thisdougsforu

Mr. Freeze in Texas ending the season shortly for what I would guess is turning the trains back around is good news and is one of the most realistic park upgrades we could hope for, and one that is VERY needed.

This kind of transformation they are trying to do CAN work, but there is just no way it can with the leadership they have and constant shuffling of it. Best business example of something similar to what they are trying to do was with the St. Louis Blues pro hockey team. Ownership gutted the team and sold it cheap. New managers came in did everything they could to make a quick buck on a bad team, including lowering ticket prices to ridiculous levels and even selling concessions rights for up front cash. That ownership THEN sold the team. The ownership group who bought it from them (the current ownership) was a very competent group that knew they were going to have to take their lumps but would make the best decisions they could while building things back up....and the main thing they knew that HAD to happen was raising ticket prices to an acceptable level to maintain competitive balance. And they had to start doing it with a relatively bad product on the field/ice. People raised hell and it was temporarily an issue....but they stayed with the business plan both on and off the competitive field. Roughly a decade later, the Blues are profitable, ownership is stable, the team regularly contends for a championship. I know there are other examples in pro sports of this approach, and I understand it's not near a 1:1 comparison, but still it feels pertinent to the discussion because they had to get a horrible business/leadership situation under control as well as the actual product. The difference here is Six Flags is going to raise prices without doing anything to improve the product, and they continue to have a VERY unstable management group. I would assume it's going to continue to be bad until ownership/management dramatically shifts.

Having recently had my first ever night ride on it as well, I would agree. One of the few things where the hype was actually not only justified, but I thought it exceeded it. Best wooden coaster experience I've ever had.

These are two world class rides and I feel like yeah, a strength of Orion is the setting. I very much enjoyed buzzing tree tops and the sense of speed and enjoyment it gave me versus looking out over a parking lot. That was meant to be a compliment to Orion versus smack talking of Fury.

Pardon the double post here, but I've had a few days to process things and wanted to follow up with additional thoughts on Orion, because good grief do I love that roller coaster. Orion is a great example of how location/theming matters so much. The fact that it's sitting all by itself in the back of the park, above the woods, really lends to the terror/adrenaline of the lift hill and sense of speed. Before Orion, Fury 325 has been my favorite coaster and while I think Fury 325 is probably a better overall ride, I think I enjoy Orion more due to the sense of speed and isolation of where it's located versus Fury being basically in a parking lot setting. Being on that lift hill on Orion and having to look in the distance to see Diamondback, it aids to the scale of the hill. And then yeah, that first drop and soaring over treetops immediately after is insane. You feel like you are going to be shot off into the woods. Anyways, Orion rules. For a musical analogy, I view Orion as a band playing an absolutely killer short set. Yeah, it may not be a longer 2 hourish show thats totally comprehensive like a lot of bands play, but it rocks your face and kicks yours ass in the time it has with you.

Went Friday for my first ever visit. My GF and I got the FL+ passes as recommended and it was an amazing time. Rarely had any waits for anything got a ton of rides on everything. Diamondback and Banshee were both amazing, but damn do I love Orion. It's only the second gigacoaster I've ever ridden (Fury back in 2019 being the other) and while it's a shorter ride, I feel like it's all killer and no filler. Some of those pops of air are VERY aggressive pops where it felt like it was really trying to buck me off. Of course, Diamondback has a lot of that too. I feel like Diamondback is probably the better overall coaster but Orion hits a couple points higher, just not as many. Banshee is easily the most intense inverted coaster i've ever been on. Loved it. Mystic Timbers and Flight of Fear were both a lot of fun. Racer was better than I thought it would be too! I started the day on Beast and it was fun (shockingly smooth!) and then the ending hit, and that spiral down is freaking crazy. Got to end the night with a night ride on Beast, and wow is that insane. That was basically the perfect wooden coaster experience. Felt like I was going to fly off and die in the woods, haha. Seriously though, Beast is incredible at night. I don't have the experience that some of the folks here do, but KI has the perfect mix of coasters. The big giga with an insane first drop, the hyper that's an airtime machine, the invert that will not let you breathe, and then some nice woodies to boot, including the Beast which is now my favorite woodie. Love KI, a great park! Totally recommend the FL+. Worth every penny. Doing that many rides in a day had us feeling it the next day though!

I'm going to visit KI for the first time ever on Friday and I'm excited. From reading through this thread it looks like the ride pass+ is gonna be the absolute way to go. I'd ask for tips, but reading the last few pages and excellent trip reports has given me what I think I need, so thank you all for that.

Spinsanity would be a nice family attraction, yes, but it has a 48" tall requirement.

