Six Flags, Why is it so bad ?

[ebl]

^ Let's face it---everyone likes their own "kind."

 

As for me, I am a Six Flags season passholder and have been since 1994. I've had mostly good experiences at parks owned by Disney, Cedar Fair, Busch, and Six Flags.

 

I will admit that Six Flags tends to do things on the cheap as far as theming goes, but then most of their attractions are coasters anyway. How much theming can you give a coaster unless it's indoors (like Space Mountain, Rock-N-Roller Coaster, etc.)? Pretty much just the station and vehicles. Everyone whines about Scream! at SFMM being over a parking lot and having no "theme," but would that ride really be any different if they planted grass under it? No, then people would complain about the plain-looking station.

 

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to the Six Flags parks. My guess is that the smaller ones will be sold off to individual investors, while selected larger ones will be snatched up by others as a group.

 

Eric

[maliboomer]

say huh?

PSes filled up for Cindy's,

 

ADRs now!

[ChrisZer0]

Im a SF gold passport holder (SFOT), also worked at the park in the early-mid 90's. For me, its like a member of the family that hasnt gotten alot of respect over the half decade (during the premier managment reign). Im hoping the new managment group(whomever they are) will take SFOT/SFFT/SFOG/SFMM and their side parks(Water),spin them off into their own division, invest money into these parks and make it a world-class destination.

[shepp]

Even looking at SFMW. The day we were there I wouldn't consider 'bad'. Only 1 ride had crappy operations, Medusa. But that honestly ruined the whole experience. There was graffiti in the queue, the ride ops were the worst I have EVER seen and after the ride we couldn't wait to leave. Even with an hour wait for Medusa we still only spent 3 hours at the park. That's sad.

 

Yeah, it's almost supernatural how lousy the Medusa ops can be...acting like getting the ride going is something of an afterthought. Sad but true, though, SFMW's coasters are themselves something of an afterthought. When I was there last month, the crowd was mostly smaller kids and their parents, and they're more likely to go to the whale show than ride V2. This year's expansion was hands-on dolphin and sting ray exhibits, while Zonga remains, it seems, SBNO. I happen to enjoy SFMW, but then, I can easily spend a half hour just watching the walruses.

 

I doubt the frequent cruddiness of ride operations is due to official Six Flags policy rather than a matter of local management and the nature of the local pool of hireable teenagers, and I've found most of the employees dealing with animal attractions to be good-to-excellent. And the rides? I hate Medusa's parking lot, but I know that attempts to keep Zonga running were made (unlike PGA, which just ripped out a Schwartzkopf and left it to rot), and it's not really SFMW's fault that SLCs like Kong are crummy or that V2 is, by nature, a troublesome beast. Or, for that matter, that zoning height limits are strictly enforced. That said, anyone expecting SFMW to be a good coaster park is bound to be disappointed. It's more a second-tier version of SeaWorld, and those of us not PETA members can enjoy it for that.

 

More generally, on a recent trip, I found the ops at SFA and SFGAdv more friendly and on top of things than those at PKD, but part of that may just be the luck of the draw. And, really, nothing can match the ops at Disney and IOA...they should send the Medusa ops to do boot camp duty at the Hulk.

Edited September 3, 2005 by shepp

[verticalzero]

Six Flags Holland is the only park I have been to under the Six Flags name, I found all the operators really friendly and the park was so clean and tidy.

 

It was a great holiday there I will be back for more next year and have even more days on "Robin Hood" and airtime heaven "Goliath"...

 

I am going to visit SFMM sometime in the next few years to see how this.