Welcome to my California PTR! It will be probably be quite long as it covers 6 parks amongst other attractions over a two week period but there will be lots of pictures. This first post will include the first park Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
So after staying over at a Travelodge on the Wednesday night following travelling down to Heathrow, my family and I including my nana and granddad flew to San Francisco on Thursday 19th August. After a 2 hour delay we landed in the evening in California time and got to the hotel, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf. We checked in and had tea and went back to the rooms ready for the first full day at SFDK.
The next morning we left the hotel in foggy San Francisco at about half 9 and we got there just before half 10. When I saw Medusa and all the other coasters appear out of nowhere as we entered onto the last freeway before the park I got really excited. It was my first Six Flags, it was a holiday of many firsts, and it looked awesome.
We walked to the entrance, went through the gates and went to season pass processing to get them all done, as we had got them to go to SFMM as well. Couldn’t believe how quick they did them really fast compared to Alton Towers, they were all done (6) within about 5 minutes.
After all this was out of the way, my dad and I started with Medusa. I couldn’t believe the lack of queue it went straight to the station. I think it was running 2 trains and we walked straight on the back of the next train.
So the first coaster of the trip was brilliant, really good ride. I especially like the first drop as it is really exhilarating and I also enjoyed the roll over element as it was a little bit different.
The part after the MCBR was also pretty unique and all together it was a great ride.
Next up was Kong. As I like Infusion I thought this would be good, but, it wasn’t. We were in the train with the deodorant sponsor on or something I think and I noticed there was a gap between the top wheel and track which made for a bit of a jerky ride.
We got on front row and again there was no queue at all. It was alright, but I prefer Infusion.
While my dad and I had been riding the others had been watching the whale show so we all went and got a coffee after. Then we went to ride V2 but it was broken down so we hopped on Roar instead. There wasn’t much of a queue again and we got on the front row in about 10-15 minutes.
Overall I thought it was great. It had a crazy out of control feel and I loved the first drop and the rest of the layout, the track seemed to just drop from beneath you. Although it was a little bumpy, it was a cracking ride.
By this time I think it was dinner so we went to Johnny Rockets. After it was the rapids as far as I can remember and I had no idea what to expect as I didn’t even know there were rapids. Anyway there were brilliant, they were pretty unique and the bit with the waterfall, people shooting and photo guy came out of nowhere. The boats were different than normal as well. Overall great water ride.
Next up was V2: Vertical Velocity. It had a bit of a queue due to slow operations, probably about 20 minutes. Got on front row again and thought it was amazing. My first Intamin impulse coaster and it blew me away. Love the first launch and the twisting hill, probably my favourite ride in the park it was awesome.
I went to ride Tony Hawk’s Big Spin on my own after and I got on after about 20 minutes.
I thought it was pretty good, spun a lot, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Maurer Söhne ones as it felt a bit slow and lacklustre in parts, but it was ok.
Went to ride Cobra after, not much to say really, was faster than I thought it would be though and it had a massive train.
The last coaster I wanted to ride was Boomerang Coast to Coaster, we tried to ride it earlier in the day but it broke down as we were in the queue. But I went back to it after Cobra and it was my first boomerang.
We sat in the middle of the train and I thought it was really good. Wasn’t that rough at all and I loved both forward and backward parts. Much better than I expected.
So, after Boomerang it was nearly time to go but I wanted to ride Medusa once more so we went back over to it. It had hardly any queue again and we got on the front row and it was even better than the back. The first drop was excellent and the zero-g was insane. Really great ride on the front and I also bought an ORP.
I really enjoyed my first Californian park, although the operations were a bit slow, yet I think I am used to different parks. However, the queues weren’t very big anyway so it didn’t really matter. Medusa, Roar, V2 and Boomerang were great. The park was clean, themed well and the weather was good while we there which probably made it better as well.
Ride count:
Medusa x2 (Back/Front)
Kong (Front)
Roar (Front)
Rapids
V2 (Front)
Tony Hawk
Cobra
Boomerang
On the way back got some shots as we entered back into the cloud of San Francisco of the city and the awesome Bay Bridge.
Hope you enjoyed reading and the next park is California’s Great America. Would you guys like me to do a report of Alcatraz and other stuff I did on that day including Golden Gate Bridge or just the parks?
