SFA Regular

Here is another good idea I had in mind for SFA. For a new thrill ride, the new Vekoma suspending coaster design would be a good fit to replace Two-Face. Many of you have probably seen this already but I will post the link again. http://www.vekoma.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=1 The suspending coaster design would work well. Depending on how big it would be, would determine if it could fit in Two-Face's old spot. Over all, I think something new like that would make a great addition to the park. It's brand new on the market for 2010 so it's not like we are building a clone or something. Again, it's a brand new design that could turn into a signature attraction for the park. Any thoughts?

As far as I know if, the only transit bus that goes there is Metro. You would have to go on the Blue Line and go all the way to Largo. Then you wait for the right bus and it eventually takes you to SFA and stops on the other side of the street. That's all I know.

I agree with you too. But the thing that really disappointments me is that it would be very easy for them to set up good haunted house attractions but they choose not too. If you want to know what I think, I think the family friendly thing is going to be the down fall of the place. For those who have been to Kings Dominion's Halloween thing, you know what I mean. Kings Dominion's Halloween thing is so impressive that it's not even funny. They have 9 haunted houses and the crowds are so huge. There's are definitely not family friendly and they make loads of money. They don't charge you a penny to enter. You can keep going inside of them all day long because it's free with park admission. Here are some cool idea I had for new haunted houses at SFA. * Bring back the HAUNTED HAY-RIDE * Add temporary tunnels on rides like Wild One and Roar. Fill tunnels with fog and spooky strobe lights. * Put dense fog in the tunnel for JOKERS JINX. * Use Two-Face old spot for a haunted maze with a western theme. * Set up a new Brutal Planet and set it over in between Superman and Batwing. What do you think. It's very easy to do and many people would return if they advertised it.

I do agree (Nitro) most people don't go there that often as us enthusiast do. And yea, I have heard some people say that Superman goes upside down. But enough talk about coasters. I don't want to beat a dead horse anymore. Lets talk about the future and past history of SFA's Fright Fest. Why is it constantly going down hill each year? Why won't they improve on it and give us some decent haunted houses and adding some fog in Gotham City around some of the rides. It would make it look totally spooky. Any good ideas in mind?

Reason why I said replace the drop ride is because it's not a crowd pleaser anymore. If anything, it doesn't really serve the park as much as it use to. It's a good and quick investment to replace it with something that is very similar such as a Drop Zone, and make it bigger. Drop Zone seats more people and is loads of fun. And for the record, a lot of people would notice the difference if they put something that big to replace it. Do you think people would stand there clueless as to why there is a tower ride that is seating more people than the ride that was in it's place last year??? Better yet, they could put it where the octopus ride use to be so that it can easily be seen from 214 Central Ave. With a good light display, it would look very pretty and appealing. Not to mention something that tall is a must do ride, in the night.

Alright, if they don't want to add a new coaster, why not add a bigger (DROP TOWER)? As I said in another post, it's such a good investment to replace an old (Tower of Doom) ride that doesn't attract a lot of people at all. And I do agree with Flash Pass. I don't like it at all. I wish they had never made it. Kings Dominion makes everyone wait in line, which is the right thing to do. As for the flat rides, I agree with you. (Iron Eagle) was a good crowd pleaser. They need to replace it with something similar to (The Crypt) at Kings Dominion. With a stage being in it's place, they could stick it some where in Gotham City and give it a villain theme if they wanted. Or they could stick it over in Coyote Creek and give it some sort of Western theme, where you enter a dark mine and find the ride down there. Anything to expand the park further more. Another thing I will stress is that Fright Fest needs to improve.

