CoasterCrazy's SFGAm Trip

By Ryan Shrout

Armed with a COASTER-net staff badge and my friend's $800 camera, I arrived at the park about 45 minutes before opening. I parked along the back entrance road to get some seldom seen pics of American Eagle and Raging Bull, then it was on to entrance.

It was a great feeling using my season pass for the second time already as I had purchased it during their October promotion. It had rained hard the night before so as soon as the gates were opened, my room mate and I booked it for Viper.

The thing was like lightning. The ride op didn't slow the chain at the top like they normally do and everything from the double-down on flew by. Definitely one of the best rides I've taken on this gem. Since we were in the area, we ran over to get in my first Raging Bull credit of the season

One train wait for the back row and we were off. The Bull was just as powerful as ever and remains my favorite ride in the park. The one train wait we experienced there soon became the theme of the day as the Sunday crowd was light and the ride ops were fantastic. I only got stacked once the whole day and that was on Batman.

My room mate had yet to ride V2 so we opted to wait 2 trains for the front. And the ride did not disappoint. I always love that feeling of wondering, "what if the ride actually goes off the spike?" and seeing others' faces as the same though goes through their head.

We took a front row ride on BtR (hands down SFGAm has the best themed of this cloned ride) and was once again reminded of how good these rides really are. Its no wonder why half the parks in the SF chain have one.

From there we went back to the front of the park to take a front row ride on Superman. The 40 minute wait was the longest of the day and so worth it. Even though the SUF clones can't compare to Tatsu or Manta, the view is still fantastic.

By this point my room mate and I were getting hungry so we headed out to the car to eat. Then it was back into the park for my interview with Ms. Kelleher from the PR dept. and get some good pictures for our galleries.

The rest of the day was spend running ride to ride, enjoying the fact that lines everywhere were slim to none. We were able to ride BtR four times in a row without even leaving out seats and then finished up with a dusk ride on Raging Bull.

It was a great day and I am thoroughly looking forward to the next time I can get out to SFGAm. by which point Little Dipper should be open. And keep watching for more TRs from me over the course of the summer.