I don't really understand the point of posts like this. In this specific instance we are talking about realistic things this park could use like kiddie rides, but even if not and it was about a hyper or something, so what? Are we supposed to not discuss this kind of stuff on a theme park message board in a thread dedicated to this actual park? Anyways, in an effort to provide content, yeah, a legit kiddie coaster would be nice. Mine Train is a good kids/family coaster as is Pandemonium, but the height requirement for both is the same as Screamin' Eagle. Bumper Cars, a tilt a whirl, some other mid range carnival style flats would go a long way for the family demographic. As-is right now, you have either the big thrill rides or the baby rides, not much in between save for the Scrambler and Log Flume.

After years of following this thread, I'd like to officially welcome Zach to the grumpy Theme Park Dad's Club. That post (and subsequent grumbling ones) are legit endearing to see. My kids are just now graduating to the big stuff (they are 11, 9, and a brave six year old), but I've spent the last few years in the situation you are in (and given my youngest isn't 48 inches tall yet, she's limited on what she can do). A park having crappy family attractions, at least one that's billed more as a family park (versus Cedar Point, or something), seems baffling to me. No moon cars, no carousel, the pirate ship has been down all year....there just isn't much for young families to do. I think it's cool they are taking the care to do the carousel right, but yes, taken with the other stuff that's been removed or not working, if I had all very young kids I would definitely not be happy. This is why Holiday World is my favorite family park. I feel like they absolutely have nailed down how to do a family park right. Anyways, I was at the park yesterday sans-kids (for the first time in forever), and given there were like less than 1k people there, it was nice to walk on to EVERYTHING. I think this may be the first time in many years where I've visited that every single roller coaster was in operation. Best ride on the Boss in ages. And yes, Thunder River is open as I was on it yesterday. I saw that a lot more has happened to the Catwoman area as far as clearing/construction. They get that done, and the backside of the park will be much improved.

I went last Friday and somehow Boomerang was open. I got a ride in with my daughter but the ride had an error and the trains couldn't return completely into the station, so it took about 15 mins for maintenance to come, override the error, and then get the trains to move all the way back into the station and then we could unload. It then appeared to be down for the rest of the visit, ha. That ride, man.

I was there yesterday too, and it was a nice visit. I had one of the best rides ever on Screamin' Eagle, and it was nice to have it back in action. It was hauling the mail! The redone entrance is very nice and with all the construction around that area, I'm glad they have the Eagle open for the start of the season. Catwoman's Whip is TALL! I'm glad it's in the back of the park near Eagle, taking advantage of the natural elevation. And yes, there is a lot of construction still left to be done on it and the area. That section of the park is going to be very nice once completed. I'd assume that something will go in where Tidal Wave used to be in the near future as well, making that whole area the nicest on the property. Excuse my ignorance as I wasn't on TPR much for the year or so after the COVID ordeal started, but wasn't the original plan for Whip to be over by the Boss, behind Supergirl? Regardless, I'm glad it's where it is now. It's a major part of the skyline. Boomerang's new paint makes it pop. It wasn't in operation yesterday, though. My streak of going to SFSTL with Boomerang NOT being in operation is laughable. If people here didn't talk about riding it, I'd have no clue it was ever open. SFSL just posted a great pic of the new entrance on Instagram.

There any season pass deals going on right now? Looks like I'm going to get 4 of them for myself and the kids.

So any word on if Legend will be back up and running early this season?

I made one visit last year, after not going at all in 2020 so I have a question- what year did they FINALLY put a new concrete path directly though the snaking mess that was previously the path to to the Batman entrance? That was REALLY needed.

Not gonna be posting a ton of pics but I finally made my first ever trek to holiday world last week. I went Monday July 12 and Tuesday July 13th. I had my three daughters with me. We all enjoyed Holiday World immensely. More on the coasters in a minute, but all of the flats were enjoyable and my kids LOVED the selection. It's nice to have so many classic carnival style flats in a well themed park. I know Holiday World is always known as a clean park, but coming from St. Louis (and by proxy, Six Flags St. Louis as my home park).....it was shocking how clean the park was. Just fantastic. And with having three kids 10 and under, the free drink stations were VERY nice. So, the coasters. Lines were relatively short (it rained part of one day, and it was hot the other so Splashin' Safari was more where people were at) so a lot of coaster time was had. The Voyage really is a monster. That first drop is wild and a lot of airtime was had. It was very intense. Was definitely a rougher wooden coaster and my neck was feeling it, but a heck of a ride. Thunderbird rocks. So incredibly smooth. It's been a minute so I had done a launched coaster and the speed really struck me. The way you are exposed in the train coupled with the speed and smoothness really makes for that cool flying feeling. It's a short ride, made to feel even shorter if you just rode the marathon voyage, but it's all killer no filler. Loved it. The Raven. After having some time to process it since the trip, I think Raven is now my favorite wooden coaster. First off, it felt incredibly smooth for a wooden coaster. Don't get me wrong- it's not steel - but it felt bumpy in the great "out of control" feel a woodie should have, versus "that's going to hurt the next morning" that some are like. Tearing through the woods was an absolute joy. Great airtime. The turn by the lake is so cool! I really can't define why I found it to be the best, as the other two are more "thrilling"....but it just felt like a great ride. Exactly what I want a wooden coaster to be. Disappointingly, the Legend was closed both days. I couldn't get an answer as to why. Oh well, I suppose it at least leaves something for another trip. We did a couple hours at Splashin' Safari and of the water coasters, only got to do Cheetah Chase as lines were too long for the time we had left. Heck of a ride though. Easily my favorite waterslide/ride I've ever been on. Not really a waterpark person, though. Before ending I should also say the park staff was incredibly friendly and made a great visit even better. This is now one of my favorite parks, and it's EASILY my favorite as a family park. Can't wait to go back.

