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indiana695

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About indiana695

  • Birthday 01/01/1973

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  1. I have to agree with that. Me as well. I don't think the park is ever going to become a "well-rounded park" because that's just not how they make their money. They're never going to compete with the other SoCal parks without their "Xtreme" branding. We just have to learn to accept that. Is there anyone on this forum who goes to SFMM for anything OTHER than the coasters? We have Disneyland, Knott's, and even Universal for anything else. I have trouble complaining about anything other than cleanliness and operations. There are going to be people who don't have X2 and Tatsu high on their lists, but I'm sure plenty of people do considering what they are. We have those two, a nice hyper in Goliath, a nice woddie, one of the best standusps, and more... Are we forgetting the park just got the world's tallest drop tower as well? We and the park have been spoiled, when they've put so much money into the rides (which, again, is why we go there). There is only Cedar Point that even compares to thrills, in the world! Last weekend I had free tickets to Knott's and yet chose to go to SFMM, why? because, spending the day being thrilled is more important to me than seeing less trash in the garbage bins! In addition, people forget that the might Knott's also have an upcharge attraction in Screaming Swing.... Is that less tacky? I wonder if there are people on the Knott's forum complaining that money should be spent on coaster instead of trash pickers?
  2. Fair enough. Maybe I am a little aggressive, maybe a little to harsh? I apologize for this.... I read these forums and am astounded by comments, often by people who have never even visited the park! But perspective please! I have been to parks all over the world, however I go back to SFMM the most. It is thrilling, the rides are (mostly) excellent and you get unlimited access to ALL six flags parks for about $70. It is insanely cheap. Now think about that for a moment. $70 for unlimited access. Yes, I frequently visit SFMM. It is thrilling park which is very affordable. I have been to Disney a few times, but while it is 'Magical' a single day ticket is over $80. More than an entire season of combined Six flags visits. 1) Sorry, I was a little abrupt. I'm not an "internet tough guy" But I stand by my points. I get frustrated with people who have a soapbox, who make outlandish statements, without having any actual knowledge or experience of ride mechanics, corporate business and/or park operations. 2) How many years of saving $70 would cover an entire trip? Would love to meet your travel agent! 3) To clarify off season, I would say when the park is only open weekends and when a large portion of cliental are in school and attendance is a fraction of peak times. This is known in the trade as an off season. 4) It is a like for like replacement, on a tiny footprint. Some parks have an astronomical budget to make it much more than a theme park, or are located in a higher populated area. This is the unrealistic yardstick that SFMM is being compared to. Please indulge me for a minute while I try and put this in perspective. Let me be clear, that this is an exaggeration to make a point. Ok. I need a car. I see a Rolls Royce that costs $200,000. I love Rolls Royce's. What enthusiast doesn't? I view it in a marble showroom, a beautiful, elegant, well manicured hostess makes me a coffee. The best coffee money can buy! I see the car. It has a team of engineers on standby, a service centre that caters to my every whim, even when I run out of window washer fluid! It's beautiful, shiny, runs like a dream. It is a wonderful experience to drive, but I prefer cars with more guts. But I can only afford $1000 for a car. For $1000 I could hire it for the day. Or... I take the same $1000 down to Vern's used cars. No marble showroom, just an oily forecourt, located in a cheaper part of town with a lot less customers. There are billboards with advertising to help with the rent. After all, all income helps because Vern has just come out of bankruptcy. No elegant hostess, just a guy called Vern. He has a combover and is chewing gum. Maybe some vending machine coffee, if I have the right change. Vern shows me an old clunker car for a $1000. It's not shiny. It runs ok, it will get me around. No engineers, no customer service,basically I am on my own. But it is mine. It does the same, it gets me around, maybe not as smoothly, not as polished but probably more thrilling to drive. I would have a car that will last for a year. A whole year. 2 options: 1)Either I don't buy the car, rent one the nice one for the day. I am very happy with it and look forward to next year, when I can rent it again for the whole day! 2)I buy the cheap car. I can can see how it is not as good, but I appreciate the value. I accept it for what it is. I am grateful that it works, it gets me where I need to go. If I was to tell you that