Homey G. Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Hi folks! I decided to do a quick Photo TR of me and Alicia's day at SFoG yesterday. This is more of a piggyback, I guess, of the previous guys TR of the park just 2 days prior. No need to rehash. It's also mostly in bullet form cause I accidentally hit the pinky button on my mouse, and lost everything so, I lose, you lose... we all lose.. But I still got pictures -Alicia and I were the participants on this journey to the drrrty South's finest amusement park. We got there about 11:45. No hurry really, after all it was 91 degrees and we both were none to pleased with the combo of sheer heat and sheer people in the park. -Solitary goal of the day was to get Alicia her credit on Deja Vu. We figured it was time since she was on her 5th visit in less than a calendar year without it. -SF forced our hand into getting the Goldbot because seriously, it was probably the busiest day I have ever seen there. That said, overall, the ops did a great job of loading peeps and getting close to interval on most coasters. That meant that Deja Vu was under 5 minutes -Mindbender was running 2 trains which was great, because that's easily the longest ride in the park when you include it's slowass lift hill. That said, they did great dispatches... til it broke down about 2:30. No clue if it reopened. You'll find out why. -Mindbender has a real problem with people not knowing which line they're supposed to be in. The normal line, which snakes back towards Freefall, is usually empty at the main entrance of the ride (aka under the ? sign), and the Qbot line is the closest to the station and usually has a line, so normal folk get in that line, only to be sent away. It was very frustrating for everyone involved. Most every other coaster has a completely different way of getting to the station, but these are literally side by side. Some folks waiting 10-15 minutes only to be turned away. -^That was a long bullet. -Skull Island is a HUGE success with the crowds, but I can see a few problems. First of all, their bucket that fills and spills draws a huge, enthusiastic crowd, which is good. That bad part is this bucket dumps a ridiculous amount of the wet stuff, and the surface folks stand on is a very slick concrete surface. It needs some texture to it for folks bare feet to grip or they need to put mats or tire-tread surface. SOMETHING. Kids have already been flattened face-first cause of the tremendous force and ended up with bloody noses. -Secondly, the entire Skull Island is wedged VERY tightly in a little nook between the Superman gift shop, GASM, and the Amphitheater. Lots of folks with little room to maneuver and navigate. Hopefully, they'll bite the bullet and rip out the Amphitheater and expand back that way. -At roughly 6PM, God opened up the heavens and dumped water on the entire state with an even greater force than that poor bucket and proceeded to completely show up Skull Island emasculating it. -Because we're stupid and had nothing else to do, we piddled around for basically the rest of the night walking around looking to see what WAS open. About 2 of the restaurants stayed open. All the shops (of course) stayed open, but NONE of the rides. Not even bumper cars or Monster Plantation. Boo. -At 9PM, we gave up the ghost, turned in our Goldbot and headed out to catch the tram back to our car. Except that whoever pulled the plug on all the rides, also did so for the trams, so with tired feet we trudged through water dangerously close to the tops of our sneakers. -That pond that had been drained, is completely full again. LOL to that wasted effort. -By the time we got to the parking lot area in front of Mindbender, we were greeted with quite a sight. The entire parking lot was at least 4 inches deep. With amazing high spirits after all this, we doffed our socks and shoes and took off through the Chatahoochie River v1.2 -Note pic below. That's all I have to say -Final ride total : Deja Vu twice Mindbender twice Batman once Skybuckets once GASM once Bumper Cars once Total park experience before rain - 6/10 Total park experience after rain - 8/10 Enjoy the pics! I don't wonder that anymore. ^That's your parking lot, folks. (Warning : old picture!) You know I always had reservations that this was a real pic of Mindbender... The drain for the pond that WAS drained. Well no more. No! They WILL reopen Superman with an hour left!! Haha, good one. Ok, we're going. God opens up the heavens and commands "GO HOME NOW... but don't forget flash your SF pass and save 20% on all purchases from the gift shop!" Ok, this is getting bad... the line for the Dippin Dots stand reaches 8 hours. 65,000 pounds of water dumps on guests who scramble for cover. You'll be happy to know that girls shower cap kept her hair safely dry. Skull Island... but wait, the buckets tipping!! GANGWAYYYY!!! Alicia : 10 minutes I can do! Brian : I have the most spoiled coaster girlfriend ever. *Shakes head* Alicia : 180 minutes?? No way! MORE people that I've EVER seen watcching the comedy show. Corny, but cute. Two support markings in sequence. I'd draw it out the lift for you, but I'm left handed. Use your noodle. No honey, you're supposed to look SAD that it's going away! Closeup of stake bullying the poor Looping Starship. I see no reason why this stake (ST1) means that Looping Starship and the station can't occupy the same space. Lots of people being at the park while we're there is awesome. We're big fans. Schwartzkopf goodness aplenty! Normal shot of Alicia at a park when it's really hot outside. 