111 I can't believe this! I was at SFOG yesterday, and I was standing right behind you to get on Goliath and I saw your camera and I was thinking "I bet he's a roller coaster enthusiast...maybe I should ask him if he's on TPR", then I didn't so...basically, I was standing right behind you when you took the picture of Goliath's station.

I'm glad you had fun with your new camera. Those were really nice pictures. Goliath looks awesome.

 

Sue Marvin the Martian!

 

-Luke

Is the onride of B:TR new? Didn't remember it there last year.

^ I think its pretty new...I have NEVER seen it before.

 

 

I'm glad you had fun with your new camera. Those were really nice pictures. Goliath looks awesome.

 

Sue Marvin the Martian!

 

-Luke

 

I was thinking about it! I mean when I woke up this morning and saw him on the toon I was watching...I nearly had cardiac arrest or something. I come to a park to have fun not held up at gun point! But I guess he feel that he isn't going down like tiger'r lol

Talk about ironic. I was also at SFOG sunday. It was my first time ever visiting the park and it was great. Goliath was superb. I have a new number 1 coaster. I was about to post a TR but you beat me too it. Glad you had fun.

man i'm thinking about going to sfog for a weekend some time in late april. and thanks to your great TR i now wanna go even more!

you would enjoy yourself alot. I suggest early sunday mornings less crowds!

Great photos, as usual, Jarmor!

 

One question... how the hell can the poor bastard see out of the Roadrunner costume??