Park Review
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Vallejo, Califoria June, 2001 Ahh, it's good to be back home after a week away. I finally made it to SFMW for the first time since they put in the rides. We used to go once a year when it was Marine World Africa USA and I always enjoyed the park then, so much of my report is seen through that filter. I'll use a scale of 0-5, with 5 being the best. I arrived at Six Flags Marine World about 45 minutes before opening since I didn't know what traffic would be like on the way. I was able to skip the parking fee ($10!!) since I'm a season pass holder, even though it's for a different Six Flags park, and I was there before 10am. That's a nice touch for pass holders - they can park free before 10am or after 6pm. I parked right in front of where the tram picks up since I was one of the first ones there, which was a good indication that lines would be short for the day (Wednesday). It was walk-on city for almost everything. I got to wait around for a bit and watch them test run the coasters. From the front the park now looks like a mass tangle of coasters, but that's also because all of the coasters are in the front. I noticed that V2 and Medusa never got tests off before the park opened - not a good sign, and one that was confirmed by the signs saying that V2 was closed for the day because of an apparent breakdown the day before. So when the park opened, I immediately dashed around the right to Medusa, which was closed due to mechanical difficulties. Aarrgggghhhh. Okay, so off to Kong instead.
Kong - 4.0 (morning), 3.0 (afternoon/ evening) After Kong I headed over to Cobra:
Cobra - 2.5 Medusa was still closed, so I headed out to Roar next, which was a nice surprise since my sister had been convincing me the day before that it had banged her around.
Roar - 4.5 I then took some time to wander around the park and catch some of the sights, shows, and flat rides. Thankfully, the animal shows are still the same quality as in the past. Six Flags hasn't messed those up. They've also kept much of the animal park that I so enjoyed, though it's mostly at one end of the park. They do have a small train that seems like a bit of a waste, though, running along the shoreline that you can walk next to the entire route and that gets in the way of the Shark experience, a restaurant, and stage area for local talent, and a couple of other spots where there are track crossings. Medusa was still closed (!) so I headed over to the Boomerang (2.5) which is just a typical boomerang. They have added in the catwalk since it valleyed a couple of years ago. It was also interesting that they only allowed the people who were getting on and off the train into the station, apparently for safety concerns. First time I've seen that, and I can imagine it slows things down a bunch, but not noticeable today, since it was a walk-on. After this Medusa finally opened!! After all that I had heard about Medusa, I was psyched up for this coaster. And for my first ride I got a coveted front row seat, which happened to be next to an ACER who had been on over 100 coaster and had Medusa ranked at his number three, especially because of the Sea Serpent element. I was then able to later ride four more times - once more in front, two in back, and once in the middle, trying to make sure I had a balanced view of the ride. All that said, Medusa ended up with a 3.5 from me. Yes, I actually enjoyed Kong more in the morning than I did Medusa. The front seat of the floorless didn't do much for me. In fact, the whole floorless gimmick just really didn't do anything for me. I loved the first drop, loop and dive roll combination. And there was one other element - I think it was a corkscrew, but it wasn't a normal one - that, between the airtime and hang time in the back, was incredible. But I found much of the rest of it (holds up shield to protect from repercussions) boring. In fact, the whole second half it was almost like B&M didn't know what else to do with it. And the sea serpent felt like a long, elongated and elevated corkscrew with little thrill to it. I would have much rather had the cobra roll that I heard is on Medusa East. Overall I was disappointed with Medusa. And I tried to like it. Several of those rides were later in the day, after I had taken a break to try a little perspective. But by the end of the day Medusa was not in my top 10 overall, and I'm not sure that it made my top 10 steelies either, which isn't great with a track record of 64 coasters. Oh, and of course no landscaping. You could still see the parking lot lines under most of the coaster. Very sad. They also had a pretty good mix of flat rides - much better than SFMM's (not that that says much) with some good for family and some very exciting ones. I have a new favorite flat after the trip - their Tasmanian Devil, a Huss Frisbee. What a great ride, and one that blew away the poor program on their top spin (four flips, then nothing but rocking). There were only two water rides - the rapids and a shoot-the-chutes, which didn't make a splash. Not good for a hot day. And the Dinoshere 3D action simulator was only in 2D today and looked rather cartoonish.
Other notes from the park and overall impressions: Employees got a mixed bag from me. The crews on Roar and Kong early in the day was slow, but evening crews were great. Boomerang's group was totally uninterested in their jobs. And the boarding crew on the rapids needed some serious retraining or something. It had the longest line (hour and half) of any ride, yet they continuously were sending out six-person boats with three, and sometimes even two people. Totally unacceptable. On the other hand, several of the flat ride employees were awesome, doing everything they could to ensure a fun time. I had several employees that were walking by greet me and occasionally ask how my day was going. And I was impressed that after the shows the people always came out to greet to the people who had watched the show - even the Batman water show. My one other gripe was a lack of cool spots for a hot day. There were several food places, but only one was enclosed and air-conditioned: the former aquarium-turned Blue Water Cafe. $10 for an all you can eat buffet of salads, soups, scalloped potatoes, chicken, hot dogs, or BBQ beef. Not a bad price, not a great selection. But nice atmosphere with all the fish tanks around. Every other eating spot was outside, though, where it was hot. Also, many of the show areas did not have any covered or shaded seating, and I was surprised at the lack of "cool zones" with misters. I only saw two, and neither was working well. They definitely need to work on this. Thanks for reading such a long report.
Keep on ridin'
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