SFDK Photo TR/ Sky Screamer Review!

This visit was on May 31, 2011. I will say, the place was packed. I was traveling in a very large group (something I cannot stand doing), and, due to crowds and group setbacks, I managed a whopping five rides all day. Waits were over an hour for nearly every coaster, and nearly two hours for Medusa.

However, this is enough of an introduction. Now for my Sky Screamer review!

As I mentioned earlier, I hate traveling to theme parks in large groups (unless that group happens to be one of TPR members). Most everyone in this group was visiting the park for their first time, and pretty much everyone was afraid to ride Sky Screamer.

After each of us had gotten in our rides, we all looked at each other. The opinion of this ride among our group was mostly a unanimous "was that it?". The ride is usually classified as an "extreme chairswing." However, to me, it was nothing more than a "high elevated normal chairswing." To place into more perspective how tame this ride actually is, i have a specific anecdote.

I knew someone who was showing great fear prior to the boarding of this attraction, and, after the end, she had realized there was nothing to worry about. Sounds simple, right? Well, after we split the group, we returned to out meeting position at the end of the day, and I had a twenty-minute conversation with her on how she had to be pressured into going on Boomerang. However, after riding it, she thought it was pretty much the coolest coaster ever built! This was no isolated incident. I heard many anecdotes of the GP being unimpressed with Sky Screamer, while believing the Vekoma Boomerang to be the greatest feat of engineering in existence.

Anyway, now for my TR of this mediocre day!

We arrived at the park, only to find it to be PACKED! The walkway from the entrance to the parking lot had people struggling for elbow room.

It is time for SFDK's awesome new ride (Or is it?)

Can each of those tiny chains really hold 800 lb? (Sorry ACErs)

Looks like we might have to wait! Turns out, the actual wait was only 45 minutes. (Medusa was nearly a two-hour wait)

Kong, through the chains!

Zero Gee! (You can get some really awesoms shots of Medusa from Sky Screamer's queue!)

Twisty!

Medusa, through the canopy! (SFDK really needs more trees)

Is this one a "through the fence" shot?

Sky Screamer doing its thing!

It always stalls about 10-20 feet off the ground, to allow swinging to stop.

My final verdict: this ride is just so boring! Pretty much everyone who I would classify as GP prefered Boomerang (!) to this. I might actually agree with them! (For one particular anecdote, refer to the text above)

After spliting the group and eating lunch (waiting for everyone to finish), I headed over to V2. (Wait was about 45 min.)

V2's Unique Twist

Isn't it quite odd for a steel coaster to use a wood matinence platform?

After a quick ride on Pandemonium, it was time to brave the Medusa line (it was a bit shorter than before) It should have only been this long, but several delays made it last nearly two hours for me.

On pretty much every cycle, the two trains were stacked. Okay, but that is very "Six Flags"

Eventually, there was a minor breakdown. After 10 minutes, they began running one train empty, one train full!

Shortly after they got the second train running full again, they announced that they would ba adding the third train. This delay took about 15 minutes.

As it would turn out, the addition of the third train did not help anything at all. On every cycle, all three trains were stacked, resulting in absolutly no improvment over running two trains.

This was quite funny. Why would a SF park show a commercial featuring a Cedar Fair coaster?

This sign I found to be quite funny. It basically said "This park sucks. Try to win a trip to SFOT instead." (Don't all SF parks have this now?"

Gotta love the expensive theming SF puts into their rides! (This was pretty much the worst I have seen the park in all my visits)

After my front-seat ride on Medusa, I strolled over to Roar. It broke down, though. They were cycling empty trains shortly after I queued.

However, they began running full trains again, so I got in one quick ride before leaving. I pretty much gave you an entire trip report, with all five rides I went on. (Although I did not get a picture of Pandemonium). I did not ride the two Vekomas (for obvious reasons, to an enthusiast). Overall, I cannot state in any other way that I thought this was the least enjoyable visit I have had to the park. Gum and trash were everywhere and lines were very long with slow dispatches. Sky Screamer also seems quite overhyped, to say the least. I bid you a farewell on this TR, and I do not recomend visiting SFDK anytime soon without a Flashpass.