I do agree that we are more likely to get something like that under the current management that we have, but it won't go far. Most people who came to SFA over the years come there for Hurricane Harbor which in my opinion, (Premier Parks) management did their part in improving that. And second, they come there for the roller coasters which I will repeat that the park has not gotten in almost a decade, which is bad. Current the park is still doing good, but I will also add this it's nearest competition, (KINGS DOMINION) keeps getting better and better. Their attendance is so much higher on a regular basis, compared to SFA's attendance. SFA depends on 2 major holidays to make them money, which is (MEMORIAL DAY) and (4th of JULY) which the park does make big money on those two main holidays. But SFA does not get that high of an attendance on weekdays. They need rides in the park that are going going to grab people passing on I-95 and get them buying tickets. In order to do that, the management needs to focus on bigger attractions that will draw people in. Like I always say, you have to spend the money, to make the money. If they don't want a B&M, why not get another (Premier) or (INTA) which is an American division of Intamin?

If Larrygator was agreeing with me on enclosing the ride then I'm all for it. But I'm confused on the saran wrap part. Second, I don't think a Tony Hawk Big Spin is going to help the park much. People will get tired of it very quickly. We need a new coaster for 2011. When it comes to Kings Dominion and Six Flags America, SFA has the weaker coaster selection. If the park had at least 3 or 4 more decent coasters, the park would be okay. But we have gone 1 year shy of a decade without adding any coasters. The park could use a decent B&M coaster. Something like (MONTU) would be a great 2011 addition for the park. Not sure if I would want a (BIZARRO) theme for it, but maybe another popular Batman villain such as (RIDDLER) or (POISON IVY). The ride has some pretty neat inversions, so it would match the name well. Stick it right near Batwing or use some of the land that is over near the first helix for Superman. Add some nice theme, restrooms, games, and restaurants, around the ride and you have a neat addition for the 2011 season. That's just my B&M idea. I have much more.

I have two questions. What exactly does (TWEEN) mean. And the next question is what THBS is?

I have to agree, but lately the cheap financial things have been getting them blown away by competition. Kings Dominion did not need an (I-305) but they built one and they are going to get a bunch of money from all the people coming to ride it. They also did not need 9 haunted houses to please people for their haunted season but they spent the money and did it. You see, what the current management is failing to realize and that you have to spend money to make money. But enough about the rides, let's talk about the Fright Fest. A lot of people don't go to SFA's Fright Fest anymore. Reason is because there is nothing there that is signature to set the park apart from a normal operating day. When I went there for Fright Fest, it felt nothing different than being there on a regular day during the summer. They don't have 1 haunted house at all, and they have had so much time to build a new one. I would have even settled for an outdoor maze but they have done nothing to add that. (HAUNTED HAY-RIDE) is probably one of the most cheapest things they could do to bring people back for Fright Fest, but I highly doubt they will. They tried doing a Haunted train-ride this past season. It featured reenactments from movies, but the one thing that did not make sense was the skit they did where (Michael Jackson) rose from the grave and did his thriller dance. This is where I think that the new corporate management has made things too family friendly. People were much happier with Fright Fest when they had (BRUTAL PLANET). However, competing with competition is impossible with the current plan that Six Flags Management has set for this park. And I fear in recent years it may turn into a down fall for the park because it's competition, which our Bush Gardens and Kings Dominion are building thrill rides and getting loads of attendance from it. I'm hoping that our present for 2011 isn't just some (BIZARRO) make-over because we need something much better. And I've also heard talk about them possibly removing a ride in order to stick a new one it's place. I don't think that would be a good idea either because you still have the same amount of coasters. The park has plenty of land to build on, so use it to add to the collection.

Good point. But you have to think sometimes, both Kings Island and Kings Dominion did it for their Premier launch rides, so why can't SFA. The park has good enough space to do it. With Flight of Fear, you will notice that there is enough space from the actual spaghetti bowl and the wall of the building. Not only that but with (JOKER) there is a good bit of space from the actual ride and where people walk in Gotham City. The only major issue is how much space they will have to use over where the smoking are is. If the building stretches out that far, then the path to Superman has to be detoured a little bit, but not much. But you don't need much space. The main thing is continuing the enclosed structure from the end of the tunnel, all the way past the break-run and then the station. Here is a link that shows they have enough space from the spaghetti bowl to extend for a building. http://www.coastergallery.com/SF/joker6.jpg

