Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread

[Sfne1313]

It really depends on the employees for operations. Sometimes you can get a great crew who can send out trains fast, others not so much. And for Batman, if you get a nice employee and ask politely, you can pick a seat. I do it all the time. Goliath is a shuttle coaster so it's good that they have groupers to fill every seat on the train.

[sfne2015]

Hey everyone! I'm a long time reader, but decided to make an account to get more involved after reading a few things that didn't make a ton of sense to me.

 

I've already explained my "hate" for this park, as have many others. I am excited for Wicked Cyclone, I just wish there was anything good about this park besides their 4 star coasters (Wicked Cyclone, Bizarro, Thunderbolt and Batman... I would have said 5 but Goliath is awful now) and their 2 good flats (Buzzsaw and Tomohawk... I'm not including NESS because operations are so amazingly horrible that we never ride it). 10 Years ago SFNE was beautiful and it had a ton of personality and charm. There were nice shaded areas, a great selection of flats and even some good theming (for Six Flags). Now that's pretty much all gone.

 

Sure they'll probably re-use the Skyway station for a Wicked Cyclone queue but only because they're cheap... they could have easily but the queue elsewhere, they just chose not to because they love getting rid of family rides and continuing to cut costs in every possible way. Also, assuming you're including Skyway as a ride with declining ridership that would probably tend to happen when you run a grand total of 4 cars on a Skyway. lol

 

Personally I love this park. I've been coming every year sicne 95' and while I do agree it has changed a lot over the years, it's very far from a bad park. This park has retained much of its charm over the years, much more than other parks have. Has the park made some bad choices over the years,? Sure. Has every other park made bad choices? Yes! The park has been actively trying to find ways to improve areas of the park, like abandon ride pads. They've been saying it in the live chats that they have plans for areas like Twisters old ride area, and I believe them. Personally I think a Super Loop would be an amazing fit there. They have also been making progress with this as well, by using Rodeos area the past few years as a line for ticked for Midnight Mansion, filling the Colossus pad with Slingshot and Crimewave, and also replacing Catapults area with Sky Screamers entrance area and line. So while they may not be replacing everything with another ride, they have been slowly but surely filling the park in over the years.

 

I find a ton of good things about this park besides the 4 good coasters and 2 flat rides you there are. This park still has a great selection of rides including flats. Crimewave, Teacups, Scrambler, Balloon Race, Jokers Wild Card, Bumper Cars, Houdini, Carousel, Whistle Stop Train, Scream, Route 66, and Sky Screamer on top of the Buzzsaw and Tomahawk that previously said. This park has retained many classic rides like Crimewave, while introducing new thrilling versions of the ride like Sky Screamer.

 

I do agree with you on the shade situation. That is one of the things the park really does need to improve on. I'm thinking maybe it had to do with the Ninja situation in someway that they decided to start removing a bunch of trees, but I really hope they start to plant more trees on the midways or get some of those shaded landscape covers like at SFOG.

 

The removal of Skyway is just Six Flags New England being Six Flags New England. It sounds like it was due for a new cable and they didn't feel like buying one. Based on the way this park has operated for the last 10 years there's no reason to think this ride will ever be replaced with anything.

 

The removal of Skyway is almost every park being every park. lol Tons of parks have been removing them over the years because they turn out to be much more maintenance heavy then they thought. New England Skyway was built in 1973 making it 41 years old in 2014. That is probably a much longer life expectancy than the Von Roll company probably ever thought for this ride. Due to aging and the fact that Von Roll has been out of business for quite some time now, It's no wonder why they are closing. Where did you hear this cable rumor? That doesn't seem like something the park wouldn't want to do because they did it in 2005 or 2006. If they just didn't want to replace the cable, they would have gotten rid of the ride years ago. To me it sounds like an age and multiple maintenance issues lead to its demise.

 

Also about the car situation, i've never seen it run more than 5 or 6. Ever. That's going back to 95' before Six Flags owned the park. That leads me to believe they may have been doing that years before also. Does anyone know if the ride ever ran more 6? I've also only saw 4 cars on a few very rear situation but it would be put back into service as fixed.

 

Continuing with operations, I know this is something the park takes very seriously. I've always seen two trains on every coaster unless it's down for maintenance and even if it is, as soon as it's fixed, it's put right back on the ride. I've been in line plenty of times at Bizarro and Cyclone and seen them add on trains. I'm not going to lie, I have seen some slow employees at some of the kiddie rides, and a few slow employees here and there on some of the major coasters. But i've also seen other co workers tell them that they need to move faster and they do. I have never waited in a line longer than what I thought it was going to be because of slow employees working on a ride at the park. In fact, last season I saw almost every single major coaster beating the other train! I used to see it quite often at Bizarro during the summer, as well as at Mind Eraser. I've even saw batman's floors go down before the other train stopped on the breaks! I haven't saw a crew get people though that ride line that fast since 2005!

