prozach626

I hope they don't fix it, so I can read all of the comments of "We should be entitled to last rides!!"

Holy crap! Those attractions at the waterpark are massive! Concept art is getting really good.

Media day was yesterday. It's crazy sad how these things never get talked about it here, anymore. Ten years ago, there would have already been at least 10 nerds at media day posting hundreds of pictures and writing reviews. I miss them. There are a lot of youtubers out there with POV's. I'm sharing these clips, since they're from a news channel and not TPR competitors.

^Thanks for the input!

Anyone have any feedback about express pass question for my IOA July trip? I have no idea how much of a time saver it is. My fear is "wait less" means like an hour instead of 15 minutes. We plan to hit the park on a Tuesday. According to quick AI and search engine results Tuesdays are among the best days to visit.

My best guess is that the park is going to be crazy busy tomorrow, right? I want to process our season passes with the All Parks Passport, so we'll be ready for our four night Breakers/Cedar Point 40th birthday celebration next month. I also want to test Eve's 43" bravery, since she really wants to come. She was NOT a fan of Fire in the Hole, so I'm pretty sure Wild Mouse and Iron Dragon are off the table, which unfortunately means no deal. I really don't want to push her. Should I kill my optimism about being able to ride Rookie Racer, Justice League, Log Flume, and Thunder River without waiting an extended amount of time? The plan would be to get there before opening, head straight to Rookie Racer. Would my order above me the best way to go about it? What are the chances of Justice League being open upon our arrival? Last year, we went straight to Rookie Racer, because I didn't want her to get too hyped up about waiting in line and watching the train. We walked straight on, and I was dumb enough to put Eve and I in the front row. That made things way worse.

Would, or would not? It's looking like a June opening may happen. Thoughts?

Attractions Magazine Six Flags declares ‘Great Reset,’ shares goals through 2028 BySarah GillilandMay 20, 2025 Six Flags Entertainment Corporation revealed several key points of focus during its Investor Day event in Sandusky, Ohio, on May 20, 2025. The presentation provided a comprehensive and forward-looking view of the newly merged Six Flags and Cedar Fair companies. Held at the historic Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, the event marked a milestone nearly a year after the merger of the entertainment companies. CEO Richard Zimmerman and other executives presented their strategic roadmap, highlighting the strength of the combined company, the ongoing progress of integration, and a clear vision for growth through 2028. “I will tell you the more we got comfortable looking at the combined company, the more what we saw was that there was great value we could create, and that we could do things as a combined company that neither legacy company could do on their own,” Zimmerman stated. He continued, “It’s clear that the new Six Flags is stronger and more strategically positioned than either legacy company. This is a fundamentally different and fundamentally stronger company.” Looking to the future of Six Flags The new Six Flags, now the leading regional amusement park operator in North America, serves 42 parks and reaches nearly 250 million potential guests. Executives reaffirmed a strong belief in the value of regional “icon” parks like Cedar Point, highlighting their resilience and growth potential, even during economic downturns. A primary focus was the ambitious goal of reaching 58 million in annual attendance and $3.8 billion in revenue by 2028. The next 18 months were dubbed the “Great Reset,” where streamlining, debt reduction, and reinvestment are prioritized. Six Flags growth relies on customer satisfaction Christian Deekman, chief commercial officer, expanded on the revenue growth strategy. He identified attendance and in-park spending as the two core growth drivers. Market analysis revealed major attendance gaps at underperforming parks like Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Over Georgia compared to stronger performers like Knott’s Berry Farm and Carowinds. Enhancing guest satisfaction is key to narrowing these gaps. The company aims to attract more visitors via enhanced CRM systems, regional season passes, and consistent capital investment in new rides, family attractions, and seasonal events like Fright Fest. Other opportunities for growth Food and beverage revenue is another growth pillar. By upgrading dining experiences and focusing on creative, themed items like Halloween “blood bags,” Six Flags aims to increase transactions per guest. They plan 11 new renovated food locations this year and another 50 in coming years. Retail and premium offerings like cabanas and bundled products are also being expanded due to their high margins and alignment with higher attendance. Portfolio optimization plays a supporting role. While all parks will operate in the 2025 season, the company is evaluating potential asset sales, particularly of parks with limited growth upside. However, executives stressed that deleveraging does not depend on asset sales. Instead, the top 15 locations will be the core growth focus. Season passholders expected to visit more often Six Flags expects to recapture 10 million lost visits by 2028, returning to pre-pandemic attendance levels. More than 80% of this growth will come from expanding the season pass base and increasing the frequency of visits. While per-capita revenue from season passholders is lower per visit, their overall annual spend is significantly higher due to multiple visits and consistent in-park spending. The projected revenue growth is driven largely by volume, not pricing. For in-park revenue (food, merchandise, upgrades), 90% of growth is expected from more transactions and higher average spend per transaction. For admission revenue, 75% will come from increased ticket volume. This “volume-first” approach will also support pricing power as parks become “comfortably crowded.” Cost management and guest improvements Six Flags Entertainment plans to reduce operational costs by $60 million in both 2025 and 2026, focusing on labor efficiencies, procurement, and operational calendar changes. From 2027 onward, costs are expected to grow at or below inflation. Parks will focus on reallocating labor and operating days to maximize guest impact without harming guest satisfaction. The company plans to reinvest 12–13% of net revenue into park infrastructure, new rides, and guest experience improvements. This includes significant upgrades to food and beverage offerings and technology like mobile apps and Wi-Fi. Outlook and investor confidence The final presentation at the 2025 Six Flags Entertainment Investor Day, delivered by the company’s financial leadership, laid out the strategy for revenue growth, cost optimization, and achieving long-term shareholder value through the newly merged Six Flags and Cedar Fair entities. The team reiterated its 2028 goals: 58 million visitors, $3.8 billion in revenue, and $1.5 billion in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) with 40% margins. The company is ahead of schedule on early targets and believes its unified leadership, CRM tools, capital planning, and loyalty initiatives will drive consistent long-term growth.

