SFA Regular

Based on what you just told me, are they are getting back into what the old Premier Parks regime was doing? It would be nice to see some stuff from Hannabarbara appear in Six Flags parks. Maybe some nicely theme flats or character meet and greets. Ever thought of a Cartoon Network section inside every Six Flags park?

I read this too. Based on the last paragraph, what did it mean? It said, "The intellectual property retrechment returns Six Flags to its core branded relationships: DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Riddler, Joker and Green Lantern), Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and Tweety) and Hanna-Barbera (Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear). Does this mean, they are going to be doing more of the theme related to Warner Bros?

Sorry about that. I went off into a tangent again. In other news, is there any word on what Kings Dominion will be doing for 2011 season. Any new attractions, to look forward to?

I really like I305's sketch of how they could do Alien Outpost. And for those who think it's expensive; it's not as expensive as building a new coaster. The park could easily afford it and get the money back very quickly. You all make it sound like loads of people aren't driving off I-95 to pay ticket prices to get in the park. Kings Dominion makes tones of money and gets it back when they add stuff. Thats why they are able to keep us entertained each and every year. If they weren't getting any money back then the park would not be getting new stuff. As for a new gray building, it would be better in the long run. The Alien Outpost maze could be much bigger and scarier if it had more room. With it using FoF's queue area, it limits how much they can do. They were limited on how many curves they could do because they still had to have enough room to lead you out the side of where you first walk in and around the perimeter of the queue, to continue on in the UFO. Altogether, the maze is not long enough, to consider closing down a major ride. Avalanche on the other hand is not a major ride that loads of people are standing in line for. Close that thing down and use that area to do a maze. Don't close a major ride that tones of people stand in line for, for such a short maze. I do agree with the other comment that was made. I305's line will be much longer during Haunt, when FoF closes for the maze.

Unfortunately yes. I don't want to think of how bad the wait for 305's gonna be with FOF down during haunt. You got that right. KDCOASTERFAN, do you think if we all wrote a letter to the park management, they would consider taking our ideas to leave it open for Haunt? It's such a great ride, for them to close it early in the day and use it for a short haunted house. My ideas for it, would actually make it better if they let it stay open. If they close it, they are going to get the same people wondering why it's closed.

LOL Yea I agree right there. Its funny to see sometimes though. One thing I will say is when Carowinds did an "alien" maze KD could do something like it in the woods. I have a very good idea. Instead of closing Flight of Fear, they could close Avalanche and set up an Alien Outpost maze over there. So then when you finish the maze, they would tell you something like, "Feel free to continue the journey at (Fort Kinzel)". That happens to be the name, above the entrance of Flight of Fear. To add some spice to the ride, they could set up fog machines on the platforms in the spaghetti bowl. There are two platforms. One is where the breaks are at the top of the ride and the other is below it. With enough fog, they could cover up most of the course. Another question? How many people would like to board Flight of Fear in a dark station. When I say dark, I mean the darkness that is seen when the station lights are cut off. I saw it when exiting the flying saucer in alien outpost. It would be freaky to have black lights set up in a dark Flight of Fear station.

Yes, they close it for Alien Outpost. If you noticed, when you get inside the building and turn the first corner, there is a black wall there. Behind the wall is the maze that they use to run Alien Outpost with. When you first walk in, you will notice that there is a slit with a lock in the black wall. That is where they open it up and revolve part of the door to block you from walking around the maze and to the flying saucer. That way you walk through the part that they have set up using the space from the rest of the line queue in that area. The only disadvantage with Alien Outpost is that it's very quick. If you walk at a steady paste, you can walk through the maze in five minutes. Once inside the flying saucer you walk over to your left and out the emergency door, which leads you back into the exit hallway for the ride. All the other haunted houses are like a 10 minute walk through if you walk at a steady paste. WHY FLIGHT OF FEAR SHOULD STAY OPEN: Most people who come for The Haunt, ask why Flight of Fear closes for such a short haunted house. Not only that but a lot of people would rather ride Flight of Fear during that time of the season. Flight of Fear packs a good thrill, that people love. And to make it a bit more suspenseful, they could start TURNING(OFF) the spaghetti bowl lights, like they did last summer. It's better riding through the building in the pitch black surrounding. You can't see any of the turns until you get closer to the last part of the ride where you go into the unloading station. Not only that but it saves them a lot of electricity use when they keep the spaghetti bowl lights off. But for some reason they are keeping them on now.

They have not released any information yet besides the teasers on Facebook and Twitter, keep an eye out for it once you see Haunt advertisements popping up throughout the park such as the hearse in front of the park. They should/will release it sometime in August. If the rumors I have heard are true, they are turning the former KidZville Construction Company Playground building (that was once used for the chairlift) into a Haunt building, so that is one new one if the rumor is true! I wish they would keep Flight of Fear open for the Haunt, rather than closing it for the small Alien Outpost. I would spend money on a tent and have Alien Outpost set up in the circular area in front of Flight of Fear. That area in front of the ride is big enough to use for an outdoor version of Alien Outpost. This way you could walk through the maze and then walk inside the building. It would create the suspense of a two part attraction. To keep the line from pouring out of the queue and blocking the exit of the outdoor maze, they would let a certain amount of people in the building at a time. But ride crews would have to work fast in order to move people in and out the building, so that the people exiting the outdoor maze could enter and ride with hardly any wait time. How does that sound for an idea?

