Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[Wood Dragon 1988]

^The head ROAR ride op last time I went was pretty good. He was a large, loud guy who made jokes just about every dispatch.

[KrakenKing]

^The head ROAR ride op last time I went was pretty good. He was a large, loud guy who made jokes just about every dispatch.

 

I believe it was the same one then, haha. He was great.

 

Even let me ride the front row twice because there was no one in the queue when they opened it back up.

[SFAfan#1]

Did the octopus ride ever re-open after the accident yet?

 

-Tatum

 

Yeah, its been open for a while now.

 

 

The only rides that haven't opened yet (that i can think of) are Two Face and High Seas (swinging boat ride)

 

Also they haven't yet started two-train operations on Superman and Mind Eraser. Both rides second train is on their transfer tracks so I don't know what the park is waiting for.

[coasterfreak101]

Batwing has also been closed for the week. Not sure what's going on there. Superman's also been closed most of the day on Wednesday/Friday. We were the first people on yesterday and managed to break it (got stuck in the brake run) until about 2:30. And it didn't open 'till 1:00-ish on Wednesday.

 

I don't like the place, but I deal because I need my coaster fix. Tony Hawk (in full clothing) was pretty cool, and the general concensus (sp?) seems to be the same.

[SFAfan#1]

I wasn't the only cool person at SFA yesterday, even though I didn't see her, sources them me that Jordin Sparks was enjoying her day at SFA yesterday.

Jordin at Sno Biz Snow Cones

Jordin on Penguin's Blizzard River

Jordin on Tower of Doom

Jordin on Mind Eraser

[KrakenKing]

Tell me she was smart enough to take her ear rings off before riding Mind Eraser, especially if riding the back row...

 

Something tells me she isn't.

[coasterfreak101]

No way! That would've been cool to get stuck on Roar with her (we broke that too). She can sing a lot better than my friends did...

[MisterP]

I thought SFA was a pretty decent park when I visited in '05. It was very slow that day, but the ride ops were very nice - they even allowed us to re-ride S:ROS, Joker's Jinx, and Batwing without getting out of our seats...

 

...I'm always surprised at how much love Wild One gets and how much hate Roar gets...I thought Roar was quite fun, but didn't enjoy Wild One and its "helix of death"....

[Bucket]

Who is Jordin Sparks??

[SFAfan#1]

She won American Idol two seasons ago.

[CHILLERLC1]

She at least sang at a NFL playoff game. That's where I saw her.

 

Years ago when I first visited SFA I had a lot of love for Roar! Now I know what Wild One is all about so it gets it too.

[SFAfan#1]

^Super Bowl and she made a great song with Chris Brown called "No Air"

[carolinacaniac]

...I'm always surprised at how much love Wild One gets and how much hate Roar gets...I thought Roar was quite fun, but didn't enjoy Wild One and its "helix of death"....

 

Personally, I think they are two of the best wooden coasters I have been on. For Wild One, I think the helix has awesome lateral forces and the airtime is pretty sweet too. For Roar, it has some small pops of air, but I just love the twisting layout that you didn't see on many wooden coasters until GCI and GG (to an extent) made them more frequently

[SFAfan#1]

If anyone has heard of the upcoming MTVU concert series, then you might not know that SFA is scheuled as one of the concert stops on August 19! According to SFAfan.com bands/performers by the name of:

 

Boys like Girls

Metro Station

All Time Low

Katy Perry

 

are scheuled to perform at SFA on August 19. This will also be recorded and showed on MTV! I will update this forum when I recieve more info on this awesome anouncement.

[Capitalize]

I already know I'm totally heading to the park for the Flo Rida concert in August. I'll probably check out that other one, if its free with admission...

 

SFA has been looking pretty good this season, definitely slowly making more steps in the right directio. SROS is running freaking awesome... I've only been on Blue Train so far in my 3 visits, but its pretty much running like new, not like the past couple seasons were the vibrations were horrible...

