GAcoaster

Well when I was as SFMM, there were about 20 employees hanging out in SCREAM's station, doing absolutly nothing. There were only 3 ops acutally doing something. We could so make this a joke: "How many SFMM employees dose it take to operate SCREAM?" Unfortunately, that kind of thing is always going to happen. The cuts I'm thinking about most are things like no longer having attendants on flat rides. They have been reconfigured so the entrances and exits are together allowing a single person to run them. Yes, it's cheaper to run with one employee but it's slower loading, longer wait times, and (possibly) not as safe.

Often when parks require full trains to run, it's more about economics than anything. Why run an empty train (especially on a launch coaster), when each cycle costs money? The 2 riders in the back seat rule (and sometimes age requirements for those riders) has to do with being witnesses in the event of a court case. On woodies especially, the restraints really can't keep determined people in their seats, so if someone tries to stand up which happens quite often from what I've seen, the people in the back seat can testify in the event of an accident or legal actions (prosecution by the park). The two people in the back seats can see the entire train.

When Premier bought out Time Warner's share of Six Flags, part of the deal was assuming more than $1 billion in debts with the chain, so they were on shaky financial ground even while they were part of TW. My personal feeling is that Premier made some very smart moves, but suffered from bad timing more than anything. Had the economy not floundered with the dot.com collapse, and had 9/11 never happened, the chain would probably have been in pretty good shape. Making Six Flags a national brand and improving smaller parks were smart moves, but they turned out to be bad investments in some cases, and good investments in others. From what I understand, some of the re-flagged parks (like SFNE and SFMW) have done well, and turned profits. Others, like SFWoA proved to be mistakes, but as we've all seen now, not even the home town owners of GL have been able to reverse the problems. Unfortunately, when times are bad cuts have to be made. Because the company over extended in anticipation of better returns, when time got tough, they had to make cuts. Because they had to make cuts, customer service, staffing, maintenance budgets, etc all suffered to the detriment of all the parks in the chain. I'm sure if they could do it all again, Premier/SF would have not made some of the acquisitions and improvements they did, but hindsight is 20/20. The investment community believed that Burke & co. had the right ideas, and I tend to agree for the most part. The problem is once the money was spent there was no way to unspend it when things got rough.

The park is being cryptic about that, but it seems like the weather has and looks like it will continue to delay work. They were originally saying top out by Christmas, now they say they'll top out by the end of the year.

El Toro picture of the day...

I'd tend not to believe that story. They did pull through tests, and SHOULD have noticed any clearance problems then. My guess is someone is confused, or this is a fake story either to cover something else up, or just someone being a tool.

It may be that they end up selling the park (to CF). I definitely see them selling off more of the under-performers. Remember that like Astroworld, Fiesta Texas was something of a flop until Six Flags took over managing it. Just because it was in a big chain that could subsidize it doesn't mean it was a good idea to keep it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to believe good things will happen under Snyder's control, but I fear the worst. Keep in mind that Snyder now controls 3 of the 7 board seats, still not a majority. Will the other board members vote with Snyder and his buddies, probably, but there are still unknowns which we'll have to wait and see.

Basically, Snyder is suing to take control now, and the current management is saying they want to wait until the end of the month (and the bidding on selling the chain) and have an auditing firm certify the results. Their point is even though currently it may appear that the votes are in Snyder's favor, people can send revocation cards (and change their votes), and probably will if they get a better offer from a buyer, instead of someone trying to take control without buying the company. Snyder is claiming this is a stalling tactic, but a judge has agreed with SF management and is allowing the time to certify the vote. My feeling on all this is Snyder taking control probably won't be the worst thing to happen, but their are so many unknowns. The things we do know (quoted directly from Red Zone's proposal): Not a bad move. Mr Six has run two seasons which is about as long as any ad campaign can run. It's time for a change, and the idea is good as long as the implementation is good. I don't know that direct mail will work (everyone throws junk mail out without even looking at it). Good move. Season passes are under priced, and draw undesirables since they are SO cheap. This is OK, in fact it's what is already happening. OK, as long as they're not selling our information to advertisers (but they will, just like the supermarkets that use reward cards). Also, as long as they don't do what they are/were doing at FedEx Field and ONLY accepting their own credit card for payment. DUMB MOVE! As Six Flags pointed out in their rebuttal of these proposals, concessions are VERY PROFITABLE. In addition, the contractor run concessions have BAD service IMO. I have no problem with small signs saying "Jersey Central Power & Light is the Official Energy Provider", or even "The Cingular Showcase Theatre", but I don't need anyone selling me cell phone service or Direct TV as I'm trying to walk trough the park. Think of more people as annoying as the picture takers, but all over the parks Good move as long as they put provisions in the sales as to what kinds of things may be built on the property, and they don't sell TOO MUCH land. Encouraging more development around the parks could help the parks, but letting home builders build right up to the fences is a HUGE mistake! Good idea. Once again, keeping the riff-raff out, and bringing families in. Overall-- Snyder's proposals are not terrible (most of them at least). I'm more concerned about the things NOT being mentioned. Snyder- His experience is running an NFL team...he doesn't know the THEME PARK business Shapiro- His experience is running ESPN (though they keep saying DISNEY in all the press releases), he doesn't know the THEME PARK business Schar- Home Builder, obviously there to oversee selling off real estate, no THEME PARK experience

