Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG) Discussion Thread

[TEDodd]

But I have one big question: why does Georgia Scorcher exist, and is it possible to ride it without feeling like you just squatted 400 pounds while straddling a fence pole?

 

Depends on the rider.

My son and I (~5'10") have no issues with it. My daughter (~5'4") can't get comfortable.

[jynx242]

Just got off scream machine. As a warning to everyone, after the second turnaround is a nasty pothole at the bottom of the first drop, heads up! Also the last couple of times I've been here the sky buckets haven't been running, hopefully that's not a sign of things to come.

 

Sky buckets were running on Friday afternoon. My 3 year old great nephew and I went for a while. He's big enough for the Log Flume and Sky Buckets which he loves (made me think of coasterbill.)

 

First time on Monster Mansion for him. He squished up next to me in the dark part and told me he was scared, then insisted that we ride it three more times

[bert425]

^ those are the BEST reactions, aren't they?

[The username]

Glad to hear that! I was starting to get worried.

[josephcissell]

It has definitely been a minute, but I hope to be visiting the park again (3rd trip this season) in a couple of weeks. Given the recent commentary online about SFMM's Green Lantern getting some sort of refurbishment but not reopening at SFMM, I wonder if we might be the location for a transplant where Splashwater Falls was. Any thoughts from people who have ridden it? I've yet to get out to the west coast.

[Seddy]

It appears that Acrophobia is having more extended down time. Its been closed all day for my last 3 visits. With the storms we had a couple weeks ago, I think it may have been struck by lightning.

 

They have also added covering/shade to Pandemonium’s ‘uncovered’ section of the queue. I really wish people would listen to the ride op and NOT attempt to pull down on their shoulder harnesses. Not only does it slow down the loading process but I think it causes the ride computer to hickup as well. The last time I rode it someone pulled theirs down and moments later everyone had to unload and maintenance had to be called. They literally repeat ‘DO NOT PULL DOWN’ multiple times before each cycle and someone always does it. Smh

[thrillseeker4552]

What’s up with Twisted Cyclone? I’m here at the park today for the first time and it’s stuck on the lift hill. I’ll be back all day tomorrow. Anyone know what’s up? How long has it been closed?

[The username]

I was there this previous Monday and Tc operating normally, hopefully it will running tommorow.

[thrillseeker4552]

I did some perusing on Twitter and somebody said it closed yesterday (Saturday) while they were in line and has been closed since. I’m crossing my fingers, I was really looking forward to riding it.

 

On another note, Dare Devil Dive exceeded my expectations! That is probably the smoothest roller coaster I have ever ridden.

[tndank]

Is DDD the only thing running down there now days? Acrophobia closed. TC closed. Superman closed.

 

I feel for the folks in that heat today. This weekend was pretty brutal in the SE. I really hope they get things sorted out. I'll be dropping by here and there next week while I'm in town.

[thrillseeker4552]

Twisted Cyclone opened today! Rode it for the first time and it was awesome. Acrophobia still closed. Having a great day so far!

[jynx242]

^Glad you are having fun! Don't forget Mindbender. Still one of my favorite rides.

[thrillseeker4552]

^Oh believe me, we didn’t! My whole family is enjoying the crap outta that ride. We’ve ridden it three times already!

[thrillseeker4552]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought I'd give a quick little report on my first ever visit on Sunday and Monday.

 

We arrived around mid-day on Sunday and, to be quite honest, my opinion of the park was quite low when we first arrived. Twisted Cyclone was stuck on the lift hill with no people anywhere near the ride, the line to get into the parking lot was quite long considering we arrived around 4:00 on a Sunday, food lines throughout the park were absolutely horrendous, and ride operations were terrible. We stayed for a few hours and left a little before closing, hoping the next day would be better.

 

It definitely was. We spent a full day at the park on Monday and SFOG definitely redeemed itself. Twisted Cyclone was operating with two trains and decent dispatches (something we did NOT expect considering the state it was in the previous night). Goliath was pumping out trains left and right, and all the coasters were operating very well. The park was also considerably less crowded.

 

I ended up riding my 200th coaster at the park, Batman. I wanted to make TC my 200th, but I didn't want to risk it closing later in the day for the sake of saving it for my 200th, so Batman it was. I really didn't care. I count my credits, but stuff like this doesn't matter much to me. Batman clones are AWESOME anyway!

 

Overall, I don't think this park has a single bad coaster. GASM is a bit rough, and Blue Hawk has some jarring moments even with the vest restraints, but no coaster in the park made me scream in pain or want it to end. SFOG has a SOLID collection. Here is a brief rundown:

 

1. Goliath is an excellent B&M Hyper. It does run a bit rougher than Intimidator, Nitro, or Diamondback, but I think I prefer it to all of those. The mid-course helix is forceful, and the returning airtime hills over the park entrance are stellar. Usually I prefer the back row on hyper coasters, but the front seat (with a slightly loose lap bar too) is the place to be on this ride.