 

New England Sky Screamer operations aren't bad, but they aren't that great either. But they are like that not because of the crew, but because it's just a low capacity ride with a decently long ride time. I've watched that crew speed walk while checking the chest belts and get that ride back up in the air in about a minute. That is very good considering they only have two people checking belts on a very large ride area. I don't really understand how you could pass judgement on a ride you never ride, but I guess that's why you don't know how good the crew really is! lol Personally, I thought that crew was amazing this year and hope they are great next year also.

 

As for the whole Cyclone Skyway station thing, did they confirm it's becoming part of the line? (That question isn't targeted at you, I honestly don't know! lol) If so thats fantastic! I'm sure they will give it a great make over to fit the theme!

 

Why does it matter so much if they keep the building. Most parks do this type of thing, for example Kennywood turning an old building into Johnny Rockets last season. It's not so much being cheap, but using what you already have. Also if it does become part of the line, who says it will stay in that current location? During Goliath construction, they saved the old Shipwreck Falls station, but they moved it to a new location and used it as a covered queue.

 

In no way was any of this meant to offend/attack you, and I'm truly sorry if it felt like it was. It's just I see that they are working and trying their best to rebuild what the old managements did to the park. I have no doubt in my mind the park will continue to improve and get things back where they used to be back in the early 2000s. They have already proved it by fixing a few things, and it will only continue to improve.

[Nrthwnd]

Welcome to TPR - and great first post!

[ajfelice]

Why does it matter so much if they keep the building. Most parks do this type of thing, for example Kennywood turning an old building into Johnny Rockets last season. It's not so much being cheap, but using what you already have. Also if it does become part of the line, who says it will stay in that current location? During Goliath construction, they saved the old Shipwreck Falls station, but they moved it to a new location and used it as a covered queue.

 

God have mercy on Cedar Point's soul for shamelessly ripping out a family ride to only turn its station into a queue area. My home park mercilessly ripped out their first major coaster and now uses it's station as a picnic shelter. I scoff at that shelter each day I have to look at it. The horror.

 

It is incredible how Six Flags is bashed for things that most parks have been doing for years. Amusement parks are not museums, they are businesses. They rely on new attractions to continue to draw in crowds so they can make money. In many cases, these new attractions come at the expense of older ones. Yes, the people who own these companies and run these parks are in this to make money, lots of it. This is not unique to Six Flags.

[MagnumFreak25]

My problem isn't replacing rides. It's removing them to be replaced with, wait for it, Bench: The ride

[sfne2015]

Welcome to TPR - and great first post!

 

Thank you!

 

Why does it matter so much if they keep the building. Most parks do this type of thing, for example Kennywood turning an old building into Johnny Rockets last season. It's not so much being cheap, but using what you already have. Also if it does become part of the line, who says it will stay in that current location? During Goliath construction, they saved the old Shipwreck Falls station, but they moved it to a new location and used it as a covered queue.

 

God have mercy on Cedar Point's soul for shamelessly ripping out a family ride to only turn its station into a queue area. My home park mercilessly ripped out their first major coaster and now uses it's station as a picnic shelter. I scoff at that shelter each day I have to look at it. The horror.

 

It is incredible how Six Flags is bashed for things that most parks have been doing for years. Amusement parks are not museums, they are businesses. They rely on new attractions to continue to draw in crowds so they can make money. In many cases, these new attractions come at the expense of older ones. Yes, the people who own these companies and run these parks are in this to make money, lots of it. This is not unique to Six Flags.

 

I couldn't have said it any better myself!

 

My problem isn't replacing rides. It's removing them to be replaced with, wait for it, Bench: The ride

 

So you would rather have the area just lay completely abandon, rather then have something as simple as a bench be put in its place and the area be utilized?

 

Uh oh. All this talk about how terribly SFNE operates is really making me nervous for my trip up to NE this summer. I had somewhat decent expectations. Is it really that bad? Any tips to improve my experience (besides just avoiding the park altogether)?

 

The park does not operate on the scale of Cedar Point or Disney. Their major coasters are only built to run two trains, and like I said earlier, they always do unless maintenance is working on them and once they are ready to go they are put on. The ride crews are pretty great, they are always pumping people though and wait times are normally pretty low unless it's a busy day. Rides like Bizarro, New England Sky Screamer, Goliath, Mind Eraser, and Batman have been know to get lines up to 45+ minutes on busy days with ride crews normally dispatching as soon as they can.