I told them they needed to paint it different colors to build the hype and they snubbed me, too.

Yeep. The earliest video I could find was May 16th.

Nice! Congrats on being selected. Let us know how you like it.

Crap. Sorry. My Express Pass question was about Islands of Adventure in July.

Silver Dollar City looked great last weekend during our short Branson trip to celebrate my daughter's fifth birthday. At the park, we started off with Fire In the Hole. The ride feels like modernized a copy of the old ride, which I consider a good thing. It was received with, "I'm never ever riding that ride again until I die." wtf ok I rode Outlaw Run by myself. It still kicks ass as my favorite RMC. It's borderline getting rough, but not to the level of real discomfort. I also grabbed a ride on Wild Fire near the end of the day, because it was walk-on. I'm always surprised by the airtime on the first drop. It's very smooth for its age. The observation deck was great for the family. When given the choice between "log flume" or "the bumpy kid's coaster" in exchange for a neurotoxin Dip-N-Dots reward, the "bumpy kids coaster" surprisingly won out. Earlier in the day it had the random walk-by rating of "That Holiday World roller coaster is TRASH!" (where does she get this from?) All in all, the Grand Exposition Coaster was much more suited for my daughter now than it was when she was three. At that time it received the rating of "I'm never ever ever riding that ride again." I think she actually had fun, which made me optimistic for the future. It's hard to tell. The Marvel Cave tour was a nice challenge for the kid. Caves make me uncomfortable. In my opinion, the tour guide took way too long incorporating the cave's history with story telling. We weren't the only ones in the crowd who looked bored with the five minute explanation of the original explorers throwing rocks into the deeper part of the cave that led to a bat shit filled pit. Like legit, dude went over the "He threw a rock and heard no response" reenactment about five times. I have a feeling the drawn out stories were to give the growingly restless crowd a break from the 600, but I don't remember the guides taking that long. I wish the extended story lengths would have instead just contained additional history, since the younger kids didn't seem to give a shit about the dramatization, anyway. Thankfully, the tram back to the top worked, because the lady gasping for air and breathing on my neck behind me was about to die. The train was great. The experience near the back half was a lot different with the Fire In the Hole area added. The robbery show was good. I feel like it got longer. Again, at one point I was wondering when it was going to wrap up, but the actors took extra time to interact with every row, which was worth it for all the kids. Staff did a great job of filling the train to make sure almost everyone in line got on. Flooded Mine is a great ride for kids. A lot of the effects weren't working, but the scoring was spot on and it's still a lot of fun. The gun accuracy is better than most considering this ride is old school. There were three animals out in the petting zoo. lol We originally made the mistake of getting in line for the BBQ place near the raft ride. (As I have gotten older, I really don't give two shits about most ride names anymore if you can't tell.) We got out of line when it seriously didn't move for the five minutes we were in it. I didn't understand the mistake of trying to grab lunch during prime time until I had a kid. Avoiding excessive hunger is a big part of preventing a meltdown, so the urgency of getting lunch increases. The quick-serve food stand pretzel nearby was decent and they had a fruit cup, which was nice. We later made it to the BBQ place when it had almost no line. The pulled turkey was ok, and the slaw was surprisingly not loaded with sugar. The pulled pork my wife had didn't taste like typical wanna-be barbeque crockpot meat. It's nice to have a healthy(er) choices for meat and vegetables. I'm not going to elaborate further on the kid and family rides we went on. Our experiences on all of them were great. The park was clean and the staff was friendly. I love how shaded the park is. It's a nice place