PTR: San Diego 4/4-4/12

[nbadude44]

Introduction:

 

Myself, my mom, and my sister went to San Diego, California during Spring Break. We went to several amusement parks during that time, as well as many other places of interest. We got in many places for free! Here's a basic overview:

 

4/4: Arrival to San Diego International Airport at 11 PM Pacific Standard Time

4/5: San Diego Zoo

4/6: San Diego Padres' opener, historic ship

4/7: SFMM

4/8: Legoland, Natural History Meuseum

4/9: Tijuana, Mexico

4/10: Belmont Park, other random crap

4/11: Death Valley (Which was also my Mom's Birthday present )

4/12: Arrival back at JFK International.

 

I have A LOT of photos from this trip, both from a regular camera & my cell phone, so this PTR will be a Several Parter. Enjoy.

 

But first, some introductory photos:

 

A very...disturbing toy from the gift shop in JFK Airport.

 

A peaceful shot a 36,000 ft. in the air...........my sister was so scared during takeoff )

 

 

 

[nbadude44]

Part I: San Diego Zoo

 

Even though this technically doesn't count in a TR, but the place was so awesome I coundn't leave it out.

 

We arrived at the Zoo at around 10:00 and even the FRONT of the place looked awesome with a few bushes shaped like animals like this:

 

We immediately got into the park-no questions asked-because of special "Go San Diego" card we got so we could get into certain places in San Diego for free, albeit only working for 5 days, but it was still very much worth it. We immediately got on the bus tour that lasted roughly around 45 minutes that took us nearly everywhere in the park. I was luckily able to snap the following pictures:

 

Stealthy Hippo

 

 

Construction for the "Elephant Odyssey" Project coming soon.

 

A baby (seriously) giraffe

 

A baby (seriously) elephant

 

Someone just had a bath

 

Snoozin' Rhinos

 

According to the tour guide, koalas AREN'T bears. KNOLEDGE iS POWER!

 

After the Safari Tour bus, we had a quick, $35 lunch and decided to do some freeroaming around the zoo. And-naturally-I took more photos.

 

A lot of animals- like this mountain lion-were asleep the whole day.

 

And I do mean A LOT of animals.

 

Black Bear Camo!

 

Mr. Gorilla wants to keep our attention... and it's working.

 

I was chillin'

 

Lotsa flamingoes.

 

RED flamingoes, even!

 

One of my favorite parts: The Reptile House

 

Boa Constrictor

 

The "ref"

 

These overrated guys actually had a line! And was 20 minutes long!

 

And what better way to finish off a lovely day at the zoo than a peacock on the loose.

 

Overall, this was an awesome day the famous zoo, although tomorrow would be much more fun in my opinion.

 

 

[nbadude44]

Part 2: Six Flags Magic Mountain

 

 

Since we were in California, I made it mandatory for us to go here for the day. It was a 2 & a half drive, since it was from San Diego to around Los Angeles and we got there around 10:15. I convinced my mom to drop me off at the entrance while they parked the car, good thing too because they didn't get in for another half-hour! Since we got the tickets online, I got right in & went straight for X². When I got around there, one word came to mind: DAMN! The line was long as hell, & it went on WAY past the bridge to the actual coaster, because the train got stuck on the hill while testing. After about 5 minutes, I gave up & went on X²'s neighbor, as well as GASM's cousin: Viper, which was a 10 minute wait. Nothing much to say about this one, It's like 95% similar to GASM, except slightly taller, faster, and less of a headache. 8/10

 

After Viper, X² got fixed & the line went into the actual queue, so I went on it. It was about a 45 minute wait with 2 trains running. The wait didn't seem long because-similar to the Dark Knight Coaster- TVs were placed all over the queue, but rather than showing random commercials like DK, they showed videos of people doing "X"treme stuff while failing, like a cross of Jackass & America's Funniest Home Videos. The coaster itself is AWESOME! You never know when your going to go into inversions and the sound system was loud and intense, I hope the sound system for Bizarro will be equally awesome. Only problems, the ride itself felt short and the fire & fog machines weren't going that day probably because of the rain advisory, which was also probably why the Sky Tower was closed that day, too. Despite all this, X² is still one of the best coasters in the park & gets a 9.5/10 in my book.

