Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread

Possibly the shortest trip report ever...

 

Went to SFDK yesterday and arrived to see TONS of school and chartered busses. Went in the park to find thousands upon thousands of annoying unsupervised teenagers in packs. Checked out Superman and Roar and lines were crazy long considering it was just after park opening. Left after 20 minutes. Damn I sound old.

 

Took the short trip to the Jelly Belly factory instead, and a good time was had by all. Moral of the story...don't go to the park the last week of school.

Left after 20 minutes.

 

Wise move. I would have done the same thing.

On the park website, the Flash Pass page lists V2 as closed but the main ride page doesn't. Would any of you know if it is actually closed? I plan on calling later tonight to check.

On another note about V2, are its seatbelts short like Wicked Twister or long like Posessed? I get walk of shamed on Wicked Twister and barely fit last year, but last year on Possessed, the belts were very long.

I called the park today and was told that V2 is currently open. Also, which day would likely be more crowded - 6/14 or 6/22? (The 14th is not quite summer, but it's a Saturday, while the 22nd is early summer, but it's a Sunday.) Thanks.

On another note about V2, are its seatbelts short like Wicked Twister or long like Posessed? I get walk of shamed on Wicked Twister and barely fit last year, but last year on Possessed, the belts were very long.

They used to be only slightly better than Wicked Twister but earlier this year all the belts got replaced and they're all a little longer now (and also all the same length unlike before). If you were close on Wicked Twister like me (I made it but only just) you should be fine on V2.

 

I called the park today and was told that V2 is currently open. Also, which day would likely be more crowded - 6/14 or 6/22? (The 14th is not quite summer, but it's a Saturday, while the 22nd is early summer, but it's a Sunday.) Thanks.

Saturdays are almost always more crowded than Sundays barring events.

I was just there on Saturday (I'll post a TR when I get around to it) and had a pretty good time. My advise is to get there right away. I got there at opening and got on Superman three times, Roar, V2, Boomerang, and Kong without any lines. Medusa kept breaking down and I was able to ride it 3 straight times after it reopened. By the end of the day, Superman, Roar, and Medusa had lines of almost an hour.

Was at the park this past Sunday, it was surprisingly empty (maybe lots of soccer and/or Nascar fans tend to fill the park?), especially when we arrived a little after 11. Got a couple rides on Superman to start the day with almost no line, followed by Roar and V2. Roar feels better than I remember it being, not too rough and still solid airtime. The biggest downside was they were only running one train, so it had the longest line to start the day. Medusa had almost no line at all, to the point the operator was joking about how quiet it was and how empty the train was (he was particularly entertaining, big props to Neil). Took one more ride on Roar and one more on Superman, which now had a longer line, probably about 30-40 minutes versus the 10 minutes it was earlier in the day. All in all, it made me think I should go again while the World Cup is still going on (or just that Sunday morning/early afternoon is always empty).

 

Oh, one other thing, Tsunami Soaker wasn't running in the morning, but was operating in the afternoon. It wasn't quiet hot enough for my buddy and I to feel like getting wet, but it did look kind of amusing. I was a little confused by how slow it seemed to rotate and spin, though. Is it supposed to go really slowly? At times it looked like the "cars" just sort of sat there as people sprayed each other.

Sounds like you had a great day! As for Roar, it's definitely better, but it still could use a lot of work. Also, I honestly can't remember the last time it had more than one train running.

I have some questions regarding crowds at the park, as I was planning on going in August. Will the Discover Card day on 8/10 likely be extra crowded? Also, would the park likely be crowded 8/23? Thanks.

When we go on vacation every year in August we go to the park tue-wed-thur and so far every time we have done this the crowds don't seem that bad.

I have some questions regarding crowds at the park, as I was planning on going in August. Will the Discover Card day on 8/10 likely be extra crowded? Also, would the park likely be crowded 8/23? Thanks.

Sundays are almost always less crowded than Saturdays. In my experience the Discover days don't really add anything noticeable to the crowds. If youre picking between the two I'd pick 8/10.

The 23rd will be more busy than the 10th, but they are both weekends so the park will be busy. Discovery Kingdom is really nice during the week. Seems a lot less crowded than other parks during the week.

I guess it seems then that 8/10 would be the better day to go, even though more kids will be back in school come 8/23.

I guess it seems then that 8/10 would be the better day to go, even though more kids will be back in school come 8/23.

