mike robinson

The dining experience will be different! I am sure they have it thought out. A lot of people will want to eat where they can see the coaster, and as far as noise, It will be hard to say until the coaster runs. It might be a lot more quiet than you think in Salt Grass or it might shake the plates off the table. My bet is you will hear it but the noise from Boardwalk Bullet will not be too intrusive.

Congrats! She is beautiful! Now you just need to get her to 42 and then 54 inches tall. Its a long wait but totally worth it! Babies are the best! They never talk back or take over your computer! All that will come later. Again, congratulations! When is Robb going to pass out cigars?

Agreed!!! My last visit had either a Key Club or Cheerfest event at the park. I think I lasted about 2 hours before I bailed. I think Ninja looks great with the new paint. Ninja is one of my favorite suspended coasters and one that I do not miss if it is open. I think Ninja was my second Suspended coaster after XLR8 so I was just blown away at what tricks that coaster could do with the terrain.

Sorry I did not see a question, but back in the day that kind of stuff would not be tolerated by anyone in Six Flags Management. I remember seeing employees being fired for walking past a piece of trash without picking it up. Being out of uniform? Your were gone! Smoking in front of the guests? You were gone. No Ipods or cell phones back then but I would imagine they would be firing offenses also. I worked for SFAW 20 somthing years ago, and I saw a lot of people fired for much less and there were a ton of people waiting to take their place. Yes, those days are gone at Six Flags as I have seen everything described at more than one park. I know that it starts at the top and people have to be able to enforce standards and I think that is where the problem is. Is it and HR thing? I don't know. I know there used to be a waiting list to work at Six Flags parks and now it seems they will grab anyone they can so maybe they can't afford to enforce things like they could in the good old days. Maybe some of you remember Magic Mountain from the 70's and early 80's. How was it then? I never worked for Cedar Fair so I have no idea how they do things, but from my visits, they seem to run a tighter ship and have higher standards and like I said before, I think that starts at the very top. Make employees want to keep their job and know there are consequences.

Is Bob L. still Operations Manager? If so I can tell you that things will improve as that man is one of the best in the business. I was fortunate enough to work for him at SFAW and dealt with him when he was GM at Waterworld and Splashtown and can tell you from first hand experience that he is the best. I hope he is still there as if anyone can make operations work at that park, he can. He is the right man for the job.

Jeez, I never saw anything like that on my trip to Orlando's JTA. I might have a different opinion if I did.... It's funny, but on my first ride I was expecting to get soaked and was suprised that I didn't. I can't explain the different experiences. Maybe somone more familiar can clue us in. I am sure at some point I will ride JTA at SWOT, but it won't be the main reason I visit. That will be to get my Steel Eel fix.

To be honest JTA in Orlando did not get me any more wet than a log flume. I really liked the ride, thought it was pretty cool. I did not see anybody coming off of it even close to drenched. Maybe they can affect how wet you get depending on the weather? It was a pretty chilly night. I was there for one of those Microsoft Conferences and there were no lines so I must have ridden it 10 times and did not get drenched at all. I think the most was a wave coming over the boat and getting my leg wet, as opposed to the splash down rides that have left me just soaked. And while I say I hate getting soaked, it has been known to happen... I don't want to pre-judge this ride to much, I can't sat I dislike it as I have not had a chance to ride it. I might end up loving it after I ride it. I am just basing my opinions on similar rides and my reactions to them. I will add this, during the Hershey Con, a bunch of us put on swimsuits and shirts and rode their splashdown ride and had a great time. I just don't like spending the rest of the day soaking wet.

