Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[SFAfan#1]

^Damn, you really want SFA to close and distribute their rides all over the place. Thats all you've been posting lately.

[astroworldfan1]

SFKK barely has room for the rides it has now.......

 

-Tatum

[KDCOASTERFAN]

 

Begin Rant-

 

Sea World San Antonio and Six Flags Fiesta Texas are within minutes of each other. So are Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Great America. Six Flags Magic Mountain also has it's hands full with Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios as local competitors. I can all but guarentee that not a single one of these parks steal any signifigence from the other. Unless SFA was sold to a company that was willing to beef up the park, and invest millions upon millions of dollars to compete with GADV, Six Flags could wash their hands of this park and never have to worry about it again. Cedar Fair will never invest in a park to outshine Cedar Point. Universal or Disney wouldn't take it because the transformation from sub par thrill to fun for all ages would be to great. There aren't any other operators that could compete financially with SFGADv. Sell the damn thing!

-End Rant.

 

Here is my point, close the park and where do the million + people the park attract go? Great Adventure or Kings Dominion/Busch Gardens. Kings Dominion, Busch Gardnes or even Hershey Park. Sell the park and Great Adventure adds another competitor.

 

It's a possibility (I've learned to never say never) but I think there is a outside chance, I also think the park can be improved with some investment.

 

If SFI should close the park then they're rid of it same as CF was in Ohio when they closed down GL & the locals will just have to contend with going to KD or BGE as their local parks....keep in mind that KD & BGE were both around long before SFA(as a ride park) & people were content enough to go back then just as they will be now should that come to pass.

 

The way I see it SFA has become the next SFWOA.SFI overbuilt the place too soon & failed to keep up with the needed infrastructure required to support the park,it was just more poor planning & expansion on their part but what gets me is that Shapiro is doing NOTHING with the park to turn it around & that's why I stopped going.

 

The park needs to be maintained better for starters but the place also NEEDS new attractions,especially when you've got CF as a new comer to the region just pumping in cap ex down at KD.If SFA doesn't add a major ride soon to compete with KD's Dominator then I can say for sure that the place is done for.Shapiro & Snyder are doing exactly what Burke did...playing favorites which is what partially is to blame for SFI's mess under the old regime to begin with.

 

You can't compete against an attraction the likes of Dominator by just throwing in another cheapo waterslide in the waterpark or removing yet another flat ride or two & leaving an empty slab of concrete in it's place after all.

 

Jcoaster:You're in Staten Island,which should be close enough for you to go to SFGRADV,or even SFNE so why are you so worried about where SFA's rides will go should the park close?

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We saw the same sort of things in the months prior to GL's closure with hours being cut back,rides not being repaired etc. because management knew it would be a waste of time & money when they were gonna close the place permanently at the end of the 2007 season so I wouldn't be suprised if this were SFA's last season,at least under the SF brand.

 

Hours have been cut back for a couple years now, though.

 

 

 

If I lived in this area I would either go to SFGAd or BGW. Skipping KD and SFA is a GOOD idea!

 

Now if only we can get both of their good coasters and put them in a good park!

I'd take a 30 minute drive to get as many rides as I want with little to no wait on SROS and Wild One over a 4 hour drive to stand in 2 hour lines for any coasters worth riding at SFGAdv.

 

KD and BGE are both too far away with traffic for me to go more then a couple/few times a season...

SFKK could do nicely with SFA hyper. LOL just a thought.

Speaking of crummy SF parks...

 

SFA could do nicely with a B&M standup for that matter...

[SFAfan#1]

^^Same with me. I always wanted to go to SFGADV but since gas prices shot up like that, I was lucky to even be able to go to Carowinds while I was at a family reunion in Charlotte. I havent been to KD or BGE because it's too far and traffic on 95 is terrible. I could take 301 but then I would have to merge onto 95 into that terrible traffic.

[Capitalize]

^^Same with me. I always wanted to go to SFGADV but since gas prices shot up like that, I was lucky to even be able to go to Carowinds while I was at a family reunion in Charlotte. I havent been to KD or BGE because it's too far and traffic on 95 is terrible. I could take 301 but then I would have to merge onto 95 into that terrible traffic.

 

Exactly, going to KD is such a hassle because of 95. I keep saying that if SF would properly build up and maintain SFA people in the DC area would go there instead of KD. Save time and money by driving half the distance. People will choose KD over SFA because its a better park to spend a day at.

 

 

Also, SFA does fairly well with in the park spending. Most of the groups you see go in to the park will get at least one meal in the park.

 

Finally, SFGAdv is not competition for SFA and vice versa. I have NEVER met a single person in the DC area who ever had any intention of going to SFGAdv for a day. There's a reason we don't see any ad's or any information about SFGAdv in the area. The parks that compete for the DC area is SFA, KD, BGE, and HP to a lesser extent. SFGAdv is not nearly close enough to be considered.

[SharkTums]

^First off, read the site posting rules, you're very much breaking them with your triple posting!

