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[sdcfan88]

So I went to ride Time Traveler on opening day. I was also part of the smaller media event/tour they had going on and got to grab up close photos and video of the first riders on the coaster down in the valley itself. I have to give a shout out and a special thanks to the SDC staff for being so gracious and accommodating for doing this and for providing us brunch as well. Also got to meet and do some shooting with a bunch of big names in the coaster/amusements community, including the senior staff with MACK rides, and the owners of TPR, GTA, and RCDB. Got a couple rides on Time Traveler itself shortly afterward which I will give a review on in just a moment.



































In short, with my first impressions with Time Traveler: It was really cool! Definitely a very unique coaster experience combining elements from several proven coaster types into something totally new and different! I really love the train design too and the lighting effects on the cars themselves is very nice! It is no secret I was very apprehensive to the announcement of this type of coaster being built as I loathe spinning teacup type rides... but this is doable for me! The first drop gives you some real hang time with somewhat forceful swinging/pivoting in the first three cars but the back car is where you wanna be as it has a very forceful pull when you drop. Dropping backwards is crazy! The cars barely rotated or twirled throughout the ride with the exception of a couple places, one being during the barrel roll and then towards the end at the final overbanked turn as you hit the break run. I must say it is really weird going thru the vertical loop sideways which is what you will often find yourself doing. Going thru the elements to me is best described as surfing or swinging thru them. Also the launches themselves (particularly the final one) is very forceful, I dare say as forceful as Powderkeg. It is a really fun and interesting experience if you find yourself facing backwards when you experience the launches too. I also had no issues with the seats or the restraints themselves with me weighing 220lbs. These are the best coaster seats I have ever ridden in considering this is my first MACK coaster. I really wished Wildfire could get them.

As for the critiques on Time Traveler, the most apparent one is the the ride coming to a complete stop for about 5 seconds at the first launch. Really kills the pacing. To me this needs to be deleted or remedied by adding a simple show building with at least some lights and smoke to help with the theme of "going thru time" on the ride. I felt this was a sorely missed opportunity. Another is (with the exception of the back car on the first drop) there is little to no airtime on this coaster from my personal experience, but this is "coaster enthusiast' type of nitpicking so I can let this one go since the other elements are really awesome to experience as every ride on it is different due to being pivoted in different directions at different times. And finally the overall theming is okay and it is great where it is used (the spinning cogs and multicolor lighting the main loading bay is brilliant and I will post up images of the building queue in another post) but my final critique is the majority of the building is quite simple and barren on theming inside and out. As I said they did a very good job on the loading station level and somewhat on the 2nd floor but overall it feels rushed and unfinished down on the lower levels and outside. Maybe I was just going in expecting another Wildfire type of station building (which is still SDC's best themed station building to date) but you can be the judge for yourself when you visit. I will give them a benefit of a doubt that they haven't finished it yet and they didn't want to say or imply anything to indicate that. Maybe improvements and additions will come next season?

Overall though despite all that, I really liked the coaster for what it is. It definitely has its forceful moments with the drop, the vertical loop, and the launches. My recommendation is to not go in expecting another Wildfire or Outlaw Run, it is it's own unique experience and it is family/kid friendly. It is a very smooth and comfortable riding coaster as well. One of the best I have ridden in terms of comfort. I am looking forward to using my season pass a lot for re-experiencing this coaster thru the rest of the season.

[sdcfan88]

And here are the photos of the queue line and inside the station building. What I photographed is pretty much all of it save for a few bits of signage. There is also no onride photo but a section where they photograph riders passing thru the queue like they do at the Train Station. This could be a big problem on very busy days. Also note that Trailblazer Passes (including season and super passes) are only valid one ride per day on Time Traveler. Everything else is okay and pretty much unlimited.
















And here are photos of the new area and the reconfigured restaurants and shopping area.







The Time Traveler signage really imposes itself over the ThuNderaTion entrance hidden in the background. Again this is a nitpick, but I was really hoping they were gonna rebuild the archway when they redesigned the area and bring back the mine carts versus the simple TNT sign on two wooden poles.




Overall, I really am loving the redesigned area and I am glad they managed to save the majority of the landscaping and mature trees that littered this area.

[HumphreyHawk]

I have yet to ride TT, but my favorite part of the ride is something no one is talking about right now – the reduced wait times we're sure to find on all the other coasters. The addition of another major coaster and more importantly, its placement, has brought some long overdue ride balance to SDC.

Oh no....you're not the only one who's thought about that....lol  A rope drop run to powerkeg and/or OR should produce short lines and possible quick re-rides this year.  Get those two coasters in quick and you can wait the rest of the day in line for TT.  TnT is going to have some unusually long waits this year too I'm predicting.

[HumphreyHawk]

Yeah, the restraints seem to be kind of similar to Outlaw in the size of riders that are able to fit. Some decently large guys made it barely, but others who are bigger about the waist have no chance. Seems to be typical for rides these days that don't have OTSR's.

