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Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread


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There is so much potential for SFA. ^I too wished Iron Wolf was placed in the old two face spot. In my opinion would've been a better spot. A spash battle or so would've went well in the pirate themed skull island area easily and the mountain could've still been a focal point. To me Apocalypse obstructs the view of the mountain and all the detail they have done to it. The only good view you get of the mountain is if coming from the Olde Boston section of the park. It coming up from Roar the tangle of steel blocks the mountain. However, I am sure I will get used to it just as I got used to Batwing being way out yonder lol.

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I am just happy to see the park doing well. I have officially decided to stand behind this park now again. I hope for only good things. I hope the next large overhaul they do is the pool/lazy river area of the water park.

 

Apocolypse is going to be great for them even though its not new. Most of the general public do not know its not new and don't do their research or follow online forums. They are going to eat it up because its simply a stand up coaster. Lets face it most of the people that go here don't go to other parks so that is as thrilling as they are going to get.

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I am just happy to see the park doing well. I have officially decided to stand behind this park now again. I hope for only good things. I hope the next large overhaul they do is the pool/lazy river area of the water park.

 

Apocolypse is going to be great for them even though its not new. Most of the general public do not know its not new and don't do their research or follow online forums. They are going to eat it up because its simply a stand up coaster. Lets face it most of the people that go here don't go to other parks so that is as thrilling as they are going to get.

 

I remembered in the past enthusiasts saying that Marylanders and Northern Virginians go to KD rather than SFA and if they've been to KD, they should know about Shockwave.

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I am just happy to see the park doing well. I have officially decided to stand behind this park now again. I hope for only good things. I hope the next large overhaul they do is the pool/lazy river area of the water park.

 

Apocolypse is going to be great for them even though its not new. Most of the general public do not know its not new and don't do their research or follow online forums. They are going to eat it up because its simply a stand up coaster. Lets face it most of the people that go here don't go to other parks so that is as thrilling as they are going to get.

 

I remembered in the past enthusiasts saying that Marylanders and Northern Virginians go to KD rather than SFA and if they've been to KD, they should know about Shockwave.

 

 

Actually, a lot of locals complain about Shockwave and how rough it is. More people in Baltimore go to SF than KD to be honest anyway.

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Any idea how crowds are usually on Memorial Day? I know military get in free that whole weekend, so I guess more crowded? Trying to decide whether to go on Sunday or Monday. Me and some friends are getting our season passes made for our trip this summer.

 

The trip was planned while the opening date for Apocalypse was still going to be that weekend. Oh well. Will have to make a trip up later this summer too.

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We'll be going on Memorial Day as well. Hopefully crowds won't be too bad. We can't change the date we visit anyway - it's part of a long road trip of theme parks (and actually the first park on the trip - we land at PHL on the Sunday afternoon). We've decided not to bother with Flash Passes - hopefully getting there for opening time will enable us to get all the coasters in at least, if nothing else.

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Any idea how crowds are usually on Memorial Day? I know military get in free that whole weekend, so I guess more crowded? Trying to decide whether to go on Sunday or Monday. Me and some friends are getting our season passes made for our trip this summer.

 

The trip was planned while the opening date for Apocalypse was still going to be that weekend. Oh well. Will have to make a trip up later this summer too.

 

We'll be going on Memorial Day as well. Hopefully crowds won't be too bad. We can't change the date we visit anyway - it's part of a long road trip of theme parks (and actually the first park on the trip - we land at PHL on the Sunday afternoon). We've decided not to bother with Flash Passes - hopefully getting there for opening time will enable us to get all the coasters in at least, if nothing else.

 

 

Even on the weekends in the summer you can get this entire park finished minus the water park in one day without the flash pass. The shows are just OK so if you skip you should have enough time.

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I appreciate the effort they're making to "theme up" Apocalypse, particularly by fixing up the old Skull Mountain set. I just wish something other than Iron Wolf was going in there, but at least they're getting something.

 

SFA is the poster child for unrealized potential. I hope they stay on the right track.

 

I've felt this for a decade now: SFA (to me) has been the bastard at the family reunion, in a lot of ways like SFAW was earlier in its history. In many ways, I could see so much they could do with the park- both big and small- to really make it shine.

 

While Wolfpocalypse is a great addition (even if it IS used), the park has quite a bit more they could do with it, and really turn it into a gem of the chain. As SFoG has proven, it doesn't have to be bigger to be better, and the same thing could apply here. With some love, care and redevelopment, I could see this become a brighter part of the SF empire.