 

Secondly, calm down. You're obviously a park fanboy and refuse to see anything wrong with a park that has a lot of issues.

[cfc]

^^Same with me. I always wanted to go to SFGADV but since gas prices shot up like that, I was lucky to even be able to go to Carowinds while I was at a family reunion in Charlotte. I havent been to KD or BGE because it's too far and traffic on 95 is terrible. I could take 301 but then I would have to merge onto 95 into that terrible traffic.

 

If you take 301, you can pick up I-95 only one exit north of Kings Dominion; so, you wouldn't have to endure 95's traffic for more than ten minutes.

[SFAfan#1]

^Yeah but KD so far away and SFA is down the street. I normally go to KD atleast once a year and SFA atleast once a week. I just love SFA. I grew up with it so seeing it go would be heart-breaking.

 

All of you guys want it to go but you don't know what would happen as a result. SFA has huge lines of teenagers getting jobs for the summer. If you remove the most popular teenage job, where would those teens work during the summer? Kings Dominion? HELL NO! Thats a far enough drive to visit, but to work there is crazy. Getting a job would be so much harder without SFA. Plus alot of the teens in the Prince Georges County area love SFA. At school, thats almost all people talk about. Sure we love KD alot better, but SFA is still fun and close.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

Plus alot of the teens in the Prince Georges County area love SFA. At school, thats almost all people talk about.

 

Mark Shapiro has time and time again disputed his dislike for teens running rampant in parks. If this is true, I can see why it could be on the chopping block. I don't think anyone wants this park to close. I know I don't. However, if it's not going to be ran up to par, never sees major additions, fails to compete with nearby parks, and does not keep up with other SF parks, how long can anyone expect this place to stay open? Closing it if management can't or won't improve it would be considered a mercy killing.

[Jcoaster]

^First off, read the site posting rules, you're very much breaking them with your triple posting!

 

Secondly, calm down. You're obviously a park fanboy and refuse to see anything wrong with a park that has a lot of issues.

 

Thank You! The park is flat out piece of crap. Thats why I skipped 2 days ago and went straight to KD to ride Dominator and Volcano. Also I do care where the rides go if it breaks down. I would like to see other SF parks to improve instead of keeping the rides in one crummy park. Lastly no way in history should SFA be compared to SFGAdv for anything.

[Medusa1861]

Just thought I would put in my 2 cents.

I'm from New Jersey, I've been to quite a few parks, and honestly, i see nothing wrong with Six Flags America. It could just be because the only time i go is during the spring or fall, but the people there seem friendly in general. I even went to the public relations building on my way out and wrote how much I appreciated the Wild One crew. During my visits the only problems with stacking seem to be S:ROS and Batwing, but every park seems to have those few bad crews.

I will agree with someone before, that the park is actually really nice. But after you go under Wild One, that's where it kind of tappers off to be just.. flat land with rides on either side and a long walk of nothingness just to get to them.

The only problem I have with the park is that it seems to be suffering, the same way Geauga Lake did. It was going well and then they stopped adding attractions to it. Then I'm sure SF management says "Hey, attendance is on a decline there and it's not making us so much money, lets focus on the better parks instead."

It does kind of confuse me why the company hasn't tried to work on the park since it has 3 major metropolitan cities to get guests from (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C.). My feelin about the park, is that it's just a few short additions away from being a destination park. like cleaning up the pathways to make the park more round, add "That big ride", and just general tweaks here and there.

[conpfreak]

Just thought I would put in my 2 cents.

I'm from New Jersey, I've been to quite a few parks, and honestly, i see nothing wrong with Six Flags America. It could just be because the only time i go is during the spring or fall, but the people there seem friendly in general. I even went to the public relations building on my way out and wrote how much I appreciated the Wild One crew. During my visits the only problems with stacking seem to be S:ROS and Batwing, but every park seems to have those few bad crews.

I will agree with someone before, that the park is actually really nice. But after you go under Wild One, that's where it kind of tappers off to be just.. flat land with rides on either side and a long walk of nothingness just to get to them.

The only problem I have with the park is that it seems to be suffering, the same way Geauga Lake did. It was going well and then they stopped adding attractions to it. Then I'm sure SF management says "Hey, attendance is on a decline there and it's not making us so much money, lets focus on the better parks instead."

It does kind of confuse me why the company hasn't tried to work on the park since it has 3 major metropolitan cities to get guests from (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C.). My feelin about the park, is that it's just a few short additions away from being a destination park. like cleaning up the pathways to make the park more round, add "That big ride", and just general tweaks here and there.

 

Yes, i agree. The park has too much potential to be just sold off and SFA doesn't even have a problem with attedance and it's one of the more better perfoming parks in the chain despite being a smaller park. That's probably why SFI hasn't done much in the past few years to the park because to be honest they didn't really HAVE to do much to keep the crowds coming. The water park also brings in alot of people. Just because it seems SFI is abandoning the park doesn't mean the park is perfoming bad at all. However, with that said this park needs some tweaks done to it and a couple new attractions and it could be a serious destination park as you said.