Theyre both weekends so school sessions won't matter

Was up in the bay area this past week and decided to stop by SFDK for the 1st time on Tuesday! Being as I had never been to this park nor had I heard of how this park typically operates, I left feeling impressed for the most part! Just a couple notes…

 

Park itself looked great in terms of landscaping and cleanliness. Operations on rides were good for the most part. Didn't see any blatant laziness. 2 trains running on Roar, Kong, and Medusa. Park was minimally to semi crowded, but the lines for rides were all pretty short. Longest I waited was about 10 minutes for Superman and about 10-15 minutes for the front row on Medusa.

 

Thought Superman was simply just a fun unique compact coaster. Roar was better than I expected considering the age as 1 of the earlier GCI models. I noticed places where it had been retracked and noticed a LOT of wood stacks laying around the infield of the coaster so some maintenance seems to be in order on the ride. Overall I thought it was very fun. The bottom of some of the valleys between hills were a bit on the rough side, but I can always enjoy a wood coaster that's like that. Kong was… well Kong. Ridden enough SLC's to know how to ride them with no banging around so I had fun, but definitely felt the jerks. Not a bad thing to say about Medusa. It was nice to ride an "old school B&M" design before things started going 'forceless'. Boomerang was Boomerang. And V2 was certainly unique riding in the front seat. Overall it was a fun day.

 

Will be interesting to see what the park happens to install in the future considering the height ordinance. If there's 1 thing I think the park is lacking in its coaster lineup, it's airtime.

^ Nice to see someone else knows how to ride Kong

 

Tough to get much airtime when your coasters can't exceed 150 ft. You can sometimes get a pop of airtime in the back seat of roar, but youll pay dearly for it. The only significant airtime is the back row of Superman on the first drop after the roll, that part is pretty fun.

Question - What is your favorite animal at SFDK? I like the walruses. Specifically Sivuqaq (siv-OO-kak), the male with mid-sized tusks. He loves to follow kids back and forth, and he'll clap his flippers. It's damn adorable. I think he has as much fun watching us as we do watching him.

 

By the way, the other walruses are the long-tusked female Uquq (UK-uk, rhymes with "hook") and the tuskless female Siku (SEE-koo.)

 

Also, does anybody have any info about Qiluk (I think that's KEE-luk, rhymes with "hook"), the walrus that died a few years ago? From what I've seen, she was a female who had mid-sized tusks like Sivuqaq.

 

Yet another "P.S." - If you love the SFDK walruses, the movie "Fifty First Dates" stars Sivuqaq as "Jocko" and the other females (including Qiluk, who was alive at the time) with cameos as Candice, Bernice, and Rose.

^ Nice to see someone else knows how to ride Kong

 

Tough to get much airtime when your coasters can't exceed 150 ft. You can sometimes get a pop of airtime in the back seat of roar, but youll pay dearly for it. The only significant airtime is the back row of Superman on the first drop after the roll, that part is pretty fun.

 

Lighting Run at KK has plenty of Air Time and it's only 100 ft, can be done.

^ Nice to see someone else knows how to ride Kong

 

Tough to get much airtime when your coasters can't exceed 150 ft. You can sometimes get a pop of airtime in the back seat of roar, but youll pay dearly for it. The only significant airtime is the back row of Superman on the first drop after the roll, that part is pretty fun.

 

Lighting Run at KK has plenty of Air Time and it's only 100 ft, can be done.

And Powder Keg is an airtime machine at 110 ft. Airtime has nothing to do with the height of the first drop, but the speed and angle at which the train crests the hills. As long as the coaster keeps its speed well, and has well designed airtime hills, there will be airtime even on a relatively short coaster.

This is sort of a question for awclark; how do you ride Kong? SFDK is my local park, and some rides on Kong seem to be better than others. Overall, I know it's an SLC, but if there is a less painful way to ride it, I think I'd really enjoy it.

Also, does anyone have any idea what the next rollercoaster coming to the park would be and what it could replace?

This is sort of a question for awclark; how do you ride Kong? SFDK is my local park, and some rides on Kong seem to be better than others. Overall, I know it's an SLC, but if there is a less painful way to ride it, I think I'd really enjoy it.

 

I know you said this was for awclark, but Kong always seems to be MUCH better in the front than in the back, and keeping your head firm also seems to help.

Powder Keg is an airtime machine at 110 ft. Airtime has nothing to do with the height of the first drop, but the speed and angle at which the train crests the hills.

 

Gold Striker is only 108ft and that thing has tons of pop!

Also, does anyone have any idea what the next rollercoaster coming to the park would be and what it could replace?

 

The next roller coaster will be an Intamin Aquatrax that will replace Medusa, Superman, and Roar.

 

In all seriousness, nobody without "insider knowledge" has any idea what the next SFDK coaster will be.