Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Media Preview & 2007 Season

[Zonga]

Awesome update Sean, beautiful pictures too. Just out of curiosity, how many photos did you end up taking on opening day?

[Darien Laker]

What a nice sight to see. I'm impressed with the new look of this park, and I think the name change was very appropriate, and it basically marks the turnaround of the park.

 

Hopefully some of the other Six Flags parks recieve such treatment (Six Flags America comes to mind, which is one of the few i've been to)

 

Ha, seeing this turnaround for Six Flags almost makes me wish Darien Lake wasn't sold!

[Loco]

So is there more pictures coming or what?

[ebl]

Very nice Photo TR!

 

I think it's time to pay Six Flags Vallejo another visit! It does indeed look better than it did when I was last there (1999).

 

BTW, I really liked that shot of the dolphin resting its chin on the glass.

 

Eric

[Sean Menefee]

So is there more pictures coming or what?

 

I'm still recovering a bit today from a goofy allergic reaction I had Friday night, and I've been in Vallejo two days straight. Expect an update a bit later this evening if all goes well. It's taking me some time to sift through the 5+ gigs worth of photos from the weekend, but I'm planning on posting a few more sets for sure.

 

Someone asked what else was new at the park this year besides the signs and theming? Until I can get the rest of the pictures up I scanned the "Fact Sheet" from my media package for you to check out.

 

Thanks for all the compliments and feedback. It's always appreciated!

 

Sean-

[Zonga]

Whoa, whoa, time out. There was a media package? I swear man, the little man always gets short changed.

 

Anyways, it was a blast hanging out with you for a bit on Friday and Saturday. I felt like I was with a celebrity at the park, lol.

[laqueefa]

i just got back from the park earlier today. i really enjoyed myself. some things were slow...roar only ran one train, and the employees didnt have the load/unload process down fluid, so it took a lot of time. medusa was fun, along with kong (although it HURTS). V2 wasnt running, along with VooDoo, boomerang, and the rapids.

 

EDIT: oh yeah, a valet parking lot has appeared where Zoonga used to reside.

[PhishyBrewer]

I'm still not buying a season pass this year.

 

Great photos though Sean. Thanks for posting.

[Sean Menefee]

The next batch is ready to go. Here are more photos from Friday’s event in no particular order:

 

 

Medusa's infield is still a parking lot at this point. They did however cover the fence in bamboo screen material to clean up the main entrance. It's a start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovery Kingdom's Public Relations Manager, Nancy Chan, welcomes the media to the preview.

 

Robin decides to turn the table on me.

 

Brand new play area in Looney Toons Sea Port. It did end up opening on Saturday with a ton of families packing the place.

 

More paint TLC has been given to almost every sign in the park.

 

 

 

Batman getting his face time stolen by a bird.

 

The original MWAUSA entrance fountain with a new school addition in the background.

 

 

The elephant stilts are now bolted down and covered up with landscaping. This Land portal ended up looking really nice after everything came together Saturday morning.

 

More from Merlin's Island Party preview demonstration.

 

 

 

Dolphin Cannonball in full effect.

 

 

 

You know this can't end up being a good thing.....

 

That's gonna suck........

 

 

 

Ben & Jerry's opened another location back by Tava's Jungleland.

 

Yes the Butterfly attraction has still survived through all these years. Its entrance sign is also getting re-done for the first time in a decade if not more, over the next few weeks.

 

A few Tava's Jungleland shots for good measure.

 

The Reptile House looks very bright and clean this season.

 

 

 

Shouka lounges around here re-themed habitat.

 

A parting shot of Jambo backstage, getting ready to be shipped off to the flat ride afterlife.

 

Al say's "The media tour is over, comeback tomorrow for opening day folks!"

 

Thanks again to Nancy Chan, Al Garcia, and Kari Gleeson for invite and all the great photo time. I'll have another set of pictures up soon so stay tuned folks.

 

Cheers,

Sean

 

BTW:

 

Check out Theme Park Village's version of SFDK's media day here:

http://themeparkvillage.com/updates/sfdk/mediaday/page1.php

[coasterbadboy]

Thanks for all the great photos! I seriously love this park. It's the perfect park for the WHOLE family (besides DL, of course). There's literally something for everyone to do, no matter what your age. Plenty of thrills but also plenty of opportunity to do things together. I wish more parks had the same feel as this one.

 

I'd never take my mom or my four-year-old niece to Magic Mountain. But I certainly would take SFDK. Thanks again.

[speedracer]

^ why Shapiro has taken such a special interest in our park, demographics-wise, closest thing in the chain to a total family park with something for everyone to enjoy all together. The rest of the chain is gonna take alot more effort and investment to turn around that thrill ride park image, SFDK already had a solid base of family entertainment offerings, just needed someone in charge that had a clue to unlock the potential here. Quite a difference from past management who's solution to increasing attendance was to just throw up another parking lot coaster.

[1FoolishMortal]

V2 looks like fun, does the front spike go upside down?

 

 

Yes, and that's what makes it a blast! On the first launch the train doesn't go full speed, so you end up suspended upside down (depending where you're sitting). The 2nd time through it goes the full length of the spike. On the final pass it's pretty much the same as the 1st with people getting suspended upside down. It's really a unique ride and lots of fun!

 

 

 

I'm really pleased with all the improvements to the park this season. Though DL is my home park in spirit, this has always been my true home park since it's the closest to my house. Great to see all the money being poured into it!

