Hey everyone! I'm a long time reader, but decided to make an account to get more involved after reading a few things that didn't make a ton of sense to me.
Personally I love this park. I've been coming every year sicne 95' and while I do agree it has changed a lot over the years, it's very far from a bad park. This park has retained much of its charm over the years, much more than other parks have. Has the park made some bad choices over the years,? Sure. Has every other park made bad choices? Yes! The park has been actively trying to find ways to improve areas of the park, like abandon ride pads. They've been saying it in the live chats that they have plans for areas like Twisters old ride area, and I believe them. Personally I think a Super Loop would be an amazing fit there. They have also been making progress with this as well, by using Rodeos area the past few years as a line for ticked for Midnight Mansion, filling the Colossus pad with Slingshot and Crimewave, and also replacing Catapults area with Sky Screamers entrance area and line. So while they may not be replacing everything with another ride, they have been slowly but surely filling the park in over the years.
I find a ton of good things about this park besides the 4 good coasters and 2 flat rides you there are. This park still has a great selection of rides including flats. Crimewave, Teacups, Scrambler, Balloon Race, Jokers Wild Card, Bumper Cars, Houdini, Carousel, Whistle Stop Train, Scream, Route 66, and Sky Screamer on top of the Buzzsaw and Tomahawk that previously said. This park has retained many classic rides like Crimewave, while introducing new thrilling versions of the ride like Sky Screamer.
I do agree with you on the shade situation. That is one of the things the park really does need to improve on. I'm thinking maybe it had to do with the Ninja situation in someway that they decided to start removing a bunch of trees, but I really hope they start to plant more trees on the midways or get some of those shaded landscape covers like at SFOG.
The removal of Skyway is almost every park being every park. lol Tons of parks have been removing them over the years because they turn out to be much more maintenance heavy then they thought. New England Skyway was built in 1973 making it 41 years old in 2014. That is probably a much longer life expectancy than the Von Roll company probably ever thought for this ride. Due to aging and the fact that Von Roll has been out of business for quite some time now, It's no wonder why they are closing. Where did you hear this cable rumor? That doesn't seem like something the park wouldn't want to do because they did it in 2005 or 2006. If they just didn't want to replace the cable, they would have gotten rid of the ride years ago. To me it sounds like an age and multiple maintenance issues lead to its demise.
Also about the car situation, i've never seen it run more than 5 or 6. Ever. That's going back to 95' before Six Flags owned the park. That leads me to believe they may have been doing that years before also. Does anyone know if the ride ever ran more 6? I've also only saw 4 cars on a few very rear situation but it would be put back into service as fixed.
Continuing with operations, I know this is something the park takes very seriously. I've always seen two trains on every coaster unless it's down for maintenance and even if it is, as soon as it's fixed, it's put right back on the ride. I've been in line plenty of times at Bizarro and Cyclone and seen them add on trains. I'm not going to lie, I have seen some slow employees at some of the kiddie rides, and a few slow employees here and there on some of the major coasters. But i've also seen other co workers tell them that they need to move faster and they do. I have never waited in a line longer than what I thought it was going to be because of slow employees working on a ride at the park. In fact, last season I saw almost every single major coaster beating the other train! I used to see it quite often at Bizarro during the summer, as well as at Mind Eraser. I've even saw batman's floors go down before the other train stopped on the breaks! I haven't saw a crew get people though that ride line that fast since 2005!
New England Sky Screamer operations aren't bad, but they aren't that great either. But they are like that not because of the crew, but because it's just a low capacity ride with a decently long ride time. I've watched that crew speed walk while checking the chest belts and get that ride back up in the air in about a minute. That is very good considering they only have two people checking belts on a very large ride area. I don't really understand how you could pass judgement on a ride you never ride, but I guess that's why you don't know how good the crew really is! lol Personally, I thought that crew was amazing this year and hope they are great next year also.
As for the whole Cyclone Skyway station thing, did they confirm it's becoming part of the line? (That question isn't targeted at you, I honestly don't know! lol) If so thats fantastic! I'm sure they will give it a great make over to fit the theme!
Why does it matter so much if they keep the building. Most parks do this type of thing, for example Kennywood turning an old building into Johnny Rockets last season. It's not so much being cheap, but using what you already have. Also if it does become part of the line, who says it will stay in that current location? During Goliath construction, they saved the old Shipwreck Falls station, but they moved it to a new location and used it as a covered queue.
In no way was any of this meant to offend/attack you, and I'm truly sorry if it felt like it was. It's just I see that they are working and trying their best to rebuild what the old managements did to the park. I have no doubt in my mind the park will continue to improve and get things back where they used to be back in the early 2000s. They have already proved it by fixing a few things, and it will only continue to improve.