Does anyone know about the new mazes and themes that they are doing for The Haunt. I saw on Kings Dominion's Twitter that there will be new mazes? Anyone have any information? Which ones are they keeping and which ones are they getting rid of? Or will they be adding on to the collection?

They were running pretty good when I was there yesterday. Both trains were operating and had good speed. I wouldn't worry about it though, Kings Dominion will probably fix it. I don't want to think they would let the trains go into neglect.

Ohhh, you were being sarcastic. Now I get it. But yea, Flight of Fear was good. Here is how my day went. I got there at noon. Here is the order I rode everything in. 1) Dominator 2) Volcano 3) Avalanche 4) Flight of Fear 5) Anaconda 6) Back Lot 7) Drop Tower 8) Rebel Yell 9) Hurler 10) Grizzly 11) Flight of Fear(remainder of the day) = 20+ times ridden throughout the day. All the rides seemed to be working in fine order with no delays. I was very impressed with the friendly service and how nice guests were. It's a good example of hard work and dedication being set forward to making sure park guests have the best experience at the park. This way, they feel happy enough to come back in the future. Only thing I did notice was that the AC unit in Flight of Fear's saucer was not on. Not sure how long it's been broke, but when I came there 2 weeks ago on a Wednesday, it was working. Not only that, but they could turn on the fan that sits right next to the wall where you walk through the door to come in the hanger. Tones of people that stand in there complain about the heat, and the reason for having a fan thats not on. Other than that, the park is good. I do plan to return sometime in August or possibly September.

Why not? It was running fast like it always does. Tones of nice people in line to talk to. They ask me questions like "Whats in this building?" And I reply by saying "It's an indoor roller coaster".

I went to Kings Dominion yesterday. I had a very fun time as always. Flight of Fear is the best ride there.

Gothcha rob. How much has the park changed sense they went from Thursday Night concerts to having them on events? Has it increased attendance or has it just moved people around the park, rather than having them all clumped in the water park and dry area's?

Lets talk about some of the future things that we may see Alexander Weber do in the future with Six Flags Inc. Do you think he will move away from the simple steel roller coasters and move on to dark rides/movie attractions?

I wish they would have let her stay as GM. We would have had someone that was familiar with the park. Better yet, she probably would have convinced Shapiro to let Brutal Planet stay as a Fright Fest attraction. Terry Prather was our GM the year that Shapiro took it away, so of course he didn't know the value that it was for SFA's Fright Fest. Same thing goes for Two-Face and Iron Eagle. Shapiro has nobody to explain to him how valuable those rides were to the park.

There's only so much the GM/president can do on his/her own as corporate has to approve the requests for funding & new attractions. Your right KDCOASTERFAN. I think that was the problem before when we had the GM before Terry Prather came. I forgot his name, but people always said that he wasn't a good GM due to all the ride break downs. For all we know, he could have been doing his all to make sure that the rides worked good. If corporate is not funding the park to get parts, what more can he do. Not only that but I kind of liked the GM that we had before Terry Prather. He made sure that security guards sat at most of the rides through out the day so that people did not line cut. I wish they would bring that back.

I agee, I have seen pictures of the ride under construction and couldn't believe thats what the ride looked like before they add the theme and special effects. I believe we will see even better dark rides this decade, heck look at Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, its getting great reviews, just imagine the technology with dark rides by 2020. I agree with you very much I305. Dark rides are the rides of the future. Sooner or later I hope every theme park does them because there is just so much with imagination that can be put in them. Outdoor coasters just don't give me the same sensation that a dark ride does because it's theme that makes the ride what it is. If you blind folded someone and knocked them out cold, and then woke them up on Dinosaur, they would swear they were in a nightmare. The ride actually feels that realistic, like you got trapped in a lost prehistoric world. The animatronics that they used for Dinosaur beat Jurassic Park River Adventure. And lets not even mention the speakers that they installed in the ride. When the asteroid shower hit, the little pop noises actually put a scare on some people because it gives you the false sense of reality that your in dangers way of being killed. If I were Bill Gates rich, I would design rides like that, but more scarier.

Well one dark ride I was kind of curious about was Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. I really love that ride. It's nearly impossible to see the little course that your on because it's so dark in there. The only time you could really see it was when the Travel Channel did their special on Animal Kingdom. When they built the ride, the building looked like a plain warehouse building with the cars going around on it's course. So really when you think of it, your in a warehouse spaced building. When they add all the theme, special effects, and movement in the car, it makes it feel like your in another world altogether or a dark secluded area with tones of space around. I will agree it's amazing what they can do with special effects and darkness inside one big building. Thats why I love dark rides. Dinosaur has to be my favorite dark ride at the moment. I actually favor Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, over any other dark ride that exist.

