Well, I finally made it to the "other" coaster mecca on the west coast for the first time. Arrived at the park about an hour before it opened.
Got a nice view of X right before arriving at the parking lot toll booths. In fact, this is probably the best view of the ride since the view from inside the park is quite limited.

There was a pretty light crowd waiting at the gates. The crowd grew quite a lot in the next hour before the gates opened, but nothing compared to a normal day at Cedar Point.

After getting cell-phoned to death by 12 year olds waiting at the gates, they promptly opened the gates at 10 AM. Being a dumb tourist, I probably circled the park in the wrong direction. Instead of going in the clockwise direction of X and Deja Vu, I went towards Goliath in a counterclockwise direction. Hint: Do X and Deja Vu first.

Hit Goliath first with no waiting. In fact, I got the front car of the first train of the day. My first Giavanola was very smooth and had great hang-time on the first drop. Dropping into the misty tunnel on the first drop was a neat effect and the ride delivers some pretty good airtime in spots along with some intense G's on the helixes. I also liked looking down on Colossus. Only bad thing I could find was that it was a bit too short for a hypercoaster.

Next up was their classic woodie, Colossus. Only one side was working today; I'd guess due to the light crowd. Nothing outstanding about this ride, but it's worth one trip around the block. The ride appears to be heavily trimmed, and would have been better if both sides were running. Still, 10x better than their other woodie, which I will get to later.

After entering Gotham City, I hit Batman The Ride next. Yeah, its a clone, but I still love this ride. Ride packs a mean punch in a short time and still smooth as glass. Their ride looks to be well maintained, too. SFGradv's is overdue for a paint job.

Next door was Riddler's Revenge, so I jumped on that big green monster next. I'm not a big fan of stand-ups because of their effect on the male privates, but RR was easily the best stand-up I have been on. RR is much smoother than Mantis and has a much better layout IMO.

After chugging up one of MM's hills, I rode Superman The Escape next. After hearing horror stories of long lines for this ride, my wait was only about 10 mins. This despite only one side was open. Well, there isn't much to this ride, but it's fun anyway. You don't get the kick in the pants like Xcelerator provides, but it's cool flying up the tower and looking backwards at the top before the freefall. S:TE is over before you know it, and it does a pretty good job of giving you a windtunnel hairdo.

Ninja was close by so that was the next ride on the docket. Nothing intense, but it gives a nice ride through the hilly wooded terrain. This is the first ride I have been on with a lift hill that takes you into the station at the end of the ride.

Heading over to the Deja Vu end of the park, I decided to ride Psyclone first, or Sucklone as it should be called. I can't believe they cleared out 84 Lumber to build this POS. This ride is terribly rough and provides no thrills whatsoever, except when you get off the damn thing. Never thought I would ride a woodie that made Hercules and Mean Streak seem smooth. SFMM would do itself a big favor by turning this rascal into a giant barbecue. I'll provide the burgers and buns.

Luckily, Deja Vu made up for it right next door. Dispatch times suck on this ride, so be prepared for a wait. Even though crowds were light, it was still over an hour to get on. Plus, there is a 75 inch max height limitation that I barely made. I saw a couple of people get denied a ride because of this after waiting in line for over an hour. Make sure to measure your height before getting in line for this ride if you are tall.
This ride is quite intense as you are dragged up a vertical tower, hanging in your restraints looking straight down at the ground. After release, you fly through the station, go into a cobra roll, vertical loop and fly up the second tower. Then you get dragged up the second vertical tower looking straight up and repeat the whole thing backwards. I'm happy to say Deja Vu was very smooth for a Vekoma. There was no headbanging at all and the seats and restraints were very comfortable. I'll never be able to ride a standard boomer again, now.

The big mega-looper Arrow coaster Viper was up next. Very similar to GASM at Gradv, Viper had your usual Arrow headbanging, but nothing too extreme. Funny how I look forward to trim brakes on Arrow coasters, but I do. Viper is worth one trip on your resume, and gives probably the best aerial view of X since the giant tower was closed.

Back near the front of the park, Revolution was next. Restraints are awful on this ride, but it's not too rough due to some trims. Flying through the woods helps add speed to this fairly tame ride. Good for the world's first looper, though.

The long awaited X would be my final ride of the day. Only one train was running, so wait times were hanging around 2-2.5 hours. While waiting in the queue, practically your only view of the ride is the lift hill and first drop. Everything else is a mystery, adding to the excitement of the ride. Not to mention the fact that you cannot see the seats rotate throughout the ride. Well, after you get split off onto one side, you finally get to the station after a snail crawling line. The station is utter chaos. Mobs of people are everywhere and you have no idea which line they are waiting in, or you are waiting in. Park management definitely has some work to do in this area. But the ride more than makes up for it. After getting everyone strapped in the unusual seats, we are sent on our way backwards out of the station. Going up the slow lift hill backwards adds to the anticipation. Then, by the screams heard at the front of the train, I knew we were getting close to the top. All I remember was a little dip, then the seats rotate so you look straight down at the ground on the first drop. I wish I could describe more in detail, but I have no idea what happened after that. This ride is so disorienting, you get off shaking your head over what you just did. All I remember was going through inversions and backflips; simply amazing. Truly a remarkable ride that ranks among my favorites. I applaud Arrow and SFMM for having the guts to build this ride, despite all the uncertainties and problems.

I really had a great time at SFMM. I enjoyed all of their coasters(except one) and rate it right up there with Cedar Point. The Mountain also was, by far the cleanest and best run of any SF I have been to. Some of the ride ops could have been more enthusiastic, but at least all of the coasters were running. The park was laid out real well, too, just be prepared for lots of walking up and down hills.

After my Cali trip, my new top 5 steel and wood are as follows:

Steel

1. Hulk
2. MF
3. X
4. Nitro
5. Alpengeist

Wood

1. Ghostrider
2. Beast
3. Shivering Timbers
4. Lightning Racer
5. Phoenix