 

In general, the park is still slowly getting better every season. The park is INFINITELY better then it was back in the early days of SF, imo. The operations are better, the park is cleaner, and its in general a lot less "ghetto" then it was. At this point in some ways I think KD is more ghetto then SFA now. I haven't had to flip out on someone for cutting in line at SFA for 2 seasons now, but just this past Saturday I got in a yelling match with an entire family for cutting in line at FOF.

 

My only gripe right now is with Coyote Creek, still. I have always hated that part of the park. Even when I worked there I hated that section of the park... Its hidden all the way in the corner and no managers ever seem to go back there, so the employees can feel free to be as slow and lame as they want to be. We couldn't get away with that in South West Territory... Someone would freak out if we acted up like they do at Mind Eraser...

[SFAfan#1]

^Oh yeah, and now all of the coasters are operating two trains. Even Batwing! Some days they even manage to use both sides of Batwing's station. Two Face still hasn't opened and when they finally re-open it, that should calm down some of the line problems. Even on weekdays, lines are long.

[Capitalize]

I'm not holding my breath on Two Face opening any time soon... I hope I'm wrong, but man that thing has been down all season pretty much now.

 

So far on my visits the lines have always been bearable. Of course I've only bothered riding Batwing once this season because every-time I have gone its been doing one train operation and I hate waiting for that ride during the summer when its running one train, way too hot and slow moving... Other then Batwing; Superman and JJ's line hasn't been too horrible, rarely more then 15 or so minutes. Everything else is always a walk-on for me.

[fallen xxi]

Went to SFA 2 weeks ago and I have to say I was mildly suprised.

 

Wild One was overrated IMHO, but the ejector was AMAZING at times, it's just not my kind of thrill. ROAR on the other hand was AMAZING. Two Face was broken and Superman broke as well, but Batwing was SO much more amazing than my hometown Nighthawk, it almost made me mad how silk smooth this ride is compared to Nighthawk, which feels like it's falling apart. Also, Skull Mtn. was open and an interesting ride, Mind Eraser was...well...Mind Eraser. The park was very clean in the entrance plaza, I was impressed, but everything else was mildly clean other than Gotham City which was in need of some SERIOUS TLC IMMEDIATELY.

[QueerRudie]

SFA is my 'local' park- accesible by both bus and rail- so it is an easy ride to 'ride'- but a few weeks back wsa a day that goes down as the -single- worst theme park experience I've ever had- and one which I'm very surprised that could/did happen-

 

Now I'm a well-seasoned park visitor- and know that there are 'operational' problems on a day-to-day basis from bad weather, broken rides and other 'difficulties' that can arise in a park from time to time- but imagine this scenario:

 

Arrived at the park around 1:30PM, entered the gate (Great staff there, very pleasant and friendly, and security staff with a smile- a great change of pace from years past)- and walked back towards S:ROS as the previous visit I made the ride of steel was closing down (I can understand this, when you see Lightning above the ride, it's not a good time to ride)- Upon arriving at 'gotham City'- I first saw Jinx looking tantalizing, and entered the queue- to find that Jinx was a jinx- Shut down again! (The same thing happened on the previous visit a few days earlier)- so I proceeded down to S:ROS and found out it TOO was not operating- as well as a grounded BatWing- also not operating-

 

Scorecard so far: S:ROS- 0, Jinx, 0, TwoFace, 0 (Although this is not surprising; TwoFace wasn't operating at all either trip) Batwing, 0.

 

Over to ROAR- Not operating- Then onto the Hang And Bang Mind Eraser- Also not operating-

 

So now we're six for six- as in NOT A SINGLE COASTER or Water Ride for that matter is operating- NOT ONE.

 

Now I'm frustrated.

 

So as a last-ditch attempt to ride ANYTHING, I decided to walk towards Wild One (I'd hope that it was not going to be a TOTAL loss)- and as I passed a group of employees and their friends, I felt a 'clunk' upon my shaved head- in the form of a piece of trash thrown by one of the staff members. A not-so-nice interchange of race vs. appearance then took place (Be it well known, gentle readers, that I am a full-blood English Skin, as in Black and White make BEAUTIFUL music together- not the idiot boneheads that appear on TV as racists and aryans) and I was pretty much called every name in the book- not only by the friends, but also by the staff-

 

Completely exasperated, I went to Guest Services- where a long (25 person) line had formed inside- and I promptly took my time writing out a four-page comment sheet on said events.