 

After X², I met up with my family (who had gone on the Buccaneer-like ride 5 times in a row), and went on the Goldrusher coaster together twice because it was a walk-on. Nothing much to say for this one either, it's just a normal mine train coaster like RMT, a 6/10 in my opinion. I also attempted to go on Déjà Vu, but the line was too long, but I at least got some construction photos of the Terminator: Salvation coaster. While my sister & mom went on the Scrambler, Musik Express, & Fling-like ride, I went on my first stand-up coaster, which is also the tallest & fastest: Riddler's Revenge. Roughly around a 15-minute wait with 2 trains. Even though the coaster itself was good, it was actually worse of a head-banger than GASM at first, & the special restraints did a little number on my...umm...place plus, I got that dance music from the station stuck in my head for the rest of the day. But it was still a good coaster. 9/10. After a trip to the games section (in which I won a Bugs Bunny puppet), I went on Riddler's ironic neighbor: a Batman: The Ride clone. Just the exact same thing as our's, just a different paint scheme: 9/10.

 

Before we went to lunch outside of the park, I convinced my mom to let me go on Superman: The Escape. Even though the coaster doesn't go as tall or fast anymore, it surprisingly had a 30-minute line, which felt like it went on forever. The launch was still pretty fast and surprising, & I even tried the infamous "penny trick", which failed. 8.5/10. With my family still waiting for me at the front, I had to walk all the way from the back of the park to front, with tired feet, and on top of that, I unknowingly passed them & waited for them for 15 minutes in the parking lot with no idea where they parked! FINALLY after I met up with them, we had lunch at the Wendy's outside the park. Unfortunately, since my sister hates amusement parks in general, I was dropped off back at the park & spent the rest of the day by myself while my mom & sister spent the day at the movies & in a mall. It wasn't too bad, I got to go on a lot of coasters afterwards w/o worrying were they were & stuff.

 

When I got back into the park, I wanted to go on Tatsu, but the line was too long so I went on Revolution: the world's first looping coaster which was also featured in National Lampoon's Vacation", along with Colossus. Revolution (which was also a walk-on) was surprisingly awesome and the landmark loop was cool. 7/10. After that, I went to the other side of the park & rode Canyon Blaster- a kiddie coaster similar to Road Runner Railway- just for the purpose of riding every coaster in the park. Unfortunately, since nearby coaster Percy's Railway in the new Thomas Town section surprisingly had a height MAXIMUM, riding all the coasters wasn't possible . Then I went on Goliath, which is also one of the best coasters in the park, and is similer to Nitro, except made by a different manufacturer. The tunnel at the bottom of the hill was probably the coolest part, and I got my ride photo from it afterwards. 10/10.

 

After Goliath, I went on the only-until this May-wooden coaster in the park: Colossus. Even though it was a walk-on for the back row, only one side & one train was functioning that day, so I had to wait a few minutes. Colossus (like Revolution) was an awesome ride for it's age, partly because I was in the back row and the lap bar was 6" away from my actual lap. 9/10. After that, I went on Colossus' neighbor & Medusa's Bizarro's only mirrored clone: Scream. The only differences from its "predecessor" is the interesting paint scheme & the differently-placed ride photo; but like Medusa last year, Scream is in desperate need of new paint. 9/10. I only had three more coasters left in the park, and it finally is beginning to rain. I went over to ride the closer of the three: Ninja, a suspended coaster with an Asian theme (duh). When I actually got on it, I got wet from both the rain, and the neighboring log flume, plus the train went pass a goose that was standing 5 feet from the track. Luckily, no one ended up like Fabio on Apollo's Chariot & I went over to next coaster. 8/10.

 

The next stop for me was the tallest, fastest flying coaster in the world: Tatsu, which follows an Asian theme like Ninja. Even though the line dwindled from before, it was still a 20-minute wait with two trains. I went on the back row and it was EXHILARATING! The whole experience on the coaster was memorable and its pretzel loop felt very exteme and awesome! IMO, it made S:UF seem like a kiddie coaster. 10/10! After Tatsu, it was getting darker and the rain came down harder and forced several rides to close. One of these rides was the only coaster in the whole park I never rode previously: Déjà Vu. . So with half an hour until my mom would pick me up, I decided to ride Riddler again to waist time, which was less of a wait & less of a headache the second time around. After a quick trip to the main gift shop in the front of the park, my mom picked me up around 8 PM. After dinner at Outback Steakhouse and a 2-hour drive, I could finally get some well-deserved sleep in our hotel room.

 

Overall: 9/10. The lines and fact that I couldn't ride all the coasters sucked, but the fact I rode most of them was great and go was the day in general.

 

Ride Overview: Viper 1x

X² 1x

Goldrusher 2x

Riddler's Revenge 2x

B:TR 1x

Superman 1x

Revolution 1x

Canyon Blaster 1x

Goliath 1x

Colossus (left) 1x

Scream! 1x

Ninja 1x

Tatsu 1x

 

 

[29yrswithaGApass]

Great trip report from the zoo! Look forward to the other days too- hopefully you had your camera at the rest of your stops. Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

Was the gorilla statue hot like the sign says?

