Well, the best I can say for SFEG is that they sure seem to be trying. My two biggest (easily fixxed) complaints were people running to the first ride and confusion over row alignment of Minderaser.

Well, they've changed how they let people in for the second time this year. Now, they held us outside the gates until opening time, and let the ticket takers and metal detectors slow the crowd. Instead of lining everyone up for the 200 yard dash, we had a stagered start, with first to the park getting a big headstart. I liked it. however, I fear that once people figure this is what they are doing, the push will be before the doors open, and the race will be to get into lines at the gates. As I said, at least they are trying!

Also, on Minderaser, they've painted lines on the floor to make sure people go to the right row on the train. Much less confusion!

On with the Trip Report. I took my 10 and 14 year old daughters. The 10 y/o brought a friend, and the teen brought 2. We are still using up the free passes we got for processing our season passes before opening day.

Arrived 45 minutes before opening. And lined the 6 of us vertically across the door so that late arivers couldn't get in front of us. On opening, we went straight to Minderaser (like everyone else). I had to wait until the 2nd train to get front row, but kids hopped in the middle of train 1.

We then went to Tower of Doom, and rode with only a short wait. One of the 3 benches was down. It is shocking how much slower the line seems to move when they don't have all 12 person capacity up. The three teens went their own way, so it was me and 2 10 year olds.

Boomerang wasn't open so we did Twister II. The typical one train was running, so it was a fairly long wait. I swear it goes 3 times as fast with 2 trains.

Then we did Boomerang, the top spin, Rainbow, and swinging ship. By this time I was getting a headache. We bumbed into the teens, and headed to the van for lunch. Ham and cheese sandwiches, sodas and snacks from the cooler again. Need to come up with a better picnic lunch for these trips.

After lunch, we cought the Broadway show again. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but here is how I think this show is done. The music is clearly a recording. I think most of the chorus stuff is recorded also. They do a lot of dancing while these group do-wops and such are playing, and they never get a bit off tune or out of breath.... It sure looks like they are lip synching these parts. The solo and duet parts are surely sung live though. They switched parts during the day, and they were sung in verry different styles. Julie seems to have lost some weight as she didn't seem as busty as the first times I saw her in the show. :-(

All in all, it is a great show, if for the AC and attractive women in little clothing. I knew they were great dancers, but now that I'm sure the main parts are sung live, I'm quite impressed with the singing ability of all the people in the show!

After the show we split up again. The kids headed for the water park, and i went looking for a place to cool off and give the tylenol time to ease the headache. I got a great sundae from Goodtimes in Rockin'Es, then headed back by Shipwreck to stand at the edge of the splash to catch a light misting. I though about doing Twister again, but passed as I still had the headache.

I caught the Batman stunt show. Pretty neat, but the circus stunts aren't too impressive if you've been to many circuses. A nice chance to sit in the shade during the heat of the day when the lines are too long to be worth waiting in.

I cought the Broadway show again, and met up with the kids again. I sent them off for more rides while I headed to the van for more tylenol.

I was finally getting the headache to go away, so I went and rode Minderaser again. I know that there is a lot of bad mouthing of SLCs, but I enjoy this ride; especially from the front seat. But what do I know, I live in Colorado.

I rode Twister II again. When I got in line, it was pretty long, and they were still only running one train. I *****ed to all the people around me. Not two minutes later, they put the second train on. Yeah Hooooo. Hour wait dropped to under half an hour.

After the two coasters and hours in the still 90 plus afternoon, my headache was coming back. Even though I was supposed to meet the kids for dinner in an hour, I stopped by Foghorn Leghorns for a bucket of fries (really a cup, but still a lot of fries) and a soda. I soon realized I wasn't going to be able to finish the fires by myself. I figured that if I sat on the bridge near Boomerang (choakpoint between the front of the park and the back) I'd have a pretty good chance of bumping into one of the sets of kids.

Sure enough, I wasn't there 10 minutes when the teens walked by. They started munching away on the fries. Not 5 more minutes later, and the 10 year olds showed up. I bought a 2nd bucket of fries and a jumbo drink, we called it dinner, and agreed to meet up at 8:00 to decide if we were ready to leave or if we wanted to stay.

I cought the Broadway show again (and 'All that Jazz'). Rode Minderaser again. That brought the headache back again, so I didn't do a whole lot else until I met the kids at 8:00.

GO HOME ;-) or stay :-(? Of course the kids choose stay.

I sent them off, then headed to Twister II. The line was short, and they were still running two trains. As I got off, I saw a guy in a yellow shirt (admin guys I think) coming up the exit ramp. Sure enough, he was there to have them yank a train and send an employee home. Even with a shorter line, the second ride took way longer than the first. That sucks. Does it really save them enough money to justify the oppertuniry cost of not having guests really happy that they were able to ride over-and-over with little to no wait? Do I write really long run-ons? I sure wouldn't think so. Then again, I'm only a visitor who doesn't see the actual numbers. AND, I'm a programmer not an English major.

Anyway, by now it was 9:00 and the headache was worse than ever. Luckely, I bumped into the teens. I told them I was heading to the van and asked them to meet the 10 Y/Os at 10:00 and come on out of the park. I bought my wife some fudge and taffy on the way to the van, and rested up for the drive home. It took the usual two hours to drive home and drop off friends, so I didn't get to bed until 1:00 and had to get up for work by 6:00.

Still, it was worth it as all 6 of us had a great time. SFEG is no SFMM, but then again CO is no CA. I'll take a good park over a great one, if it comes with a state I much prefer living in.

5 hours of sleep huh? Now THAT'S sacrafice!

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Let's go Denver Nuggets! 2005 NBA Champions!

yes they are trying, but thats about as far as it goes...