[Jcoaster]

The park does have potential, SFI just seems not to give a rats a$$ about that potential.

[airtime]

Secondly, calm down. You're obviously a park fanboy and refuse to see anything wrong with a park that has a lot of issues.

 

Please tell me, what are the serious issues? I'll even help you out and say the only serious I see is staffing. Yes, sure, some of the rides need painting. That doesn't affect the way those rides run.

[SharkTums]

I'm not going to get into some debate over SFA...I will tell you though that some of the main issues are:

 

- Staff Training (Horrible employees encouraging people to boo the flashpass, not caring, on the cell phones, etc.)

 

- Maintenance (We watched two poor maintenance dudes running between closed rides trying to change wheel assemblies, etc. Also rows roped off due to broken trains on at least 2 different coasters.)

 

- General Upkeep (Gum Walls, overflowing trash, women's restroom sign written in pen on cardboard, etc.)

[Wood Dragon 1988]

I just went to SFA for the firts time this season. Although I only went for a few hours for country music day, I can easily conclude that the park was in the worst shape I have ever seen it in. (And I have been four times since 2004)

 

To start with, I have been to three other SFI parks this year, and SFA appears to have gotten none of the new love the others have gotten. (AKA Six Flags TV, Q Bots) The clientel, as always, was terrible. The staff wasn't bad, but the operations were terrible. For example, I did a bit of math and determined Superman was running at 350-400 riders per hour. One of Wild One's trains broke I guess, but they didn't even take the train off the track. They just left it on cylcing empty trains for at least a half an hour. Several rides were down, some didn't even have a sign saying they were down.

 

The rides themselves were much worse than they have been in the past. Superman and Wild One used to be in my top 10, and though they were still good, SROS was much rougher and WO didn't have as much airtime.

 

Overall, I was very dissapointed with the park. The Craig Morgan/Zac Brown Band concert was awesome though!!

[airtime]

I could care less if the park ever receives Six Flags TV or Qbots. We have the in park sound system and for the majority of the summer they have been playing Comcast and U.S. Army ads. Just as bad. I had no issues with the clientele today (yes, I was at the park today). Please explain that Superman was running one train today and they were training new staff. In all of the years I have been going to this park, I have never seen Wild One's train on the transfer track and I never saw them cycling the train (didn't say it didn't happen, just saying I never saw it). The only rides I saw that never opened were Riddle Me This, Skull Mountain and Renegade Rapids.

 

The park is having some staffing problems with schools opening again on Monday.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^Wish I would have known you went. I am a member of your site, but this trip was very spur-of-the-moment. I was probably the only person there wearing a Lakemont Park shirt, so you may have noticed me.

 

I didn't even walk over by the Mind Eraser side of the park, but I noticed the Great Race, Two Face (all season), and the Scrambler were down. Most of the downed rides didn't have a very visable sign saying they were down, but I didn't see any employees or riders.

 

Please explain that Superman was running one train today and they were training new staff

 

I'm not saying you were, but it almost sounds like this is supposed to be an excuse for poor operations. So, the park brings in a country music superstar, advertises it all over local radio, and the best ride in the park is running 1/4 capacity. I don't care why, there is no reason for it. There had to be someone in the park that knew how to run it. Even with the one train opperation they were screwing up their fast pass system, and were dispatching very slowly. The only reason I'm mad is because I've ridden about 90 coasters this year, and SROS was my LONGEST WAIT OF THE YEAR! And the park had a major event.

[Jcoaster]

^ He is right there is no way a ride like S:ROS should have such slow dispatches.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

The more and more I actually get into the operations aspect of parks, I don't think anyone can complain too much about dispatch intervals. I mean it is what it is. I don't think SFA, or any SF park for that matter cares enough about capacity to please everyone. That's just the name of the game. If the park, or any Six Flags park cared about hourly throughput, they'd be fully staffed and have six checking attendants a la Cedar Fair, or modified "self dispatching" rides a la Disney/Universal. Complaining about slow dispatches is like complaining about ride closure during inclement weather. I've never seen this sense of urgency from any Six Flags park, and I don't think America will be the one to turn it around.

[AmyUD06]

So for excuses for poor guest experience we've gone from "Well, this park is like that, so deal with it" now to "Well, the whole chain is like that, so deal with it (but other chains aren't)"? Wow.

 

Fact: Cedar Fair has fewer parks to worry about than Six Flags.

Fact: Cedar Fair has generally much better operations than Six Flags.

Conclusion: Six Flags needs to sell off parks to a point where they can run the ones they want to focus on as best as they possibly can be run.

 

For all the "good" the Premier acquisition did in terms of ride additions, I feel that SF has been on a steady decline since. Their massive expansion and rebranding of parks to SF parks set up the future regimes for failure with too much to do and too little money. I say bring it back to the original 6 park count (Great Adventure, over Texas, over Georgia, Mid-America, Magic Mountain, and pick one to replace Astroworld) from the Time Warner era and be done with it.