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robbalvey Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Holy Crap! Those are some great pics! You do realize that if it rained like that at Knott's they would close the park for two weeks! --Robb "Thanks for posting a GREAT Photo TR!" Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 I love the shower cap photo...I highly recommend we all wear shower caps when going to waterparks and theme parks! Elissa " " Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moinab Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 After reading your TRs, I would think Dan could certainly benefit from packing a shower cap on your next trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mind Eraser Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 The best is when you see a fat woman at a waterpark, wearing a flower-print Moo Moo with curlers in her hair. Of course, her 8 kids are running around screaming and flailing about. -kip- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Hilarious TR! The crowds there didn't look near as bad then when I went to Great America- http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17274&sid=adf1e0e895addedbc22e991c3b7af897 Come on Six Flags! Learn how to manage the crowds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFanatic Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 They need to start selling Six Flags branded shower caps. I see a potential money-maker here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Nice TR Brian. Glad you guys got on Deja Vu ... We missed it by a week when we were there ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hattuchili Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Great photo TR. I really liked it! Thanks for posting. --Sören Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmom71 Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Wow! I don't think I've ever seen the park that crowded before!! The Gold Q-Bot was probably worth every cent for a crowded day like that... Thanks for sharing your great pics... And as for that old pic of Mindbender, after Hurricane Dennis's run through these past two days, I wouldn't be surprised if it looks like that yet again as I type this... I'm going to head off now to go clean the new pool in my backyard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 That's what we're doing and we're in Memphis! :shock: We got hit bad with winds last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgathriller Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Great pictures! I have never been at a theme park when it rains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homey G. Posted July 12, 2005 Author Share Posted July 12, 2005 Austell (where SFoG) is recieved 9 inches of rain and the Chatahoochie river (which runs parallel to GASM is at a flood stage. The park was closed today. Guaging by my pictures the park had recieved probably 3-4 inches tops by the time we had left. The flooded parking lot was caused by runoff from other higher lying areas. I'm sure that Mindbender is at LEAST as bad as that picture. Here is GASM with portions of the track under water. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/07/11/tropical.weather/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Wow, GASM is a water ride!!! Knott's would be closed for a year if that happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllisonY2K Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 when you see a fat woman at a waterpark, wearing a flower-print Moo Moo It was laundry day, I had nothing else to wear! anyway, wow, a repeat from last year when a hurricane dumped lots of rain in the Atlanta area. at least deja vu was running..that should have told you there was something odd about the day. great TR, great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaneymon Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 With GAMS under water its still rideabul just put on your SCUBA gear and your set to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homey G. Posted July 12, 2005 Author Share Posted July 12, 2005 ^ Can someone tell me what that says? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterCrazy Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 ^I think he said, Even though GASM is under water you can still ride it just put on your SCUBA gear and you are set to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Nice photo TR! I hope you got Q-Bots! I wish it would rain that much in Socal, I love rain! ---Brent 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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