Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[King of Ka]

Hey, does anyone know if it's possible to take public transit to SFA from Philadelphia (or just outside of it)? Particularly train; would I have to go into DC and then take the Metro out, or is there a more direct route?

[SFA Regular]

Hey, does anyone know if it's possible to take public transit to SFA from Philadelphia (or just outside of it)? Particularly train; would I have to go into DC and then take the Metro out, or is there a more direct route?

 

As far as I know if, the only transit bus that goes there is Metro. You would have to go on the Blue Line and go all the way to Largo. Then you wait for the right bus and it eventually takes you to SFA and stops on the other side of the street. That's all I know.

[nitrofan]

Has anyone done or heard of someone doing SFA and KD in one day? It would be more like we would go to KD Friday night (in May) process passes, jump on a few rides, Saturday morning drive up to SFA do the major stuff, then come back to finish KD. Is that even feasible or just crazy?

 

It could work, but it is about a 2 hour drive between the 2 parks once you add in traffic. It would also be better to do a weekend in early May. Crowds at SFA won't be a problem, but KD might.

[SFA Regular]

Here is another good idea I had in mind for SFA. For a new thrill ride, the new Vekoma suspending coaster design would be a good fit to replace Two-Face. Many of you have probably seen this already but I will post the link again.

 

http://www.vekoma.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=1

 

The suspending coaster design would work well. Depending on how big it would be, would determine if it could fit in Two-Face's old spot. Over all, I think something new like that would make a great addition to the park. It's brand new on the market for 2010 so it's not like we are building a clone or something. Again, it's a brand new design that could turn into a signature attraction for the park.

 

Any thoughts?

[larrygator]

For those who have been to Kings Dominion's Halloween thing, you know what I mean. Kings Dominion's Halloween thing is so impressive that it's not even funny. They have 9 haunted houses and the crowds are so huge. There's are definitely not family friendly and they make loads of money. They don't charge you a penny to enter. You can keep going inside of them all day long because it's free with park admission.

 

How is KD making loads of money, if they don't charge extra for the attractions? Do you know the percentage of people at KD for Halloween events that are paying for admission, versus returning season pass holders? Running/staffing those houses can not be cheap.

 

Just because attendance is high, that doesn't necessarily equate to huge profits.

 

I do like some of the simple ideas you suggested.

Edited April 23, 2010 by larrygator

[SFA Regular]

If they were not making money on them they wouldn't be doing them. Second, why don't you like the ideas I suggested? Their a lot better than what the park is currently doing and people would probably find some fascination in them. They have to do something, if they want more people to come. This is part of the reason why (Resilient Capital Management) has been fighting for control over Six Flags Inc because they don't feel the company is doing enough for the common stock holder, which also is effecting how the parks are operating.

 

Now back on topic. A lot of the rides could be improved with minor Halloween themes that I mentioned in order to make them more appealing for Fright Fest. (KENNWYWOOD) theme park did this and it works well. Again, SFA is probably the easier park to improve right now and it's getting no major attention.

 

Something is wrong here.

[larrygator]

If they were not making money on them they wouldn't be doing them.

 

Well if you use that rationale, then why should SFA change anything they do? SFA must be making a ton of money with its' current set-up, so why change.

[SFA Regular]

Because the attendance shows that they are not making money during Fright Fest. Only weekends, Memorial Day, and 4th of July. As said before, the place could be doing so much better. When (DEJA VU) got removed from both Great America and Magic Mountain, one of them should have came here to replace Two-Face, once the modifications at Vekoma were done. Anyone would have thought that Deja Vu would be a perfect fit for Two-Face, but instead they trade it outside of the company.

 

And you still have not told me why you don't like my previous Fright Fest suggestions. If you don't like them, what do you think they should do?

[Wes]

Didn't Two Face get taken out because of maintenance issues? And you want it replaced with a ride that has even more maintenance issues?

[Hercules]

^^ You can't assume large profits just by looking at attendance figures.

[SFA Regular]

Didn't Two Face get taken out because of maintenance issues? And you want it replaced with a ride that has even more maintenance issues?

 

I thought Vekoma fixed the problems with both (Deja Vu's). Both of them were re-opened with other theme parks and operated well from what I heard. So what was the problem giving one to SFA? As far as Two-Face was concerned, they fixed the problem. For the remainder of it's time it sat in the station just waiting to be given a second chance. The lights inside of the station still came on as normal like all the other rides do. The park didn't want to take the risk of something else happening so they decided to keep it closed until removal. Again another ride taken from us, that was replaced with nothing. How much longer do we have to sit through this nightmare?

