SFGam Frightfest 10/14/2002
Had an awesome day at SFGam today! No injuries or drama went with the trip. It was pretty cold though and being the "irresponsible dude" that I can be, did not bring a jacket or any warm clothing. The temp was in the low 40's, still shaking right now, even though I go on and on about how I love cold weather. I am pretty bummed that there are only 2 more weekends of Frightfest before the park closes for the season.
Arrived at the park at about 1:30 pm today after driving through heavy Chicago weekend traffic, still made it to the park in 45 mins, and no speeding tickets!
Went through the parking gate fairly quickly. I love having a parking pass since the employees are always so courteous about it, get enthusiastic and go "Great, go right on through and have an awesome day!"(probably because it is less work for them when all you have to do is flash a card) Makes me feel like a VIP, definitely getting one next year!
Parked in lot 25, which is a fair distance from the park, but much closer to the exit for when the mad rush leaves at the end of the night(although I have devised a plan to avoid that also). Got out of my car, and immediately thought "oh S***!" as the cold air hit me. Since I park in an underground structure in my building I never have any warning of the temperature till I reach my final destination. Yet, I am too lazy to watch the weather. I wish I would've brought gloves or a thicker windbreaker.
There was no line getting into the park cept for the dude in front of me who kept making the metal detector go off. He went through it at least 10 times! Geez! It annoys me when people come to a park in a suit of armour!
Headed for the Orbit, an enterprise ride that spins you horizontally and eventually is fully vertical. It uses centrifugal force to hold you into your seat since there are no seatbelts to hold you in when you are upside down. Frightening thought but alot of fun if you don't mind the "spin-n-puke" rides. I think they rock!
Headed for the Demon next, which is still one of my favorite classics. I used to be soooo afraid of this ride as a kid and could not watch it go down the first hill. It is so small compared to all the other rides that have been built but that first 90ft drop hits you in the stomach more than the coasters that are over 200ft in the park. This coaster was perfect for the halloween theming and the tunnels and menacing look of the coaster get better with age.
Headed over to Deja Vu next which had a long wait, but this ride is temperamental and does not run in extreme cold weather so I wanted to make sure I had a chance to ride it before the end of the season. The line went fairly fast since I was chatting with people in line, specially this chick that was a bigger coaster fan than I am(if that is a possibility). She was also by herself and convinced me to ride in the front seat, which I had never done before due to the long wait. OMG, was the front seat wild! You could see everything and I almost fainted as we were being hoisted up the first tower backwards. The ground and people kept getting smaller and the only thing holding you in from a splat to the ground was the shoulder harness. It was alot of fun though!
Next, I headed off to Southwest Territory, the newest section in the park...
Rode the Giant Drop first, which is an approx. 240ft drop tower that raises you straight up to the top, and then drops you straight down so fast that you can't scream. The seats are pretty open which gives you an even more insecure feeling of falling off the ride. I still get nervous everytime I ride it, but nervous and scared are awesome when it comes to theme park thrills.
Headed to Raging Bull, steel hyper-twister, next. This coaster is stil a park fave by most. The first drop is 208ft, the second inclined loop is 159 feet, the 3rd hill is 144ft, and the 4th hill is 128ft(which is still taller than the average coaster's first drop). The seats are open-sided and it feels like there is nothing holding you in. It goes at a speed of 73mph(which is almost half of my driving speed).
Next went to Viper, a wooden coaster that is a clone-type of the Coney Island Cyclone in New York. This coaster is so much fun and you have no clue where you are going since you are twisting, turning and dropping within the structure. It makes this cool humming noise that makes it feel like you are going even faster.
Headed off to the County Fair area next...
Went to the American Eagle where the line was waaayyy to long, since they were only running the backward train, decided to skip it since I have been on it tons of times already.
Walked past the Iron Wolf next, which is the coaster stand-up coaster that I hurt my neck and shoulder on last week, so kept on walking past it.
Headed off to the Yankee Harbor area next..
Went to Vertical Velocity next, which is an impulse coaster that launches you out of the station from 0 to 65 mph in 4 seconds. It has a vertical spike and a twisting one. Rode it near the front and the twisting tower really gets you dizzy, which is cool!
Headed off to Batman next, a suspended coaster. By this time it was pitch-black outside and the coaster does not have any lights which makes it even more fun. The queue line is awesome since you go through a park with fountains and chirping birds, then go through an underground city with crashed police cars, a broken spraying fire hydrant, a junkyard, a high voltage power plant and then through an actual storm drain with a grate below you and a flashing generator. Finally you go through an enclosed staircase till you reach the bat-cave. This ride goes so fast and does not have any trim or mid-course brakes, you just keep going faster as you go through the circuit.
Headed back to Southwest Territory where I rode the Giant Drop 6 more times since there was no line, the last time on it I ran into those dudes from Chicago so we rode together the last time and then headed to Deja Vu again a few mins before the park closed. We all got the front car which was awesome!
Left the park freezing cold, but made it back home in shortly under 30mins.
