More Flags, More Fun!

Q:  How do you get two kids to happily agree to hop in the van for a 6-hour drive?  

A: By promising to feed their adrenaline addiction with a visit to yet another theme park!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

So, after getting in my visit to Rosie the Riveter NHP this morning, we were back in Vallejo to get our money's worth from our season passes to Six Flags. This park was originally called "Marine World", so in addition to thrill rides, there are also animal (exotic land and marine) attractions. Read on for the latest installment of the Saiki-delic Awesomeness Review...

Kong

Since it was a weekday afternoon, we saw groups of day-campers and families with little kids. Clearly they weren't going on the same things my junkies were, so the lines were reasonable. After studying the park map, the boys decided to try Kong first.  

(R) Had the potential to be a great ride, but too jerky, rattled my head = 4; (J) Too jerky, not as good as Batman = 5; (M) Rattle-y, worse than Batman = 4

Overall SA Rating:  4.3 

Medusa
From Kong, they headed straight across to ride Medusa next.

Well, 2 out of 3 mugging at the right camera isn't bad!

(J) Smooth, like Scream = 10; (M) Smooth, really fast = 9; (R) Like Scream, but smaller and smoother = 9; (Me) After visiting multiple parks and noticing similarities, I'm learning a few things from researching these thrill rides - both were built by the same manufacturer (Bollinger & Mabillard), but they do not differ much in speed, length, height, or g-force.

Overall SA Rating:  9.3

Tasmanian Devil 

Unfortunately, this spinning ride broke down when the boys hopped back onto it for their second time in a row. They were stuck in the hot sun for quite awhile! For their pain and suffering, they were each given a front-of-the-line pass for one ride of their choice.

(M) Boring, tame, had to go to the bathroom but was STUCK in that really uncomfortable seat = 5; (J) Like Revolution at Great America = 5; (Me) Discovery Kingdom's is 5 years older than Great America's, but both are by Huss Rides.

Overall SA Rating:  5

V2: Vertical Velocity

Only R and M rode this one, using one of the passes.  

(R) Fast, similar to Vertical Velocity at Great America, but not as good because one side here is not completely vertical = 6; (M) Really fast = 7; (Me) Yep, both built by Intamin in 2001.

Overall SA Rating:  6.5

SUPERMAN Ultimate Flight

Pass #2 was used for this coaster. Too bad J didn't get to take advantage of his compensation for being stuck on Tasmanian Devil.

(R) Kind of like Full Throttle at Magic Mountain, great last drop into nothing, like falling off a cliff = 8; (M) Crazy loops, really fun = 10; (Me) Even though the track layouts are not similar at all, both have launches and were built by the same company (Premier Rides). 

Overall SA Rating:  9

Roar

Not the Katy Perry song, but a wooden coaster that only M wanted to ride.

(M) Not very smooth, more rattle-y but longer than Apocalypse = 5; (Me) Pretty funny how accurate their impressions are - same builder (Great Coasters Intl) but Roar is about 400 ft longer than Apocalypse. 

Overall SA Rating:  5

Hammerhead Shark

The arms swing back and forth, eventually looping completely around multiple times and then reversing direction to loop again the other way. No surprise that J wanted to go on this one. I'm glad that R was a willing companion - I felt barfy just watching them!

J and R are in the front

(J) FUN! = 8; (R) Fun ride going in full circles vertically, need to sit at either end to get best experience = 7

Overall SA Rating:  7.5

Boomerang
As the name suggests, this coaster runs forward through a corkscrew and loop, then backwards along the exact same track.

(M) Different than any other coaster ridden before, but bangs head = 5; (R) Harness did not feel that secure, but fun for a short ride, creative = 6

Overall SA Rating:  5.5


Even though he's definitely into his 'tween years, the animal attractions were still a big hit with J -- stingray touch tank, dolphins, and sea lions. And the family was also pretty entertained by Cirque Dreams SPLASHTASTIC show, which was basically a mash-up of the typical dolphin trainer show and a Cirque du Soleil performance.

"Hey, what are you doing here?!"

But the best surprise of all was bumping into one of R's college roommates and his family. They live in the Bay Area and had come up here for a quick getaway, too. Can you imagine the chances of us just running into each other walking through the park?! It's been *years* since we've seen each other! I'm so glad that we were able to spend more time over dinner after leaving the park!