Six Flags Great Adventure and Dorney Park

[halltd]

First off, I have to say, my friends and I were stunned at our recent experience at these parks because we've visited both before with completely opposite results.

 

We hit up Great Adventure on Friday, July 25, 2008. We arrived at park opening and went right to Kingda Ka. Although the ride was VERY rough compared to its sibling in Ohio, we were stunned to see four trains and both sides of the station in operation. Needless to say, the line moved at a feverishly fast pace.

 

The same could be said about all of our other rides. El Toro was absolutely stunning as always, Nitro, Superman, etc... All running with very fast queues, little to no line jumping, security in EVERY queue, no loose articles, all trains running, and very fast dispatches. Medusa was running three trains and almost NEVER stacked. We were all just scratching our heads in disbelief that this was a Six Flags park. Plus, we'd been there before and had horrible experiences.

 

The park also seemed VERY crowded, so I don't think that was the issue. The midways were packed to the gills and the parking lot looked pretty dang full. We skipped The Dark Knight because it had a 2 hour wait and we already knew it sucked from reading all the reviews. So, we opted to hit up Nitro and El Toro a couple more times instead. Last train of the night on El Toro is absolutely stunning by the way.

 

Then on Saturday, we hit up Dorney Park. We'd been there once before and loved it. We thought it was like a mini Cedar Point. However, this year was something totally different. The park was awesome before noon (we got there at opening). There were no lines, rides were really fun, the weather was beautiful, etc... But, then we headed up the hill to the main midway and all pandemonium broke loose. The park was PACKED beyond belief. Lines were still relatively short, but we experienced line jumpers in EVERY SINGLE LINE. It was obnoxious. People would just walk passed us and get on the ride. We were starting to get pissed off. We even had people cut in front of us for the front row on Talon - IN THE STATION. No one said a thing.

 

Not only were people smoking all over the park, they were also lighting up joints in the queues. People were walking around shirtless, or in miniature swimsuits (which they shouldn't have been wearing anyways), throwing trash all over the midway, etc... It was one of the absolute worst park experiences we've had in a long time.

 

I hate to say this, but we were blown away with the efficiency of Six Flags and the horrific "free for all" experience at Dorney Park. We were also HUGE fans of the mandatory lockers at SFGAdv. It was amazing what they did to the load and unload process. Seeing it in effect just one day prior to seeing Dorney's loose article bins really solidified how awful the bins really are.

 

Has anyone else seen an increase in efficiency and park operations at Six Flags and/or a decline in operations at Cedar Fair parks?

[Jim S.]

There must be a difference between the weekend and weekday crowds at Dorney. On weekdays I see people going shirtless in the dry park, but they don't seem to hold up operations as bad as they do at Cedar Point. I've never seen guys try to go on the rides shirtless, but every time I've been there they've let girls go on in bikini tops and skimpy shorts. (I never saw anyone walking around the dry park in a bikini bottom.) The only thing they complain about is people trying to ride shoeless. The one time I was at Cedar Point though, they were making everybody put their shirts on to go on the rides. I've never seen anyone smoking a joint at Dorney, and I've seen minimal amounts of people smoking tobacco at all let alone where they aren't supposed to be. I've never seen the park trashed (bathrooms are a different story) and I've only seen the parking lot trashed once. I've never seen anyone line-jumping in the station (although you're the second person I've seen complain about it), and only an average amount of line-jumping in the queues. (A couple of times last year security was on top of it, lately nobody has been watching -- but nobody complained either.)

[halltd]

It was like we had entered the Twilight Zone. Very strange indeed.

 

Also, what's up with the "no open toed shoes" requirement on their top spin? We've ridden this before with open toed shoes, but were rejected this season. The safety sign had a "sticker" on it with this new rule and people were being turned away left and right. Did someone lose a toenail on the ride?

[SharkTums]

I think you'll find several people on this site that have your similar view point. Six Flags is on the rise, Cedar Fair is on the decline.

[Coasterfanatic245]

^How so? CF has been doing wonders with the Paramount parks and Cedar Point.

[lil jimmy norton]

^How so? CF has been doing wonders with the Paramount parks and Cedar Point.

 

Many people feel this way. While Six Flags' stock is pretty low, and they have made some dumb decisions, the park operations are pretty good. If you read some trip reports, you will see that this is the trend. On the same hand, you get different experiences at different times. If you go to a Six Flags park on a Thursday, it might be completely different on a Friday. I hope this makes some kind of coherent sense.