some people that buy the $1000 car, then stand around complaining about the service centre, the vending machine coffee, Vern's B.O. and the lack of decent landscaping on his forecourt..... If I was to tell you that, you would be astonished right? How about other people that don't even visit the forecourt, but go and tell as many people that they can how poor the cars are, how the forecourt is ugly and the service is bad. So what can Vern do? A few options: Option 1: Vern listens to all the feedback, and acts upon it. He puts some nice flowers on his forecourt, he employs an assistant to make better coffee and gets rid of the vending machine. He ditches the combover and buys a new shirt.... but that money has to come from somewhere, so next year, the same car costs you $2000. As the cars are now more expensive, less customers are coming. Sales slow down. Bills start to stack up. Inventory is cut back, the assistant is laid off. A cheap coffee vending machine is purchased from craigslist...... In a year or two bankruptcy is looming. Does option 1 sound like a good business plan? Option 2: Vern does nothing, things fall into disrepair, profits are spent on entirely on more inventory. But their are cracks appearing on the forecourt, the paint is peeling on the signs..... Does option 2 sound like a good business plan? Option 3: Vern decides to find a balance. He listens to peoples feedback, but knows that he has a tight budget. To be able to keep his cars priced low enough so sales don't dry up, he needs to improve things gradually. He knows he can't compete with the big dealerships down the street, they are in a different league. He can't keep everyone happybut he can find a balance. He plans flower seeds for next year, instead of instant, expensive landscaping. He buys another vending machine that sells candy, the profit he makes pays for some new paint. He repaints the signs himself, instead of employing additional contractors. Next year he will repair the cracks in the forecourt. He re-themes an areas of the forecourt, one at a time. Budget section, sports car section, luxury section etc. He is careful not to overspend, but now he is a little more careful with what cars he buys. By being wise with his business plan, not overspending and gradually improving he finds he can keep prices low and finds a good balance. He is slowly improving the entire property, piece by piece. After all, he inherited this business from his family who had neglected it for years, forcing it into bankruptcy. Ok, I know this analogy dragged on a bit, and it is exaggerated, but can you see the points? Recently a little extra care has been taken by SFMM. Different types of rides added with additional theming ( Green Lantern, LL-DOD) versus previous efforts. Areas of the park are slowly being worked on. DC Universe recently, soon Cyclone Bay and Colossus Count Fair. In addition, they are still able to allocate money for future rides, without going into debt. They have just DOUBLED profits, which in this economy is very credible. Sure, corners are cut with decoration, theming and guest services but they have to, for now..... but I'm sure this will improve with the right people in charge. Their operating budget is minuscule compared to Disney, Universal etc. The ratio of staff to rides need to be considered..... You may say, well instead of putting in new rides, they should have more staff, but they don't even have a fraction of attendees, their revenue is not even in the same universe, so to put aside all this extra money would rise ticket prices, therefore lowering attendance, lowering revenue etc. It is a business after all. Anybody on here who has frequently visited the park over the years, will be able to see recent improvements, they are slow and steady, but it is improving. So to summarize, be patient, give the park a chance and accept it for what it is. Giving nicknames to park management, jumping on any critical bandwagons without having considered the 'big picture' and saying the park is 'just crap' because it is not manicured within an inch of its life is very unfortunate and makes the typical bashing statements, that are common here, seem rather rather silly don't you think? Perspective.
  3. When was your last visit to the park? Was it in the winter or offseason? I HATE when people post PTRs bashing SFMM from an offseason visit. Yes, SFMM is mediocre at best in the offseason with half A$$ maintenance and rides running one train. But considering they don't have an offseason, we're lucky they're even keeping the park open!!!! I heard sooo many people complain of the mess the park had this offseason and at WCB, like honestly yes they were clearing a ton of land for Lex and the 2013 coaster! Some people just don't understand and idk why but it really gets under my skin.... lol I'm not bashing you at all, especially since I'm not even sure if ur last visit was in the offseason. I just had to get that out of me! Agreed! Some people don't know when they have a good thing. In the off season, rides are often a walk on. The park runs on a smaller staff.