[Gnome]

^ why Shapiro has taken such a special interest in our park, demographics-wise, closest thing in the chain to a total family park with something for everyone to enjoy all together. The rest of the chain is gonna take alot more effort and investment to turn around that thrill ride park image, SFDK already had a solid base of family entertainment offerings, just needed someone in charge that had a clue to unlock the potential here. Quite a difference from past management who's solution to increasing attendance was to just throw up another parking lot coaster.

I think SHapiro has stated that SFFT was his favorite, so then I'd assume that would be the place that fits his image best, though obviously he see's this as a place that also fits the vision

[stormrider]

I hope to get to Discovery Kingdom soon, since I haven't been there since 2005 even though my location is in Sacramento. It's all up to my parents, and I hope that maybe changing things around the park will convince them we should go back there. I also saw a huge box of season passes in a Costco store, so next time I go to Costco, I'll ask. The commercials I've seen definately seem better than the generic footage from Magic Mountain, but they still use video of the Medusa from Great Adventure

 

I just noticed that Intamin supports look like toilet paper roll tubes thanks to that last picture BTW

 

I've been to SFDK, SFMM, and SFOT, and I definately liked SFOT better, so hopefully more of the Six Flags parks become like SFOT. The atmosphere there was really upbeat, which made me forget about rides for a moment!

[cinciDAWGS12]

That looks like a completely different park wit all the changes!!

[Sean Menefee]

Kelly and I got down to the park for a few hours today. I mainly snapped one of the new parades, along with a few random photos for good measure.

 

Here we go:

 

Discovery Kingdom, April 15th, 2007

 

Here is one of DK's two new parades for 2007. This years opening banner puts last years to shame. (I don't even want to dig the picture out, it was really bad.)

 

 

The parks VERY talented drum line.

 

 

Captain Lee is the Where's Waldo of SFDK. The guy seriously gets around the park in an afternoon.

 

 

 

 

SFDK's newest toy.

 

 

The Wii Experience was pretty much jammed the whole time we were at the park.

 

Nintendo did a nice job with the booths, and so far everything is still in working order.

 

Random shot of Boomer with the new DK logo train.

 

The land signs are still looking great.

 

The shark that was on this sign has been missing for a few weeks now. You gotta wonder if a guest climbed on it, and broke it at this point. Kelly and I noticed a TON of little kids using these signs as playgrounds around the park. We also saw a bunch of staff working really hard to keep everyone off them as best they could.

 

Work on Thomas Town is set to begin soon.

 

To finish the update a few new Shouka/Dolphin Stadium signs.

 

Taz side entrance.

 

Also Taz side entrance.

 

We had a fun afternoon. The park has been swamped ever since opening, so I guess the local advertising has really payed off this year. It's been a bit busy for my tastes, but it's nice to see them doing soo much business this early in the season.

 

Last Notes:

 

-V2 was running really well.

-Medusa is running 3 trains almost daily.

-Flash Pass is your friend if you're panning on making it to DK this year.

 

-You can now get your season passes processed at Explorer Outpost from what we were told. We waited in an hour long line over by Medusa, to later find out E.O.'s lines were non existent. The park needs to do a better job at explaining this to people, it might save everyone a headache next time.

 

-DK's new 4-D "Wilderness Adventure" is a real upgrade from the Stargate mess we have been stuck with. Make sure to check this out when you're up by Taz.

 

-Cold Stone "Birthday Cake" is food of the gods.

 

Time to get some sleep.

 

Sean-

[Bubba83]

Wow, I can't believe how awesome this park looks this year. I can't wait to finally visit in when I come home in a few weeks back to the bay area. I had only been to Marine World way back when there were no coasters and I was just a kid. It's exciting to see a park going in the right direction in the bay area!

[Sean Menefee]

Kelly and I got down to Discovery Kingdom yet again this weekend, to take advantage of the light crowds. The weather was poor, but I still managed to grab a new park update in between all of the rain.

 

SFDK April 21st, 2007:

 

Check out the photos below folks. Then click the link at the bottom, to see the full photo set in a larger format.

 

We start off over at Elephant Encounter. It was awesome to see how playful of a mood the Elephants were in this afternoon. It really made for some fun pictures, even though the weather was so crapy.

 

 

Discovery Kingdom updated their park navigation signs just recently. They look 100% better then last year, and should do a better job a pointing people in the right direction.

 

The Shark was just recently fixed and reinstalled after a rough opening weekend.

 

 

Over to Thomas Town construction........

The railroad tracks around the new Thomas Town area are now being installed. This shot is from inside the old Shoreline Express station.

 

New track and ties going in the direction of the old Ski Stadium/Thomas Town area.

 

Thomas Town is slowly but surely starting to take form now. You can see even more photos from this set by click this link below:

 

4/21/2007 Gallery:

http://www.sm2designs.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=17

 

Thanks for checking out my thread, enjoy the pictures.

 

Cheers,

SM-

[chmilo24]

I'm glad they are redoing the train, I liked the first one and wondered where it went at the end of last season.

[1FoolishMortal]

Are they reconfiguring the old track so that it loops completely around the Shark Experience? I know before the train looped around the Shark Experience because it had to turn around, but since they took out the tracks in the food court area they can't use that section any more.

[Sean Menefee]

From what I've seen and been told, the new train will now only loop around Thomas Town & Shark Experience.

[sfmmrules!]

The new V2 colors clash with Kong. I think I liked the old colors better. They have got to get rid of Kong! Along with Grizzly at GA. I would rather have Zonga than Kong. Kong has got to be the worst inverted coaster ever. Instead of adding another new kiddie land Thomas Town Discovery Kingdom should invest in coasters which it really needs along with Great America. But, the new signs look nice. I'll probabably go at least once because I like V2 and Medusa oh and the 2 water rides and Boomerang.