Trip Report SFGA - 8/8/17

[dougdrummer]

I brought my older daughter (26) to GA yesterday for the $9.99 special. We arrived there around 2 pm. My younger daughter (23) met us there after work around 6:30 pm - she has a season pass she got from a good friend that works at GA. Here's a list of the rides we went on between the three of us:

 

Nitro - 2

Batman The Ride - 2

Justice League - 2

Bizarro - 1

Skull Mountain - 1

Parachute Perch - 1

Sky Screamer - 1

Sea Lion Show - 1

Character dancing and photo ops

 

Here's a few tidbits from the visit:

 

1) The Log Flume was not operating - not sure why. I think every other ride was open, with the exception of Drop of Doom.

 

2) Two guys got on the Parachute ride before us, but the operator told them one had to get off. I'm assuming the system computes the total weight and decides whether it is safe or not. I'd estimate the guys were about 200 pounds each. Meanwhile a couple with small child next to us had no issues, and my daughter and I were fine (we're probably 320 pounds between us). I wonder what the threshold for weight is, and if it fluctuates due to weather and other factors. Also, I wonder if the big square black bag on the bottom of the seat was some type of airbag system in case a cable snaps or the ride malfunctions? If so, I wonder if it would be effective.

 

3) When exiting Bizarro, I noticed that my restraint only had one belt (I was on the exterior of the row) but my daughter next to me had two belts. I think the other two restraints in that row both had just the single belt. Any reason for this?

 

4) On the first trip to Nitro they handed out boarding passes, but later on they did not. Both visits had only 10-15 minute waits to board.

 

5) When it got dark after 8 pm, I noticed that the Big Wheel had none of its lights turned on, with only flood lights on it. I wonder why?

 

6) The Sea Lion show had two different women running the show this time. I think there were 4 women in the past. The show had some new features and seemed to be much more upbeat and entertaining. I was wondering why they changed staff? Do they move these people around from park to park? My daughter said that maybe the staff varies during the day, but I can't imagine why, considering they only do about 6 shows a day and they are only 10 minutes long.

 

7) We strolled down to the safari around 4 pm to check the line and it was 90 minutes. No thanks!

 

8) We used the lockers for the first time. It was a fairly user-friendly and good system. We only paid a buck to use the locker for 2 hours. We used it once at Bizarro and once at Nitro/Batman. It's well worth the convenience for a dollar, although I felt a little weird putting my wallet, keys and phone in the locker. But they were there when we returned!

 

9) Skull Mountain is a different experience every time for me. This time it just seemed more violent than usual. When we attempted to go in the middle of the afternoon, the wait was over a half hour, but when we returned at night we walked right on.

 

10) I walked a total of 9 miles at the park, according to my Garmin watch. My calves are still sore! This really is a huge park.

 

11) On our second visit to JL, it had about a 45 minute wait, and it didn't seem like they had the AC running inside. Therefore it was sweaty, and smelled like a locker room. At the end of the ride, the photos they showed of the scorers were not us. Either the photo system is off sequence by one car, or it was totally broken and just kept showing the same people each time. However, the scores were correct. Does anyone know where on the ride it takes your pictures?

 

12) My daughter noticed the cameras installed on the Batman seats in front of us, used for the video feature. The new booth at the exit shows your video in slow motion. There are two cameras per row so they cover two riders at a time, but you can see some of the third person next to you. The price of $14.99 was way too steep for me (they place it on a memory stick). I would probably have paid in the $5-7 range, but I'm pretty cheap. LOL

Edited August 9, 2017 by dougdrummer

[Yoshi]

The parachutes have a weight limit of I think 350 pounds, there is also a minimum weight possibly 150 pounds?

 

The extra belt on Bizarro is a larger seat. It allows the restraint to be considered safe for dispatch slightly higher than a regular seat but is still safe for anyone to use because it lowers to a normal position for someone not needing the larger seat. Most B&M inverted coasters, floorless, sit down, wing riders and dive machines have 1 or 2 larger seats per train. Batman doesn't since it is an older coadter although Raptor just added them this year and is only 1 year newer than Batman.

[dougdrummer]

The parachutes have a weight limit of I think 350 pounds, there is also a minimum weight possibly 150 pounds?

 

 

I did see some extra weights on the ground that they must add to meet minimum.

[scott]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. That's fantastic. I had a similar experience with the lockers. It wasn't bad but it would have been better if I had my wife with me to hold things. But then I would have had to carry the bag around the park.

 

I'm disappointed that the video is 15 bucks. I'm pretty cheep too although I might do it once just for the fun of it. At the very least I might get one video of the kids riding.

[dougdrummer]

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. That's fantastic. I had a similar experience with the lockers. It wasn't bad but it would have been better if I had my wife with me to hold things. But then I would have had to carry the bag around the park.

 

I'm disappointed that the video is 15 bucks. I'm pretty cheep too although I might do it once just for the fun of it. At the very least I might get one video of the kids riding.

Check the quality of the video first. If the coaster is going away from the sun, you can't see the riders very well. I'm also not sure how well it comes out at night. We rode it just before dusk and the quality was decent.