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Six Flags Over Georgia Austell, Georgia Event: ACE Spring Fling Weather: Rain early, sunny later Crowds: Heavy Three weeks after the Media Day and VIP extravaganza, we were all set for more ERT on Goliath. I was up and out by 7am, and we were at the park around 8. We were hoping to get our season pass vouchers process before the park opened, but the processing office was down, apparently printer problems. Great. Morning ERT was on Goliath, Scream Machine and Superman. As expected, all 300+ event attendees queued up in a light drizzle for Goliath. Nope, not gonna happen. They told us it would not be running for ERT that morning. Great. We moseyed over to Metropolis, and gave Superman a second row ride. Not bad, not great, the airtime to high G transition in the pretzel loop is hard to beat, but everything else about the ride is forgettable. GASM was next, running quite well, got in second row and second to back row rides. We thought we’d head back up to Superman, but right as we entered the station, the sky opened up. Superman doesn’t run if someone sneezes at it, let alone a downpour. We weren’t too disheartened, since it was approaching 10am, so we queued up for Goliath. The entrance was closed, and the line stretched through the plaza. There were people in the station, and people trying to use their Q-Bots, but not realizing that if the ride is closed, you can’t reserve a ride! That did not stop them from making a stink about not being let in the station. That made it interesting when we flashed our ACE ID and walked right past them onto the loading platform. Things were looking better already. So no morning ERT, but we were given the privilege of the first rides of the day. It was about 11am when the rain gave way to sunshine, and the trains were loaded, and it was time to ride. Anyone who wants to read what this ride is all about should check out my Media Day TR. I was mostly trying to reevaluate it. It’s hard to objectively judge a ride during its official unveiling, so several weeks have given me some perspective. Needless to say, its spot in my top 10 is safe, at least for a little while. The queue had almost entirely filled by the time we exited, so we headed out to Gotham. Night ERT would start there, so once we saw the huge crowds for Mindbender and Batman, we turned right around. Yes, we’d been very spoiled; I had no interest in waiting 45 minutes for either. As a consolation, we enjoyed a ride on Gotham City Crime Wave, a wave swinger. That took us almost to lunch time, and we walked past Déjà Vu and were quite stunned to see it in operation. We entered the queue to see how full the queue house was. It was too long for a pre-lunch ride, but seemed manageable afterwards. If it stayed running, that is. Lunch was good, an interesting Italian fare, especially for an ACE event. The line for DV hadn’t increased too much, so we figured we’d give it the 45 minute wait. We would have too, except for the standard 30 minute break down. So it was 75 minutes before we were finally riding. Time has not been kind to this ride. It wasn’t “head banging” rough, but it was intensely jarring on the neck, back, and shoulders. So much so, that I’ve knocked it down a few notches on my ranking. Crowds were huge everywhere, so we figured if we were going to wait for something, it would be the best ride in the park. The wait time for Goliath was about as long as Déjà Vu, but so much more worth it. Every ride is just so terrific. We decided it was time for our mid-afternoon break, so we worked our way to the front of the park, to the car, and drove into the city. We enjoyed a leisurely early dinner of great hamburgers and beer at the Vortex, an Atlanta institution. Back at the park around 6, we were headed right for Goliath when a couple fellow ACEers said they had some extra spots on their current Q-Bot (ok, now known as Flash Pass) reservation. If this wasn’t line cutting, I don’t know what is. But, according to the rules set forth by the park, what we were doing was perfectly ok. Besides, I had no interest in losing my buzz before getting on the ride. Yet another overwhelming experience. We had a little time before our 8:30 report time, so we swung around the front of the park to hit the one remaining ride we didn’t want to miss before night ERT on Goliath started. Fortunately, no Q-Bot was necessary for Acrophobia, as it was about a 2-3 cycle wait. We got 2 quick rides before it was time for the evening gathering. There, we had Exclusive Show Time and an unofficial regional meeting while the parked kicked everyone out. It was just after 10pm when the ERT started in Gotham, 3 great night rides on Mindbender, and 3 of the same on Batman. Both are running as great as ever. The section was a ghost town at 11pm, since Goliath ERT had started. For the first half hour, there were people waiting for every row. It thinned out very quickly, and after 45 minutes, only the first and last rows were not re-rideable. Cyclone and Acrophobia were open, and plenty had disbursed, but not the hardy few. We could see from the lift, there were folks in the Cyclone station, but never more than 3 or 4 people in Acrophobia at a time. I have no idea why they would ever get off Goliath. At one point during the ERT, we counted the airtime. We did it separately, and over a few rides, and we each came up with just about 30 seconds of airtime from start to finish! Most is moderately intense, but anyone who says it not ejector airtime over the last three bunny hills has not ridden! The longest hill is the 3rd, which consistently clocked in with FIVE seconds. That means you are off the seat and against the lap bar for 5 actual, full seconds. We got in a full 90 minutes of riding, and about 20 rides for the session. (I was pretty shocked to see that Goliath is now my 4th most ridden coaster!) It completely made up for the rain-out in the morning, and we walked out the front gate around 1am as satisfied as ever. As far as the park itself, nothing has changed. There are many noticeable attempts at improving customer service, bathroom attendants, people with leaf blowers, using numbered tickets to fight line-jumping on Goliath, but it’s not where it is needed. The security guards were yelling at people to walk back and forth on every switchback of an empty queue house on Goliath, Guest Services was no help whatsoever regarding the season pass processing, which never opened. Employees were as sluggish and unresponsive as ever. As you can see, our overall experience was hardly ruined by sub-par operational standards. (Though I can’t imagine the god-awful experience one would have visiting as GP that day). But I thought it worth mentioning that after at least one visit, Six Flags Corporate may talk a big game, but it’s the same old Six Flags at the park. However, as has always been the case with Six Flags, they do a great job of making up for that with their coasters, and Goliath is yet another terrific example. It’s exactly the coaster that this park (and this region of the country!) has needed. Back to Trip Reports
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