I don't think would cost a ridiculous amount to put (JOKER) inside. The main thing you are dealing with is sprinkler system which is required for most enclosed buildings. Again, you are knocking out a possible issue of noise if you enclose the ride. People will finally be able to eat in front of the french fries and Dip n' Dot's place without their conversations being interrupted by noise. And again, the kids can play in (Thomas Land) without hearing a noisy ride. And to add, (JOKER) can now stand as SFA's first indoor coaster and people would not be exposed to the heat. Maintenance could also be done inside the building and the ride would not be effected by the elements of harsh conditions such as rain which causes issues with the ride. With no wind resistance, the ride would travel faster. As for the (BIZARRO) transformation, I don't think it's worth it. I like the tunnel for the bottom of the first hill, but that's about it. Although, I do see the land on the left side of the path down to Batwing and the land next to Superman's first helix as good spots for newer rides.

I am a fan boy, but lately I have been spending more time at Kings Dominion. I liked Six Flags America when it was ran by the Premier Parks management. They spent more money and in return got more attendance at the park. And Fright Fest was better with the old management, which is something else I have been meaning to talk about. SFA's Fright Fest is not worth paying for. I have been driving the 2 hours to Kings Dominion because they have 9 haunted houses, and they are all decent. Six Flags Fright Fest has become too family friendly. The one here at SFA still has no plans to make a new haunted house for the 1 we lost. That's why it's more smarter to build a new ride and leave the other ones the way they ware, with the exception of building a enclosed structure around (JOKERS JINX). It would increase popularity in the ride making it some what equivalent to (FLIGHT OF FEAR) at Kings Dominion. It would make sense it order to conceal the noise from pouring into (Thomas Land). With it being inside, you can put a camera inside of the tunnel and have a snap shot of riders, so that they can buy their photo. If the rides popularity increased I would take out the Flash Pass availability for this ride. I have always thought that Flash Pass was unfair to the people that wait in line and then someone cuts in front of them. This would be the one popular ride that could not be used for Flash Pass in order to keep the wait in line fair to everyone. In return, use the old Flash Pass booth for the ride photo booth.

The park does not need a Bizarro treatment. They don't really have any rides to do it do. The park only has 4 steel coasters and only three of them are worth doing it to. If they did it to Joker, the only option they have is to put the ride inside. But why go through the trouble of changing the name, and repainting it, when (JOKER) makes more sense to be located inside of a dark fun house. Not much you can really do for Batwing. Maybe one of those goofy spinning blades that they put on Medusa for the (Bizarro) transformation? As for Superman, that would be the only ride that would make sense but I kind of like it being called (SUPERMAN). It gives the park a nice hero ride to stand upon the other 2 villain attractions we have in our park. Plus, there is not really much they can do for our Superman with the course being so short. I mentioned adding a tunnel at the bottom of the first hill with green fog. With that small addition you could keep the name of the ride the same. This park is screaming for a new ride. We have gone a year shy of a decade with no new coaster, so removing one to add something else is out the question. It would be a smart move to add to the collection. The 50th year anniversary is next season, and I have heard no news as to what the ride manufactures could be building. This park needs something that is going to get people interested in coming again, so I'm hoping for something unique. A good (INTAMIN) launch ride would be good. Another good idea that has been mentioned is removing (TOWER OF DOOM) and putting a flat ride in it's place. Then use more land in Gotham City to build a drop ride to the equivalent size of (DROP ZONE). It's a much taller drop ride and stands monumental in thrill and being a very scary night pleaser.

