SafariRob

We published a new blog with lots of pictures from our visit to Discovery Kingdom on Sunday. Check it out. https://www.sixflagsroadtrip.com/blog-1/2020/sfdk-08302020

This thread is kind of quiet. The park is only partially open. I get it. Here's a blog we just published. Nothing fancy. Just a quick recap of our trip with some photos and an 80-second video. Enjoy. https://www.sixflagsroadtrip.com/blog-1/2020/sfdk

Parking works the same as before. If parking is included in your pass/membership, you're good to go. I would assume that includes premium parking for Diamond Elite, but I cannot say for certain since our membership is only Platinum.

The park is honoring the refillable cups. Implementation varies throughout the park. Some of the restaurants gave us a paper cup with the drink in it. Some of the restaurants actually took our bottles and filled them.

Thanks! We cannot wait to hit the road next year and finally visit all the parks. I'm a little worried about the aftermath of COVID-19 and how it has devastated the theme park industry. I hope that Six Flags (and all the theme park companies) can recover and none of the parks will permanently close.

We are so conditioned to stand in long security lines and jump through all these hoops (empty pockets, metal detectors, bag checks, etc.) that it's become normal. Honestly, when we breezed through security without stopping, it felt very odd. It was nice, but we were like, "Wait, that's it?" I really hope that all major venues (theme parks, sports stadiums, airports, etc.) implement this technology.

TRIP REPORT 7/3/20 We arrived at the parking lot around 9:40am. There were no cars in front of us or behind us. We noticed a few people walking the path toward the park. We parked and took the shuttle to the front gate. (Note: They are only allowing groups with a disabled person on the shuttles to the park.) What happened next was amazing. We stepped off the bus and walked through a new tunnel/entryway. There were six people in my group and another group behind us, but all of us kept walking. No one stopped for a temperature check. No one stopped for a bag check. It was completely seamless. We all kept walking until we found ourselves in the entry plaza. Next, a park employee scanned our reservation bar code and wished us a great day. Finally, we breezed through the turnstiles with no wait (other than the time it took to scan our passes). We were off the bus and into the park in less than three minutes. We were inside the park just before 10:00am...in time to wait for rope drop. We did most of the shows and animal attractions. Right off the bat, we noticed that the animals were much more active than we have experienced before. The snakes were slithering around, not hiding. The lions were front and center (one was on top of the rocks). The cougars were not hiding, and neither were the wolves. It was nice to get a good look at the animals. They have cleared out the land for Sidewinder Safari and put up a construction fence around the area. They might have even poured some concrete footers. It's hard to tell. Other than that, not much going on. No big surprise. Here are a few of my observations (and some advice if you plan to go). 1. Shark Experience is closed, which makes sense because it's indoors. 2. Butterfly Habitat is open (according to a park employee), which is surprising since it's also indoors. 3. Mobile ordering at the restaurants is (mostly) a hit. It's very easy to do and (most of the time) very fast. We ordered food from four different places and they were all fast. The one exception was Johnny Rockets. 4. Johnny Rockets. What is it with this place? I waited about 70 minutes for two shakes. There were at least 30-40 people standing around waiting for their orders and all of them waited at least an hour. Keep in mind that park capacity is about as low as it will ever get. This place is typically slow, but I THOUGHT with mobile ordering and low capacity it would help. It didn't. If anything, it's worse. Normally, I would never wait that long for two shakes, but I had nowhere else to be (the rest of the group was at a show) and I was genuinely curious to see how long it would take. At one point, the park president and another fellow (similarly dressed) walked up to a woman near me and talked to her about an issue with her order. They said they would look into it. They disappeared into the restaurant and I didn't see them again. Bottom line: AVOID JOHNNY ROCKETS 5. No food on the bus. Maybe this was always the rule, but they never enforced it. We took our dinner to go and got on the bus. Immediately, the bus driver told us food wasn't allowed on the bus. We tried to explain that we were not going to eat on the bus and that the containers would remain closed. The bus driver was firm (and rude, in my opinion). We got off the bus and walked to the car...and arrived before the bus. 6. Show capacity can be an issue. When is the last time you were turned away from a show due to capacity limit? It's only happened to me once in seven years...and that was a very busy Saturday in July at the dolphin show. We were turned away from the tiger show today due to capacity. I think that there are two main reasons for this. The first is (obviously) social distancing. Limited capacity for the shows. The other reason is that everyone is on the same show schedule. Each show is scheduled 30-45 minutes apart with very little overlap. That means that many of the same people go from show to show because there isn't much else to do. Some of the venues have much more capacity than others. 7. The games are open. This was a nice break for us in the middle of the day. They clean all of the game equipment (balls, rings, etc.) after each use. 8. Food Court. TONS of new table umbrellas! Remember when just a handful of outside tables had shade? Now, nearly all of them do. 9. There are areas in the park where you can take a break and remove your mask. 10. There's nothing in the parks referencing Marine World or The Marine World Experience. There is one sign outside the park with The Marine World Experience logo. I thought there might be some special event merchandise. I asked several gift shops (including the main one), but there is nothing. No 1980's music in the park or anything else to reference the old park. Think of it as a typical day in the park without rides. 11. Everyone was wearing a mask, with the exception of people sitting down to eat. Social distancing was not an issue. The park was very clean and we felt totally safe. I posted some video and photos. I hope its okay to post these links. If not, please remove. https://www.facebook.com/sixflagsroadtrip https://www.instagram.com/sixflagsroadtrip/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWu05hQ_REo1TUqCDtczt0g https://www.sixflagsroadtrip.com

