West Coast Bash 2005
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Robert Traveled all the way from Florida to visit SFMM on Sunday March 13th. Click on each picture to make it big, then back to return here.
I walked up to the park at 07:00am and took a few pictures. There was a morning fog, an eerie kind of feeling. Would all the rides be working? Would everyone get in? Keep reading to find out.
The parking booths, with workers already there. The fastpass sign and which rides would not be operating. Flashback was operating on this day and had a long line at noon.
Natalie, Chris, and Jody were the first to show up at 07:15am. Sue Carpenter was waiting and they got things set up. At first the table was set up in front of the will call window, but then they decided to move it in front of the main gate. A picture of me standing at the gate with my SFoG Viper shirt on. You can see the badge I'm wearing. One side has the West Coast Bash logo, the other has 10 reason why you are a coaster nut.
Everyone did a great job making sure people had their tickets and were set up. A few group photos 5 minutes before 8am.
A few pictures of the crowd just before we were let in.
And they're off. The first group of people walking thru the gate. In picture 3 and 4 you can see some people walking up towards X. There wasn't a running of the bulls, everyone walked. In picture 5 are the first group of people who rode X in the front street side.
As a way to say thanks for having the event, I took some pictures of Natalie and Chris going on their X ride. The first picture is slightly out of focus due to camera shake. Then I turned on the flash and got 3 pictures of them before heading out, and one after they got back.
http://www.quatraine3.com/videos2005/SFMMXLeavingStation.MPG (5megs)
Here's a little video of Natalie and Chris going out on their ride. Right click and Save As to your hard drive.
I took 3 rides on X, one in the front street side, one in the back, and another in the middle. It was about 9am and I wanted to hit the other coasters so I headed to the Riddler.
As I walked into the Riddler queue, these were the only two people there waiting for the front and two trains were running. I joined them and went on a ride, then got right back on and did an exit re-ride.
http://www.quatraine3.com/videos2005/SFMMRiddlerEmptyQueue.MPG (4megs)
Here's a video of the empty Riddler queue, you won't see that often. Right click the link and Save As to your hard drive.
An empty Goliath queue with two trains running. Rode in row 2, then an exit re-ride in the middle. Schweet.
What's that sound I'm hearing in the Goliath queue? It's Superman testing. High tailed it over there at 09:50am. Got a walk on ride in the front, and an exit re-ride in the back. Superman may not be the biggest launched coaster compared to the newer ones, but I still had fun on my rides. I remember the first time I went on Superman, it was a rush to go 100mph, so I still like the ride.
I took a ride on Scream, again two trains running.
It's 11am and we meet at Moose burger Lodge early. About 10 of us sat at a table.
The characters up above talk and sing a song. Most had the buffet, I had the Maynerd burger which is huge. I finished it, but felt like I had just been in an eating contest.
Some final pictures of X as I left the park.
http://www.quatraine3.com/videos2005/SFMMXOffRide.MPG (20megs)
Here's an off ride X video. Right click and Save As to your hard drive.
What can I say? SFMM came thru again. Thanks to Chris, Natalie, Jody, and Sue Carpenter and everyone else involved for putting on a great event. I really hope SFMM can continue with two train operations to keep the lines moving.
Check out http://www.rideworld.com/ and become a member.
End of Report. Thanks for reading.
Email me at nogodforme@bellsouth.net.
Links
