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I've only been to Six Flags over Texas and Six Flags Great America. I visited Great America before X-flight was built and before New Texas Giant was built. At that time I would say Great America, but Six Flags over Texas wins between the two with New Texas Giant (probably even with X-Flight at SFGAm). If I visit Six Flags Great America this year, that could easily change.

 

However, I'd say Six Flags Great Adventure wins on overall appeal of the park fairly easily with me. