larrygator

Because Big One is not an enjoyable coaster.

Nope..... No signs of that happening- I doubt it is still a discussion amongst SF/NJ. Was Six Flags aware of this problem while planning Zumanjaro or did this not come about until construction had been completed? The full truth is unlikely to ever be known. Speculation is that Six Flags was very confident they get approval to operate the rides simultaneously (before committing so much money this logically makes sense) and then the state asked for addition assurances and requirements which Six Flags tried to follow (adding the retractable roof) but the state still wouldn't budge.

I just want to state once again that I LOVE how Cedar Point does this. Every park should adopt this policy. Agreed, but unfortunately, not all parks have so many employees living so close to the park.

As has been mentioned, please use the search function before creating a new thread!

This is where it is shown that Lagoon really is underrated. There is no possible way it shouldn't have been in the top five at least. You need to understand how the rankings are done. Amusement Today done a great job of spreading voters across the country. However, there will still be a built in bias against coasters in out of the way places. Not every enthusiast can ride every new coaster each year so those new coasters that are in high population and destination areas will generally do better in the best new attraction award. With that said, I'm really surprised at how well Ireland's wooden coaster did. The biggest inconsistency to me is that Blackpool ends up in the Top 10 parks and than fails to win best seaside park.

FYI - both sides of Skyway were running on Labor Day, I included a picture a few pages back Semi-agree about Macho Nacho food, because my fresh hot food got to me very quickly. With a Gold Dining Pass this will probably be my go to place next year.

http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/67918/gardaland-adventure-hotel-ndash-new Gardaland Adventure Hotel – New addition of 2016 Gardaland announces an important project for 2016: the building of a second, wholly themed hotel that will expand the offer of the Resort and will join the existing Gardaland Hotel as a new structure for hospitality and catering. It is a pretty hefty investment: an impressive 25 million Euro for the new Gardaland Adventure Hotel, commissioned by Gardaland - part of the Merlin Entertainments International Group – to welcome guests starting from June 2016. The new structure will be made of two different pavilions: the first one will be completely devoted to rooms while the second one will house the restaurant along with other rooms. The two buildings will be accompanied by a structure boasting great scenic impact, made to serve as a reception. In the new Hotel every room will be themed, with settings that will be inspired by the different worlds of adventure present inside the Park. There will be 100 very spacious rooms, inspired by four different themes, to keep experiencing at Gardaland Adventure Hotel the emotion of an unforgettable adventure also during relax hours: from the jungle to the wild west, from the arctic, among ice and mammoths, to Arabian atmospheres that look out of “One thousand and one nights”. Jungle Adventure, Wild West Adventure, Arctic Adventure and Arabian Adventure: names chosen in reference to the themes developed inside the rooms, promising all-round explorations within the “adventure” paths of the Park and beyond! A really special experience will be offered by the setting of the restaurant, which will have a unique and original “taste”, with walls and columns narrating the history of Ancient Egypt. Evocative right from the name, the Tutankhamon Restaurant will offer its Guests the opportunity to dine among the ruins of an old temple, immersed in a captivating Egyptian adventure that will accompany them throughout the dinner. Gardaland Adventure Hotel is truly a very important project, born from the need to welcome the increasing number of tourists – both Italian and foreign - who choose Gardaland and the Garda Lake area as a destination for short holidays or for a long weekend. “Day-long visits still represent 70% of the entries to the Park, but our desire is to become a touristic destination for short stays, increasing the number of hotel bookings” affirms Aldo Maria Vigevani, Amministratore Delegato (CEO) of Gardaland - “And for this reason we have decided to expand our hotel offer with new accommodation, with the aim of intercepting new public”. “The current size of the Park and of Gardaland SEA LIFE Aquarium, the fantastic experiences that the whole Resort offers” continues Aldo Maria Vigevani “are an open invitation to stay for a few days in an area that also offers mild climate and a relaxing natural scenery.” The Garda Lake is indeed one of the only tourist destinations in Italy to have registered, in the last few years, continuous growth, reaching approximately 4.5 million presences; the Italian tourist market sees the Garda Lake as its favourite destination for long weekends. 70% of stays at the Garda Lake is represented by foreign tourists, who spend in this area medium-to-long holidays. In the past few years visits from abroad have increased to the point that 30% of Guests come from overseas. The biggest contingents come from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and England, but several are the visitors arriving from Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia and Israel. And to support this big influx of arrivals from abroad, Gardaland Resort is developing new collaborations with the main Tour Operators of the various European Countries; this makes it possible to be present in most travel agencies across the border, presented as the number 1 destination for amusement in Italy. “Gardaland is not just Italy’s number 1 Theme Park but also one of the greatest Amusements Parks in Europe and one of the most important structures of the Merlin Entertainments Group; we strongly believe in the potential that Gardaland Resort offers both to the Italian and foreign market”, concludes Aldo Maria Vigevani. Gardaland – celebrating its 40 years this past 19th of July – has welcomed 80 million visitors since 1975. The Park was recently reconfirmed at the top of the 2015 Traveller’s Choice Awards ranking, the prize awarded by Tripadvisor – the greatest travel website in the world – to the most popular locations among its users. Gardaland ranked first among Amusement Parks in Italy and 5th in Europe.

FYI - It makes perfect sense what you did, The moderators would have made the same post.

thanks for the new ride info

I should mention that this is true for me also. Bad things can happen anywhere... theme parks, movie theaters, shopping malls, etc, and sometimes it's not always an employees fault, etc, just circumstance, so for the most part, I'm VERY tolerant when it comes to minor annoyances. But when it's clearly a park-wide issue that comes from upper management, like our experience at Six Flags Great America, then that's when I most certainly cannot give the park a "pass" until something is done to fix things. I understand your frustrations with SFGAm Robb. At the same time, however, I wish you would take a step back with it... And that is because of the power/influence you have with social media... I get that last summer you had a horrible day at SFGAm... What that has evolved to on social media is very "GP-like" however... What I mean by that is that there are people who have never been to the park or who make it there once every couple of years who use your experience and make it seem like an everyday experience when commenting.... I'm sorry, but some random 17 year old kid in Jersey who's never been here shouldn't be holding your experience against the park... It's gone viral how SFGAm's operations are the world's worst... As it being my home park, I would say that operations are "mid-pack" in the grand scheme of things... Not squeaky clean like Disney supposedly is (full disclosure: Never been and don't plan on going in the near future) and no where near killing people on a daily basis either like Mt. Olympus (see disclosure above)... So I don't comment on them... But others do... And there in lies the problem... We like to comment on stuff the GP does here on TPR, but with this, I feel that "enthusiasts" are a mirror image of the GP. I'm not trying to invalidate your experience at all... But I do feel that my park has suffered tremendously because of a lone incident... And the incident involved people that 99% of people on TPR will never deal with on a visit to the park... As someone with a degree in Sports/Entertainment Promotions and Marketing, I can see how your experience was a negative one... And a valid one... But that is for you, and you only... No one else should be holding that over our head... Sorry for the derailment there... Just something that bugs me... As a relatively new "enthusiast", I have quickly learned that I have to take everything I read on sites like TPR with a spoonful of salt when I look to apply it to my endeavors... Some opinions are fully justified, but many are not... Add in that it's my home park, and you can easily figure why I'm bugged As someone with a degree in a Marketing related field you know the landscape has changed dramatically the past 10 years. That is something every business needs to deal with today. Robb has been to enough parks to recognize when a problem is across the board at a park or an isolated incident or two or three. He certainly doesn't go looking for problems (like some of those crazy Disney freaks) but reports what he sees and experiences. People are free to do as they choose (and many on TPR still enjoy the park), Robb doesn't call for the boycott of any place. His reporting (or the reporting of any expert) should at the very least be looked at be anyone in charge of an entity getting a bad review. Before I left the Advertising Industry my client had a dedicated Social Media Group scouring the internet addressing and synopsizing the issues for management. Part of that team's jobs was to prioritize critiques that came from influential bloggers/writers.

Please use this thread It is essential the same thing.

This is a review I wrote about my ride at Morey's Pier back in 2004. "as if the OTSRs werent bad enough, these are also the most uncomfortable seats ever on a coaster. The only way you can enjoy this ride is if your ass is rectangular in shape"

My take is he is just putting a positive spin on the situation. It will probably not make sense for him the say that it would be down for the rest of the season and would return "more disappointing" next season.

I don't know for certain about 1) but I don't think there is a further discount for kids. 2) The Season Pass is not transferable to another person once activated. The park takes biometric finger scans for season pass holders, if the person trying to enter with the pass doesn't match the scan, they can not enter. 3) All Flash Pass sales have to be activated in person before the date listed on the site when you agree to purchase. (I think it is by November 1st, but not 100% certain)

Taken today, no sign of the ladder. I asked Daffy about the ladder and he said to chill out. Used my 2016 Gold Dining Pass for the first time with a Tri Tip Sandwich (Cantina). It is not gourmet but was tasty, I would definitely get it again. The Dining Pass is really a great deal during the Flash Sale that ends today.