So after staying over at a Travelodge on the Wednesday night following travelling down to Heathrow, my family and I including my nana and granddad flew to San Francisco on Thursday 19th August. After a 2 hour delay we landed in the evening in California time and got to the hotel, Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf. We checked in and had tea and went back to the rooms ready for the first full day at SFDK.
The next morning we left the hotel in foggy San Francisco at about half 9 and we got there just before half 10. When I saw Medusa and all the other coasters appear out of nowhere as we entered onto the last freeway before the park I got really excited. It was my first Six Flags, it was a holiday of many firsts, and it looked awesome.
We walked to the entrance, went through the gates and went to season pass processing to get them all done, as we had got them to go to SFMM as well. Couldn’t believe how quick they did them really fast compared to Alton Towers, they were all done (6) within about 5 minutes.
After all this was out of the way, my dad and I started with Medusa. I couldn’t believe the lack of queue it went straight to the station. I think it was running 2 trains and we walked straight on the back of the next train.
So the first coaster of the trip was brilliant, really good ride. I especially like the first drop as it is really exhilarating and I also enjoyed the roll over element as it was a little bit different.
The part after the MCBR was also pretty unique and all together it was a great ride.
Next up was Kong. As I like Infusion I thought this would be good, but, it wasn’t. We were in the train with the deodorant sponsor on or something I think and I noticed there was a gap between the top wheel and track which made for a bit of a jerky ride.
We got on front row and again there was no queue at all. It was alright, but I prefer Infusion.
While my dad and I had been riding the others had been watching the whale show so we all went and got a coffee after. Then we went to ride V2 but it was broken down so we hopped on Roar instead. There wasn’t much of a queue again and we got on the front row in about 10-15 minutes.
Overall I thought it was great. It had a crazy out of control feel and I loved the first drop and the rest of the layout, the track seemed to just drop from beneath you. Although it was a little bumpy, it was a cracking ride.
By this time I think it was dinner so we went to Johnny Rockets. After it was the rapids as far as I can remember and I had no idea what to expect as I didn’t even know there were rapids. Anyway there were brilliant, they were pretty unique and the bit with the waterfall, people shooting and photo guy came out of nowhere. The boats were different than normal as well. Overall great water ride.
Next up was V2: Vertical Velocity. It had a bit of a queue due to slow operations, probably about 20 minutes. Got on front row again and thought it was amazing. My first Intamin impulse coaster and it blew me away. Love the first launch and the twisting hill, probably my favourite ride in the park it was awesome.
I went to ride Tony Hawk’s Big Spin on my own after and I got on after about 20 minutes.
I thought it was pretty good, spun a lot, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Maurer Söhne ones as it felt a bit slow and lacklustre in parts, but it was ok.
Went to ride Cobra after, not much to say really, was faster than I thought it would be though and it had a massive train.
The last coaster I wanted to ride was Boomerang Coast to Coaster, we tried to ride it earlier in the day but it broke down as we were in the queue. But I went back to it after Cobra and it was my first boomerang.
We sat in the middle of the train and I thought it was really good. Wasn’t that rough at all and I loved both forward and backward parts. Much better than I expected.
So, after Boomerang it was nearly time to go but I wanted to ride Medusa once more so we went back over to it. It had hardly any queue again and we got on the front row and it was even better than the back. The first drop was excellent and the zero-g was insane. Really great ride on the front and I also bought an ORP.
I really enjoyed my first Californian park, although the operations were a bit slow, yet I think I am used to different parks. However, the queues weren’t very big anyway so it didn’t really matter. Medusa, Roar, V2 and Boomerang were great. The park was clean, themed well and the weather was good while we there which probably made it better as well.
Ride count:
Medusa x2 (Back/Front)
Kong (Front)
Roar (Front)
Rapids
V2 (Front)
Tony Hawk
Cobra
Boomerang
On the way back got some shots as we entered back into the cloud of San Francisco of the city and the awesome Bay Bridge.
Hope you enjoyed reading and the next park is California’s Great America. Would you guys like me to do a report of Alcatraz and other stuff I did on that day including Golden Gate Bridge or just the parks?