 

With the way things are going with the bankruptcy, I get the feeling that SFA may not see anything new for 2011.

[Wes]

How much longer do we have to sit through this nightmare?

 

There's like a billion other ways to have fun that don't involve Six Flags America.

[ginzo]

^Marion Barry didn't need Six Flags to have fun in DC.

[SFA Regular]

I wasn't talking about Washington DC, just Six Flags America.

[Hercules]

^ There are a million ways to have fun, other than going to Six Flags America.

[kidcoaster 2]

^ There are a million ways to have fun, other than going to Six Flags America.

 

Busch Gardens, King's Dominion?

[CoasterNERD502]

^ Well thats two...

 

I don't know why everybody "hates" SFA. Its a good park. I bet half of the people that "trash" the park have never even been there before. So Shapiro doesn't add a new coaster every year like other parks, he does that because he knows people will come to SFA regardless. If not, then the park would have shut down years ago. People are always going to be in the Washington metro area because its the freakin' capitol of the US! So we don't have 50 million coasters like SFMM and SFGADV. Those parks need all the rides they can get to be successful. SFGADV is in slum Jersey (actually I've never been to Jersey so I don't know what they offer besides SFGADV and the beach which isn't even that great. Vegas is better than Atlantic City and Seaside Heights or whatever city was on the show "Jersey Shore" is ghetto. They fought on every episode! but anyways back to my rant!)... and SFMM has to compete with Disney and Universal, without those record-breaking coasters, it would fail. Yes it would be great to get a new coaster at SFA, but I'm happy with what the park offers now.

 

I don't even know if that was what was being discussed in the thread, but it was on my mind so I typed it up. Hope I didn't break any rules or offend anyone.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Didn't Two Face get taken out because of maintenance issues? And you want it replaced with a ride that has even more maintenance issues?

 

I thought Vekoma fixed the problems with both (Deja Vu's). Both of them were re-opened with other theme parks and operated well from what I heard. So what was the problem giving one to SFA? As far as Two-Face was concerned, they fixed the problem. For the remainder of it's time it sat in the station just waiting to be given a second chance. The lights inside of the station still came on as normal like all the other rides do. The park didn't want to take the risk of something else happening so they decided to keep it closed until removal. Again another ride taken from us, that was replaced with nothing. How much longer do we have to sit through this nightmare?

 

With the way things are going with the bankruptcy, I get the feeling that SFA may not see anything new for 2011.

Two face was removed after the 2nd mishap resulting in passengers getting drenched in hydraulic fluid when it "crashed" into the station brakes after being brought down from being stuck on the first lift again & the park didn't want to deal with the negative media publicity generated by the incident.

 

The deja vu model is too tall for the park's zoning limits,especially in that section of the park were the max limit is 140 feet for rides so that installation wouldn't be possible.I really see SFA getting "geuaga'd" so to speak within the next few years as it's obvious that corporate doesn't care about the park anymore & the current owners are just following the same old song & dance that Burke did as far as neglecting to add new rides.

 

Sure Shapiro says a new coaster is planned for the "tween" crowd within the next few years but didn't he also say that a waterpark expansion was coming to SFKK & look what happened to that park? It's been Geuaga'd already,although I recently read that it looks like they may be getting Chang back from SFI after all.

[ginzo]

I wasn't talking about Washington DC, just Six Flags America.

 

Wrong. You were talking about Sam Cassell.

 

[SFA Regular]

I'm responding to KDCOASTERFAN. First of all, Burke had plans to renovate SFA after the water park installation. Everyone here knew that the water park at SFA had to improve to get people coming back to the park. If you look at it, only 4 years had gone by sense the last coaster installation. It was even mentioned on another site that, the parks that received Hurricane Harbor were going to start receiving more renovations shortly after. By 2006 or 2007, SFA would have had a new ride. But when Snyder bought the company the plans were canceled. And sense our last coaster installation, it's been 1 years shy of a decade. Second, if (DEJA VU) is too tall for Southwest Territory then stick it over in Gotham City. There is tones of space over there for a new ride. Third, I have to say that the comment you made about people coming to SFA regardless is false. Eventually people will stop coming to the park, if they think it's never going to get a new ride. If it hadn't of been for the Tony Hawks Half-pipe and Thomas Land people would have seriously lost interest in the place. They knew they had to add something in order to keep people in the Washington DC area, thinking of the park. Over all, the new management has been cutting corners too much with this place, and it's time for them to start working on us and a lot of the smaller parks.

