Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[boldikus]

https://www.sixflags.com/america/newsroom/new-park-president



New Park President Named for Six Flags America & Hurricane Harbor

Bowie, MD — February 2, 2021 — Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the world’s largest regional theme park company and the largest operator of waterparks in North America, today announced that Richard Pretlow has been named park president of the company’s Maryland- based Six Flags America theme park and Hurricane Harbor waterpark. Pretlow succeeds Rick Howarth who was promoted to a new role of vice president of procurement after more than 10 years at the helm of Six Flags America. Pretlow most recently served as director of in-park services at Six Flags Great Escape Resort, located in Lake George, N.Y.

“We are thrilled to have Richard guiding the Six Flags America team into the next decade of growth for this dynamic property. He brings a fresh perspective, proven track record of success, an understanding of the market, and a collaborative leadership style that will serve him well as park president,” said Six Flags Regional Vice President of Park Operations Chris Thorpe. “I am confident he will make an immediate, positive impact as we continue our work to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than ever.”

Pretlow began his theme park career in 2009, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, in culinary operations, where he found his passion for the theme park industry. After graduating from Hampton University in 2010, he relocated to Langhorne, Pa. as culinary operations manager at Busch Gardens’ sister park, Sesame Place, before departing to become the revenue manager for the Crayola Experience, based in Easton, Pa. He joined the Six Flags team in 2018 as director of in-park services at Six Flags Great Escape Resort, prior to being promoted to this latest role. Pretlow also holds an MBA from Norwich University.

“It is an honor to join the vibrant and innovative Six Flags America & Hurricane Harbor team,” said Richard Pretlow. “We have made major investments in this park in recent years and we are well-positioned for long-term growth. I look forward to working with the team to continually enhance the guest experience and solidify our status as the preferred entertainment provider in the DMV.”

Six Flags America will open for its 22nd season on March 6, 2021—the earliest opening in park history. The 2021 Season will offer more opportunities than ever for families to spend time together in a safe, outdoor environment.

 

[CP_RULES]

Interesting resume, if SFA were its own stock market I’d be putting my money in the food scene. I wonder how his food background will be able to make an impact on other park operations. 

[DarkRideNick]

I'm hoping his history in Food Operations can bring some DC Comics themed fun to the Gotham City section of the park. 

 

While there are nicely themed eateries in Coyote Creek and Mardi Gras, Gotham City is just barren food kiosks with cityscape cutouts on a roof. 

 

Some villain-themed cocktails in souvenir mugs would be great for the rumored Villain's Club Bar.  What about Catwoman's Tuna Melt or The Flash's FlashFried Chicken?

[jconsolmagno]

Comes off as bit of cheap hire to fill a role. I feel they would bring in a seasoned vet if they were prepared to invest in this park, seems like a tread water type of move.

Promoting someone from Great Escape that background is mostly in food, doesn't exactly scream park expansion coming soon to me... Great Escape is one of the smallest operations in the chain...

Most of these Six Flags park have the same food anyways, Primo's Pizza, Johnny Rockets, Totally Kickin' Chicken, etc.

Hope I'm wrong though...

[boldikus]

Mostly in food? Maybe read the rest of the sentence?

On 2/4/2021 at 7:10 PM, boldikus said:

 before departing to become the revenue manager for the Crayola Experience, based in Easton, Pa. He joined the Six Flags team in 2018 as director of in-park services at Six Flags Great Escape Resort, prior to being promoted to this latest role [in-park services at Six Flags Great Escape Resort]. Pretlow also holds an MBA from Norwich University.

 

[bengalsguy601]

I recently moved closer to the area. Six Flags America is about 2 1/2 hours from me. I have never been before. I want to give the park a try since I already have a six flags membership but I'll be busy the next few weeks outside of opening day. I was wondering if making the trip next Saturday would be worth it given Six flags history of not opening rides on time. I'm mostly interested in riding superman. Is it worth it to make the drive or should I just wait until April?

[JG-77]

I'm not sure that SFA is worth a 5hr round trip. I'd wait at least 1-2 weekends of the park being open to get a sense of what's open and how well it's running this year before committing to a trip.

