Six Flags Discovery Kingdom & California's Great America

[DJKostya]

So I have just returned from a trip to San Francisco. Luckily I was able to drop into Six Flags Discovery Kingdom & California's Great America.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

(If you're in San Francisco it's easy to get to on the ferry then either bus or uber)

To be honest the only reason I visited this park was to ride an RMC conversion. At the end of the day that was about the only thing worth it at this park. I grabbed a Flash pass (Same system as Dreamworld Q4U) as it was a long weekend which helped me to get onto everything and a few repeats. As a solo visitor though carrying around that bulky device was a massive pain in the butt.

The most disappointing thing about this park was the downtime. There was 2 rides down for the entire day (Maintenance so that's fair) but over the entire 6~7 hours I was there not ONCE was every ride up and running. Every ride went down at some point, the 2 maintenance guys were running around from ride to ride. Vertical Velocity didn't open until after 5pm, not great considering the park closed at 8pm.

Harley Quinn's Crazy Coaster 3/10

OK so this is new this season, and it has not aged well at all. This was very very rough and not very enjoyable in my opinion because of the roughness. If it wasn't sorough it would have been OK

Cobra 6/10

No pics of this one, but it was a family coaster. Not a bad ride, quite fast and lots of heavily banked turns. Big plus? You did 2 circuits of the track

Joker 8/10

This was my first RMC and whilst not the biggest RMC conversion out there this was an awesome ride, I can't wait to ride one of the bigger ones. Fast and super smooth (By coaster standards!). The inversion where you actually stay upside down and travel for a distance before coming back right way up was awesome. The restrains (lapbars) were also great but word of advice dudes, there is a part the goes between the legs that may hit you in not so great places.

Kong 4/10

Standard SLC, rough as guts, need I say more?

Medusa 6/10

Medusa turns 18 this year, and it feels like it. This would have to be hands down the roughest B&M I have ever ridden, it's even starting to lose the trademark B&M roar. Aside from that it was a pretty decent offering. The interesting thing I found with Medusa though was the paint fading. IMO it actually looked really good!

Superman Ultimate Flight 7/10

BuzzSaw, but longer and with an extra loop. I actually really enjoyed this one! Dreamworld should have built this.

 

California's Great America

After SFDK this was a really good park. Well laid out, well presented and super helpful staff, standard Cedar Fair. Again I

I visited on $1 day. Hot Dogs, Pizza, Popcorn etc. was all $1, I ate way too many hot dogs.

CGA is kind of difficult to get to from San Francisco at the moment but a BART station has been built and should open soon (I had to get the train).

Again I grabbed a fast pass and it was worth every cent.

RailBlazer 10/10

Brand spanking new RailBlazer. MF has finally been knocked off my number 1 position. This is the future of coasters in my opinion. Compact but once you get off the lift chain this thing does not stop. Fast, intense and the smoothest coaster I have been on in a long time. Massive airtime! This park is worth visiting just for this. Being new the queue was over 2 hours but the staff nailed the reloading and dispatch. One train would go out and the other would come in. Flawless. If you do get there definitely wait for the front seat. It is definitely worth it!

Demon 6/10

Made me miss the old SeaWorld Corkscrew. Surprisingly smooth for a coaster of its age.

Flight Deck 7/10

This has got to be the shortest B&M ever. That being said it was still a fun ride. The final helix over the water was awesome.

Patriot 6/10

I kind of wish that this was still a stand up instead of a floorless. The layout is definitely designed to be a stand up. Still not a bad little ride.

Grizzly 8/10

This was a great woodie. Fast with lots of twists and turns. Bumpy but not uncomfortably so.

Goldrusher 3/10

This is ripe for an RMC conversion or needs something done to it. Hands down this was one of the roughest woodies I have ever been on. I rode Mean Streak days before they closed it to convert it and this is just as rough. Lots of people complaining as they got off. That aside the layout, speed and overbanked turns were awesome.

 

Well that sums up all the big coasters! Now sleep.

[Gazza]

Sad to hear Gold Striker has decayed so badly. I rode it when it was quite new and it was excellent, so what a difference 4 years makes.

I hope the raptor coasters start popping up everywhere, they just seem so fluid and because they are affordable, small parks will be able to get world beating coasters.

By the sounds of it, the Bart extension to Silicon valley is still not opening till some time in 2019,  but even when it does, Caltrain to Mountain View then the VTA light rail would still be the fastest way to get to CGA from SF.

As for SFDK, yeah agree about Superman, they are probably my favourite compact clone type coaster.

Disappointing to hear the designers have mucked up the Harley Quinn one though..I don't think we will see many in the future if they cant get the basics right.

[jjuttp]

7 hours ago, DJKostya said:

This has got to be the shortest B&M ever

Nope. I believe Oblivion at Alton towers is at 372m. That's almost half of Flight Deck (690m). Then you've got the likes of Krake and Baron 1898 at 476m and 501m respectively, and Raptor at Gardaland is only around 80m longer at 770m.

[Gazza]

And this one is only 405m long: https://rcdb.com/6712.htm#p=53410

[GoGoBoy]

16 hours ago, Gazza said:

I hope the raptor coasters start popping up everywhere, they just seem so fluid and because they are affordable, small parks will be able to get world beating coasters.

Dreamworld to replace Cyclone with one of these? Or get one of these AND replace Cyclone with something else. Doesn’t have to be too expensive, or fancy, just not so painful.

[New display name]

How did DW ended up with the shitest coasters in the country.?

@GoGoBoy

I would prefer the Raptor go to a different park but I would like to see one in Australia.

[jjuttp]

So you want to ensure that DW continues having the shittest coasters?

[New display name]

9 hours ago, jjuttp said:

So you want to ensure that DW continues having the shittest coasters?

No

[DJKostya]

Further to my trip report here is one from Theme Park Overlord which pretty much confirms what I said about Harley Quinn, potential but rough and uncomfortable

https://www.themeparkoverload.net/2018/09/six-flags-discovery-kingdom-harley-quinn-crazy-coaster-review-analysis-skyline-attractions-skywarp-big-belly-burger-fright-fest.html