The odd way this was announced tells me this isn't going into one of the big chain parks. I just cannot imagine they would be cool with this kind of "announcement of an announcement". CF and SF (yes, even SF) covet those announcements, especially roller coasters. So does Seaworld/Busch. Just makes me think its an independent park. I don't see one of the bigger companies being ok with it because it could be seen as potentially stealing their thunder of the actual announcement. The way it's so vague and, frankly, kind of amateurish in the way this is less a real announcement and more of a "neener, neener, we know something you don't" also tells me a bigger marketing dept wouldn't be cool with it. Who knows, though.

As someone who is a Halloween nut and that's been to a good number of standalone haunts, I went to my first Fright Fest in 2019 and also thought it was very well done, especially given what I was expecting. I will temper my expectations for this year given everything, but I do look forward to attending it.

I like the discussion here because it shows actual real world examples of how the job situation is much more complex than this whole "people are lazy, cut their employment and they will get back to work" nonsense. Many industries and societal norms were already changing, for better or worse, and the COVID ordeal hastened the change to something faster than many businesses could/can deal with....and it sure seems to me instead of having a conversation about what the real problem may be with certain said businesses, there is just this odd aim to blame "lazy" people which really doesn't accomplish anything. Parks having to combat kids not working because of over-study or too many activities I can see being a real issue. I also do find it to be sad, because so many practical skills are learned at those first jobs. Skills that I'd argue are probably of more value than many of those advanced mathematics or other "impress the college" courses. I'm not sure what the parks are going to do to solve the issue. While Covid may be keeping some of their usual temporary labor at home for this season, I see what Kim says as a trend that isn't going to stop.

"Take emotion out of it and think about it logically". You are arguing to take emotion out of something while injecting a healthy amount of it into the discussion by saying the kids aren't worth what they are being paid, while giving no real evidence of anything. I'd argue that these employees are ABSOLUTELY worth what they are being paid, because the other option is for the parks to not be open. You are also comparing these raises (50-100%) to cost of living adjustments (2%, your stated figured) for something that is apples to oranges. These are seasonal employees for the most part, who made minimum wage before. This 50-100% increase isn't someone going from 60k to 120k a year in a career-type job. It's way less, and, again, it's seasonal for the vast majority. It doesn't take an economist to see that this is basic supply and demand and employees are very much in demand. Without them, the parks have no profit. And yes, you are crapping on them. Which is fine, I guess, but at least own that's what you are doing.

How are things at the park this year? My last visit was Frightfest in 2019. Was mulling over taking my girls there for Father's Day on Sunday, assuming that the park is now more/less operating as per usual.

I am very late to this discussion having actually not visited TPR since this covid stuff started, so apologies for chiming in two weeks later. The things brought up here are things I've been thinking about but couldn't really define. The CF parks feel less chaotic, even when there are a lot more people. It's not even a ride-ops thing or employees running the booths thing (well, it kind of is but i digress), it's just that that everything feels more professional. The constant licensing of things at Six Flags has always been confusing to me. I would assume it's quite expensive to license Batman/Superman etc and not only does it seem completely unnecessary to spend it (i.e. a good ride is a good ride- Millenium Force would not be made better if it was licensed after the Flash or something) but it also actively hurts theming as the SF parks are a mess of themes/heroes.

The Ninja just made the TPR 2019 Top 10 Worst Steel Coasters (non-clone) list, coming in at #9. Finally, something to hang our hat on.

First off, congrats on the baby-makin'. On Boomerang, yeah. I mean listen, as I always say here, I totally believe the folks that work in the park or that visit constantly who say it usually runs well....but the damn thing NEVER runs when I visit and at this point may as well be gone, at least to me. Seriously- every visit the ride not only is down, but never has maintenance working on it or anyone even near it. It just sits as decoration. It's really bizarre that I have such a cold streak with that coaster. If I didn't know better, I'd say the ride was retired already!

I got in my Eagle sunset ride and egads, the old girl is running rough late in the season. Still fun, though. We got in the park at opening on Friday night and everything was walk on pretty much until it was dark. Crowd picked up then, but even at that it was either station waits or just a bit more in some cases. It was a good time.