GAcoaster

^ That's the sound of the concrete trucks pulling up to start paving over every bit of the park that has any shade. They had to cancel Winterfest so CF could start their amazing makeover!

El Toro has been having issues but so far has only been down for an entire day once since it opened. It tends to have lift hill problems periodically, but nothing that keeps it closed for very long.

They also don't take risks on new technology. If you just want your basic run of the mill woodie, HW is your park. If you want a coaster that pushes the limits of technology, you have to expect there will be downtime and bugs, and you have to go to a CF or SF park.

Ummmm, I really think everyone keeps misreading this. This "no-touch" list is parks that don't need fixing, not that are exempt from sale. If you look at those parks, they all have a good balance of thrills and family attractions, decent theme elements and are generally what he wants all the parks to be like. Parks like Great Adventure need improvements in terms of maintenance, additions of family attractions, etc. I think GA (and most of the other SF parks not on the 6-park hit list from the conference call) are safe from sale in the near term...they just require more investments and TLC than those "no-touch" parks.

You may also want to check out Indian Rock http://www.indianrockresort.com/ It's just a few miles away, and I hear it's nicer.

How about something like "Peregrine", or "Falcon". I think a falcon theme would fit with the French section nicely, and since they have falcons in the bird show already. And the little S&M hoods the birds wear are cool:

Wow, that's a great idea on their part...I wonder where they got it? It's still fun to trade with people on here for free. Spending $10 takes the challenge out of it!

The night of July 2nd I was at the park and can tell you there were several direct hits to the park (the power got knocked out 3 times during the storm) and just about every ride to a hit. They all have lightning protection, but there are limits to what that does if a computer system takes the full hit. I posted a few pics of the lightning on my site:

That was the problem...the OLD management had no 5-year plan...more like a 5-month plan. It's now that Shapiro is in charge he is asking for the parks to submit plans for 2-years, 5-years, etc. Shapiro stated on the conference call that El Toro was ordered 3 months later than it should have been, opened later than expected and was $3 million over budget. The original plan was the bridge was not re-opening to the public (creating 2 dead ends), then Sevart told tour groups over the winter the bridge WOULD re-open. Since then he has been replaced, but with the cost over runs they may not be able to afford to add some kind of safety nets or something that would allow the bridge to re-open. After talking in depth with several highly placed employees, they really are trying to make changes, but the old management blew the budget even before the season started. That's why Shapiro had to have a conference call and explain they were not going to make their revenue targets (due to increased expenditures). Almost everything about this season was predetermined by the old management. It's tempting to rush to judge the "new" Six Flags, but it's not fair until they really have a chance to make a difference and really make the changes that matter. BIG things are in store for 2007.

PM me your info and I'll send you a SFGAdv map in exchange for one! Holla too! If you can snag one, let me know!

He didn't say he couldn't turn SFMM into a family park...he just said it's prohibitive to do it with SF's current financial situation, especially with the world's first/greatest family park (DL) just down the road. It comes to a point of cutting losses, and SFMM is a loss to Six Flags and their new image at this point.

I live about a mile from the Delaware and it's pretty bad...my house is OK, but there are lots of people flooded out of their homes for the 4th time in 3 years (when these kind of floods used to happen every 50 years). Guess there might be something to the whole global warming/climate change thing no matter how much the current administration insists it's all a lie. Besides Knoebel's, Bushkill park was also flooded out again, and they had just re-opened after being closed all of last season from the last flood...

Don't forget concrete...acres and acres of concrete...

I believe the dive in the stock price was due more to Shapiro's "we may not be able to pay our debts" statement than the possible sale of assets. Also note in the Screamscape article that Snyder bought more stock since it went down, and increased his stake. He's a smart business man and believes there is money to be made or he wouldn't keep investing. I personally think that selling MM and the other parks is a smart move. I'm still surprised by the move and would hate to lose it should they end up selling it for the land, but looking at the reasoning behind it, I fully understand why they are thinking of doing it. The value of that single park can go a long way to fixing the company's debt load, and (like with Frontier City) it is a symbol of the "old" company and their short-sighted ways. People all over agree that MM was symbolic of the problem with Premier's ownership of the company...build coasters, take out flats, don't pay to maintain anything, do everything half-assed. I suggest everyone go to Yahoo Finance and listen to the conference call and really listen to what Shapiro says. He's not the Grinch Who Stole Coasters, just a smart business man who is trying to fix a badly damaged company.

You're still only 14...you're allowed to question everything! And keep on questioning all your life! It keeps things interesting that way! "I know not where the lightning strikes"

But if that one park doesn't and can't easily be made to fit the "New" Six Flags strategy, and it's worth A LOT of money, why not sell it? They still have $2 Billion in debts to pay. It's like surgery, you have to cut in order to cure. Amputating SFMM might be what saves all of Six Flags, and when you are trying to create a "family" park in the shadow of Disneyland, the amount of money required to make that transformation would never see ROI. Shapiro has facts and figures we can only guess at. On top of that, this may even just be a bluff...basically extortion. Maybe it's "lower our taxes and give us incentives to keep these parks open or we'll close them". Many communities rely on these parks to help lower their taxes, and without the parks the tax increases residents would see would be astronomical. If the communities agree to tax incentives, suddenly the parks become a lot more profitable for SF to run, and the taxpayers only see modest increases.

No, that kind of rebuild can be done in an afternoon...this is supposed to be a "Build a brand new train from scratch (but without the problems)" train build. The timing with the Freeze incident was completely coincidence and a very different problem, but apparently the cause of Chiller's problems showed a potential problem with all those Premier trains.

Or Hydraulic Launch shed? Or a structure from which to operate the new coaster and the surrounding areas various lights and mechanics. I really hope this isn't launched.... Do you really need 700 Sqft for all that? You operate the coaster within the station, no shed required. Don't forget water pumps and filtration systems require a lot of power to operate as well. Besides, 600 Square feet isn't really that big-- 20' x 30' to house electric and probably the computer system is about average for a large coaster.

Ummm...in this case I think the ACLU would be fighting FOR the right to take pictures and videotape. People don't understand the ACLU fights for EVERYONE'S Civil Liberties. People who bash the ACLU generally don't understand it. Just wait until it's YOUR rights that are being threatened... Back on topic-- I've had someone at PKI tell me I couldn't take pictures of the rides (specifically Drop Zone) and also at SFGAdv I had a Security Guard tell me picture taking was not allowed. In both cases I countered with, "Then why do they sell film, cameras and batteries in the park?", and both times I was told you could take pictures of the people but not the rides.

Unofficially I've heard they have to build a whole new train for Robin (and possibly every other Premier LIM coaster using that style of train). Don't know how much I believe that, but if it's true expect Chiller to be down for the season.

They all seem to be selling them for $5, but giving them away for free at the parking lot gate.

Apparently they even run a "Making of" during the First Look commercials before the movie: Click to see stills! Filmed at SFGAdv

Exactly! We heard it from other ACE people who are generally "if it's not CP or Holday World or Knoebel's, it sucks" people, not SF fans at all.

I spoke to someone at Media Day today who also said he preffered ET to Voyage. I loved ET. It's the best coaster in the park, and my new #1.

LOL-- Thank you Dr. Arroway