I watched the POV TPR posted on Facebook earlier and I had the same thoughts, just a really high chair swing, sans the tilting motion the smaller counterparts offer. The tilt (in my opinion) seems to add some variation to the ride thus making it more exciting...much like riding a horse that moves up and down vs the carriages that are simply fixed to the platform. Still, I'd like to try it out to see how it really is but I wouldn't rank it as an extreme ride, more of a relaxing 'open air' ride offering amazing views. I typically ride wave swingers after my feet are tired and I need to get off of them for a bit and just chill. Also great for drying off. I guess I'll be riding this in August when the TPR weekend happens.

What a shame... I hate taking a day off and spending hundreds to ride a measly 5 rides. That happens to me all the time. You figured that the new ride would reduce lines for Medusa, thought wrong I guess!

CGA thank you very much. Where this kind of stuff dosen't happen.

^^^Exactly! A tilt is exactly what this ride needs to be complete! A lack of variation is probably the ride's largest flaw. After the 2nd or 3rd cycle, you have pretty much seen all the ride has to offer. If Funtime could figure out how to add a tilt to one of these, the excitment would significantly improve! Currently, the ride is all bark and no bite. Many experienced riders were too afraid to ride this. However, even people afraid to ride Boomerangs could ride this with ease.

^^The same thing happened at the opening of S:EFK (also WCB day). Superman's wait was only 60-90 minutes. However, X2 and Apoc both had two-hour waits, with Tatsu imposing a ticket system (due to 1 train operations) Even Viper had a full queue at one point! (Seriously. When was the last time anybody waited more than 10 minutes to ride that!?)

^The tilting of swings: the number 1 reason why my dad won't ride a standard wave swinger. He's cool with going in circles after getting over the fact of a thin chain holding you in place but once the tilt happens that's where he will draw the line. I'm now anxious to see how well of feedback the Windseekers will receive among the TPR community.

CGA thank you very much. Where this kind of stuff dosen't happen.

Right? I usually finish a day at CGA with close to 30 rides depending on how much I push it. But that's spending an entire day there. I do remember the days of leaving only hitting 10 rides tops...which was a bit depressing for me as a kid.

I will never forget one of our visits to SFDK on Memorial Day where we got there about noon and ended up parking in the overflow lot (which was filling up fast). On our way into the park, we saw a drunk guy getting escorted...a clear indicator of a letdown day at the park. When we got in, lines were over an hour. V2 was just getting vertical construction. That time, I think we only got on 5 rides. I was definitely glad we had season passes and this wasn't just a regular admission. I also won't forget our visit during Frightfest in 2000 or so when Medusa's queue was using all switchbacks...took us what seemed an eternity to get through, and was happy once we got to the stairs going up to the station.

^You kind of just proved my point. CGA IMO does a better job at preventing experiences like that from happening. SFDK does a bad job at managing crowds compared to other Six Flags parks. 10 rides at CGA? I'd be happy if I got on half of that at SFDK with the crowds way have been (and operations). And I live 15 minutes away!

^I will say, Great America does have better operations than SFDK. This, combined with the lack of new rides, generally result in shorter lines. Ten rides at CGA? Sounds like a good day at SFDK. Could this be the wordt SF park, behind SFA and SFLR? It is not very clean, dispatches are very slow, and the coaster lineup is not really too inspiring. The only perk is how they have a slightly larger percentage of family rides compared to other SF parks. I would much rather go to CGA, as it has the undisputed best coaster in the area.

SFA was actually a decent park in terms of employee helpfulness. Operations at Medusa have always been horrible when I've gone to SFDK. Krypton coaster at SFOT had 1 person checking restraints when I visited and didn't stack trains once.

^I will say, Great America does have better operations than SFDK. This, combined with the lack of new rides, generally result in shorter lines. Ten rides at CGA? Sounds like a good day at SFDK. Could this be the wordt SF park, behind SFA and SFLR? It is not very clean, dispatches are very slow, and the coaster lineup is not really too inspiring. The only perk is how they have a slightly larger percentage of family rides compared to other SF parks. I would much rather go to CGA, as it has the undisputed best coaster in the area.

Isn't that the truth! I 100% agree with this. SFDK has a rowdy atmosphere, employees that don't know what they're doing. Plus, who wants an theme park in Vallejo?! That's a horible spot for anything fun! And with that, not much more needs to be said. If you don't understand what I mean, please read MeSum1's post instead.