 

Edit: Just to clarify, I do like SFA and would recommend if you're within an hour away, just not 2.5hr each way

[AmyUD06]

Agreed.  I mean, if you were passing by on the way to a better park (or anything else more enjoyable, like a root canal), sure stop in and get your ears flattened on Firebird and your spine tweaked on Roar, but otherwise totally not worth it.  It's certainly not worth it for one of the weakest hyper-coasters in the world.

[VaCoasters]

If you've never been, it's definitely worth checking out.  Wild One is a gem, Superman is decent fun, and Batwing is a dying breed worth a ride.  Personally, I would wait a couple weekends until they work the kinks out.

[bengalsguy601]

Thanks for the replies. I will probably just wait until I make the trip up to Great Adventure later in the year and just stop on the way.

[JG-77]

Ace Midatlantic recently uploaded this 2021 update video from the SFA management. It covers various updates among all aspects of the park, Harley Quinn progress, various improvements, and even teasers regarding possible ride additions and removals.

[Jason Maier]

7 hours ago, JG-77 said:

Ace Midatlantic recently uploaded this 2021 update video from the SFA management. It covers various updates among all aspects of the park, Harley Quinn progress, various improvements, and even teasers regarding possible ride additions and removals.

As for SFA ride removals, I've always speculated that one of these three could be taken out:

1. Shipwreck Falls - well it seems to be a trend lately of these 'Shoot the Chutes' rides being taken out. That and said rides; while they don't take up large plots of land; do not operate early/late in the season because of colder weather.

2. Penguin's Blizzard River - same reasons as #1. And the water in PBR seems to smell really bad.

3. Batwing - lot of downtime. I remember in 2019, it barely operated at all.

[JG-77]

55 minutes ago, Jason Maier said:

Batwing - lot of downtime. I remember in 2019, it barely operated at all.

I may be totally wrong, but I hear this was actually because they were waiting on a custom part from Vekoma, or something along those lines.

[grsupercity]

18 hours ago, bengalsguy601 said:

I recently moved closer to the area. Six Flags America is about 2 1/2 hours from me. I have never been before. I want to give the park a try since I already have a six flags membership but I'll be busy the next few weeks outside of opening day. I was wondering if making the trip next Saturday would be worth it given Six flags history of not opening rides on time. I'm mostly interested in riding superman. Is it worth it to make the drive or should I just wait until April?

I think new parks always worth checking out 

[bert425]

19 hours ago, bengalsguy601 said:

I recently moved closer to the area. Six Flags America is about 2 1/2 hours from me. I have never been before. I want to give the park a try since I already have a six flags membership but I'll be busy the next few weeks outside of opening day. I was wondering if making the trip next Saturday would be worth it given Six flags history of not opening rides on time. I'm mostly interested in riding superman. Is it worth it to make the drive or should I just wait until April?

I've been to this park exactly ONCE - and it was only for 4-5 hours with a group from TPR (and we had option to stay longer, and all voted to leave early. .LOL).    But happy to give my 2cents:

the Good:
Wild One was a quite good woodie.
Rajun Cajun is an excellent spinning mouse (one of the better I've ever been on)
Voodoo Drop , tho not as tall as many others I've been on, packs a helluva punch.  I liked it a lot.
Jokers Jinx - best coaster in the park (but I love Poltergeist at SFFT, so of course I feel that way about this Premier Spaghetti Bowl LIM Launch coaster - and no MCBR)
Rodeo, Round-up, & Scrambler flats, all ran excellent programs -- not quite to traveling carnival level, but better than standard Six Flags programs.

the rest:
Superman was pretty boring. . sorry to say, but big long sections of "straight track" and then some big helixes. . one and done.
Roar is really rough, try to sit in front car, non-wheel seat and you'll get a good ride.
Mind-Eraser is a terrible coaster.   I mean, SLCs have the reputation for a reason. . .and it's awful.  I'd skip it.

Firebird hadn't been converted to floorless yet when I was there, but I chose to skip the stand up version.  if I ever were to go back, I'd ride the floorless version.

Batwing was down during my visit, but I did get to ride the Vekoma Flyer at Carowinds a day or so later. . . so if a similar ride?  I didnt' care for the "laying on your back" aspect, and likely would skip it if offered chance to ride.   But your nausea level may vary.