  4. You are joking right? This is a straight replacement, up charge for up charge. Most parks have maybe 2 or 3, good rides. Some a few more, if they are lucky. You have a park that boasts 17 ( yes 17!) thrill rides. You have this park with all these thrills and you still complain! "Well not many would make my top 10!" ..... Seriously, you pretentious *****! Some of you don't know how lucky you are.... You absolutely need a dose of reality. If a park, which is focused on thrill rides, keeps adding more thrill rides but spends less on shows, characters walking around and extra landscaping, then great.... I don't go there for shows, I don't want to meet a student in an outfit, I go for one reason only. If you don't want that, go and enjoy some sugar coated, cheesy park like Disney....Please!....make sure you visit their vomit inducing gift shop on the way out and buy a t-shirt and silly hat. Personally, I can't stand all that fake, plastic, sugar coated "have a nice day" crap, served up to you by Disney and others. And yet, I don't go onto that other threads saying this and that bother me..... Ok, i get it, there are a few intrusive ad's here and there, so what? You dont have to buy the stuff! Six Flags have just DOUBLED their profits....Personally I can put up with that if it finances improved or new rides. Try and understand the bigger picture, the park is slowly improving things bit by bit, but it is a long term project. There are budgets, there are no magic wands. As long as the rides are well maintained, the park is clean and safe, you should have NO complaints. Don't like it? Don't go. Simple. While you are at it, go on a different thread instead of coming on here spilling your bile and hatred because you have "30000000 things that bother you." Do you know what bothers me? People like you bother me. You don't add anything to the discussion, you just complain. Are you that spoilt? How entitled are you? Your complaints are tiresome, so please do one of the following: A) Don't visit a park like SFMM, if it is not a park for you, but then don't come on here bitching B) Go to the park, enjoy it for what it is and just put a sock in it. You sound like a spoilt teenage girl. EDIT:this post is aimed at more than one person. It is the usual whiners, all of you. You know who you are. BTW a SEASON PASS is $70! .... You seem to forget that
  5. Not to sound like a jerk, but you are 18. You never rode Colossus when it was actually a good ride. Yes, it's "ride-able" now compared to what it was in the early 00's but it's not "butter smooth" by any stretch of the imagination. Anything that can be done to get the ride even close to what it was in the late 70's/80's is a good thing. Agreed. Colossus used to be a lot better than it is. Now some of the corners are so slow that it feels like the cars have square wheels. They have 3 options: 1) Leave it as it is. Not a bad ride, but a shadow of it's former self. It will only get steadily worse until it is beyond repair. 2) Give it the full refurbishment ( e.g. Texas Giant) 3) Demolish I vote for refurbishment.
  6. Yesterday I received a newsletter from SFMM, it says that "watch out for our next issue on July 11th" Now, this is purely speculation on my part, but they only usually send these newsletters every month or so, and the latest came today.....So reading between the lines I am just wondering if the next newsletter will be following some special announcement?
  7. I would have thought somebody would have taken a video of it on the tracks...
  8. The area where Log Jammer was and where Deja Vu was are nowhere near each other. There is the "Mountain", 3-4 rides and a whole bunch of shops in between the two area's. It'd have to be a REALLY long coaster for it to use that area. The Log Jammer area could hold a pretty good sized coaster and the Deja Vu area could hold a decent mid-sized coaster considering they had cleared land for Road Runner Express in that area as well. The Deja Vu area could also hold a station for a nice Out and Back coaster that goes along the entire back-side of the park or the other way over Roaring Rapids. I came to the same conclusion looking at the map. However when I looked at older park maps, they are in a different scale. It's almost like SFMM, when designing a new map, make the empty spaces smaller. Some of the early speculation about this new ride was directly linked to the removal of DejaVu... It will be interesting to see what they have planned
  9. Really looking forward to this ride.... I think it would be better if both rides operated at the same time... Imagine, you are near the top.... you hear S:EFK rattling along the track towards you..... the tower starts to sway... you look to the side to watch S:EFK... but you have been distracted from the ride you are on, then the world drops out of your stomach as you plummet to the ground! Alternatively, you stand in line for 3 hours because turn over is so slow?
  10. Sorry in advance if I seem a little cynical here... I grew up in Blackpool, which meant I spent most weekends on truly "old coasters". While some of these coasters need to be preserved, I still think that they should only preserve the very best ones. I get that this ride is historic in a few ways, but sometimes old and historic are good but not great. Here's my 2 cents worth: A) Would changing the OTSR's or even the actual cars itself on Revolution actually be worth it? It would have NO financial benefit to SFMM corporate.... they may have a slight increase in people who want to ride it, but it will never get crowds...There is a reason why the ride is nearly always a walk on. B) No doubt it would improve the comfort, but at the end of the day, It MIGHT make a poor ride into an average/good ride, but definitely NOT a great one. C) The money for this refurbishment would be better spent on either new rides, modifications to superior rides (Colossus, Viper, Scream etc) or other needed upgrades to the park. Now, can that be the end of it? Do we really need to go into another 40 pages speculating about a more or less moot point? Surly there is more exciting things at MM? Cheers
  11. I've read the same chatter about the reasons for an early announcement. I have no idea of the scale of land space they have to put this ride. I looked at an old park map online and saw the area where they have removed Log Jammer.....but they have also removed DejaVu.... Is that one entire space (all the way through) or is it space for two separate rides? I would love to see it on google earth, but it crashes my laptop!
  12. Nemesis of all the new coasters.... For the oldies, WIld Mouse!
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