 

(Now, that does NOT include Mind Eraser... which I'd love to see replaced by a custom B&M invert...)

 

R.D.

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^I'm my honest opinion Since 2010, the park has been inching its way to being a very bright part of the chain, while other parks in the chain have been coming down from that even if they do get new capital every year. I for one believe that without stellar service you get nothing. If you only value a park based on new capital then I can easily see why still to this day people who arent visiting SFA recently still clinch onto their opinions from the past. If parks like Dollywood stopped adding coasters for the next decade, I still think they would still be on top list of parks to visit just like Knobles is because of service. If you treat me awesome when I'm your guest I'll come back over and over again, but if you are rude to me, its the end until you change you ways... and SFA has changed its ways and still is improving.

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^I'm my honest opinion Since 2010, the park has been inching its way to being a very bright part of the chain, while other parks in the chain have been coming down from that even if they do get new capital every year. I for one believe that without stellar service you get nothing. If you only value a park based on new capital then I can easily see why still to this day people who arent visiting SFA recently still clinch onto their opinions from the past. If parks like Dollywood stopped adding coasters for the next decade, I still think they would still be on top list of parks to visit just like Knobles is because of service. If you treat me awesome when I'm your guest I'll come back over and over again, but if you are rude to me, its the end until you change you ways... and SFA has changed its ways and still is improving.

 

 

I could not agree more with you here. I have based my feelings on the park on how I was treated or how my family was treated. I have seen a difference in the past two seasons. Just like any park you are going to have your bad seeds. That is why I go to Knoebels EVERY summer even though they get nothing new. Their customer service is amazing and well the bumper cars there are pretty amazing too hehe. If I lived near Dollywood I would go every season more than once simply because you are treated so well there.

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Exactly. The park's management has spent so much money on changing their methods of running the place, replacing old employees that couldn't promote a positive experience best, and cleaning up the park greatly. They haven't invested in "visible" capital improvements (roller coasters, to enthusiasts, are apparently all that's visible), but they've invested a lot of money and time into making the park a better place.

 

Just like I constantly say in the Kings Island thread about Son of Beast, you have to fix a reputation before you can spend money and get a return. Six Flags has fixed the reputation, and now Apocalypse is the first step in the big capital investments I think we can expect to see if this one works in their favor.

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I appreciate the effort they're making to "theme up" Apocalypse, particularly by fixing up the old Skull Mountain set. I just wish something other than Iron Wolf was going in there, but at least they're getting something.

 

SFA is the poster child for unrealized potential. I hope they stay on the right track.

 

I've felt this for a decade now: SFA (to me) has been the bastard at the family reunion, in a lot of ways like SFAW was earlier in its history. In many ways, I could see so much they could do with the park- both big and small- to really make it shine.

 

While Wolfpocalypse is a great addition (even if it IS used), the park has quite a bit more they could do with it, and really turn it into a gem of the chain. As SFoG has proven, it doesn't have to be bigger to be better, and the same thing could apply here. With some love, care and redevelopment, I could see this become a brighter part of the SF empire.

 

(Now, that does NOT include Mind Eraser... which I'd love to see replaced by a custom B&M invert...)

 

R.D.

 

I agree that they could do wonders to turn the park around & realize it's potential if only they'd just stop playing favorites with the other parks in the chain & perhaps increase the overall cap ex budget for new rides as well.They were headed on a decent track to bring new rides to the park but that of course fizzled out by 2002/2003 when the focus shifted to spending more on the bigger parks & SFA became overlooked as a result.

 

I'm hopeful that new management will realize the importance that adding new capital to the ride side of the park is & perhaps if they see a good ROI on this addition they'll continue to improve the ride side as it really needs it since they spent the last decade or so adding primarily waterpark attractions while removing the problematic rides....of course that was due in large part to the previous two ownership teams not making the right decisions for the chain but perhaps with the new guy in charge things might turn out differently in a few more seasons & then perhaps I may onsider a return to the park.

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I agree that they could do wonders to turn the park around & realize it's potential if only they'd just stop playing favorites with the other parks in the chain & perhaps increase the overall cap ex budget for new rides as well.They were headed on a decent track to bring new rides to the park but that of course fizzled out by 2002/2003 when the focus shifted to spending more on the bigger parks & SFA became overlooked as a result.

A decent track to bring new rides? In my opinion, they were spending too much! It was the exact same case with Six Flags Worlds of Adventure - a massive investment in expensive new attractions over a very short period of time. It wasn't that Six Flags focused on the bigger parks. It probably took a really long amount of time to break even on all the investments that Six Flags America made.