When I first heard that SWOT was getting a Journey to Atlantis ride I was pretty excited. With GREAT anticipation I awaited the announcement wondering which version it would it would be most like. Then came the announcement. *sigh* An off the shelf ride that would resemble neither. Not much theming (if any) and a variation of a ride I can ride in just about any park. Disapointing? Well, yeah. Here I was thinking that Texas would get something Unique for the state and while I was not wrong, it is unique for the wrong reasons. OK, before you read the next part, I have to say I am not a fan of these splashdown rides in general. I HATE getting soaked at a park, probably from growing up in Houston and with its high humidity, getting wet does not mean cooling off, it just promises a mean rash.... So I generally skip these rides, even in climates that have lower humidity unless I take the time and effort to pack extra clothes. San Antonio is a bit less humid, so there is a lot more cooling off that comes with these rides. Seeing how popular these rides are, I accept that I am probably in the minority with my views. Now, I have to agree a Water Ride is not a bad choice seeing how hot it gets in that park, but the park already has a River Rapids ride and a really good log flume. Just down the road, SFFT has 3 "wet" rides, one of them being a more conventional Splash down ride, so I guess Sea World wanted to match that number and up the ante with this version of a splashdown ride. I just wished that they had not teased us with the name first. Anybody who has been to the Orlando park and ridden JTA and expecting something similar is going to be dissapointed. Will it bring me to the park? Not by itself, but as I really like Steel Eel, I will probably give it a try if I visit the park this year. I just think they really missed the boat on this one. A JTA like the Orlando version or even the SD version would have gotten me to the park a lot more and maybe even consider Season Passes. As it is now, I *Might* go the park. Of course the 99% of the GP does not know or care and the ride will probably be a big hit for the locals they are trying to bring in. They are not building this for us jaded coaster enthusiasts. (Except for the credit whores who will no doubt be counting this as a coaster) Don't get me wrong, I really like SWOT, and it has 2 really good coasters, a great waterpark and all the cool animal shows that you can expect from a park with the Sea World name. I just wish they had shown a little more creativity in either selecting this ride or naming it. As it stands now, with this version of JTA, there will not be anything like either version in the other parks ever coming to SWOT. But, as it was pointed out to me during Winterfest, its better than nothing and while I can agree with that, for the amount they are spending on the ride, its not by much.

After Winterfest we stopped by Kemah to check out the new coaster construction and eat at Salt Grass Steak House. There are a few tables that look out directly at the coaster which is about 30 feet from our table. Look at that Banking! Dawn, Zach and I. Well we had quit drooling as we had already had lunch The food was good too!

For people asking where Kemah is, it is just south of Houston, located on Galveston Bay. It is quite close to NASA if that helps.

They can probably spend the insurance money on whatever they want, however in this case I bet it will go to buying out the lease with NO. Six Flags has no intention of re-opening SFNO and even if Katrina had never happened I would bet SFNO would have been on the block along with the other properties that were just sold.

Wow, some TPR members showing their true colors here. I don't know Mantis man or ever heard of him before now but I think its obvious that he does not have a lot of what we take for granted. So people make fun of him? Spread ugly rumors? And you guys think yourselves are better than the average ACE'r? Considering this is a Theme park forum, I think we have a little pot calling the kettle black going on. I have seen plenty of threads here that contain the same thing, the arguing of minute detail of coasters. I don't want to give the impression I do not like TPR, its one of my favorite sites holding a place of honor on my Firefox Navigation bar, but C'mon, This is just mean.

Nah, that house and lot of others are owned by Landry's.

KEY-MAH And I am just dang happy they do what they do. We are smiling again in the Houston Area. The people who run the Boardwalk could not be nicer. Would you EVER imagine that Houston would get a very nice wooden coaster, in a traditional park setting right on the water? I mean seriously, would you? Kemah has been a hidden gem in these parts for a long time. Sitting right on Galveston Bay it has scenery that you would not normally associate with Houston. The views from the lift hill and that first swoop should be amazing.

It also costs a lot more to move a wooden coaster. Texas Cyclone was heavily considered by a park now building another wooden coaster but the costs were really high. The Texas Cyclone would have to be redesigned if moved from the ground up to bring it up to current codes that had been grandfathered since it was built.

Kemah Boardwalk was voted best place to take visitors in this years Houston Chronicle reader polls. As mentioned it is a showcase for Landry's restaraunts and the Amusement portion is a lot of fun. We have had one ACE event there already and I expect a lot more! They still have not made any announcement, the owner just re-opened the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas so they have been busy but he did promise us a coaster Houston could be proud of. Looking at the models of the coaster that *might* be coming here is really exciting, especially after losing Astroworld.