What's up with the angry red nostril!?! :shock: The wings go in your mouth, not up your nose!

I think El Toro, Tatsu and the Goliaths will probably be the last MAJOR coasters installed at SF parks for a few years, from everything Snyder has said. And expect all the Looney Tunes themed attractions to turn into Nestle Chocobots Action Adventure Zones or whoever the highest bidder is for rights at your local FedEx and CocaCola's Six Flags park.

From Reuters

Living Colour!

Being (literally) between Brad and Angelina would be interesting... There are a few of those "grease me up and throw me in the middle" couples out there, and Brad and Angelina are top of the list!

Including a Vekoma built coaster. EE would be my choice if I knew the ride itself would be good (I know the themeing is excellent), but since so much of it will depend on a Vekoma produced design, and an unproven one at that, I'd have to actually ride it to know it's not just a crappy Vekoma in a pretty mountain. El Toro on the other hand looks fun and looks like something that will be re-ride-able. The INTAMIN woodie track record so far seems impressive, and I'm fairly sure won't disappoint.

They COULD have kept it an animal park (and they might have to in order to survive).

As someone who lives as close to the middle of New Jersey as you can get, I can tell you Dorney and GAdv are in stiff competition. The area I live in gets both New York and Philadelphia channels on our cable system, and every year there are Dorney and GA commercials on both. And Dorney runs about twice as many commercials. One year, Dorney even ran a commercial that bashed GA, showing a woman in a skin tight black body suit with a whip with explosions and fighting around her, and the tagline was something like "Not your idea of FAMILY entertainment? Come to Dorney park instead." Dorney is actually closer to New York City than GA is, and they fight hard over the same pool of guests. I've heard from several Dorney locals that they've stopped getting season passes and going because the crowds from NYC coming in are getting really bad. I wouldn't be surprised to see them add metal detectors within a year or two (after the first stabbing or shooting).

I've heard several people mention they thought CF would buy SFMW, and I have no idea why anyone would think that. It would be the same situation they have with GL. Take out all the animals (because they have said they don't want to run animal parks) and you're left with a crappy park with vacant animal exhibits that the locals stop going to because they liked the animals. Personally, I don't see CF having the money to buy SF outright, or the interest. I could see them buying select (smaller) parks, but not the whole chain.

^ And that's why this thread has never degenerated into a Bible-quoting flame war...

^ Then feast your eyes on some hard core coaster action! More pics from this weekend at SFGAdv on my site: AmusementPics!

The El Toro Construction Journal has been updated and they say they will be going vertical by Monday afternoon: I just got back and posted a construction update over on my site: Click to see all the pictures!!!

Thanks everyone! Hey Coaster Palooza, 10/26/69 was a good day to be born!

And, "SLC" is the code for Salt Lake City, the origin of the parts (actually the hub closest to the factory). I'm guessing they are getting the Screaming Swing and something else for 2006, but the BIG attraction that will take WWL's spot will be the 2007 addition (requiring more than a year for site prep and construction.

I had an SL2, and now I have a VUE, and I've had no problems at all with them.

^ And the "fat people" circle should probably be changed to "Morbidly Obese"

I has been running fairly well, when it hasn't been raining. I'd say this weekend it will probably be down all weekend due to weather.