Sfne 8-30-2018

Went to the park yesterday with my cousin, her two children, and two other friends. The two friends offered to take the kids for the bulk of the afternoon, allowing my cousin and I to ride the more intense rides at our leisure. We were really grateful, and after taking care of our passes for next year (done in just a couple of minutes) my cousin and I headed south and the rest headed north.

The sky was bright blue and the temperature was mid 80's, with an unfortunate amount of humidity in the air. The occasional cloud provided some relief, as did a fairly consistent breeze. With many, if not all, schools opening this week, the crowd was really light. I don't mean to imply the park was dead, it wasn't. But it was a sparse enough crowd that wait times were only one or two cycles for most rides.

My cousin wanted to try Joker, but it was down for the day. So her next choice was Spinsanity. We got in line and only had to wait one cycle. It was a great ride, but my cousin was not expecting it to be as intense as it was. We had to sit down for about 20 minutes. She's not sure if she'll ever try it again. With two little kids, it's been years since she has done any kind of intense flat ride. When she felt better she said that she may try it again if her husband wants to try it, but it's a big "maybe".

We headed over to Batman and walked right on the coaster. I've always enjoyed Batman, in spite of the head banging I get in the corkscrews. Yesterday was no different, but hey, I was expecting it. Otherwise it was as fast and smooth as always.

Next up was Riddler, which was another walk on! I always loved the Mind Eraser. I've always found it really intense, very smooth, and as long as my head was up against the seat like the sign showed........no head banging! The new seats were really nice. Much more comfortable than the old trains. Unfortunately the new train seemed to rattle through the entire circuit, making this once smooth ride needlessly rough. To add insult to injury, when we hit the breaks our heads hit the back of our seats with a bang that made Batman's headbanging seem almost pleasant. More padding please! I'll try Riddler again, but I was not impressed by these new trains.

After some lunch we headed over to Scream. We hadn't been on it for years. The wait was just two cycles. The one tower that was operating was in that great "combo" mode. This is still a fantastic ride, and the brief wait meant a few repeats were in order.

Next we headed down into the DC Comics area to see what lines were like for "our boy". We walked into Superman's queue to discover the only line was a full station house! Even with just the red train in operation, the wait was only two cycles. We were soon seated in the first row of car three, heading up the lift hill to the joyous sounds of John Williams' Superman (1978) theme. For me, nothing sets the mood for that coaster like that music. Bizarro was just noise, a grand coaster deserves grand music. After our excellent ride the decision was made. The rest of our time was spent with Superman. After all, how often do we get to re-ride our favorite coaster with virtually no wait? After we were done I said to my cousin, "This is why we get season passes. I enjoy the park overall, but ultimately it's this coaster. Superman is the reason I started to get the season pass, and as long as this coaster is here I will continue to get a season pass, no other ride comes close for my love for it. Newer coasters are bigger and faster, but there will never ever be another Superman."

We headed to the exit after a great time. On a day that weather wise felt like mid July, it was strange to think that Frightfest is coming soon. My favorite time of the year to go to the park! I doubt very much that we'll have such sparse crowds and short lines during Frightfest, but that's okay. We had it yesterday and it was a great time we'll always remember.

Another great trip report!
I agree, frightfwst is my favorite time of the year at the park! HITP is also amazing.
Sounds like you had an awesome trip

Absolutely nailed it here. Idc what anyone says it’s still one of the best ever (you’re a an absolute moron if you think it’s overrated, just saying). This ride, El Toro, and Millennium Force stand alone as the only rides that have me grinning from ear to ear every single second I’m on them. Not even the absolute craziness of the RMCs (even SV) can pull that off.

Guys, thanks for your enthusiastic responses to my trip report. It really was an awesome afternoon at the park, and having Superman almost to ourselves had a lot to do with it.

One thing I didn't have time to write yesterday was about my cousins kids, ages almost five and almost six. They're both tall for their age, over 48 inches. During our visit on Thursday my cousin and I often talked about easing the kids in to the adult rides, probably taking them on Thunderbolt first and seeing how they liked it. Well when we all met up at the end of the day it turned out my cousins friends took them on ..............of ALL THINGS........WICKED CYCLONE. And they LOVED IT! So a major milestone has been crossed. I've already given notice that when they're tall enough for Superman, they have to ride with my cousin and me. That's a benchmark I'm NOT going to miss!

My daughter is 13 now but I remember those milestones! It’s a lot of fun to look forward to seeing them experience rides for the first time. It’s even better having them experience a coaster like Superman.

My daughter was tall for her age and insisted on going on BD at 8 years old in 2001. It was my first time on it too. I will never forget that ride. It torched a love of coasters in her and she was fearless. We spent the rest of that season and 2002 riding every major coaster within easy driving distance. Now years later and over 500 coasters later, that ride still stands out. So to your point - DO NOT miss that milestone!!

My cousin Conor was also 8 in 2001. I still have the on ride photo of us on his first S:ROS ride. We laugh about it a lot because he ended the ride saying how awesome it was, yet you look at the photo and he's about one rung shy of full out tears!