SFA Regular

I agree. It's been a long time sense the park last received an addition this big, so why not talk about it. And maybe I am being a little to over the heard about Tony Hawk. I change what I say. It would make a great addition to add it in SFA.

Whats wrong with (Premiers). They seem like good rides to me. Joker's Jinx at SFA spent it's longest downtime in 2006 when it needed a part. But ever sense then it has been running fine. In think it could use the same prep that Poltergeist gets, given the fact that Poltergeist is a lot faster than Jinx. But other than that, I could possibly see a lot of unique attractions coming to Six Flags parks with Alexander Weber as CEO. Paramount's parks tried to build different things, to let them stand alone from other theme parks. Volcano, was very unique, given the fact that they only built one. You never know, maybe one day we will see a (Premier) suspended launch. Thats if the company was willing to pay them the money to design something like that.

Good point made. See, I'm not a hypocrite. I like to hear other people's opinions. I'm going to give it a rest right now. I will continue tomorrow.

Pretty much the same as usual. It's your average wooden coaster. Not too big and not too small. Although, I wish they would have completed the tunnel, rather than just doing half of it.

No it does not bother me at all. If thats what they want to do then they deserve it. But why does it all have to be implied with a theme park as well. So basically what you are saying is that sooner or later the richer people will rule all SIX FLAGS parks and the average people will only get whats left of it? Of course I'm probably going to get called on over exaggerating but, Kings Dominion seems to operate normally and still gets everything that Six Flags parks don't. People there don't complain in and say "Hmmmmm, man, I sure wish they would start that Flash pass thing that Six Flags does". Instead the park, really trains the ride attendants to move quickly and efficiently, so that trains to get through each cycle and the line can move quicker. In my opinion, Flash Pass is an easy way out for the company not addressing the problem of slow lines.

That sounds like a good idea. That way nobody is being put before one another. In my opinion, they dealt with the old style of flash pass back when Premier Parks ran Six Flags, so why did they ever have to change it? All they did was please flash pass riders and upset the people waiting in the regular line. So I do agree with (Houston Thrills). It needs toe implemented better, but then again, certain rides are not all designed to be implemented like that. Who knows, maybe Mr. Weber will think of something.

(JEA), I could care less if you were picking on me. It's the internet in my opinion, so I don't take comments that serious. And how do you know it will never be a Magic Mountain? People probably said the same thing about Hershey when he was going threw many of his failures. But look at the place now. Tones of people go there and it turned out to be good park. And, I do go to Kings Dominion for Halloween and I am very impressed with how they do things. Hopefully Mr. Weber can do the same thing with most Six Flags parks, including SFA. SFA has tones of land that it could use to become a Maryland must see attraction. I sure hope you know that Six Flags America, currently is not a top listed attraction for Maryland as Universal or Disney would be for Orlando. I hope that part of his plans includes putting the parks in the map to become a must see regional destination for tourist in the area. SFA would be a good accomplishment if he could put this place on the map for the Washington D.C. area. Think of how many people would be packing the parks.

That doesn't work well on busy days. There have been times at Great Adventure where Scream Machine had the flashpass line backed up the entire exit ramp and because only 4 flashpass users could ride per train (car 6 is designated for flashpass users) they ended up letting 2 full trains in a row go out with flashpass users to get the flashplass line down which caused the standby line not to move. But either way, it backs each other up no matter which one you favor. If you let a whole train of flash pass riders on, then it backs the main line up. If you let mainly, main line waiters on the trains, then it backs the flash pass up. I favor the people waiting in the main line because thats how amusement parks are. Again, with a fast ride crew the line would be steady. Flight of Fear's line at Kings Dominion moves well on busy days. Now imagine if they added flash pass. It would take forever to get on the ride. Maybe a little bit quicker sense they unload before the people get back up, but for Kings Dominion it would be a nightmare for most of their rides if they started flash pass, which is something I hope they never do. Bottom line is rides should only do flash pass if they are equipped to do it. In my opinion, only parks like Disney and Universal should do this kind of thing because their rides have so many trains and their ride crews move quicker. Six Flags rides only have 2 trains at the max, if not three for some parks. If a ride has three trains, then only the third train should be used for Flash pass and the other two are only for people in the main line so that it keeps moving.

I do that so that people know the importance of the word I am trying to lay across to everyone. And as for the Flash pass revenue being used to put rides like (Jokers Jinx) and (Poltergeist) inside, we will see in recent years if that flash pass thing puts both those attractions indoors. If flash pass is making the park that much money, then Mr. Alexander Weber should put it into plans within the next 2 years. 2011 is the company's 50 year Anniversary, so maybe the surprise additions for parks will be much greater than what we all expected. Again, I do agree that it depends on how well the parks do for 2010. It would be nice to see more (Premier Rides) built inside of Six Flags parks. For the parks that already got family additions for 2010, why not install a coaster in them for their 2011 addition? For the parks that received thrill attractions or thrill attraction revamps such as X2 and both, Superman and Bizarro they should receive family additions for 2011. That is very fair, in my opinion. This way the love is distributed among all the parks very evenly and the bigger parks don't end up sucking up some much of the industry. This gives the smaller parks a chance to grow.