 

The bigger parks have been good for numerous years now. Great Adventure and Magic Mountain can go a couple years without getting major additions. I'm not saying they have to go a decade, but a couple years at a time to allow some of the smaller parks to grow. People would be surprised to see how great the parks could be if all of them were on an equal level. Same thing goes for the DISNEY parks. None of them really out-do each other because they all have something unique to offer.

[nitrofan]

A Deja vu won't come to SFA. Six Flags sold 2 of them and the third is at SFMM and there is no sign of it leaving anytime soon.

[SFA Regular]

A Deja vu won't come to SFA. Six Flags sold 2 of them and the third is at SFMM and there is no sign of it leaving anytime soon.

 

I am aware that they sold two of them. And yes, I know the third one is still at Magic Mountain. It was just a past suggestion I had back when I heard they were removing them.

 

Not to be off topic, but I wonder what the new motion that (Avenue Capital Management) filed against Stark Investments is doing to Six Flags Inc right now. For something like a week or two, there has been no new news on the current condition of Six Flags Inc. I wonder if (Avenue Capital Management) is actually succeeding in getting a trustee from their company to run Six Flags Inc.

 

But back on topic. There are numerous things that they could do to make haunted houses at Six Flags America. They could use the (Grand Theater) and turn that into some sort of horror house. Or, I would suggest using Renegade Rapids, as some sort of haunted trail. I wonder if there are any spare areas over along the course of that ride that could be used to create something similar to what Kings Dominion did for (Captain Black Beard)?

 

In other news, an employee friend of mine just told me that the park got suggestion box. So if you go there feel free to jot down ideas of improvements, and possibly the park management will decide to put them in effect. I gave my friend a few of them I know are easy for the park to do.

[JEAPUgrad]

Wow. I feel cheated.

 

I just spent 15 minutes reading all these pages that talked about JJ being enclosed and a family friendly Fright Fest.

 

I want my 15 minutes back.

 

In all seriousness, SFA needs some love on the dry side of the park.

 

I agree with CoasterLver that a spinning coaster would be a great fit for SFA though I'd rather see a custom designed ride than a clone.

 

I think a Euro-Fighter or a S&S El Loco (Indiana Beach's Steel Hawg) would be great additions as well.

 

The dry side of the park has been neglected for years in regards to the addition of new flats.

 

Without doing the research, I'd challenge anyone to name a park that is still operating that has removed so many rides as SFA has over the past decade.

 

Re: SFA being Geauga'd- I've made this point before and I'll make it again...not happening. With the housing market slowly coming back from being in the toilet for so many years, I just don't think it's realistic that this park is up for sale. Not to mention SF Inc relocating former Park President John Winkler from Great Adventure (and previously Great America) who has accomplished so much in his career. John worked at Great America during the '90's as the PP and I believe from '99 to '08 at GAdv.

 

Think of all the additions and expansions he's been a part of.

 

If SF Inc wasn't serious about keeping this little park around, they wouldn't have have brought someone on board to right the ship.

[JEAPUgrad]

A Deja vu won't come to SFA. Six Flags sold 2 of them and the third is at SFMM and there is no sign of it leaving anytime soon.

 

I am aware that they sold two of them. And yes, I know the third one is still at Magic Mountain. It was just a past suggestion I had back when I heard they were removing them.

 

The last thing SFA needs is more Vekoma.

[YoshiFan]

Without doing the research, I'd challenge anyone to name a park that is still operating that has removed so many rides as SFA has over the past decade.

 

Great Adventure has lost I believe 30 rides including kiddie rides in the last 10 years. 34 if you count SBNO rides

 

Pirate's Flight

Spinmeister

Viper

Chiller

Movietown Water Effect

Time Warp

Chaos

Evolution

Jumping Jack Flash

Pendulum

Rodeo Stampede

Taz Twister

Spinnaker

Flying Wave

Koala Canyon

Riptide

Space Shuttle

Simulator Theater

El Sombrero

 

Kiddie

Michigan J. Frog's Fun Flotilla

Daffy Duccaneer

Wile E. Coyote Speed Trap

Hand Crank Cars

Yosemite Sam Flight School

Jungle Land Express

Bugbaoo

Kiddie Airplanes

2 Hampton Circle Rides

Kiddie Ferris Wheel

 

It is to the point where some days so far this season there have been 5 or 6 total rides operating in the park that aren't kiddie rides or coasters.