 

You can pull out the "Six Flags neglected this park" argument all you'd like, but the parks are all individuals. They each have their own budgets, their own profits, their own losses.

 

Also, in all seriousness, if Six Flags America was doing as poorly as we think it's doing, I'd bet that Six Flags would have thrown the hammer down, ripped out the best attractions and killed the park years ago.

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^Exactly. KDCoasterFan... Please understand, It only seems like Six Flags wasn't concerned with this park but thats because to know the kinds of changes and attention the park was getting you would have to work there. Look at it this way. 2008 whole new management team in the park. The Brought in Jason Freeman temporarily, then John Winkler permanently. You have people like Randy Wilke who is the most passionate man I know. I mean just down to the staff alone, the team, and the ethic that is being instilled... you have a great team. They have turned this park around. I'm sure there have been infrastruture improvements that we haven't seen... like if you look on Google Maps you can see they have a brand new warehouse.

 

Anyway... I don't like when people say certain parks are being spoiled. YES I AM A FAN OF SFA.... but I even have to check myself. Sure I might get jealous of Great Adventure BUT The park pulls 40,000+ in attendance on a good day. I mean they make sooooo muchh moneyy! Theme parks are a business first before anything. Great Adventure surely is able to make an easy return on any investment they put in. I'd expect the same is true for SFMM. The other big contenders would be SF Great America and SFOT as they are of the larger parks as well. So in my opinion, if a park earns, then of course the smart business move it to invest further. I've never been to SFMM but I would be curious to know how their service compares to SFA. Also, what happened to HRP... as we discovered they hadn't even paid off their rides in full yet, remember the story about premier and their ride at HRP. HRP wasn't getting a return on their investments and couldnt even pay for them.... You don't want SFA to become HRP.

 

SFA won me back, as you've been hearing stories of other sharing similar sentiments. This is a produce of their service not new capital. As they win back locals, enthusiast, and of the like... I can only anticiapte that their attendance will grow (which unfortunately could mean the end of the shortest lines in the chain lol) but attendance is proportionate to money. If a park makes more money then I as a businessman, feel more confident in getting a return on my investment. So KDcoasterfan, if you want to see more capital, then grab a few friends and tell them to do the same... and head to SFA. Check out what we are telling you about their service for yourself while adding to the attendance yourself.

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FYI, this current conversation is going to be moderated very carefully. Only because this topic was been brought up countless times before and has even led to this thread being temporarily locked. I know some of you haven't posted about it before and want to speak your mind and that's fine. Just giving you a heads up to not linger on the past of the park and focus on what the park has now and what they might get in the future. That horse has already been beaten to death, believe me.

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I can't wait to see what else they do with My Roller Coaster (look at name).

 

Now, what areas is the park lacking in (I haven't been before)?

What kind of addition should we like to see next?

 

After looking on their website, probably more moderate/ thrilling flats, but What kind?

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If anything next season, this park needs a dark ride. Maybe one of the Sally Scooby Doos or the Sally Goosebumps rides they have talked about.

 

Next year it's back to the waterpark with plans to follow through on that 2006/2007 slide complex that was on the site plan a few years back.I see the points made in fixing the customer service & infrastructure problems as those are important issues that did need attention but occasional cap ex improvements to keep the park fresh & new are also important as well & this was something that the park chose to forego in favor of making the needed infrastructure improvements.

 

They just need to replace many of the flats that were removed during shapiro's reign,of course Iron eagle & the enterprise were too costly/hard to repair but should've been replaced with newer rides to make up for it....I wonder if a 200ft. starflyer might be a good fit for the park in the future?

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^I could easily see SFA ending up with a SkyScreamer model, as well as any other flats that prove to be popular chain-wide in the coming years. The park could definitely use some, with Iron Eagle, Chaos, and the tilt-a-whirl and bobsled flats all being removed over the past couple of years.

 

Anyone else planning on being there on June 7th for opening day of Apocalypse? I will be there!

 

We might head over that Sunday - we'd go Thursday but I start working that week. Plus, that'll give me a few days to know how much I have to brace myself when riding.

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I think a SkyScreamer would be a good addition. Put it where the old Enterprise was.

 

I'd like to see:

 

A smaller family coaster along the lines of Pandemonium where Two Face was.

A nice floorless or wing-rider to either replace Mind Eraser or to make the park a complete loop.

Some new flats to fill in the holes and to make the park a complete loop.

Waterpark needs some more pro-slides.

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