Maybe they just need some "Orca Tums" to settle them down.

Didn't Donald Trumps dad get rich in part by bulldozing part of Coney Island? I just don't see Thor leaving all that money on the table after the area gets rezoned to allow more non amusement building. There sure had been a lot of "Re-Development" of the area and none of it has been good for the Amusement park side of things.

Wow, thats a pretty cool find. They showed that clip at SFAW the first year the TV Monitors went up in 1984, the same year XLR8 opened.

I hear you Robb and your right, some people just won't like it. OTOH I think alot of people will. I do think that SFOT is a good park to try this out. SFOT seems to have more consistent operations than SFMM so while this might be a disaster for a park like SFMM, it might do quite well at SFOT.

Its funny but until the invitations for the announcement went out; there was no discussion of a new ride at SFOT. Then the announcement went out and everyone expected a coaster reading a lot more into it than it really was. This is not a circus. I don’t think most people who are complaining read the entire press release. This is something that will change the entire park at night and offer shows that are intended to keep guests in the park. The park will be open later and have some different offerings. SFFT has a show that does the same thing with the "Lone Star Spectacular". If SFFT took out that show there would be a huge outcry from the locals that visit the park. Would this message board care? Back in the "glory" days of Six Flags parks most parks had a show near closing, usually a fireworks show designed to keep people in the park and send them home on a good note. Fantasy of Fire at SFAW was a perfect example of this. I still say this is an excellent move by Six Flags. It’s something the entire family can do together and if it serves its purpose it will pave the way for new rides by increasing spending in the park. There is no convincing people who believe a new ride is the only way to go, but history has shown that is not always successful. I would say wait and see what it is like before immediately judging it to be a rip off. To be honest I am much more excited about this than the new Journey to Atlantis at SWOT. Six Flags never promised anything close to a new rollercoaster. What they said they would do is make the parks more family friendly and that’s EXACTLY what this is about. I really do not understand the complaints. All Six Flags is doing is what they said they would do.

C'mon guys, you can't expect new rides every year. This is designed for one thing, to keep guests in the park longer until closing. That will help the per cap situation even more as families stay and eat another meal, buy more merchandise and play more games. Its a pretty smart move on Six Flags part. Don't be so dissapointed, the press release said NOTHING about a new ride. I think some people read WAY too much into it.

I agree. I don't see lap bars in the immediate future.

I would say there was an improvement. I had a visit to SFGAdv in August and it was a much better park than I had ever seen on my other visits in previous years. The park was clean and the employees were very friendly. The smoking ban was enforced and I saw employees telling smokers to put it out and point them to the designated smoking areas. (andf as a smoker I can tell you that the smoking areas were always full!) My only other Six Flags park was SFFT and I saw much of the same thing. I always thought SFFT was very nice anyway. I think we should give them another season. Obviously this years budgets did not work out as planned, perhaps because they were left overs from the Burke regime. If we see poor results next year we can blame Shapiro 100% but I think we should give him next season before we judge.

Well sure, any seasoned enthusiast can poke holes in this thing all day long. I don't think this poll is really for us though, its for the parks and amusement today. There is a business behind it. And it serves it's purpose well. If you want a more accurate poll, just look at Mitch's. That is the end all-be all for me because it is all about collecting as much data as possible, comparing it and making logical conclusions. Amusement Today is a business. It caters to the Amusement park business, and while they love enthusiasts, enthusiasts are not paying the advertising bills. Could it be better? Sure it can. I don't know how pressing it is for them, the current model seems to be working well. I am sure it will change and evolve as time goes by. So don't blow a gasket over these results if you don't like them. Like I said before it is what it is, don't read more into it. The parks don't seem to have a problem with it. I think most of them love it as it is an additional marketing tool. Edit - Forgot to add, obvoiously its not all hard core coaster fans voting. I have no idea how the ballots are distributed but the results show its not just "old Acer's" but a general representation from the peeps out there. That could explain all these "Oh Crap" moments.