to take it slow and enjoy the atmosphere. Does anyone know what they're building near the north side of the park? There was a lot of land clearing. It may be just the deconstruction of Fire In the Hole version 1. As far as Branson in general, we did the Runaway Mountain Coaster a few times. Two of the three times I went at a slower pace with my daughter and let her tell me when to slow down and speed up. If your kid is still afraid of roller coasters, this is a nice way to break them in at the pace you choose. I went by myself on one of the rides. There are a lot of small double down airtime hops in the layout and it cooks through the helix sections. Some of the areas seem to jut out at least fifty feet or so from the hill, with the optics of overlooking the valley making it seem much higher than that. For those interested in hiking, there's a nice waterfall hike nearby. Hiking is my daughter's jam, and this one doesn't have a lot of steep climbs. It's good for young kids. It takes a couple 2-3 hours if you stop to explore. If you go without kids, you can probably knock it out in a little over an hour. We chose to stay at a one room suite with a pullout, kitchenette, and porch at Hyatt's Timber Ridge. If you're looking for a well maintained property, I recommend it. There are activities at night for families. The resort has an indoor/outdoor pool that was unfortunately unavailable due to storm damage repair. The fitness center is really nice, but I chose to go the grueling route of steep elevation changing laps around the property, which was well worth it for being scenic and quiet in the early morning. Constants in Branson/SDC are that the gyms and running trails are rarely occupied... (Honorable mention to Holiday World area.) If you're in the area, I HIGHLY recommend Mr. Gilbertis pizza across the dam in Hollister. The cast iron Chicago style pizza seriously rivals Lou Malnati's. Cheers.

I would argue Six Flags Fiesta Texas has this one beat, but at this point, I don't even think you can consider it a true Six Flags park. It's like the unusually smart child in the family, which was secretly made on a business trip instead of at home.

I like your realistic coaster layout. My only advice is to space everything out a little. If you think in terms of most parks outside of carnivals or small 'fun parks,' things aren't as compact and not all entrances are right off the main drag. Some have little plaza's or dead ends. The downside is guests get stuck more easily, so it kills the realism. Check out some of the youtube videos of really thorough park creations to get a better idea of how spaced out everything is. Look at some google earth images of real parks. Or, just do whatever you have the most fun doing. Sometimes the monotonous theming and endless bush placement just feels like work and sucks the fun out of the game.

Additional question: Does the express pass save you enough time to be worth it? I want to ride every coaster once, but take as little time away from my family as possible. If we're still talking 30 minute express pass waits on the last Tuesday in July, I'll skip it for better and more important memories with the three of us. Edit: My question is in reference to Islands of Adventure.

Will all of those treats, maybe someday Hershey will meet their goal of surpassing Holiday World's standing obesity record.

Interesting color scheme. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Interested to know more about the enchanted rum bottle.

Hey! It was a compliment!

Easier target. They know if you hit them you go to jail and have something to lose. If they hit you, they get paperwork, released on scene to a guardian, and court date for 90 day probation. I'm not big, but I'm fit, and a lot bigger than they were. It doesn't matter. They wouldn't do it to someone who looks like they have nothing to lose. It was a pleasant day.

I don't think Six Flags Saint Louis and World's of Fun compete with each other. They're regional parks. I've never talked to anyone in my circle who has heard of World's of Fun. Holiday World gets all of the family travelers' attention in my area, which is just a little less farther and World's of Fun.

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing.