Sf-Dad

I agree completely with the first part. There is little they can do to increase attendance with marketing tactics alone. For people like me the season dinning pass gets me there more often but they sure don't make much money off of it. I have my eight meals in so the rest of the season is gravy. They get some sodas and ice cream for my kids though. Most business models are built on a growth and there has been no capital investment in recent years, just minor maintenance and replacing rides. Even Thunder River is starting to look shabby, how hard can it be to fix fake rocks? So yes, stagnation is the likely future of this park. The $20 parking fee cheeses a lot of people off and really sends the message "We exist to screw you" before patrons even enter the gates. That needs to stop. I also remember as a kid they had a tram service in the parking lot, not sure when that ended but it sure sent the message "We care about you". Now it is $25 for a reasonable parking spot. They want to increase attendance, make it as easy as possible for people to get in, not hard.

From talking to people in line at the park I think they were successful in marketing Boomerang as new. The reaction I get when I mention it is a 24 year old reject from Texas is priceless. They look at me like I am full of it and stop talking to me. Lipstick on a pig can work. Not that I have heard anyone rave about it. Regarding the flash pass at HH, i haven't seen the booth open at all this year, but I have not gone on a weekend. I would be hard pressed to buy one because last year it would have not helped you much as they never seemed to control the number of people they let on the towers so there was a huge wait anyway on busy days.

Agreed. Its "comfortable". A little weathered and could use a nip and tuck here and there.

I wonder if you can pay an up charge to get some starving college kid to carry you up the stairs ? My knees can't handle that one.

I generally make it to the park 2 afternoons a week in the summer and so far this year it seems attendance is down a little bit, nothing drastic. Just judging by how far back I have to park (row 11 instead 13) and lines on slides and rides. Most of the time we are at HH, but I take my oldest solo to the main park every couple of weeks. An early observation to be sure and may have little basis in fact. For about $800 I can deck out my family of 4 with season passes, meal passes, tube passes etc. (maybe even a couple dragon wing passes if I'm lucky). and enjoy a whole summer of fun or I could spend about the same amount for one weekend at a better regional park. Despite SFSTL's shortcomings it works for me and I will keep coming even if they don't keep up with the competition because for me there is no competition. So I will dream of expansion but not get to upset with the likely small incremental upgrades and will be pleasantly surprised if something big happens, but I'm not holding my breath. I know some would rather travel for a memorable blowout weekend, but I really suspect there are a lot more like my family that don't need that "mountaintop" experience and are happy hiking the foothills and may try getting to SDC sometime. That said, bring on the RMC and Proslide!

Pathetic. If you are going to dream, dream BIG.

And yesterday was SFSTL's birthday and nobody noticed. So sad

Got to say +1 for innovation and imagination. Looks like fun. So what is next ? The worlds "deepest" coaster? Completely underground? Hell:The Ride.

HH is reportedly closed for the day. Will probably take a while to straighten out the chemistry with the pumps down. It is overcast and 69F right now would not have been an ideal day for water anyway. If they will not say what caused the outage I would be reluctant to get on any rides today anyway, unless you are really looking for a thrill.

Yeah, my 8YO put his big boy trunks on and tried the tube slides and liked it! Then the floodgates opened and he did them all except Bonzia, had to take the walk of shame on that one. Maybe he will try some coasters next time. Water parks really suck when they are not busy and your kids want to go again and again. My knees are burning. I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors but there were two guys in white polo vendor shirts with a couple of red shirt guys that looked like park employees taking measurements all over the tube slides today. Seemed focused on the tower girders and I doubt they were measuring for drapes. Can you paint galvanized steel? Didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't tell what company they were with. Think there is any chance they are installing an elevator? A lot of those slides have some major leaks. I realize it is a water park and they use a lot but over the course of a season that adds up, certainly more than a few tubes of caulk. The excessive leakage causes problems with the landscaping as well.

Honestly, when I was there for the season pass preview, the surrounding area was mostly the same. Although the ride does look spectacular (as well as the old Hannibarrel benches), there's still out of place facades that look ugly, and the shops on the other side are still old western themed. I guess that Tsunami Soaker has brought more life into that area, it still feels incoherent and a bit uncomplete. My kids loved the ride and had a blast. It's fun squirting water at a complete stranger and getting away with it, Corporate must be going for The Good The Bad and The Ugly theme.

We had a nice afternoon at HH Tuesday. Loaded up cards on meal passes and season tube rentals. Interestingly they did not issue new cards or scan our fingers. Everything looks about the same and it wasn't very busy. The wave pool was roped off at the 5' mark probably because they were short on guards. I was really disappointed in the atmosphere of Johnny Rockets at the main park for dinner. No music playing and every minute or so a really loud commercial would run. Really ruined the experience. Didn't make it up to Tsunami, but hope to hit it tomorrow. I see in a park email they are offering Dragon Wing season passes. My wife and I did it back in the 90s and was hoping my oldest would be interested. I wonder if we do a single ride and he likes it if we can just upgrade to season pass ? Oh and Guest Relations did return my call today but I missed it.

Does he not like Big KAhuna (big red family raft slide) or the other Tube slides? I can even handle those and I don't do much.. Nope. Won't touch them and the boy is a fish and has the lungs of a whale. The boy is 46" tall and is perfectly comfortable in the wave pool in the deepest part, full waves and no floatation. If he didn't look exactly like me I would be having some serious conversations with the wife. I got him up to the top of the tube slide last year, sat him down on the tube and he just burst into tears. We had to take the walk of shame. A neighbor bribed her son to ride a coaster with 2 new 3DS games. It worked but I refuse to do that. My 11YO loves it all but is super skinny, like 1% body fat. He has a problem on Bonzai Pipeline in that is scrapes up his lower back on his spine. All the non tube slides hurt my back, but just tear him up. Are we dong something wrong or just genetic mutants?

My 8YO is a low-key ride boy. He has done all the coasters he is eligible for ONCE. "See I can do it Dad, I just don't like it". Have to respect that. He won't do any of the slides at HH, just the wave pool and lazy river. Tidal wave is to much for him. Thrills just are not his thing. So I am very pleased to have Tsunami. There just isn't much at the park for him. He was to tall for most of Looney Toons last year but got away with it most of the time, no chance this year. I suspect we will be waiting in long lines for the tsunami to hit.

Nah. They are probably stuck in a really long line at HH trying to get a drink refill while the margarita technician gets more ice. Snce Guest Relations is predisposed for the foreseeable future is it permissible to ask questions here ?

That would be really nice if they answered the line or returned messages. I have left two now with no response.

Boy Scout uniform shorts/swim trunks, they have a double zip pouch on a clip and dry fast. REI underwear. Wool socks, won't hold water like cotton and are cooler. Same thing I would wear if hiking/backpacking. I need to get some good trail runners. Phone in a extra zip Pass Cash Debit card Sunscreen Cheap sunglasses SF refill cups Waterpark, speedo backpacks with all the usual trimmings.

Thanks. I was getting worried, I am a thirsty man. Any chance they will improve the refill situation at hurricane ? It can take 20-30 minutes sometimes. I would say that is my biggest complaint about the whole park. Have not been yet this year and I am so ready. Probably more than my kids. Been going since I was to small to ride the coasters. I remember shedding a lot of tears every time I got turned down. I think hitting those fold out iron bars was the biggest rite of passage as a child.

A recent email says the sports cup refills are .99 each. Last year you could get a wristband for about $4 and get refills all day. Have they done away with that?