Sounds like they've only been using two trains so far? Someone also mentioned that they abandoned using the separate unload area at some point in the day and it actually made it a lot more efficient. Perhaps the separate area only makes sense when they have all three trains in operation.

I hope they have it running at peak this weekend. I'm dreading the 4 hour wait.

Since the coaster doesn't have a traditional mid-brake run and is relatively short....I would assume they would never have 3 trains on it at the same time?  Do they even have three trains?  I guess they could release a 2nd train after the first launch but the ride isn't that long.  So they would have to be really quick with unloading outside the station and loading in the station with probably two ops crew to really make it work faster.

[shavethewhales]

^Yes, the have three trains. Under ideal operations you have one train loading, one train unloading, and one train cycling. Dispatches should be under a minute. I have seen some parks get trains unloaded, loaded, and out the station in under 30 seconds. SDC just doesn't have that kind of hurry up culture in ride operations, so even though they have the infrastructure here for very fast operations they aren't really using it well (yet).

It's only been 3 days yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are rolling out three train operation today. I certainly expect to see it tomorrow.

[mg]

...I wouldn't be surprised if they are rolling out three train operation today. I certainly expect to see it tomorrow.

Wait times in the app have been much shorter today compared to the last two days. Either there are strangely low crowds, they aren't reporting accurate times or they are running three trains. Could possibly be a mixture of a few reasons too.

All rides have been reporting walk on or very short times today, not just Time Traveler.

[milhouse]

...I wouldn't be surprised if they are rolling out three train operation today. I certainly expect to see it tomorrow.

Wait times in the app have been much shorter today compared to the last two days. Either there are strangely low crowds, they aren't reporting accurate times or they are running three trains. Could possibly be a mixture of a few reasons too.

All rides have been reporting walk on or very short times today, not just Time Traveler.

They have been running three trains since open. Seem to be very efficient with loading and unloading today. Longest we have waited was our first ride of the day. Got on in under 20 minutes just earlier. Currently in line for ride #6 and it'll be about a 20 minute wait also.

[HumphreyHawk]

^Yes, the have three trains. Under ideal operations you have one train loading, one train unloading, and one train cycling. Dispatches should be under a minute. I have seen some parks get trains unloaded, loaded, and out the station in under 30 seconds. SDC just doesn't have that kind of hurry up culture in ride operations, so even though they have the infrastructure here for very fast operations they aren't really using it well (yet).

It's only been 3 days yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are rolling out three train operation today. I certainly expect to see it tomorrow.

That's amazing!!!  Hope they can keep that up for years to come.

[sirwillow]

It was "Turn Back Time" by Cher. I was absolutely loving hearing these covers; I heard "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty near the end of the stream on SDC's FB page.

Far as I could hear, the covers I heard were all instrumentals.

heard today: Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper), and there was another one about Falling as well.  The name is slipping my mind.

My son was sure he heard Smoke on the Water.

[sirwillow]

Since the coaster doesn't have a traditional mid-brake run and is relatively short....I would assume they would never have 3 trains on it at the same time?  Do they even have three trains?

they most certainly have 3 trains.  They ran 3 trains the entire time of the media day/ employee rides event on Tuesday.  And they ran 3 trains all today when they were operating.  I was actually pretty impressed at how fast the line was moving with all three operating.  They were pushing it through pretty decent.  Actually had the line down to about 20 minutes for a good portion of the afternoon today, with a crowd I was told was around 7000.

[mg]

Remember when the name Wild Mountain got thrown around? Saw this on TPR. It's great to see a little touch like this that 99% of people won't get.

[sanddunerider]

!!!?!!!!??  really guys...  Cant we play nice? I have comments to make, but control the keyboard..cant you??


On another note...  fridays attendance was only 7500 people.  expected more wiht it being spring break and warm,saturday will be cooler..    this weekends numbers will be interesting...

[History Buff]

!!!?!!!!??  really guys...  Cant we play nice? I have comments to make, but control the keyboard..cant you??


On another note...  fridays attendance was only 7500 people.  expected more wiht it being spring break and warm,saturday will be cooler..    this weekends numbers will be interesting...

No reason to play out personal opinions here.  What two people thought was comedy and conversation, others perceived as offensive.  That's not what this board is about.  I have removed the conversation, and now we're back to the conversation at hand - without personal attacks and name calling.

[History Buff]

Remember when the name Wild Mountain got thrown around? Saw this on TPR. It's great to see a little touch like this that 99% of people won't get.

This is great!  I would question whether or not they threw us for a loop.

[shavethewhales]

Finally made it here. Didn't get much of a chance to really check the area out yet since I'm in the massive opening line, but my first impression is that they didn't actually open it up much at all? It's arranged better I guess, but I thought the objective was more crowd space....  Everything looks nice though and it blends perfectly with the park. They added a number mature trees and kept some.