 

I have been to the most backwoods fairs, poorly run parks, and parks where bad things have happened- but NOTHING will ever top this event- and when the explination of a 'Power Failure' having taken control of the rides, I kindly reminded them that all the food stands, merchandise shops and games were very well operating- as were all the vending machines and anyplace you can spend spend spend the time waiting for the rides to reopen. The response was a deafining silence-

 

Now I've been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg after a Hurricane- and EVERY ride was operating. EVERYTHING. And the park looked clean, well groomed and well maintained. But this is one example of how NOT to run a park- or rather, how to RUN a park into the ground.

 

My prayer: HersheyPark takes over SFA and turns it into a good park-

[Capitalize]

^ Wow, power was down? So was this after a storm? Either way that is a pretty wild sounding trip. Hopefully you could remember the employees exact names in your comments so you could get them fired, all it takes is a couple lousy employees to ruin a guest's entire day at a park, and that continues to be a problem with SFA on some occasions.

 

 

According to Screamscape Two Face has in fact been down all year, and may not reopen at all and may be removed after this season.

 

So does that mean SFA will have THREE coasters in their boneyard area next year?

[KDCOASTERFAN]

i was only there when Batwing was new, and the only problem i had with the park was they couldn't seem to keep the rides running all the time. I overall had an enjoyable experience though. Batwing still stands as my favorite flying coaster, and Superman Ride of Steel and Roar made it to my top ten.

 

yeah Roar is a coaster people near-universally deslike/hate and i actually loved it.

 

Well when Roar debutted ten years ago it was a great ride with no roughness at all considering the trains it runs but since then SFI has steadily been cutting back on the maintenance budget for the park & as a result the ride has turned to utter crap.This also is why there's such frequent downtime on rides that were once highly reliable such as TOD,two face & Superman.

[Capitalize]

i was only there when Batwing was new, and the only problem i had with the park was they couldn't seem to keep the rides running all the time. I overall had an enjoyable experience though. Batwing still stands as my favorite flying coaster, and Superman Ride of Steel and Roar made it to my top ten.

 

yeah Roar is a coaster people near-universally deslike/hate and i actually loved it.

 

Well when Roar debutted ten years ago it was a great ride with no roughness at all considering the trains it runs but since then SFI has steadily been cutting back on the maintenance budget for the park & as a result the ride has turned to utter crap.This also is why there's such frequent downtime on rides that were once highly reliable such as TOD,two face & Superman.

Exactly, to keep TOD operating at all most seasons they have only run 2 sides and use the other side for spare parts for the other 2; for the brake fins and other parts.

[SFAfan#1]

According to Screamscape Two Face has in fact been down all year, and may not reopen at all and may be removed after this season.

 

So does that mean SFA will have THREE coasters in their boneyard area next year?

 

If they remove Two Face then thats when I'll finally believe when people say that SFI is slowly getting rid of SFA and will become the new Geauga (did I spell it right) Lake.

[fallen xxi]

I have one sentence of advice:

SELL THE ****ING PLACE OFF SNYDER AND SHAPIRO!

Look how Frontier City, Elitch Gardens, and Darien prospered since being sold to PARC! Fantastic! Clean! Yipee! SFA has too much potentiol to be treated like crap. But, Unless Two Face is being scrapped, it could get moved to another SF park and HOPEFULL SFA will be sold and treated well.

[RideOn87]

^I can attest that a brief power failure, such as a surge, where it knocks the power off for one second, will take down every coaster, and most major water/flats. Anything running on a computer will shut down and have to be restarted.

 

You may have noticed Flying Carousel, Octopus, Pirate's Flight (anything that goes up in the air) also down for a little while.

 

Restaurants and such would not be affected.

 

Granted, the rest of your story sounds awful. You should immediately ask for their supervisor if anything like that happens again to anyone else.