JEAPUgrad

The SFA turn around has been going on behind the scenes for the past few years since Shapiro came on board. Since 2007, there has been a lot of work to improve the park's infrastructure and they've really spent a considerable amount of time and money doing the things that previous management staffs have not. Things like basic upkeep, fresh paint, improved landscaping, better guest services training for ALL employees, replacing light bulbs, upgrading the park's sound system...the list goes on and on. They moved John Winkler, who had great sucess at Great America in the 90's and Great Adventure in the 00's to SFA to complete the management overhaul. I've been going to Wild World/Adventure World/SFA since 1986. While some have said over the years that SFA is a crap hole park as you put it, I think a lot of the grief SFA has received over the years from the enthusiast community has been a bit unfair as it's been the popular thing to do on many of the internet sites. SFA use to get crapped on for where it's located or the clientel the park tends to attract on the weekends and I don't think those things are relevant when enthusiasts bash the park to no end. In retrospect, I think the branding of SFDL, SFA, SFEG, SFNE, and SFWoA (RIP Geauga Lake) was a bad decision at the time it was made. Clearly these parks couldn't hold a candle to the already established Six Flags brand. With SFA finally receiving a little TLC over the past few years, I genuinely believe that while SFA does not have the number of attractions that SFMM or SFGAdv has, SFA is FINALLY starting to hold it's own. When SFA opened for the 1999 season, the general public were expecting a brand-spanking new park. Joker's Jinx and Two Face did not open with the park. Looney Tunes Movie Town was also behind schedule. The park at the time should have delayed opening until they were ready to open. Instead, guests showed up only to be disappointed that their high expectations were not met. Operations were pi$$ poor and a LOT of attractions did not open with the park. I know a lot of people that went to SFA early in 1999 expecting to see the Six Flags brand in full effect and as a result of the mismanagement of the rebranding, they have not returned since. SFA has been pulling out all the stops to turn that image around and after many years of being the proverbial red headed step child, SFA is FINALLY getting the TLC the park deserves. I think anyone who believes that SFA is up for sale as the rumors have circulated for years are fools. SF Inc sees the potential this park has and have committed themselves to this process. I love SFA but unlike others I try to keep an unbiased opinion on the park. My standard for visiting SFA is the same standard that I have for any other park. When I visit SFA, I judge SFA the same as I judge all the others. I've had good trips to SFA, I've had bad trips to SFA and I've very honest in my trip reports on both. SFA has come a very long way over the past few years and I am very excited about the future of this park. I'm excited about the new life that Mr. Winkler and his team injected into SFA in 2009 and hope the trend continues in 2010. For those who say they'll never step foot in SFA again...that's fine. The rest of us are having fun without you. I'm not a SFA fanboy who wears blinders and think the park is the best park out there. However, there have been many positive changes in all aspects of the park and I don't think SFA has received enough credit for their turnaround.

^The slides were still in place on Sunday when I went for early season pass processing.

Recent Removed Rides: Two Face Iron Eagle Tilt-A-Whirl Krypton Comet- Chance Chaos Sky Escaper - Enterprise Octopus - Removed in 09/10 off season Alpine Bobs - Removed in 09/10 off season Cyclone - Scrambler - was moved from between Capitol Railways and the enterance to Southwest Territory to the Octopus' old location. Around the World in 80 days will be moved into Thomas Town and rethemed to Sodor Carnival Backlot Trucking Company will be moved into Thomas Town and rethemed to Diesel Derby Movie Town Tours will be moved into Thomas Town and rethemed to Bertie the Bus Recent Flat Ride Additions: None Recent Coaster Additions: None

No. John Winkler, the Park President, allegedly made that comment during the ACE event last fall. Mark Shapiro said on tonight's blogger call (and I received this second hand) that SFA will be getting a family coaster in the future. Something else was mentioned about SFA really putting a focus on bringing families back to SFA. I'm hoping someone will post the full transcript as was the case last time.

I think it's a little funny that those who say 300 is just a number are also over forty years in age. LOL

I can't believe we've spent all last fall and the entire off season talking about it when the trains in the animation look like the trains on the tracks. Hopefully all the nonsense about the restraints will die down once the coaster opens up next week.

While I have never worked in a park nor do I know what Cedar Fair requires for appropriate footwear, I have worked several large scale events and I always go for Vans tennis shoes when working these events. Just whatever footwear you do decide on being the best option for you, break it in before you start working. I just bought my first pair of Under Armour ankle socks last week and they are hands down the most comfortable pair of socks I've ever worn. $12 for two pairs of socks but OMG they are unbelievably comfortable.

I'm terrified of heights when not on coasters but I've been stuck at the top of MF and it wasn't fun...

Just wait until they trim the fracker to death.

^Sorry, I arrived here in the middle of last summer as those jokes were coming to an end. LOL

^I wish SFA would book some of those bands for the Starbust Summer Concert Series. We always get those god awful teeny booper groups that are stars from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

Is this a reference to that documentary where the woman falls in love with the 1001 Nachts ride at Knoebels? LOL MOD EDIT by larrygator: Yes, my stupid sense of humor

^Crews at Bizarro, Runaway Mine Train whatever, Skull Mountain, and Batman all did not allow re-rides based on my three visits to the park last year.

It was made to look like a McDonald's just in case the Intimidator deal fell through at any point. That way Kings Dominion can have the first McDonald's: The Ride, where they sell you Big Mac's as you go up the lift hill And if this were the case, would there be a "special sauce" splashdown instead of the TPR favorite gravy splashdown? I know there will be no splashdown for 305, just sayin'.

I would give the exact opposite advice as the majority of the GP head in this direction when the park opens. All of this, of course, is based off weekday visits. I always head for Nitro and Dark Knight first, especially if you get there when the park opens. I'll spend the entire first hour riding Nitro with nothing longer than a one train wait for anything but the front row. The ride crew on Nitro was lax last year and allowed you to stay on the ride if no one was coming aboard in your row however this not the case on every ride. I'll hit Batman, Dark Knight, and Skull Mountain all before noon and take the skyride over the other side of the park. I'll hit Medusa/Bizzaro (whatever we're calling it this year) with much of the same conditions as Nitro, before hitting the Runaway Train and headed towards El Toro. The GP crowd is usually finishing up their time on KK and ET by noon and people start thinking about lunch. Lunch time waits for El Toro are usually in the 20-40 minute wait period and I've never waited longer than thirty minutes for KK. KK's wait time sign usually says 60-120 minutes but I've never waited longer than thirty minutes with them launching all four trains. I'll spend the rest of the afternoon hitting GASM, Superman and re-rides on El Toro and Bizarro usually getting out of the park before 3pm and getting ahead of rush hour traffic. Hope this helps.

A friend posted this on his Facebook profile today from the ACE event at KD. He reports that there in fact will be "soft straps" attached over the shoulder like Inferno at Terra Mitica. I305 Test Seat

Agreed. Diamondback's page kept me awake while working the third shift last year. KD posted a lot of pictures on Twitter during that time and unless you're a social networking whore like I am you never would've known. Well, they posted the link to Twitter through Facebook.

I'm not disappointed in the addition or any of the attractions. You're right. Not having any children, TT is of no interest to me. However all of the information that was in the Press Release had already been made known in the last 10 months since this expansion was announced. Location in the press release for starters would've been nice as well as new artwork. NewsPlusNotes posted this content later in the afternoon. Looks nice. http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2010/02/six-flags-america-announces-thomas-town.html

I'm pretty disappointed by today's announcement. All of the items mentioned have been mentioned before. The attraction number was slashed from ten to eight. They got those of us that live near and go to the park often all excited about today and have teased us for weeks that all the details would be revealed and the PR turns out to be a fluff piece. Way to go SFA.

Well it's 11am here on the east coast... SFA's Facebook page stated earlier this week that they are still planning on making their announcement today at 11am. The national SF page has a link for SFA's Thomas Town however there is no new content once you follow the link.

Not sure if this is an issue with my browser or the upgrade, however while going page to page using the page numbers instead of the "next" url, when I click on the number, I'm being re-directed to the TPR main page. Being more specific, when I went from page 74 to page 75 and 75 to 76 on the SFKK page, this happened. On the other forum sites I frequent, I'm not having this issue.

I'm going with brilliant move. Whether or not you agree with the Fairgrounds side or the Six Flags side, you have to admit that Shapiro and company probably learned a valuable lesson after the Cedar Fair and the Geauga Lake fallout. Six Flags put such a spin on the story ahead of the Fairgrounds and they solely put the fault on the Fairgrounds making them having to go on the defensive instead of the offensive. I think it's brilliant if this was the game plan all along, to shut down SFKK, and to get Chang, a B&M coaster that arguably belongs to the Fairgrounds out of the picture. Not to mention they were selling Season Passes at a ridicously low rate possibly knowing what they were going to pull. Sure they are going to return a lot of the monies they collected on these passes but this all the passes purchases in late 2009 will help the 4th Quarter numbers when those are released and I'm sure they've gained a little interest on those funds from their financial institution. In the business scope, I think it was unethical what Six Flags did but brilliant none-the-less.

I can not imagine this figure to be true. Were is this number based on? I'd love to know the source for all of his/her statistics. Furthermore, I love "new" posters on any given message board site who claim to have been someone yet provide no other information like age and location. Anybody can pretend to be someone their not on the Internet.

I've only visited the area once when I hit King's Island, HW, SFKK, and Stricker's Grove in the same weekend but I'd recommend checking out the Roller Coaster Database as there is a feature on there where you can see parks and the distance in between. Make sure you seach for existing parks. I did KI to HW in about three hours with no stops.