I do know the water park got a pretty good thumbs up - tho if I recall, someone in our group cut their foot on the bottom of the lazy river?

hope you have fun. . .

[anonymouscactus]

I will also be planning my first (!) visit to this park (I'm kind of forced to make this my "home" park since it will be the first park I visit this year and didn't buy a Six Flags pass last year; despite Darien Lake being 32 minutes away.) Stinks that other SF parks always open sooner so I can never have a proper home park with where I actually want the benefits.

I love a good wooden coaster and ive actually heard a lot of good things about Wild One/ROAR (I forget which one) lately so I think I'm looking forward to that the most. I haven't watched a POV or anything so hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise.

The rest looks very meh but I always enjoy new parks since it's so rare I visit a new park nowadays. I REALLY liked SF St Louis despite the hate it gets.

Thanks for nothing, Kings Dominion-opening-late

EDIT:

Does this park have the souvenir/Dining plan bottle holders for the coasters on the platforms? Or do any rides require a locker strictly for the drink bottle? ... I got roped into the dining plan...

[dankeykang]

You should be fine with the the bottle - all of the coasters have either the bottle holders or just general bins for personal items.  I had mine when I visited last year and had no issues.  

[JG-77]

Enjoy your visit! For what it's worth, here's my row recommendations as someone who considers this their home park:

Wild One: Front row or 2nd to back, left hand side. Front vs. 2nd to back is personal preference, but I absolutely recommend sitting on the left side to make the helix's laterals comfortable

Roar: Very front. Avoid the very back row, as that consistently gives me a headache. You might be able to get away with a ride toward the back if you ride in a non-wheel seat (the front row of each 2-row car)

Firebird: Back two rows, preferably inner seats. For whatever reason, the back runs smoother than the front. No, I don't know why.

Joker's Jinx: I prefer front, but all rows are pretty good IMO

Superman: Very front, IMO, is best. Back row is better for the drop, but front is better for everything else because of the sense of speed, wind, and sustained airtime over the duration of the 4 ejector hills instead of just on one half of them.

Batwing: I don't have any strong preferences, but I guess if I had to choose I'd say front, probably the smoothest. This ride can be quite polarizing as it is somewhat rough and is also the most intense ride in the park. I personally love it, but I know some people despise it.

Ragin Cajun: Not a row recommendation as it obviously has just 1 row, but I suggest that if you ride w/o someone directly next to you, that you place your feet on the sloped metal plate by your feet, and use it to push yourself into the seat, which keeps you from sliding around erratically. If you dislike teacup style spinning, avoid this ride.

Have fun!

 

Oh btw if you have extra time, I personally find they run their scrambler quite fast, and usually make a point of giving it a go when I visit. It may just be because all the other scrambler's I've ridden lately have been run more slowly, but I thought I'd mention it.

[anonymouscactus]

^ thanks for all the tips!

[coasterbill]

That's a much better plan.

[BigJoe123]

On 3/1/2021 at 12:08 PM, bert425 said:

Rodeo, Round-up, & Scrambler flats, all ran excellent programs -- not quite to traveling carnival level, but better than standard Six Flags programs.

Does Rodeo still have the No Single Riders rule?
When I visited a couple years ago, I ended up riding with the supervisor. I was pretty surprised with the no single rider rule, because the crazy Break Dance's in Europe don't even have that rule

[bert425]

24 minutes ago, BigJoe123 said:

Does Rodeo still have the No Single Riders rule?
When I visited a couple years ago, I ended up riding with the supervisor. I was pretty surprised with the no single rider rule, because the crazy Break Dance's in Europe don't even have that rule

that I don't know. . since I rode with Laura (the Scrambler too). . so it didn't come up about riding as a single.

[grsupercity]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

That's a much better plan.

Hey Bill I left you a funny snl log flume skit on your timeline

[JG-77]

4 hours ago, BigJoe123 said:

Does Rodeo still have the No Single Riders rule?

As of last November, unfortunately yes. No single riders on the rodeo. The falling star has that rule too.

I know the scrambler does not have that rule, as I rode it alone without issue last November.

[jconsolmagno]

Park was buzzing today.  Lines on everything, however one train ops.

Great opening day. As promised a few months back here is some more shots of Spinsanity