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Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread


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I went down on Monday for the season pass preview. I have to say both my kids and I all agreed that the ride was not that great. Even with almost no lines they both agreed that they didn't want to ride it again. Its slow, shaky, and has a short cycle. If it was twice as big then you may have something but for now its more of a kids ride (which is oddly themed to the least "kid friendly" character).

Ah, bummer! It looked like it had real potential in the render videos. The testing videos do indeed make it seem kind of sluggish. How's the interaction between the trains as they pass by one another?

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We sat in the front row on the right side train. I was hoping for a bit of interaction on the opposing train but I don't remember doing anything with the other riders. Once it started running it was so shaky that I was too busy trying to keep my head looking straight ahead that I didn't pay much attention to the other train. Its one of those rides that are really fun to look at but you really don't want to wait for if there is a line.

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^I was watching it test last week and noticed the train shakes A LOT when traversing the immelmanns/dive loops. I was hoping that was because the train was empty and that it wouldn't shake as much when full or riders, but maybe not.

 

These skywarps seem to be one of those rides that is really fun to look at and watch go around but, like you said, isn't as much fun to ride. I'm a little bummed I missed its opening by a week though, I would have at least liked to try it, whether it ended up being great or horrible.

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I went to DK on Monday. It started off with me bringing our 2015 passes instead of the current ones. D'oh! The nice thing is I was able to get my parking refunded and new passes printed out for free. I thought that was great customer service.

 

The lines were fairly short except when The Joker was experiencing technical difficulties as we were in line. I notice that happened multiple times with that ride. We went on Wonder Woman twice which is probably my favorite ride in the park. Superman was interesting as it felt like the ride operators were pressuring people to sit down and buckle up quickly. I get they are trying to keep the line moving but I had never experienced that before. Medusa was almost a walk on which was nice.

 

It was preview day for HQ but I was not interested. It looked so underwhelming in person and uninteresting to me.

 

I had forgotten how expensive food is there! At least we didn't have to wait in much of a line for lunch and got our food quickly. My favorite thing to get there for a snack is the mini donuts. That is always our afternoon snack and never disappoints.

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My girlfriend and I went to SFDK last Thursday. It was the first trip for both of us. I hadn't ridden a Sky Rocket before and I thought Superman was somewhat underwhelming. I didn't really desire to go back. Medusa was a lot of fun but was only running one train (they seemed to be spending a lot of time trying to attach a camera to one of the other trains). Despite a short line it was still taking 30-45 minutes with only one train so we only rode it twice. I felt like it was really smooth considering its age, especially on the inside seats.

 

The Joker, on the other hand, was awesome. It seemed to get better every time we rode it. The line was short so we were able to ride it 10 times. We thought the front was definitely the best seat on the ride, even though you miss the great first drop. In the back I felt like the pacing was just a bit off but in the front it was fine. You get some really good airtime and it packs a lot into a small layout. The ride ops though were constantly telling people to not touch the queue gates. And one time it broke down briefly and they even said that it was because people kept messing with the queue gates. I also noticed that there are a few gates for the ride ops to stand behind that have sensors, and they had to cycle those on a number of occasions before they could send a train. I've never seen anything like that before.

 

I thought the park looked really nice. There are a lot of trees and it was clean for the most part aside from the tree with gum all over it in Joker's queue. I would come back for The Joker since I have a season pass and I would like to ride Medusa some more, but not much else was very interesting to me.

 

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to say this. Kong is terrible. I've been on two other SLC's so I should know better by now but my GF hadn't been on one yet so I figured we might as well see if it's as bad as the others. Yep, it is. It's one of the worst rides I've been on.

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I hadn't ridden a Sky Rocket before and I thought Superman was somewhat underwhelming.

 

Very interesting to hear this. I visited for the first time a couple weeks ago and I LOVED Superman. In fact, after a sluggish ride on the Joker, it was my favorite coaster in the park. Joker sped up a little later in the day and after a great ride, that ended up being my favorite, but Superman exceeded my expectations. I definitely prefer it to Full Throttle. I am thrilled they are cloning these rides.

 

With that being said, I completely agree about Kong. After hearing about some trackwork a couple years ago, I was hoping it would be better than the two Mind Erasers I've ridden, but it was just as bad - if not worse.

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What is the latest on Harley Quinn?

 

They seem to have cancelled the video shoot for last week. It was supposed to be Thursday but I was there and there wasn't anything happened over there, and now that post has disappeared from their social channels. On their Instagram they said that they're putting some finishing touches on it after some technical rehearsals but didn't commit to any date.