They probably just put trucks there to keep it out of the way of construction. With SFA you never know. They put stuff in random places. But what has got me scratching my head is why they put Thomas Town right next to a noisy ride? All the kids are going to here is the sound of Joker's Jinx going through the course. I hope SFA has plans to put this ride inside as part of the 50th anniversary gift. As for, getting a new ride in 2011, where are they going to put it? If they put it behind Batwing, they really need to get addition water lines installed so that they can put restrooms over by Superman or Batwing. It's a pain in the butt being down at Batwing ad having to walk, all the way back up to the front of Gotham City to use the rest room. And why not put some more stores and games where Batwing is. It would make it looks more occupied rather than just having the coaster sitting by itself at the dead end spot of the park with nothing else to do but sit on benches, ride Batwing, or read character bio's of batman villains. Superman could be further improved by adding Superman theme music as you wait in line, character bios around the rides of Superman heroes/villains, and possibly making the inside/outside of the station look like the Fortress of Solitude. They did that station design for Superman: Escape at Magic Mountain if I am correct. They could even add some sort of tunnel at the bottom of the first drop and put green fog inside it. It would make a great effect at night. Another issue that Superman has, is an over-speed issue. If they would adjust the breaks at the end of offer more give on the speed, then the ride would not have so many delays. Altogether, the ride needs newer trains. And the new restraint system is not good for bigger people. They need to go back to the old restraint system so that more people can ride and be comfortable. Joker needs a speed increase. They have a lot of problems with certain trains when they are going faster. But really, what they think is fast is not fast at all. For example, (POLTERGEIST) at SFFT travels a lot more quicker than (Jokers Jinx). If Joker's Jinx even travels anything close to what Poltergeist is doing, the ride stops and has delays. They need to revamp the performance of Joker so that it's more thrilling; just like it's sister (Poltergeist).

If I were a shareholder, I would have to object the companies new plan. Shareholders have not been making much money under this new management. Maybe it is time for a new team to be brought aboard. One that really knows how to run a theme park chain. Or maybe the merge with Cedar Fair, that Capital Avenue had planned on will be good for the company.

Well in recent news, Resiliant Capital Management is still putting up a good fight. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/resilient-capital-management-files-motion-in-six-flags-bankruptcy-proceeding-90932064.html

I agree with you on some things. I went a little over board with the county trying to own the theme park. And yes, I do know of the master plan that they had proposed to the county. I don't know why they decided not to follow through with it, but all my sources tell me that they had plans to resume shortly after getting Hurricane Harbor in 2005. It would have only been 4 years sense a coaster was last added. Other sources tell me that the same was going to be done to (Darien Lake). If I'm correct, they also received a Hurricane Harbor just like us. Anyways, that's something that the old corporate management did, not the new. So holding SFI responsible would be pointless. And SFA just got Thomas Land, so they could argue that the park is still getting new additions. The park does need a new coaster, which is what a lot of enthusiast are crossing their fingers on. We just have to wait and see what 2011 brings for us. If they don't want to give us a new ride, they could revamp Joker's Jinx to an indoor building structure. Would be great for a nice scary theme. As for the rest of the company, SFI seems to be holding a steady balance on what the parks are getting in order to receive good comments from park guests. Shapiro did want to make the parks more family friendlier, which he is doing. The real goal is keeping everyone happy. Most of the Six Flags parks were crowded with teenagers, so trying to please one group is always shutting the door on the other. Maybe he can think of some kind of way to keep the thrill seekers happy. I would like for Shapiro to get on a steady agenda of giving a park a family ride one year, and then following it up by a thrill addition the next. Doesn't always have to be a monumental thrill ride, but just something to tie us over until the next break through of thrill evolution.

Here is the catch to that. Yes, they could sell it to developers, but the developers would have a hard time dealing with the county for approval of things like homes and shopping centers. PG County already has enough homes and with the economy being the way it is, people can barely afford them. Due to this, there are a lot of houses that have been put up for sale and forclosed over the years because people cant afford them. So if Apollo told the county that there plans were to sell the land for housing development, the county would most likely say no to that. As for shopping centers, PG County has more than enough shopping centers. So those types of development plans come on the low end of a approval against an amusement park that gives jobs and recreational use to the youth. In my opinion, SFA is here to stay until it becomes almost non-profitable to operate it under Six Flags Inc. As for the quick buck statement, that's exactly what people thought Dan Snyder was going to do once he bought Six Flags Inc. Everyone in the DC area thought SFA was going to become a huge parking lot for FED EX Field shuttle transportation. The same would be in speculation of stock holders and local government if Apollo bought Six Flags Inc. Selling one park is not going to bring the company out the hole. I have told many people that SFA can be a very good place under a good corporate and park management. It would be a shame if it was sold to lets say a company like (Merlin Entertainment Group) and they built it up to the level of threatening Hershey and Kings Dominion. I always thought they would be a good management for Six Flags parks.