^I agree with you as well. SFDK looks very much like a "permanant carnival," with games and rides placed wherever they will fit. There is little shade, few trees, and cleanliness leaves A LOT to be desired. Although all coasters were running their maximum number of trains, I did not go on a single, multi-train ride where all the trains were not stacked. Great America has more trees and scenery, as well as some rides being well intertwined in them (Flight Deck, Demon, or possibly even Grizzly). Also, the park was a hell of a lot cleaner on my one visit to Great America than it has been in all my SFDK visits, even though my CGA visit was busier than some of my SFDK visits!

I have another interesting story I did not include in this TR. I came VERY close to purchasing a flashpass. (I have never done so before.) I went to ask one employee where the Flashpass office was. She did not even know where it was. Instead, I was directed to another employee who did know where it was. What!? The Flashpass is one of Six Flags's main sources of profit. How can an employee not know where the office is!? (This was especially atrocious, considering, I asked this at the entrance, of which the office is just behind the fountain and around the corner)

Often, people complain about SFMM's slow operations. However, all I have to do is say to myself "At least I am not at SFDK." SFMM is clean, has some good vegetation in certain areas, and has better operations an employees than SFDK.

I really wasn't so negative about this park until this visit. I used to believe it had potential, but now I will likely stick to CGA, unless given the opportunity for a special event (Bay Area Bash, anyone?)

P.S. People often complain about line jumping at CGA. Well, I encountered worse on this visit than any to CGA.

To be honest, line jumping could happen anywhere...it really depends on the crowds that are there, and the types of crowds we're dealing with. Usually, if the park is full of middle school and high school students, there will be plenty of line jumping to be had. About SFDK, it wasn't originally designed to be a theme park (with rides), which is why (to me) it has this unbalanced feel...you've got a cluster of rides in 1 plaza on 1 side of the park, walk across, then you've got some more on another plaza. And in the back is where all of the flat rides chill out. Whereas CGA's layout is essentially a giant loop, you've got large coaster, some flats along the way to the next coaster, and so on...more of a continuous flow.

That's pretty sad though about nobody knowing about the Flash Pass, sounds kind of like a 3-ring circus or a game of telephone going on.

^While that does explain the confusing layout, all they really have to do in the front of the park is plant a few trees and plants and add some shaded canopies. These small investments would make the park look and far nicer than it currently is. There is little shade in the front of the park, which can suck on both extremes of weather. (On my visit, it was raining in the morning and the sun was blazing in the afternoon.) Also, I there are quite a few parks out there with poor operations that can at least boast cleanliness. (Cedar Fair parks, anyone?) You are right about line jumping, though. Most of the time, it is just people holding spots in line; the people who do legitimately line jump are mostly pre-teens, and can happen literally anywhere. I have even been (legitimately, I do not consider holding spots legitimate line jumping, even though it is still against the rules) cut in line at Disneyland! One of my worst examples was at CS at DCA in the Fastpass line; a bunch of kids who did not even have Fastpasses could sneak through the plants to the right of the queue, and be in the line!

I know that line jumping can happen anywhere, but it really is going to depend on what type of crow visits the park. If you're in SFDK, I personally find a lot of not-so-civilized poeple cutting in line quite often. It's always the young, immature teenagers. Disneyland gets visitors who know how to follow the rules and can respect them, but even there it happens.

^Really, line jumping depends not on staff and security, but on the quality of the people who visit the park. It is simply impossible to monitor every point of the line, especially in areas of which there are switchbacks. If you are a pre-teen--young adult who has a major thirst for adventure, you would much rather be line jumping for X2 or Tatsu over Space Mountain. I you are a more mellow, rule abiding person who prefers gentler rides like Space Mountain, you will probably find yourself at the gate of Disneyland.

I hate to stereotype, but this is usually the way it is. Not all people in the former category are rowdy line jumpers (enthusiasts, anyone), and vice versa. One incident I had was a summer weekday at Knott's. XLR8R, GhostRider, and Silver Bullet's queues were filled with teens, but I noticed little (if any) line jumping for these three rides all day! However, on rides such as Sidewinder and Pony Express, line jumping was horrible with eight-year-olds (from those stupid youth clubs) simply passing people to get to the front of the line! In fact, once an instructer actually cut the line with them!

Anyway, back on topic of SFDK, some of my friends actually cut the Medusa line! (I was one of the people they cut) They offered for me to come into their newly-stolen spot, but, of course, I rejected. It really feels awkward when you are the only one in a large group who understands the ways of enthusiasts, people who love to ride rides, but follow park rules.