The park opened at 10:00AM and we pulled into the parking lot right around that time. I previously had heard that they were charging $8 to park but, it hurts even more when you convert that to Canadian, $12. We were still able to get a good spot only a few spots away from the tram. We decided to walk over since I heard it was faster.

First impressions: We found the park pretty easy to find - good direction provided on their web site. Cyclone looked pretty nice from the drive in. The S&S Scream with the Six Flag sign at the top proudly announcing it presence in the area. The front entrance was nicest I have seen of the converted Premier parks. I liked the American Patriotic music playing at the front more than the blaring Looney Toon music that was at SFO. The main midway entrance I would assume was redone this year in a cobble stone pattern, which looked real nice.

The rain had stopped from earlier in the morning and we walked towards the Scream and the first coaster we ran into was Thunderbolt. We walked right onto platform and noticed it had two trains but only one was operating. We waited one train and were able to get a front seat ride. We all liked Thunderbolt but did not get to ride it again because of the horrendous long line ups all day and we were pretty sure that the second train did not run all day. We walked by it quite a few times and line up was always spilled into the midway. That area around Scream and Thunderbolt is pretty tight and was quite congested there all day.

Next up was S:ROS the main reason why we included SFNE in our trip plans. Our boys had only just tried SFDL’s S:ROS for the first time a few weeks prior and they were already in love with the S:ROS thing. We have heard all the hype – "that SFNE’s is even better than SFDL’s". We figured if it is better than SFDL’s it must be one awesome ride. As soon as you get your first look at this ride you know that the comparison to SFDL should stop. These rides only share a name that is the same. The entrance, queues, and loading platform are larger and nicer looking than SFDL’s. This is where our first major disappointment of the day occurred. Nolan, 9 years old 52.5" tall, went over and checked the sign for the height requirements. He came back with this long frown on his face. " You have to be 54" to ride." I must admit that I never checked before hand what the requirement would be and I assumed it would be the same as SFDL. I was wrong and I accept the responsibility for not checking. Perhaps if I had known this information we probably would have changed our plans. Donna with a very disappointed Nolan agreed to meet Adam and I later. Adam I got in the queue around 10:30AM and where on the first car second seat in under 35 minutes. Both Trains were being dispatched very efficiently and made walking through the queues very quick.

I am not much for giving details on how a coaster rides because quite frankly I don’t remember much of the layout after one ride. I asked Adam if he was going to put his hands up on the first drop. The answer was "No" but, he did have them up after the first drop. It took me about four rides on S:ROS last year before I could get my arm up on the first drop. But this time I was able to garner the courage and put them up on the first drop. What a rush that first drop is especially with the added length of the tunnel. I liked the tunnels but, I personally could do without the mist. I felt that the ride was well paced with no flat spots and the tunnel near the end is fantastic. I don’t think it is fair to compare this S:ROS to the other two S:ROS’s. They really are quite different. I think a better comparison would be to Cedar Point’s MF. Dare I say that I feel that SFNE’s S:ROS is better and a more exciting ride than MF? MF is all first drop while S:ROS just seems to offer the guest more. Sorry CP fans but just my opinion.

Mom and Nolan meet back with us at the On Ride Photo Booth. ($9 Ouch!) Adam had to get himself a S:ROS hat a while dad got a S:ROS T-shirt. The line up for S:ROS was now well into midway and we were glad we queued up when we did. We walked back towards Cyclone but I did not see any trains cycling at all. We get near the cyclone and a "Team Member" indicated that Cyclone was not operating. I asked if he expected it to be running? He replied, " that it was running too fast and that is why they shut it down". I didn’t know what type of brakes it had and since Thunderbolt had skid I assumed that Cyclone did also. This person did know a skid from a pallet so he gave us some other lame excuse. We watched it cycle but still no sign of opening and then it started to drizzle. Later in the afternoon it cycled more but it still did not open. Good thing because Nolan also noticed it had a height requirement of 54". Please! Come on a 54" when their SLC is only 52" and SOB is 48"? Nolan nicked named the park " Greater than 52" park".

Also at about this time the park was getting really packed and weather was really awful. Drizzling rain and kind of cool. It was cool enough that the guests were all staying out of the water park which added to the long line ups in the midway. Nolan and I were going to give Mind Eraser a try but, the line was just too long. It would had been nice to add to our SLC count.

We were getting hungry and knew we didn’t want a Subway experience like at Great Escape yesterday. We went to the eat-in place directly across from the S:ROS entrance and it was really quite nice, good food and reasonably priced. We enjoyed it much more than the day before.

We wanted to watch the Batman show so we filled in our wait time by riding Poison Ivy’s Twisted Train. This is the longest train I have ever seen. It is like a junior steel on steroids. When you sit in the front you can actually see the back of the train when you come out of a curve. Now the park was pretty packed and Poison Ivy had no line up at all. They should cycle the trains twice rather than just once. Overall we enjoyed the ride especially the zero wait.

It was time to watch the Batman show. It was obvious that the outside stage and seating arena was just built this year. The show was different from the SFDL one and seemed to work better in the outside rather than inside. Batman did scare us a bit when he slid down the high wire just a few feet from our seat to the front stage without a safety harness.

We walked backed towards kids and Cyclone area to see if it was running yet. This is where they announced that it would not be running at all that day. The line up for Flashback was already spilling into the midway and there was no way I would wait hours for a ride I do not generally enjoy. A boomerang has to be a near walk on for me.

The rain was getting heavier so we retreated back to the van to get our rain gear and umbrellas. Once back in the park we waited a few minutes for the New England Sky Way and I was able to get a few nice photos. This is only a one way ride and you must again queue up if you want the return ride.

We wandered around the park for a while but the raining drizzle would not give up and the park continued to be very busy. Adam and I decided we would try S:ROS one more time. On our way into the queue there where two people who almost ran over us to get ahead of us and to catch up with the ONE member of their party. When we stopped in the queue it was still raining and I had my umbrella up. I most have hit one of the 350 pound female line jumpers with my umbrella. See starts whining to her other 350 pound girlfriend and skinny boyfriend. She looks at me for an apology even though they offered no apology for jumping in front of us. Adam and I decide this would be an opportune time for us peace loving Canadians to bail out of this line up and forfeit our second ride on S:ROS. I beep Donna on FRS’s and we meet back up. It was around 6:00PM and decided that the bad weather had gotten the best of us and left. As soon as we got back to our hotel it really started to pour.

Summary: There sure was a pile of cash dumped into Riverside to create SFNE. When compared to SFDL it looks like Darien got the short end of the stick in the new ride department. Without a doubt SFNE’s S:ROS is one heck of a great ride. Probably even better than MF. The weather was terrible and the park was packed which did not contribute to very enjoyable day. We were very disappointed that Nolan did not meet the height requirements on two of the coasters. But I guess that is what we get when we visit a park on a Saturday.

Day 4: Sunday, July 16(Almost Martins’ Fantasy Island – Grand Island, NY)
On the way back the original itinerary called for stopping in on Martins’ Fantasy Island. When we pulled into the parking lot there was a torrential down pour so we decided to head for home and catch it an other day.

Regards,
Kevin Reid