I think they would sell the park. The county would fight them if they threatened to close down the park. For all I know, the park has been doing well in this tough economy. The county could argue that there is no reason to close it down as a park, do to the amount of people that depend on it for summer jobs and recreation. It wouldn't surprise me if the county would attempt to buy the park itself, to prevent it from being closed. But what makes you think Apollo would want to remove the rides and close the park? There are other smaller parks that are doing worst than SFA.

You see what I mean. Six Flags Inc is their back up plan. What they have in store for us when they get us, I don't know. If they buy us, I hope it's good. It's very questionable if they will keep the current management there or establish a new one.

Sense they terminated the deal, do many of you think Apollo will try and strike a deal with Six Flags Inc. It was once rumored that Six Flags was a back up plan if they could not get Cedar Fair.

KDCOASTERFAN, did you also know that SFI had plans to start renovating SFA shortly after the 2005 season. Remember, SFA was 1 of like 3 parks to get Hurricane Harbor. There may have been more so correct me if I'm wrong. SFA's water park had to be improved before they started adding more rides. When people saw the commercials for the new water park, people were thrilled with that. Sense 2001's Batwing installation, it would have been 4 years sense we got a coaster. The next step for SFI was adding more coasters to a lot of the parks that got Hurricane Harbor. So possible by 2007 or 2008, SFA would have had a new ride by now and possibly some flats, which the park lacks a lot of. All I know is if we still had Burke, he would have never gotten rid of Two-Face and Iron Eagle. The rides would have set there the longest before getting fixed, before they decided to get rid of them. Second Fright Fest was a whole lot better with the old SFI management. Possibly by now, every parks Fright Fest would be monumental. Instead they took a decline when they decided to make them more family friendly. I do have to say that a much more aggressive corporate management is needed to make the parks better again. As of now we have Shapiro and Dan Snyder as owners, so we will see what happens in the future. Much has been promised for every park in 2011. Of course, if that if most of the parks do good. If some do bad, I can see them getting sold or shut down and rides removed. If SFA does bad this season, I hope another company buys us rather than shutting us down to remove rides. I do give much respect to Shapiro for ride renovations. Hoping my park can receive one soon.

I have to say that I feel your pain. Even though I can ride Superman all day with no problem, I feel bad for the many people who can't. I really wish this park would just go back to the old restraint system so that bigger people can ride. Just imagine paying all that money and you can't ride the best ride in the park. I would feel very bad. Lately I have been spending more time at Kings Dominion because you get more for your money and there are more rides. But as for Six Flags America, they should also focus on improving Fright Fest. Last year's Fright Fest was not that good. They did not have one haunted house and the train ride they have was not good. I miss the old Fright Fest where we had Brutal Planet and Hall Manor. The park should really consider putting up a new building to replace Hall Manor. Or better yet, build an all year haunted house over in Two-Face old spot. Here are some Fright Fest suggestions. 1) Creating a haunted Forest walkthrough. 2) Bringing back the Haunted Hay-ride 3) Making the train ride more scarier where numerous goons pop out from the woods and scare guests Another sweet idea I had in mind was transforming all the rides with horror make-overs such as fog at various points of the ride and setting up temporary tunnels for both Wild One and Roar. Any thoughts?

I know some people that work up there, but this is the the beginning of the season for them. As the season continues they will begin to slack off like they normally do. I'm not trying to bash the park, but it happens every year. The ride attendants start out doing alright and then they stop being so nice and wont ask for single riders. There will be loads of trains that leave the station with barely any people on it. Altogether I think that new corporate management is needed to improve most of the smaller parks. The route that Shapiro has us on, is not really what Six Flags loyal fans wanted. He still hasn't announced any rumors on what the parks could be getting for 2011. And it's killing me because Cedar Fair normally announces their new attractions early so that people have something to look forward to for next year. But something is telling me that all SFA is getting for 2011 is another water slide and nothing ells.