Author Topic: 4/17 Photo TR (Read 8728 times)

ChuckR · « **on:** April 18, 2006, 02:41:54 PM »

To see all the pictures, click here.

I had work early yesterday and got out around noon. So I decided I would go to GADV with my cousin Ian(MForce23). We made our way to the park and got there around 1:30pm and parked by Kingda Ka to take some nice shots of it going.

I noticed that all the wood for El Toro and saw the trains in the distance. I also saw Vipers trains and Shockwaves trains sitting right next to each other.

KK was running perfect and also got some nice pictures of Scream Machine and Superman going.

As walking in, I noticed that the cake now has the 45th anniversary signs on them.

So we entered the park and headed right to Chiller to see what was up with Batman. The wait said 15 minutes, but we ended up waiting about 30-40 minutes for the back row on Robin, Batman was still closed. But the train was in the station with the lap bars up.

(Sorry for such the dark picture, but I couldn't get a nice shot of the trains because of the lighting in the station.)

Anyways, we exited and saw Freefall running but the line was pretty long so we opted to skip it. We then went over to Water Effect to see why it hasn't open yet and it has something on the bottom of the lift hill.

We skipped Batman and Nitro, then decided to take the long way passing Riptide(PSP) to Skull Mountain. There doing a ton of work on Riptide inside the station on the platform.

We went to Skull Mountain to find out it was closed and then the Skyride opened up just then. We hopped on and got my first ride on the left side of it. On the way I took some pictures of Flying Wave dissassembled.

I also saw Houdini was open and El Toro looks awesome from the skyride.
They were doing work on the second hill today, as well as the turnaround.

I also snagged a nice picture of BBNP from it.

Once we got off, we headed over to Medusa to check out the wait. But it was in the switchbacks, so we skipped it. While walking past RMT we noticed the Flash Pass signs which are much better than the Q-Bot ones.

We stopped at the lake and looked at them working on El Toro and shot some more pictures of it.

It also looks like there getting ready to pour the foundation for Tango.

Then I ate some Papa Johns. I had a souveneir cup with me so I decided to get the Super Slice combo, which came with a huge slice and a medium fry. I thought it was pretty good and if your gonna eat that, you are gonna throw down at least 10 bucks. Moving along...

We then decided to head towards Kingda Ka, cause most of the rides had lines so we decided to wait for the best ride.

The DJ was going and made the wait go by quicker. While in line, I got a nice shot of Toro's first drop.

ChuckR · « **Reply #1 on:** April 18, 2006, 02:42:21 PM »

After 2 hours, we get on the 2nd row of the green train for my 80th ride on it. It was great like usual. We exit and head out of the Golden Kingdom, while walking out I notice the turtles are back because they weren't there opening weekend.

We then head to Scream Machine and walk right on to the back row. Still intense and awesome! But then we noticed something we haven't seen in a while, the SpaceShip running! We go on it and it is a walk on as well. It didn't flip as much as I remember, but it was still good as usual.

After that, we head towards Chiller and see Spinmeister still dismantled.

We go to Chiller to see Batman not going.

So we decide to try Skull Mountain again. We enter the queue and wait one train for the back row. We get in and the attendant checks the train and start. We move up and get stuck, now the front of the train is maybe halfway up the first lift. We wait for them to reset it, but then they announce that Skull Mountain is experiencing technical difficulties. So alot of people leave the station and maintenance is called. They arrive and an attendant is sent to the other train on the brake run to talk to the people on it. They turn the lights on and ten minutes later they try to re-send the train. We move an inch and it stops. AFter this, all hell breaks loose.

People start sliding out of the restraints and demand that there children, husband, friend or whoever else was with them to be released as well. They tell them they need a battery pack to open up the restraints and that will be here in a minute. Then, people from the other train on the brake run slide out of there restraints and walk into the load side of the station and jump over the track to the other side. I couldn't believe this! People started yelling and the attendants were doing there best in the situation.

I mean, I was stuck about 170 feet in the air on S:RoS in SFA and people were not doing this. Finally, the battery pack arrives and they open up the restraints and people are cursing off the attendants and they leave. Meanwhile, they are giving out these yellow forms to everyone who was stuck to fill out. I fill them out and they said I might get something in the mail. Then they give me and my cousin an exit pass to any ride EXCEPT Kingda Ka. They kept saying sorry and I thought they handled the situation pretty good.

Well, it was about 7pm and we decide to use the exit pass on Nitro.

So we walk up the exit and get on the 2nd row and have an awesome ride. We then make our way to the exit and leave. I take a final picture of Ka running and we were off.

rjholla2003 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 18, 2006, 03:12:19 PM »

It's ridiculous how much people will put themselves in danger. Yes, it's not fun to get stuck on the coaster, but why purpously defeat the restraint? What if the train was to start moving as you were halfway out? I understand your shock at that Chuck.

stew560 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2006, 04:33:22 PM »

Sounds like an overall nice day. That SM story is very scary that people would actually do that!

As for El Toro, I predict that the turnaround will be done by this weekend. The difference since Saturday alone is clear.

I really Hope I get a chance to swing by this week...

ChuckR · « **Reply #4 on:** April 18, 2006, 04:50:36 PM »

They actually only have a little section left to complete on the turnaround. But putting track on is a different story.

KingdaKaRuler05 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:22:54 PM »

Nice pics man! I was at the park on Saturday, and I wanted to try the Papa John's Pizza. However, the prices were extremely high so we just went to our usual spot, Nathan's, whcih was good as usual. I'll try Papa John's some other time. I think there is one somewhere near my town...