No, I have to say I don't. I do't have 40 years in theme park operations, like Mr. Alexander does. Please don't start thinking that I'm a hypocrit, because I do offer much respect to the people who are making things happen now. I just think, I know how to make park more up beat. Let's take SFA for exmaple, sense we are in the parks thread. The park is decent but could be a lot better in recent years. If they are not going to add a new coaster to it, which was easily for seen by Shapiro's future idea thinking, they could atleast improve other things that are already in the park. One improvement, starts with more Fright Fest attractions. We all know that SFA's Fright Fest in recent years has not been good and based on this past year, it really did not stand alone from going to the park on a regular operating day. Let's just say it could have been better. If their not going to rebuild haunted houses, then why not add temporary effects to the rides to make them stand different from riding them on a regular operating day? Examples: 1) Roar could have been given temporary tunnels with fog and strobe lights in them. 2) Haunted Hay-Ride could have been re-introduced. 3) Two-Face's old spot could have been used for a temporary haunted maze. 4) Haunted train could have been a lot more scarier, rather than the humorous Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance that was seen in it. So yes, I will say that my ideas would get more people up beat about joining SFA during Fright Fest and very dull summer days where you are sitting in the house with nothing to do.

No No No. You got me all wrong. I don't mean bankrupt the company by battling the competition with high prices coaster installations. What I meant, was start by improving on what they already have, which is a very simple task. People will easily take notice that their favorite thrill and family rides are being improved in maintenance, checking seats, ride performance= speed, and the wait in line. This will make people happy for the time being and give the dry side of the park a better image. As for the future, I was saying that future attractions should all be designed with a loading and unloading station. It saves a lot of time when ride attendants can collect lose articles and put them over at the unloading station, so that people don't waste time grabbing their things and holding up the line for people trying to get on next. Not sure why Six Flags Inc never tried this idea for their newer attractions, but it surely worked for all the other theme park chains. In the long run it pays off because people will continue to come back if big lines for popular family and thrill rides move rather quickly. That's all I was saying. No, I don't want Alexander Weber to put the company in the same (HOLE) that Premier Parks did. It would then again take forever getting it back out. All they need to do is make the future installations more balanced by offering both thrill and family installations. This way, your park is more balanced and they will retain some of the guests that they lost to Cedar Fair.

I would if I knew how to get in contact with him. It's not like he post his email online for millions of stock holders and park employees to see. But if you know it, please tell me and I will email him and how to fix most of the parks with both family additions and thrill installations.

You think that's all that is required to improve parks? I was thinking the same, as a starter. Once lines start moving faster and ride performance gets better, people will once again fall in love with their regional Six Flags park, yet again. And this goes for all rides, including family attractions. That's one element that I know will improve under Alexander Weber as CEO. Wouldn't surprise me if I came back to my SFA park in 2011 and found that the rides are a lot faster and go through a whole day without 1 delay. As for thrill rides. It's a lot possible that future rides will be designed so that riders exit before the train comes back into the station. That way the line moves faster. I have noticed this a lot with Kings Dominion. Italian Job, Flight of Fear and Volcano both have riders exit the ride before the train comes back in the station. If future Six Flags rides were operated like this, an hour and a half wait could turn into a basic 45 minute wait. Of course that's if they get rid of (Flash Pass). If they don't want to get rid of Flash Pass just go back to making it one designated row. People were much more comfortable with that and it was fair to the people waiting in the main line. Designate (Flash Pass) only for the middle car.

Good point you bring up (Nitro Fan). If the CEO take a your of the parks, what ideas do you think he will have for ours?

Weber has an amazing background. He has had atleast 40 years of experience in regional theme park operating. And he was recently a president and CEO of Palace Entertainment. The dude seems to know what it takes to get a park in good shape, based off his background. Another contemplation that I had in mind are how many of the park GM's will end up staying and how many will get replaced. Again, I'm thinking he is going to do a park tour and meet a lot of the GM's and look at what they have done over all. For all we know he could end up replacing a good many of them with former Paramount's park managers. I would be just as happy with that because they have more aggressive park management skills than Six Flags GM's do. Contemplations have also been made about season passes. I don't think that will change much, until the parks get better and start receiving more attendance on a regular basis. Once the parks get a lot more to offer, we can expect to see a huge jump in season pass prices.

^ Very interesting point you bring up. I do also think there was a disagreement. With the way things were going, you would have thought that Shapiro would have been here for a long time, but I guess someone did not like him and pressed the red button on him. The way I see it, Shapiro did his park and aimed the company into a good family direction. But also take notice that Dan Snyder was the first to go. Ever sense (Avenue Capital Management) put all the information out about him doing a sneaky deals with Dick Clark and draining Six Flags resources; his days become numbered for a spot on the board. I had a feeling Shapiro would end up leaving very soon. I mentioned in another post that (STARK INVESTMENTS) is looking for a quick turn around. Shapiro's plan is very long and probably didn't get a 2 thumbs up by Stark Investors. They wanted to put someone in who was going to get straight down to business and start operating the parks more like it's other successful rivals which in this case are former Paramount parks and Cedar Fair parks. Look at it this way, we got a guy with a lot of experience and will more alikely offer a more balance installation plan for the parks. Thrill seekers may end up with what they want and so will family guests. That's the direction that Shapiro should have been aiming for.