 

2. Twisted Cyclone pretty much met my expectations exactly. I rode Twisted Timbers a few days prior and knew that TC wouldn't top it, but I still very much enjoyed the ride. I also preferred the front seat on this ride and it warmed up throughout the day too. In terms of RMCs, I think the only one I prefer this to is Joker. I personally think Twisted Timbers, Twisted Colossus, Wicked Cyclone, and Railblazer are all better rides, but as we all know, even the worst RMC is still VERY good. And even though I never rode the original Cyclone, I can't imagine somebody not preferring this awesome RMC.

 

3. Dare Devil Dive and Mind Bender are two "underdogs" in the park IMO. I hear people rave about Mind Bender and I agree with all of it. The loops are forceful, the layout is unique, and there are even a few airtime pops to boot. With that being said, I think DDD surprised me the most. It is by far one of the smoothest roller coasters I have ever ridden, and the lap bars are extremely open and free. And despite the terrible capacity, they were running 4 cars and dispatch quickly, so I ended up riding it three times in total.

 

4. Georgia Scorcher is widely regarded as one of the best Stand-Ups and I definitely agree. I think, overall, I still prefer Riddler's Revenge due to its sheer size and wonderfully unique layout, but I would say Scorcher is the most "comfortable" Stand-Up. I am an advocate for the center two seats on B&M Stand-Ups (see my list of tips a few pages back), but I rode on an edge seat both times and still find this coaster incredibly smooth. Also love the color scheme. I hope they don't convert this to a Floorless. I think it is excellent as is.

 

5. Batman is, well, a Batman clone. It felt exactly the same as the other two I've ridden. That being said, I do LOVE these rides. They are very high up on my "Invert list."

 

6. Superman felt like the other Superman I've ridden (SFGAdv), however this one is... messy. To start, the ride never ran more than one train. It was open, then closed, then open, then closed all throughout my time here. Many of the seats on the train were closed off, and the operators had to MANUALLY lock and unlock several of the restraints (which, on a flying coaster, was a little unsettling). Overall I enjoyed the ride and its terrain interaction, but I really hope it becomes more reliable and efficient in the future. I only rode this once because trying to get on it (even with Flash Pass) was a royal pain in the a$$.

 

7. Blue Hawk was much better than I was expecting, thanks to those great restraints. The color scheme is wonderful and it ran quite smoothly, however there were a few moments on the ride where it threw you around quite a bit. I can see why Ninja was so hated. It's also very foreful, and those head choppers are CRAZY in the front row!

 

8. Scream Machine was fine. I didn't ride in a wheel seat and it wasn't smooth by any means, but I think I was also expecting it to be much rougher. It ran one train all day, so I rode once with my Flash Pass and didn't bother again.

 

9. Dahlonega Mine Train was cool. I wasn't expecting three lift hills. Felt like most other mine trains, although that final drop in the back seat was surpising!

 

I guess that turned out longer than I was expecting, but I just thought I'd share. Sorry for no photos. I didn't take too many worth sharing since I was busy riding all day. To those who made it this far, thanks for reading! I overall love this park's coaster collection quite a bit. Throw in a Free Spin and maybe a launched coaster in the future and you have a top Six Flags park.

[bert425]

tho I HATED DDD (only rode it once during my 2 day trip there last summer), but glad you had such a great visit.

 

isn't that "Wave" element on TC fantastic?

 

no mention of Monster Mansion? hope you rode the hell out of that WTF ride. . .

[thrillseeker4552]

^OMG I totally forgot to mention Monster Mansion. YES! We rode it and loved it. Totally bizarre in every way. It didn't feel like we were in a Six Flags park. I can't believe I forgot to mention that. That was definitely a hidden gem of the trip!

[TEDodd]

Nice to hear from someone else that didn't find GASM terrible and that likes Schorcher.

 

Sadly I don't think Superman will get any live anytime soon. The trains need a serious overhaul and it feels like they are limping it along until they decide s replacement.

 

That said I did find the manual operation unsettling, just sad. Seriously cuts down the throughput as loading takes 2-3x as long as it should. I wonder if the other bay is even operational. It'd sure help when the lIne is 90+ minutes.

[The username]

Never seen them operating with the second bay, don't have to hire as many employees for a single station.

[bgtlover]

Interestingly enough, they were doing the same with Superman the day I was there over Spring Break (April 2nd). They had the one train with at least 6 seats that were locked/closed off for riding. This on top of one train operation made a wait from the bottom of the steps about 30 minutes (and it opened literally 5 minutes before I got in line that day at about noon). It was messing up groups of 3 or 4 for sure (one row had 2 seats blocked). I was informed recently in a Facebook group that they were running 2 trains and the one I rode was either fixed or taken out of operation for maintenance. I guess this was not the case those days (Sunday & Monday).