Nice progress on El Toro. I think it is going to be very close to get ready for a Memorial Day weekend. It is just going to be a race against the clock now!

-KKR05

Bubba Z · « **Reply #6 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:28:48 PM »

Great TR, Hopefully I have half that experience tomorrow. That SM story is absolutely ridiculous. Well I was going to start a thread about what pictures I should I take , but you pretty much covered all the things people want to see. I think ?

ChuckR · « **Reply #7 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:35:02 PM »

With the way Toro is progressing, I think you will have no problem finding something new.

Bubba Z · « **Reply #8 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:41:51 PM »

I should have asked in the last reply , but how was the other side of the Sky ride. (smooth , scary , bumpier , same as the other side ?) I like the fact the cables don't get in the way now when people take pictures.

ChuckR · « **Reply #9 on:** April 18, 2006, 10:56:35 PM »

They seemed fine to me. I was wary at first, but it seemed fine.

PcMan · « **Reply #10 on:** April 19, 2006, 09:13:13 AM »

How were the Crowds for this midweek ?
I'm gonig on thursday with my 2 Nephews

any KK break downs ?

WadeJ · « **Reply #11 on:** April 19, 2006, 09:33:23 AM »

From what Chuck was telling me, he said that yesterday was awesome for low crowds. Apparantly a lot of kids already went back to school. It was apparantly MUCH better than Monday.

I think he also said Ka was running fine the entire time he was there.

Great update Chuck! Thanks for sharing and thanks for remembering your camera lol.

I may get up there tomorrow or Friday with how light these crowds are now. I was planning for Saturday but that looks like rain now

SilverBullet · « **Reply #12 on:** April 19, 2006, 11:12:51 AM »

Woop! Maybe Chiller will be in full force for the 29th when I go. I'll be happy if that's the only ride I get that day.

Great update Chuck. That second hill is heaven on wood.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #13 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:28:04 PM »

Nice TR.

Some people are so dumb. Of course if they would have fallen off the ride they would have sued.

Question ... have they had Shockwaves trains onsite since it closed, or were they brought back after SFAW closed??? I thought it was going to SFDL.

Bubba Z · « **Reply #14 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:37:56 PM »

Gregg, those trains are from when they scrapped Shockwave in SFGA not SFAW. And yes we had them since it was closed. I wanna say some of the body parts are now on GASM, but I'm not really sure.

ChuckR · « **Reply #15 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:46:10 PM »

It seems like all the harnesses for GASM have been replaced on all the trains.

PCMAN, supposenly KK ran awesome all day with only a half hour wait. But, it went down at 7pm and was done for the night.

WadeJ · « **Reply #16 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:49:02 PM »

I'm 99% sure there are parts of the shockwave train on the GASM red train now. There were some markings that I clearly don't remember it ever having before. Ironically, the red train gave me the worst ride I've had in years on GASM.

sir clinksalot · « **Reply #17 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:52:52 PM »

Ahhh ... that makes sense then.

Thanks for the clarification.

SFMM also had a Shockwave train on site I think it was last year. Probably used for parts for Viper.

SilverBullet · « **Reply #18 on:** April 19, 2006, 12:55:29 PM »

^Yeah SFMM got the Blue and yellow train and we got the red train when Shockwave was dismantled.

Just wondering Chuck, were you using a Digital camera, if so how many mega pixels?

David Jr · « **Reply #19 on:** April 19, 2006, 07:12:52 PM »

Red Train has always been rough, i try to avoid it at all costs.

PcMan · « **Reply #20 on:** April 19, 2006, 08:04:59 PM »

80 KK congrats chuck
I need 5 more for 80
maybe on thursday I can get those 5

I will be there and hope it's just as good as today
I should have a Tsunami shirt or ACE shirt on and two 15 year old punks with me.
I will be the old man waiting for the front seat or 2nd row for KK

ChuckR · « **Reply #21 on:** April 19, 2006, 11:19:08 PM »

Quote from: "SilverBullet"

^Yeah SFMM got the Blue and yellow train and we got the red train when Shockwave was dismantled.

Just wondering Chuck, were you using a Digital camera, if so how many mega pixels?

The camera that I was using sucks, the one I have is at my girlfriends house.

PcMan · « **Reply #22 on:** April 20, 2006, 12:01:42 AM »

I will post some pics tomorrow night if my camera holds out.

I just seen a 7 Megapixal camera for $192
prices keep dropping

stew560 · « **Reply #23 on:** April 20, 2006, 07:05:13 AM »

Quote from: "ChuckR"

The camera that I was using sucks, the one I have is at my girlfriends house.

<No Comment!> :twisted:

pcman, remember that a camera is not just the # of MegaPixels. The lenses make a BIG difference too! (For Zoom and Image Quality!)

PcMan · « **Reply #24 on:** April 21, 2006, 07:00:36 PM »

yep I know that
Carl Zeiss is always a good sign of some good optics.
I was just noting how much prices have dropped and megapixels have grown.
My first Digital camera 13 years ago was a 1.3mp Olympus that cost me $300 on sale.
It took great pictures and I still have it just don't use it much
Now using a 3.2mp Sony and a 5mp Gateway both bought around $50 on ebay last year. I use my 3.2 yesterday shooting some EL Toro

here is a shot of my 5mp
www.darktipper.com/images/Kingda/moviecam.JPG

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Author Topic: 4/17 Photo TR (Read 8728 times)