I was at the park today. I do agree that cars really back up at parking, and I feel they could give just two lanes for the vaccines... after all, vaccines don't even back up into a queue for a long ways past the gate. Having four lanes for vaccines seems really unnecessary. The parking did mostly go fine for me, but again, if you're stuck behind someone without a reservation/wrong date, of course that could hold everything up. That's not SFMM's fault. And while I had heard that they didn't open parking until 10:20 on April 1, for us on April 3, they opened parking by 10:05. We arrived at the parking gates by 9:50am (the park opened at 10:30), and I'd say there were already about 50 cars stacked and waiting to get in.
Since I have maintained my membership throughout the pandemic, I got upgraded to Diamond Elite VIP, which gets me up to 4 ride passes. However, they don't include: Superman, WCR, Crazanity, or X2. Even so, not a bad deal. I had Preferred Parking reserved, and since that's taken up by the vaccine, I was directed to the old Valet parking area right next to X2, which was my first time coming from that area... I loved it! But the attendant there said it probably won't last long (again, likely because of vaccinations), so try to enjoy it while you can! We were also told that in the future, we will be given a SF gift card to use for all our credit that we continued to pay during the pandemic.
We generally had a great time, and did way more than we expected to accomplish! My biggest advice is get there early , and leave early. We got a crapload of stuff done in about the first 2-3 hours of park opening, but by about 2 or 3pm, it was like suddenly all the lines for both food and rides are out of control. Get there early and leave early, and I think you'll have a great time. We left by about 2:30 (after a bit of shopping) and thought that was right, as all the lines were starting to get out of control by then.
I also agree that rides are up and down a lot... we saw nearly every ride have to shut down at some point, and then typically reopen 30-60 minutes later, so come back if you can. I don't really fault SFMM for this right now, either... the park is still trying to get it's sealegs, so to speak, and I get a sense there's a lot of new team members who are not quite used to making it all work smoothly. I think it'll get better in time, and given what they had to work with, it's a great start. Yeah, some guests are not great about having their masks over their nose or distancing in lines, but in a large group, it's inevitiable. But most people would move back if asked politely, and if on the pathway, it's wide enough you can easily avoid them. I also love all the new seating areas they've added... I hope that stays! And I'm hoping that in time, they'll add drink stations (like Knott's has) for quicker refills.
We have done the same thing. GOt their at park opening and got on a few things. I am mostly going to walk around like I always do.
I will say this. You don't even need a reservation to get into the park or to park. I am not saying that everyone should do this, but it can be done.
The same happened at the two parks in Texas when we were recently there.
In addition, I wish of those complaining on every site possible, to actually read the State's rules for theme parks reopening. No where does it say theme parks have to check IDs to see if you live in state. No where does it say you can be kicked out for not wearing a mask. Walk up ticket sales are allowed without a reservation. It is driving me nuts how people make up rules and then believe in them.
This was has been driving me crazy the most regarding in stated visitors only. it states, "In-state visitors only. Information will be prominently placed on all communications, including the Reservation and Ticketing systems, to ensure guests are aware of Reservation and Ticketing Requirements. At the time a guest makes a park reservation and purchases park tickets, the park operators must obtain an attestation that when visiting the park, the guest’s party size will not contain more than 3 households and the guest, and all members of the guest’s party will be instate visitors. " No where does it say IDs will be checked or have to be checked. People need to learn what an attestation is.
Bottom line to anyone going here, or any of the other parks in the near future is HAVE FUN!!!!!!! Don't worry about what others are doing and HAVE FUN!!!!!!