[carowindsman]

So interesting enough I will probably be moving to Georgia in the next couple of months so my new park will be SFOG. I just want opinions how it feels to Carowinds. I went to SFOG long ago and just looking for some honest thoughts about the park. I appreciate it. I have been reading the post for this for a long time so I get the gist of it all. But just want some more feedback

[thrillseeker4552]

So interesting enough I will probably be moving to Georgia in the next couple of months so my new park will be SFOG. I just want opinions how it feels to Carowinds. I went to SFOG long ago and just looking for some honest thoughts about the park. I appreciate it. I have been reading the post for this for a long time so I get the gist of it all. But just want some more feedback

 

I recently visited both parks literally back to back. Went to Carowinds on Friday and Saturday, then SFOG on Sunday and Monday. You said you wanted honest thoughts...

 

SFOG is nice and definitely better than other SF parks, but I still think Carowinds is a vastly better park. It's more than just rides: Cedar Fair parks are just more well-run. The food lines are actually manageable, food service is always good and efficient, the food itself is better (ya'll have Harmony Hall!). Operations are better at Carowinds. You can pretty much expect all coasters to be running at Carowinds any day throughout the summer. I greatly prefer Carowinds and honestly almost every other Cedar Fair park to SFOG, expect maybe Dorney or CGA.

 

However, I do think SFOG's ride line-up is more well-rounded. At Carowinds, there is a pretty large drop off after the "big 4." There are several bad coasters at Carowinds: Hurler, Vortex, Nighthawk, Cyclone... they're all mediocre-to-bad coasters. At SFOG, I don't think there is a bad coaster in the park. I enjoyed all of them and they have some excellent "underdogs" like Mind Bender, DDD, and Blue Hawk (I'm sure you read my post above). There are some slight advantages to SFOG, but overall I would much rather visit Carowinds again. It's just a less frustrating experience. Six Flags does some things well, but a lot of their operations and services just make you roll your eyes and say "I wish I were at Carowinds" lol.

 

Sorry if that seemed negative. You asked for honest. I really do like both parks, but Carowinds is just so much less stressful to visit. And, well, Fury. Yeah. Fury...

 

Luckily the parks aren't *that* far from each other! (at least from the perspective of us west-coast people)

[carowindsman]

So interesting enough I will probably be moving to Georgia in the next couple of months so my new park will be SFOG. I just want opinions how it feels to Carowinds. I went to SFOG long ago and just looking for some honest thoughts about the park. I appreciate it. I have been reading the post for this for a long time so I get the gist of it all. But just want some more feedback

 

I recently visited both parks literally back to back. Went to Carowinds on Friday and Saturday, then SFOG on Sunday and Monday. You said you wanted honest thoughts...

 

SFOG is nice and definitely better than other SF parks, but I still think Carowinds is a vastly better park. It's more than just rides: Cedar Fair parks are just more well-run. The food lines are actually manageable, food service is always good and efficient, the food itself is better (ya'll have Harmony Hall!). Operations are better at Carowinds. You can pretty much expect all coasters to be running at Carowinds any day throughout the summer. I greatly prefer Carowinds and honestly almost every other Cedar Fair park to SFOG, expect maybe Dorney or CGA.

 

However, I do think SFOG's ride line-up is more well-rounded. At Carowinds, there is a pretty large drop off after the "big 4." There are several bad coasters at Carowinds: Hurler, Vortex, Nighthawk, Cyclone... they're all mediocre-to-bad coasters. At SFOG, I don't think there is a bad coaster in the park. I enjoyed all of them and they have some excellent "underdogs" like Mind Bender, DDD, and Blue Hawk (I'm sure you read my post above). There are some slight advantages to SFOG, but overall I would much rather visit Carowinds again. It's just a less frustrating experience. Six Flags does some things well, but a lot of their operations and services just make you roll your eyes and say "I wish I were at Carowinds" lol.

 

Sorry if that seemed negative. You asked for honest. I really do like both parks, but Carowinds is just so much less stressful to visit. And, well, Fury. Yeah. Fury...

 

Luckily the parks aren't *that* far from each other! (at least from the perspective of us west-coast people)

 

No i appreciate it, It does help

[jynx242]

^ Welcome (soon) to Georgia. We're glad you are here. SFoG is really a damned good home park. It definitely has some of the "Six Flags" problems, but is (in my opinion) one of the better parks in the chain.