I tried a lot of VR and like everyone says, you have to try it by yourself. It doesn't just show a video. It is an 3D-Environment that gives you the feeling that you are in there. The best way to explain is if you are high up on a tower and look down - the feeling you get is the same you get when you look in a virtual abyss. You get that weird feeling that you could drop there. So with this coaster for example: They put you in a fantasy world with a wild turbulent ride... and because of the virtual reality you can change the heights, were in the real world the coaster just drops some meters in the virtual reality you can make the drop much higher and faster... 50m for example. And you are feeling like you are in there... together with dragons and other stuff. That will open possibilities like Special-Effects in movies - but they are not on a screen, they are around you... just everywhere (imagine a car flying over your head after an explosion). And you can even fake much more: For example they used a banking change from left to right to simulate a barrel-roll. Your inner sensors won´t realize that you haven't made a full overhead. Or they used some bumps in the track to simulate a slight jump in the scenes. You really have to try it by yourself... it really is a game changer for themeparks I understand what you are saying. I do not understand how this be will a significantly different experience than what can be done in a stand alone simulator. Of course, I'll try it if it is at a park near me, but it is one of these things I need to experience to fully understand.

That's a great point and so true. I always get excited seeing a Panda Express at a park, they realize that many of them don't have as many options. Thankfully, my home park has a big selection at their Panda Express. Although I think it would be old if the called the park version "Panda Express Express"

I can't remember the reaction about Fuji-Q from people on the 2015 trip so I await your next update. Fuji-Q is like White Castle. It seems like a good idea at first but is regrettable in the end.

If someone posts a stupid rumor on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc... PLEASE do not bring it into these forums. Unless you are putting it into the super rumor thread. It is not funny to get people riled up for no reason in the discussion threads. Thank You. Let stupidity live elsewhere on the internet, not here.

If you want people to recommend food, it would be a good idea to state what type of food you like or want to experience. If you want people to recommend rides, it would be a good idea to state what type of rides you enjoy the most or want to experience. If you want people to recommend other things to do, it would be helpful for you to state other things you like to do. For example, I would never recommend a pizza place to someone who is lactose intolerant nor would I recommend a pub to someone who doesn't drink.

Who would have thunk that two chicks from Norway could skate so well?