 

Do not avoid the park all together. That would be just plain silly. I have go to the park plenty of times on busy days and gotten on everything no problem. You just have to know where to go first. If you want to do multiple re-rides on rides, then get a Flash Pass.

 

Overall the park has pretty good operations, much better than most parks. Let me know when you go and I'll tell you my plan or possible meet up for a bit and ride Wicked Cyclone with you!

[Rollercoaster Rider]

The removal of Skyway is just Six Flags New England being Six Flags New England. It sounds like it was due for a new cable and they didn't feel like buying one. Based on the way this park has operated for the last 10 years there's no reason to think this ride will ever be replaced with anything.

 

 

I wonder if this is what people thought when Disneyland removed their Sky Ride during the Cynthia Harriss/ Paul Pressler era?

 

And let's compare a little bit more.

 

Length of time at SFNE/WF- 51 Years

Length of time at DL- 38 Years

Disney World lasted 28 Years

Tokyo Disney lasted 16 Years

 

Let's not pretend that Six Flags was the first to remove a Sky Ride.

[John Peck]

I wonder if it's more of a wheelchair accessible expense over everything else. The ride might not have the numbers to justify two elevators (if they don't have them already. I haven't been to the park since 2003 and couldn't remember many details.

[John Peck]

Sorry for the double post, I was trying to post a pic of the Skyway in 2003 and it wouldn't work. (after trying several different things)

[Sfne1313]

The antique cars at sfne will be refreshed next year. Opening with a new theme, WILD WHEELZ! Themed to a safari!

[Manic Monte]

The double down on WC is now done and...well, OMG!

[Gnome]

^ pics? Im excitable!

[Paradox]

 

Thanks to SFNE Online

[thrillseeker4552]

Oh, RMC, you never fail to impress. Both projects this year are looking like they could be top-10 material.

 

And, as much as I am looking forward to Twisted Colossus, Wicked Cyclone may just be better. That double-down...

[Manic Monte]

I'm thinking the same. Both RMC projects look outstanding. But Wicked Cyclone looks like possible #1 material. Each update blows me away.

[willthegolfer]

At first I was in camp Twisted Colossus but now I'm thinking Wicked Cyclone looks a little better. So compact with such furious pacing, should make for an intense and airtime filled ride.

[camthedominator]

Is the theming on the ride meant to represent a nor'easter or a twister? I know the name is Wicked Cyclone, but New England has a long history of tropical storms and hurricanes and I think that they should try and take advantage of that. It just seems weird hat they would base the theming on a twister or tornado while New England very rarely has them.

[larrygator]

I've already explained my "hate" for this park, as have many others. I am excited for Wicked Cyclone, I just wish there was anything good about this park besides their 4 star coasters (Wicked Cyclone, Bizarro, Thunderbolt and Batman... I would have said 5 but Goliath is awful now) and their 2 good flats (Buzzsaw and Tomohawk... I'm not including NESS because operations are so amazingly horrible that we never ride it).

 

I'll add Houdini to that list, but I do agree with most of your thoughts.

[DoinItForTheFame]

At first I was in camp Twisted Colossus but now I'm thinking Wicked Cyclone looks a little better. So compact with such furious pacing, should make for an intense and airtime filled ride.

I second this. I still think TC will be a great coaster. However the more I am seeing of Wicked Cyclone the more I am really looking forward to riding this coaster. They will for sure both be winners, but Wicked Cyclone looks much more fast paced, and intense!

Is the theming on the ride meant to represent a nor'easter or a twister? I know the name is Wicked Cyclone, but New England has a long history of tropical storms and hurricanes and I think that they should try and take advantage of that. It just seems weird hat they would base the theming on a twister or tornado while New England very rarely has them.

I don't think parks theme coasters based on what happens where the park is located. I think the theme coasters more so based on what would create an awesome guest experience.

[Superbatboy]

This is going to blow everything out of the water...looks amazing

[gerstlaueringvar]

Isn't it pretty much a triple down?

[nicman]

Wicked Cylcone looks great, I never really payed attention to the construction.

When do you think it will be completed?

[Paradox]

Wicked Cylcone looks great, I never really payed attention to the construction.

When do you think it will be completed?

I believe opening day was supposed to be April 17, but with all of the snow and freezing temperatures here it might have been moved.

[CoasterGuy06]

My problem isn't replacing rides. It's removing them to be replaced with, wait for it, Bench: The ride

 

Premier Parks over built their parks in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Some of those removals without replacements could be to bring their operating expenses in line with their revenue streams.

[Gnome]

Its hard to believe this park will have sros & wc. Off of appearances alone, WC might be the better of the 2