 

Went yesterday with my 3 year old great nephew again. It is cool to see the experience from his eyes, even if I can only look longingly at Twisted Cyclone, Mindbender, Goliath, etc... He loves the Monster Mansion and the Joker Funhouse Coaster, but the Log Flume is by far his new favorite ride. Rode it 8 times in a row yesterday, and luckily it was slow enough that the staff kept letting us stay on

[Too Fast For Comfort]

So interesting enough I will probably be moving to Georgia in the next couple of months so my new park will be SFOG. I just want opinions how it feels to Carowinds. I went to SFOG long ago and just looking for some honest thoughts about the park. I appreciate it. I have been reading the post for this for a long time so I get the gist of it all. But just want some more feedback

 

I recently visited both parks literally back to back. Went to Carowinds on Friday and Saturday, then SFOG on Sunday and Monday. You said you wanted honest thoughts...

 

SFOG is nice and definitely better than other SF parks, but I still think Carowinds is a vastly better park. It's more than just rides: Cedar Fair parks are just more well-run. The food lines are actually manageable, food service is always good and efficient, the food itself is better (ya'll have Harmony Hall!). Operations are better at Carowinds. You can pretty much expect all coasters to be running at Carowinds any day throughout the summer. I greatly prefer Carowinds and honestly almost every other Cedar Fair park to SFOG, expect maybe Dorney or CGA.

 

However, I do think SFOG's ride line-up is more well-rounded. At Carowinds, there is a pretty large drop off after the "big 4." There are several bad coasters at Carowinds: Hurler, Vortex, Nighthawk, Cyclone... they're all mediocre-to-bad coasters. At SFOG, I don't think there is a bad coaster in the park. I enjoyed all of them and they have some excellent "underdogs" like Mind Bender, DDD, and Blue Hawk (I'm sure you read my post above). There are some slight advantages to SFOG, but overall I would much rather visit Carowinds again. It's just a less frustrating experience. Six Flags does some things well, but a lot of their operations and services just make you roll your eyes and say "I wish I were at Carowinds" lol.

 

Sorry if that seemed negative. You asked for honest. I really do like both parks, but Carowinds is just so much less stressful to visit. And, well, Fury. Yeah. Fury...

 

Luckily the parks aren't *that* far from each other! (at least from the perspective of us west-coast people)

 

No i appreciate it, It does help

 

And you could also argue that as coaster enthusiasts, all that really matters is the top 3-4 anyway. It would be awesome if there were parks out there that had 8-9 top tier coasters outside of CP and SFMM, but for the most part, if you're lucky, its a few awesome coasters, with a bunch of kiddie coasters, aging older generation coasters, and coasters that missed the mark. And as an enthusiast, you can still make a great day out of it by collecting all the credits, and focusing on getting re-rides on the top tier coasters (and checking out the quality flats, flume, drop towers, shows, and other stuff if you wish). If you do all that, you probably don't have a lot o f time to get re-rides in on a park full top tier coasters. And once you go back to parks, at least I usually focus on the top 3-4, and maybe occasionally ride the lower tier stuff again.

 

So its fair to give Carowinds the edge if its top 4 stacks up with SFOG and the experience is obviously superior.

 

Its been years since I've been to Carowinds, but I just finished up with a trip to SFOG this weekend. The ride list itself is actually pretty good and under the radar. Pretty well balanced and tons to do. But it does have that Six Flags ickiness feel to it.

 

If you don't buy the Flash and you go on a Saturday or otherwise crowded day, you're looking at some pretty long lines to get on anything as the Flash takes up a lot of the capacity. But if you do buy the Flash and nobody goes, its worthless, as it only gets you up to the station, and the row lines get out of control. The employees just lack urgency and professionalism overall. The rides were constantly breaking down (one day I think every ride broke down at least once) and many of the issues were probably due to the employees not knowing how to operate the control panel. The food lines were out of control, and the one employee who would dish out food would just disappear unexpectedly. And they have that absurd bottle policy, where to get the free soda that you paid for with your pass, you need to lug around that comically oversized bottle the whole day, and climb over people to put it to the side every ride. I gave up and preferred being able to hawk empty seats to the soda. So to get ice water, you have to wait in line for a tiny cup.

 

All in all, I do enjoy the coasters there a lot. I just feel like when you go you're putting up with a cheap, Spirit Airlines type of experience for it. I completely agree that while CF doesn't necessarily have better rides than SF, it just feels more luxurious and you get a Delta or Jet Blue experience.

[Sportsdude360]

Has any demolition been done yet on Splashwater Falls? I ask because, here at Over Texas, they've already begun tearing ours down. Supposedly, either OG or OT may receive a Mack Power Splash as a replacement, but it's still speculation at this point. Apparently, SF only has one MPS in it's possession, which was originally headed to Dubai, but will now go to either of these two parks.