Sorry Rob, we went off into a tangent. It won't happen again. As for SFA, my employee friend mentioned that SFA may be bringing back some of it's oldie Fright Fest attractions, but it has not been confirmed yet. The only oldie I can see them bringing back is Zombora. Hall Manor's building was destroyed and never rebuilt. Brutal Planet's old building was turned into a maintenance shop back in 2006. They could bring back the haunted-hay ride if they really wanted to. I liked it better when they used the old wooded area near Wild One. The course that they used near Superman years ago was pretty good too. One thing that spiced up the haunted hay-ride was the dinosaur animatronic, but I think it's been destroyed in a lot of equipment being moved around. I don't want to see them do the train ride again because it wasn't scary. If they really wanted to make the train ride better, they would have to really put some good actors back in the woods and have them scare people while they are on the train.

The thing is about Cedar Fair that sets them better than Six Flags Inc is that they don't spoil the parks more than the other ones. Both Kings Dominion and Kings Island are set to be pretty much equal to one another. As for their other properties, they try and give them investments. With the way Shapiro was running things for Six Flags Inc, you never knew what ride was going to end up leaving next if you lived near SFA. I've also noticed that people are not mentioning how bad Shapiro ruined SFA's Fright Fest. He got rid of everything that was attracting people to the park for Fright Fest. Why did he get rid of Brutal Planet, Zombora, and Hall Manor all in the same year?

Well to tell you the truth, me and KDCOASTERFAN would love for SFA to be a park like Great Adventure, Magic Mountain or Great America. All we are asking for is investment and to not go 10 years without adding a major coaster. I don't think any Six Flags parks or theme park in general deserves that kind of neglect. And like we have mentioned, they took coasters away from us and replaced them with nothing. At least when Great Adventure and Great America lost rides they replaced them with other attractions. I'm hoping, that Weber will not be the same way and if there are any people still on the board that think like that; he should replace them. Shapiro's problem is, he did not know how to run a theme park and neither did Snyder. Snyder's interest in Six Flags was not to make the parks better. It was to make himself richer. Thats why he never made himself the CEO, which I always thought was weird. His interest was tearing down SFA and turning it in to shuttle parking for FED EX Field. The county had it's eye on that and with losing seasons for the Redskins, it never really worked out in his favor, so lets be happy we have Weber. Again, Weber has 40 years of theme park experienced.

I guess having one of the spoiled parks in your backyard does that to you. If the population base isn't there for SFI to draw from & is used ad nauseum in this thread as the reason to justify the lack of investment in the park then why not sell the place & just relocate the rides? heck it would give SFMM another 6 coasters to add to their line up. When the park first began as Wild world they couldn't even afford new rides so they had to purchase used ones from wild one all they way down to the defunct enterprise & that wasn't enough to draw in the crowds,once Premier bought the park,started adding new rides on a consistent basis that image began to improve right on into the first two years as SFA.I was ther on opening day in 99 & the crowds were so big that the line for JJ stretched all the way back under wild one so that proves that the park CAN draw a crowd if new investments are made.The crowds have fallen off in recent years from 99/00 levels simply due in large part to the fact that no major thrill rides/coasters are being added. I have to agree with KDCOASTERFAN again. I do remember the crowds when they first added Joker and Two-Face. When Superman was added, you literally had to push your way through people in order to get to the ride. The rule of thumb is, if you stop investing, then people will stop coming. You have to keep investing in order to get the crowds back. Fright Fest use to be amazing back when we had Brutal Planet, Zambora, Haunted Hay-Ride, and Hall Manor. Why did SFA stop doing these great things that got people coming to the park? Shapiro's idea of a family friendly park ruined SFA. It chased more people down to Kings Dominion, and when Cedar Fair bought them that first year Shapiro was put in place, it only worked in their favor. Cedar Fair began investing and Six Flags Inc stopped investing in SFA. Is it that hard to see why KD does so well and SFA did so poor in the past decade?

Great, I'm glad you agree with one of my ideas. It's a small idea I've always had. They could call it something like (Lost Village) and have a bunch of crazy people running around through the maze. It would be amazing for them to make use of all that space back there. Turn off all the lights back there so it makes it hard for people to see where they are going. The parts of the pic-nic area that are under the pavilion, could be turned into small indoor parts of the attraction. Bigger walls would have to be built. Another cool idea I had would be to set up a rather large haunted walk through over by the part of the woods where Wild One is. Thats the area they used to do the haunted hay-ride in back when it was Adventure World. Only this time it would be a haunted walk through in the forest. It would start at Wild One and end over where the walk way is for the pavilion area.

I think for Fright Fest, they should consider turning the Grand Theater into some sort of haunted house. I haven't been in there in so long, so I don't know what the hallways and stuff are like. But I'm pretty sure they could make some sort of freaky walk through in there. Second, it would be cool to turn the whole pavilion area into a huge haunted maze. Look at all the space they have back there.