I agree with that as well. It was funny how I was talking about dropping Warner Bros and signing a deal with Paramount and look at what happens. We end up getting Paramounts Park's former CEO. As for movie themed rides, that could possibly be something on his agenda. The best move for him right now is to take a summer tour of all the parks the company owns and start making plans on what they will be doing for the future. One thing I have noticed with Kings Dominion is that their rides rarely ever have delays. So look for ride performance to improve a great deal, by getting a lot sharper and maintenance work. Another thing that has been floating my boat is (FLASH PASS). Paramount's Parks did not do flash pass. Hopefully the new CEO will see that is serves more as a disadvantage for the people waiting in the main line. With faster ride crews, you would not need flash pass. So many things can be put into discussion with a more experienced CEO running Six Flags Entertainment. How many of you think the parks will start being operated more like the Paramount's Parks use to? A more even attraction installation, through out the future? Faster ride crews? Longer park hours? Improving existing rides and building facilities?

Good point. The only thing Premier seems to be doing is building Mummy rides. If I'm correct their recent project was the Mummy in Singapore which is actually a clone of the one in Orlando. So yes, hopefully this means big projects for Premier Rides. Paramounts paid Premier to build both Flight of Fear's and the Italian Job Coasters. Six Flags has both, Joker's Jinx and Poltergeist which are same thing as Flight of Fear. Only difference is, they are out doors. It's very possible that we could see them being enclosed, if our new CEO took a tour of both SFFT and SFA, and looked into a ride renovation. But if he does that, Poltergeist would more alikely get turned into Joker themed coaster and put inside a building. Is the new CEO willing to do that for both of the Premier rides??? Not only that, but Paramounts parks are known for staying open late every day during the summer. For example, Kings Dominion stays open until 10:00 p.m. every night during the summer and then during their Halloween Hunt, they keep the park open until midnight on Saturdays. Fridays they do the same thing but they open much later in the evening. If the parks begin to receive high attendance during season events such as this, will they begin to stay open later?

I wonder if he will imply the same kind of things he did for Paramounts, but with Six Flags. Thing are going to get very interesting now. For a man who worked with Paramounts, I feel comfortable getting my hopes up for the future of all Six Flags parks. Hopefully he will be doing the same thing that Shapiro did, and thats taking a tour of all the parks this summer and seeing what they need. Taking a deeper look into what will be used to improve rides, shows, and your over all entertainment as a park guests. So basically yes, making all the parks friendly to all kinds of enthusiast.

Well with the company now having the former CEO of Paramounts Parks, I think more coasters will be built. And like it said before, the family rides aren't bad. They are actually good, but I think it should be an every other year kind of thing if you know what I mean. The way Kings Dominion does it, they would get a new coaster every other year. Therefore it stays fair between people who like thrill rides and people who like family rides. Whats so wrong with that kind of plan? I think it works better in the long run. I hope the new CEO takes a good look at SFA and takes notice that we just got a huge family addition, and decides to install a new thrill ride for 2011. That would be a very smart move. Not only that, but I hope he improves Fright Fest and takes a much more serious look into ride renovations.

I think the plan will change a little bit though. Paramounts built rides as well as family rides. So I'm hoping for Six Flags parks to receive some same kind of plans. I'm hoping that we start seeing more good rides being built. I don't mind the family theme because thats what brings happier people to the parks, but rides don't hurt if you do them every other year.

Well of course you all heard that MARK SHAPIRO is gone and the company will be getting the former CEO of PARAMOUNTS PARKS. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/al-weber-to-serve-as-president-and-interim-ceo-of-six-flags-2010-05-12?reflink=MW_news_stmp

Why are tunnels cool with the lights on? Isn't a tunnel suppose to be dark and mysterious?

Why do we need one of those. We already have a Tony Hawk water slide. Why don't they give is a (B&M)? Our park could really use one. It's debatable if the park will do well this summer, because a lot of SFA local attendance is getting fed up with the lack of coasters. Now I'm not trying to go on a coaster rant, but we really need one. Most of Maryland's locals have been going to Kings Dominion and are not really concerned about going to SFA this season. Sense we just got a huge family addition this year, why not give us a new coaster? That would help get more people interested in the park again, and then they could add another family addition in 2012. Something like Batman: The Ride would work well here. It's a decent B&M; not too big and not too small. And it would be new to SFA's attendance. How much longer do we have to go before we receive a real coaster?

Ohhh, that ride. I forgot it was being stored there. I do know that it was removed for a possible water park expansion, but Six Flags no longer owns Kentucky Kingdom. I don't particularly like that ride either. But I'm not going to sit and rant about what I want, because it's not my decision. However, I will say that SFA needs some more scarier Fright Fest attractions. Two or three haunted houses would be perfect.