Superbatboy posted this link in the SFGAdv, but I think it is worth reposting the whole USA Today article here to remind everyone that the addition of new rides is a process and a balancing act. http://experience.usatoday.com/america/story/theme-parks/2015/09/03/new-attractions-six-flags-parks-concept-construction-2016/71603746/ On September 3, Six Flags announced its lineup of new rides for the 2016 season. As has been the case for the past few years, every park in the chain will be getting something new. There are scream-worthy roller coasters, toned-down rides for pint-sized visitors, flashy story-based rides, and more on the way. How does the chain decide where to plant its ride flags each year? Who are the ride wranglers that oversee the new attractions? What happens as rides evolve from ideas batted around in a boardroom to thrill machines that delight – and terrify – visitors? It all starts with Six Flags' commitment to spend 9% of its revenue each year on new capital, according to Tom Iven, senior VP of planning and development. "To us, it's R&D investment," he says. Instead of researching new prescription medications or the latest computer chip breakthrough, this corporation's capital is used to develop rides that scare the daylights out of us. For example, take Total Mayhem, the wacky – and terrifying – attraction coming to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey next spring. It will be a "4-D Free Spin" coaster, so named because its cars will sit astride either side of the track and independently spin in the "fourth dimension" as the train navigates the course. Yikes! The New Jersey newcomer will be similar to Batman: The Ride, the prototype Free Spin coaster that opened in 2015 at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. "We tend to ride on our success," Sam Rhodes, director of design for Six Flags, explains (with a bit of a pun). Since Batman was such a hit in Texas, the chain will roll out more coasters like it at other parks, starting in New Jersey. Because of its many locations, the company can capitalize on an economy of scale to develop and build multiple versions of rides. The coaster checks many of the boxes for the chain's planning and design teams. It's big, it's bad (in a good way), and it's unique in both appearance and ride experience. "We already have a bunch of coasters," says Les Hudson, VP of design. "We want something different to attract attention and get people excited." The single most important attribute of any new Six Flags ride under consideration? "Everything we do, we look at through the prism of 'Is it thrilling?'" Iven says. "It's part of our DNA." Total Mayhem checks the thrilling box – big time. It makes sense that the chain would want to duplicate the success of the Batman coaster. But how did that ride end up in Fiesta Texas in the first place? To trace its journey, we need to go back to 2002. That's the year that X (now known as X2) opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. The industry's first 4-D coaster, X is highly regarded as one of the world's most thrilling, unique, and celebrated coasters. "It's an incredible ride," raves Larry Chickola, the chain's chief corporate engineer. "We'd love to bring it to every park." It isn't possible, however, because X is far too big in scale and too expensive to replicate. Instead, Six Flags challenged one of its manufacturers, S&S Worldwide, to develop a more affordable and scaled-down coaster that incorporated the 4-D concept. It was S&S that came up with the more compact and affordable Free Spin model. Chickola explains that sometimes manufacturers such as S&S come to Six Flags and pitch fully formed rides. Other times, the ride chain develops a project and seeks a manufacturer to build it. More often than not, however, ride development is a collaborative process. That's how Justice League: Battle for Metropolis evolved. The highly sophisticated, interactive, story-based ride opened in 2015 to rave reviews at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis. For 2016, the DC Comics superheroes will be waging battle against Lex Luthor and The Joker at Six Flags Great America near Chicago and Six Flags Mexico. When the landmark Spider-Man ride opened in 1999 at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Six Flags began to consider ways it could develop a similar media-rich simulator attraction that incorporated roving motion-base vehicles. Initially the projected costs were prohibitive for the seasonal and regional park chain. The concept matured, and prices eventually dropped enough for the parks operator to greenlight the project. The team that Six Flags assembled to develop the attraction included Sally Corp., a manufacturer that had built a Justice League dark ride in Australia, Oceaneering, the company that designed the motion-base ride vehicles for Universal's Transformers and Spider-Man rides, and representatives from Warner Bros. and DC Comics, who helped craft the story. "Once we had the concept, it was one-and-a-half years of constant communication," says Hudson. He adds that Six Flags decided to locate the Justice League ride at its Dallas-area park because it is close to the chain's corporate headquarters. "Since we led the development of the creative, it was good to have it in our backyard." It also helped that both the Dallas and St. Louis parks were able to repurpose existing ride buildings. "That's a big part of our capital cost," notes Hudson. For the 2016 Justice League rides, Six Flags will do some fine-tuning. Hudson says that enhancements will include better audio and a redesigned hologram effect. Building on past successes and tweaking designs are critical parts of the company's ride development formula. For 2016, it will continue its wildly successful program to upgrade older, rough wooden coasters by replacing their traditional tracks with specially designed steel tracks. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Northern California will transform its Roar coaster into The Joker, a wooden-steel hybrid coaster. In the mid-2000s, Six Flags worked with coaster manufacturer Rocky Mountain Construction to try and salvage one of its roughest wooden coasters, Psyclone at Magic Mountain. They were moderately successful in developing steel track replacements for sections of the track. The park ultimately tore down the past-its-prime ride, but RMC used the experience to perfect what became its patented IBox steel track for wooden structure coasters. It introduced its first IBox-enhanced hybrid coaster in 2001 at Six Flags Over Texas. The New Texas Giant wowed ride fans and Six Flags officials. The chain has since given RMC makeovers to four more of its aging woodies, all to widespread acclaim. The Discovery Kingdom conversion will likely change Roar's jerky ride into a deliriously smooth coaster experience. The Joker should also offer other IBox signatures, such as loads of out-of-your-seat airtime. But it will also include unique features based on its Batman branding. For example, riders will brave "Harley Quinn's Tunnel of Fear," an underground section that will be filled with fog, lighting, and sound effects. Enhancements like that begin with Six Flags' design team. "We start the crazy ideas and bounce them off each other," says Hudson. Crazy ideas notwithstanding, Six Flags needs to consider demographics when it devises its new rides. Working from a five-year long-term plan, it spreads the love around to all of its parks. At any one location, there may be a marquee coaster one year, followed by something less intense (such as the Justice League rides) that a wider audience could enjoy. The chain also needs to think about its youngest visitors. In 2016 for instance, Six Flags Over Georgia will open an enhanced Looney Tunes land, Bugs Bunny Boomtown. The park will divide the kid-friendly section into two zones. The second area will adopt a Justice League theme and be known as DC Super Friends. As part of the expansion, the park will be removing rides geared only to young children and replacing them with ones that kids can experience with the whole family. Among the additions will be a Superman mini drop tower, a Wonder Woman flying scooter, and a Joker coaster that will be designed like a ride-through fun house. It will include outdoor and indoor sections. The land will also include a new mirror maze. According to Rhodes, holographic characters will pop up as guests make their way through the maze. It will be the chain's first area dedicated to youngsters that will feature the Justice League brand. How did Six Flags arrive at that decision? "We do extensive surveying," says Rhodes. "Kids love the D.C. characters. It's our job to give them what they want."

I just can't get behind the VR coaster idea until I experience it. It's like watching a movie while riding a family coaster (in this case powered). I guess it will make credit whores feel cleaner when they adapt it to miner mike and other kiddie coasters.

It is a lot easier to wrangle metal and steel versus people.

I never said I love the coaster, I just said it was a good addition for the park. I know it will help pull lines from other rides which will help. If someone does not quote you don't assume they are responding to you. It only creates unnecessary drama.