[nbadude44]

Magic Mountain Pics

 

X² from the parking lot (and from my cell phone)

 

Do we have any of these guys at our park yet?

 

Tatsu + Revolution + a fountain= pretty

 

 

Sky Tower closed.

 

*insert another outdated Soulja Boi joke here*

 

Quick, Robin! Into the fortress!...wait...

 

The Adventures of Buzz Lighty- I mean Superman!

 

This is now my cell phone wallpaper.

 

 

Tatsu's hill from queue

 

Cool ride sign

 

Even cooler ride sign

 

Me (brown shirt) chillin' on Goliath.

 

If only I waited another second...

 

The lone survivor

 

Cool shot of Riddler's sign at night & in the rain.

 

Terminator: Salvation construction

 

SHARP TURNS!

 

People working on the lift hill

 

Close-up of the first drop. Looks pretty cool!

 

A crane & the unfinished lift hill (left)

 

Random shot

 

 

[nbadude44]

Part 3a: Legoland California

 

 

We got to Legoland around 11 after a 10 minute ride, luckily, we got in for free because of the card I mentioned earlier. The entrance was PACKED with little kids & families, there were even 20 buses in the parking lot! It didn't matter really, we weren't there the whole day. Anyways, when we got in, there were already some cool Lego models like these:

 

 

We first went on the "Coast Cruise" boat ride, which was about a 15 minute wait. They had a lot of cool Lego versions of famous world landmarks, which I've taken the following pics of.

 

Sydney Opera House

 

Eiffel Tower

 

Mt. Rushmore

 

Taj Mahal

 

Last, but certainly not least, New York City

 

After the boat ride, we went walking around in "Miniland USA" and took some pictures of the Lego versions of cities.

 

Washington DC

 

The White House, complete with Obama, his family, & snipers on the roof!

 

Las Vegas (with the Stratosphere Tower in the far backround)

 

After a short time in that section we walked over to the Technic Coaster, a Wild Mouse which is sadly the biggest coaster in the park. Originally, I thought the line would be short because of the height restriction, but I stood (45 minutes in line) corrected. Like I said, it's a Wild Mouse, nothing special. 6/10.

 

Great, another "X" with a long line.

 

A car on the top of the ride.

 

The Lego-themed cars looked interesting, though.

 

After the Techic Coaster, we had lunch at a spotrs-themed place right next to it, where we waited nearly an hour for three stinking hamburgers & fries that looked more like waffles than actuall fries. After that, we went past the new Egypt themed section to a Midevil-themed section so we could ride coaster #2: Dragon. Despite the 15-minute wait and the fact that it was very simaler to our Blackbeard, it had pretty good theming. 4/10. After Dragon, I went on an interesting ride called Knight's Tournament, basically several mechanical arms spinning & flipping you around. It goes on a scale of Level 1-5, (5 being the most extreme). I wanted to go on level 5, but my sister didn't want to go on level 5, so she stormed ou of the line right as we were about to go on it. Even though the ride was only a minute long, it was still intense & easily the best ride in the park. When I got off the ride, I found out my sister nearly got me grounded because I choose level 5 & she stormed out of the park. I convinced my mom to let me say for a little while longer so I could ride the last coaster in the park: Coastersaurus. It was a 10 minute wait & it is roughly the same as Road Runner Railway. 2/10. I then immediately got out of the park, mom picked me up & my sister was pissed off at me for the rest of the day.

 

Sadly, the Lego "Coastersaurus" was the best part of the ride.

 

Part 3b: Belmont Park

 

Only myself & my mother went here 2 days after Legoland. We also got in here for free because of the pass. We got there around 12:30 and immediately had lunch of pizza because we were both starving. Since there's only 1 coaster there, that was the only thing I rode. The coaster, Giant Dipper, was a 1 train wait and was the most "expensive" ride there for the public at 6 tickets. I was able to go on the front row and the coaster itself wasn't half bad for an 84-year-old ride. 8/10. After a little while of stolling on the neighboring beach, we were on our way back to the hotel. Here are the pics:

 

A random Giant Dipper shot

 

Does this look familier?

 

Giant Dipper's hill

 

Peaceful beach shot.

 

Sea World's Journey to Atlantis from the highway & from my cell phone.

 

 

[CycloneMan]

Really great TR. I can't wait to read more =)

[The Master]

Good TR. It's been awhile since I have been to SFMM, I think the Skytower is always closed. When I rode X back in it's version 1.0 days it had really long lines. Looks like they cleaned up Goliath's trains, back when I was there in 2002 it's trains were covered in old gum.