Is anyone planning to go to the Marine World Experience? We're going tomorrow. I know the rides won't be operating, but I look forward to being in the park and seeing the animals. I'll also get a good look at the Sidewinder Safari construction.

Agreed. The best part of the ride was the queue. Maybe they can re-purpose it somehow.

The elephant location makes the most sense. I didn't realize that's where the snake warning sign was. (I thought it was over by the giraffes. I haven't been to the park in a few weeks.) Hopefully they can keep most of the trees and integrate the ride/queue/animal exhibit with them. I'm guessing that they will relocate the current reptile building (and its residents) to the queue of the new ride. Maybe add a few more animals. I really, REALLY hope they get a komoto dragon or two.

By the way, I think this is a great addition to the park. They desperately need more family rides. A family coaster is a big win for the park.

We know it's a clone of Ragin' Cajun at Six Flags America. The footprint is fairly large (approx. 50% larger than the Butterfly Habitat). They could tear out Kong, but the space is about 4x too big. I suppose the animal exibit portion of the ride/queue could take up the remaining 75% of the space, but that is not likely. I think we are stuck with Kong for now. I briefly thought that they could shoehorn it in where Voodoo is, but after looking at a map, it would take some major infrastructure work to fill in the water behind Voodoo. ALso, the Sky Coaster is on the other side and I doubt there is enough clearance for both the swing and a 50-foot coaster. That said, how cool would it be to swing over the top of Sidewinder Safari? There is enough land for it to go outside the berm, just south of the giraffes. I think that's near where the "Snake Warning" sign was. There is plenty of room inside the (now defunct) elephant area. They would have to remove the Toyota Off-Road Experience, but that is a limited attraction anyway (runs twice a month). Also, they could probably shoehorn it in where Tazmanian Devil is. The footprints are almost identical, and Taz hasn't been running for months (maybe over a year). My location predictions (from most to least likely): 1. Inside the elephant area 2. Next to the giraffes 3. In place of Tazmanian Devil

We noticed that on Sunday, too. I asked around about what the plans are but no one seems to know anything. Are there any rumors out there? Not a lot of room for a new attraction there...except maybe bumper boats. Hey, Aquaman Bumper Boats. That could work!

Thanks for the feedback! Looking forward to it. What's the roller coaster that crosses state lines? It's cool how it's in both states.

Help for first-timers! We're planning a trip to NC this summer and will be in the Charlotte area these dates: SAT JUL 8 SUN JUL 9 MON JUL 10 TUE JUL 11 What do you think will be the least-crowded day? Based on the some of the research I did (much of it outdated), it seems like the least-crowded day would be Tuesday, July 11. Do you agree? We are a family of seven with kids ages ranging 6-16. We are going with my sister's family (locals) and their kids are all teenagers. Here are some other questions: 1. What are the must-see attractions? 2. Is there a "right" or "wrong" way to do the park. For example, do X attraction in the morning and Y attraction in the evening. 3. How much of a hassle is it to bring a picnic? It's vacation so I don't mind biting the bullet on food (to a certain degree) it I have to parade a family of seven a mile to the car, eat, and then back again. 4. What are the best food places? Best food deals (if any)? 5. Anyone have experience with special-needs kids at the park? My son has Down Syndrome and we can get an assistance pass, but I only do that (1) if the park is super-crowded and (2) for certain rides only. It's usually only good for 4-5 people, and we will be a group of 12. 6. Two of my boys love PVZGW. How is the ride/show? 7. Any hidden gems/secrets to know about? Simple fun stuff to do that out-of-towners might not know about? 8. Weather in Charlotte in mid-July? Hot and humid, right? 9. Average wait times? That's all I can think of for now. Thanks!