Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[djcoastermark]

I too was there sunday and enjoyed the park also. Loved the fact it was dead and got multiple re-rides, some without ever leaving my seat to do so. We really enjoyed Wild One, ROS , the $1 hot dogs and no lines for anything. The park was much better than I was expecting too.

[boldikus]

SFA should buy that 262 ft portable drop tower that Funtime is selling and replace voodoo drop

Absolutely not. Voodoo Drop is still fun as all get out. It is a better ride than Zumanjaro.

 

After doing Voodoo Drop twice yesterday, while it was fun, I'll respectfully disagree. VD ain't got NOTHIN on Zumanjaro.

[Highridin]

Yeah, Zumanjaro has this one. Voodoo is great though. The small drop is a little intense.

[coasterbill]

SFA should buy that 262 ft portable drop tower that Funtime is selling and replace voodoo drop

 

Nobody (especially in the US) is going to replace a drop tower with another drop tower that's not any more marketable than what they already had... that makes no sense.

 

SFA should buy that 262 ft portable drop tower that Funtime is selling and replace voodoo drop

Absolutely not. Voodoo Drop is still fun as all get out. It is a better ride than Zumanjaro.

 

Zumanjaro is much better but if anyone wants to drive between SFA and Great Adventure to compare drop towers I'd suggest a detour to Knoebels since they have a better drop tower than either of them.

[vacoaster09]

I'm tired as hell and not writing a big thing but park certainly exceeded my expectations. No crappy guests, no issues with employees or ops, park was dead (and actually really nice!!!) and we got a TON of rides in. I took lots of pics and I'll write more tomorrow. I'll end this by saying I rode S:ROS 12 times today and loved every second of all 12 of them. Obviously I need to get to SFNE now. And shouts to vacoaster for finding us and saying hello!

 

It was good seeing you too! I had a great time as well... glad you did as well for your first visit!

 

BTW JJ was Hauling A$$

 

 

Zumanjaro is much better but if anyone wants to drive between SFA and Great Adventure to compare drop towers I'd suggest a detour to Knoebels since they have a better drop tower than either of them.

 

Is the drop tower at Knoebels the same kind that is at Waldameer! If so, those things scare the crap out of me... they drop so fast without notice that I wasn't even able to scream (voice didn't catch up) until it started to enter the brakes .

[coasterbill]

Is the drop tower at Knoebels the same kind that is at Waldameer!

 

Yup, it's the same type of ride. The airtime they get is ridiculous and it stops on a dime at the bottom.

[Highridin]

I'm tired as hell and not writing a big thing but park certainly exceeded my expectations. No crappy guests, no issues with employees or ops, park was dead (and actually really nice!!!) and we got a TON of rides in. I took lots of pics and I'll write more tomorrow. I'll end this by saying I rode S:ROS 12 times today and loved every second of all 12 of them. Obviously I need to get to SFNE now. And shouts to vacoaster for finding us and saying hello!

 

It was good seeing you too! I had a great time as well... glad you did as well for your first visit!

 

BTW JJ was Hauling A$$

 

 

Zumanjaro is much better but if anyone wants to drive between SFA and Great Adventure to compare drop towers I'd suggest a detour to Knoebels since they have a better drop tower than either of them.

 

Is the drop tower at Knoebels the same kind that is at Waldameer! If so, those things scare the crap out of me... they drop so fast without notice that I wasn't even able to scream (voice didn't catch up) until it started to enter the brakes .

 

Yeah, they woke up JJ. Looking forward to riding it at night.

[boldikus]

Well seeing as how it my first Premier launcher I have nothing to compare it to but I think it ties with Wild One for my 2nd fave ride of the day (after ROS of course). We did JJ six times throughout the day - 3 times actually but on each we got a re-ride since no one was in our row everytime we came back to the station. The ride made me LMAO every time we rode it. The final corkscrew before the break run is brutal, but in a good way. Good finish. I loved how the ops would f*ck with us on each launch - like yapping to us about the ride and launching it in mid-sentence, or asking if we wanted a countdown and then going "OK, we're gonna count back from three. Three... *LAUNCH* Super fun ride.

[Jcoaster]

Well seeing as how it my first Premier launcher I have nothing to compare it to but I think it ties with Wild One for my 2nd fave ride of the day (after ROS of course). We did JJ six times throughout the day - 3 times actually but on each we got a re-ride since no one was in our row everytime we came back to the station. The ride made me LMAO every time we rode it. The final corkscrew before the break run is brutal, but in a good way. Good finish. I loved how the ops would f*ck with us on each launch - like yapping to us about the ride and launching it in mid-sentence, or asking if we wanted a countdown and then going "OK, we're gonna count back from three. Three... *LAUNCH* Super fun ride.

 

Glad you enjoyed your day. This park gets such a bad rep for no reason. How would you compare ROS to other hypers you have ridden? Just curious and how did you like Batwing?

[boldikus]

full report w/ tons of photos: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1500995#p1500995

[coasterbill]

I feel like I should give this park another chance in cooler weather.

 

My biggest complaint about the place is Gotham City because it has absolutely no shade anywhere and can be absolutely brutal in the summer. I also think that area is completely hideous. The front of the park is pretty nice though and the new area looks like a huge improvement over what was the ugliest part of the entire park last year.