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I am planning on visiting the park for the first time this coming Monday the 13th. Weather is looking good and the park is open from 11am to 6 pm. I plan on getting there at opening and staying for 4 to 5 hours. Is this enough time to get all the major coasters and thrill rides done (with some time for re-rides of Joker, Medusa, and Superman)? If anyone has any tips for me so I can enjoy my trip as best as possible and use my time efficiently I'd appreciate it. I'm assuming V2 will not be open form reading the forum which sucks, hoping that Harley Quinn will be open in time for my visit. Also since it's a Monday what should I expect for lines on the major coasters and operations? Hopefully they aren't doing one train operations. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

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I am planning on visiting the park for the first time this coming Monday the 13th. Weather is looking good and the park is open from 11am to 6 pm. I plan on getting there at opening and staying for 4 to 5 hours. Is this enough time to get all the major coasters and thrill rides done (with some time for re-rides of Joker, Medusa, and Superman)? If anyone has any tips for me so I can enjoy my trip as best as possible and use my time efficiently I'd appreciate it. I'm assuming V2 will not be open form reading the forum which sucks, hoping that Harley Quinn will be open in time for my visit. Also since it's a Monday what should I expect for lines on the major coasters and operations? Hopefully they aren't doing one train operations. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

 

I visited on a Monday a few weeks ago (7/23), and lines were VERY manageable. Surprisingly, Superman had the shortest line in the park all day. They were pumping out trains every 30 seconds it seems. There was a time in the late afternoon when there was absolutely nobody in line, so as soon as we parked back in the station, they asked us if we wanted to ride again and launched us again after a quick release and lock of the lap bars. It was awesome! It seems to be super reliable and it's an awesome coaster.

 

Joker and Medusa should be running both trains, but there's a possibility Medusa will only be running one since I heard they were a few days ago. Joker also breaks down fairly often, so don't be surprised if it's only running one train at some point throughout the day. Kong was also running one train when I was there, but the second looked full assembled and on the transfer track (the ride sucks though, if you don't care much about credits I would just skip it). V2 is closed, the train is completely disassembled in the station.

 

As for park strategy, after entering I would go left and do Joker first, followed by Wonder Woman (if you are in to flat rides) and Superman. I highly doubt HQ will be open, but I supposed hit that too if it is, and if you care. Then I would head back to the other side of the park and hit Medusa, Cobra (if it's open, it was closed when I went), and Kong if you want the credit. Don't forget about Boomerang, again if you want the credit. Both were one and done rides for me. By then you'll probably have an hour or two to spare, so I guess it's up to you on what you want to re-ride, if you want to see animals, eat, etc. I highly recommended re-riding Joker at least one or two times, it really warms up as the day goes on. Grab a back seat ride if you can!

 

It really is a good park. I hear people trash on it a lot (mostly on the enthusiast whining fest that is Instagram), but I was pleasantly surprised. Operations were MUCH better than expected, and despite Kong and Boomerang being terrible rides, I think Medusa, Joker, and Superman is a really solid top 3, and all three coasters had above average operations when I went. Have fun!

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This is a shot in the dark but I’m wondering who here - maybe Robb himself - remembers the evolution of SFDK as a random interesting animal park in Redwood City CA......before it shut down and moved to Vallejo....even before that Vallejo park was Six Flags....I remember many trips to Redwood City to see this park and then they added the water slides....that was great...Robb?

 

Would be great if they brought back the hot water skiing chicks that were a staple of the old Redwood City Park.....so great

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This is a shot in the dark but I’m wondering who here - maybe Robb himself - remembers the evolution of SFDK as a random interesting animal park in Redwood City CA......before it shut down and moved to Vallejo....even before that Vallejo park was Six Flags....I remember many trips to Redwood City to see this park and then they added the water slides....that was great...Robb?

 

Would be great if they brought back the hot water skiing chicks that were a staple of the old Redwood City Park.....so great

 

I have a very specific memory of this (growing up in the Bay Area). It was Marine World (then Marine World/Africa USA) originally. I went once as a kid and remember it as sort of like an old Sea World kind of park: animal focused, but then added a couple additional things, like a waterslides themed to a mountain (tiger mountain slides, I think?) and a few more rides (I can't recall exactly). No coasters ever, I believe. I remember the waterski women, and for some reason I was mesmerized by being able to jump into the "pools" filled with colored plastic balls.

 

With silicon valley slowly expanding in the mid-1980's, the land was sold and marine world moved to Vallejo under a similar model. Eventually, migrated over to what we have now.

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Headed to the park tomorrow with three little ones in tow, hoping to catch the credit for HQ but it said it was down today (what the heck is up with it?)... and FINALLY check out Wonder Woman. But I’ll probably start with Joker at rope drop (that’s still a solid strategy right?). Anyone else going?

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