[boldikus]

Other than the lack of shade, I thought that area was well kept. Not much to do back there save for the three big coasters and that Penguin rapid/waterslide thingy, but I didn't feel it was run down or anything. Also, there are trees in this park, they are just not big giant old trees like @ GAdv, and they seemed to clear out a lot of them in that back area. That said, they could certainly use more. I'm sure if we were stuck waiting out in the sun I'd have a different opinion, but it was beautiful and again, no waiting for anything for us.

[Highridin]

It actually is well kept. It's just a little bland. I really don't mind it for the most part.

[Highridin]

They are really giving away stuff now. 9.99 to bring a friend this Sunday.

[vacoaster09]

I think they have to... I mean both local Baseball teams clinched AL and NL east titles. So SFA is going to have to pull guest in! Too bad they don't have a dedicated Sports eatery like SFNE does to watch games. Although there is Hurricane's. That is where I watched some of the World Cup.

 

They should see if they could get some autograph signing inside the park.

Edited September 18, 2014 by vacoaster09

[coasterbill]

Yeah, but to be fair since they both already clinched that means there won't be any meaningful games played for either team until October so the next few weeks should be good weeks... especially since the Redskins don't play next weekend at all because they play on Thursday.

[alilstronger]

Even this park gets so much crap I will admit I kinda miss it. I miss living only 50 minutes from a major amusement park. The closest things to me now are Kemah and Pleasure Pier now. Granted, they are both nice and very well taken care of I miss having a large park nearby. Six Flags Fiesta Texas is about 3 hours away so I guess that is not too bad.

 

This park is slowly being turned around. I remember when it was really bad years ago. I wish they would add more thrilling flat rides.

[Highridin]

I think they have to... I mean both local Baseball teams clinched AL and NL east titles. So SFA is going to have to pull guest in! Too bad they don't have a dedicated Sports eatery like SFNE does to watch games. Although there is Hurricane's. That is where I watched some of the World Cup.

 

They should see if they could get some autograph signing inside the park.

 

Lol, that's where I watched the World Cup. They could make that place in Coyotes Creek a dedicated sports eatery, etc

[Highridin]

Yeah, but to be fair since they both already clinched that means there won't be any meaningful games played for either team until October so the next few weeks should be good weeks... especially since the Redskins don't play next weekend at all because they play on Thursday.

 

Always a lot of people there for Fright Fest.

[vacoaster09]

I think they have to... I mean both local Baseball teams clinched AL and NL east titles. So SFA is going to have to pull guest in! Too bad they don't have a dedicated Sports eatery like SFNE does to watch games. Although there is Hurricane's. That is where I watched some of the World Cup.

 

They should see if they could get some autograph signing inside the park.

 

Lol, that's where I watched the World Cup. They could make that place in Coyotes Creek a dedicated sports eatery, etc

 

I really would love to see something similar to JB's smokehouse barbeque at SFNE. Something that would give a nod to local sports teams (though I doubt the Deadskins would have any representation in the park given that Snyder is their owner just the Capitals, Ravens, Wizards, Orioles, Nationals, and DC United) I don't know if I would want them to touch the Saloon. It fits the theme of Coyote Creek so well and is original to the days when that area was first built. I would rather them Change the Turkey Leg place next to Candy Creations or Bone's chicken and waffles.

[Rayj]

SFA should have gotten a batman: the dark knight clone to put in skull mountain's spot. For 2016 they should replace the trains on apocalypse with floorless trains

[boldikus]

^^ They should have made Apocalypse a floorless when they moved it, though I still don't think it would be that great of a coaster, its got a really underwhelming course.

[vacoaster09]

SFA should have gotten a batman: the dark knight clone to put in skull mountain's spot. For 2016 they should replace the trains on apocalypse with floorless trains

 

Not happening ( I just can't see that) ... Personally Apocalypse is not that long of a ride that it affects my legs. Nor are the forces strong. Green Lantern, Riddler's Revenge, and Mantis however were long coasters that even have a mid course brake run. They are more of an endurance test coaster than anything else. So I could see Floorless trains make sense on those coasters. I think Apocalypse as a ride is fine the way it is... I would just like more comfortable ride experience (redesigned bicycle seat/ vest restraints). I secretly was hoping that Mantis was getting modified stand up restrains that would make it more comfortable (like a new generation bicycle seat and vest-like restraints) and get rid of headbanging (if any) that way SF would be more likely to get new trains since CF would have already paid for the cost of the R&D to procure and implement new restraints on a B&M stand up style train. If Apocalypse was a floorless, I think you would still get headbanging in the corkscrew if it had the traditional hard OTSR... you would still need the vest one. I think in most cases manufacturers are willing to come up with their new restraints and trains on their own to market, but sometimes I think they don't do the work unless a customer request and pays for the desired product (if its not already in their catalog).

 

What would be required in order to change out the existing OTSR to vest type? (Switch out the ratcheting system to hydraulic?)

 

I think Six Flags would relocate a floorless to SFA before putting new floorless trains.

[mike541x]

Going to the park for Fright Fest next month, I haven't been in about eight or nine years. I do remember they made the train ride a Fright Fest attraction back then, do they still do that? That was one my favorite things to do during FF. Also any advice on what would be the best day to go? My friend and I want to check out some mazes but we're mostly there for the night rides lol.

[Highridin]

They didn't do a train last year. All but one of the mazes were awesome. I can't remember where I saw the article, but the outdoor maze 'Haunting of Eleanor 'won best amusement park maze on the east coast in 2013. I'm going to look for the site again. It was a newspaper article.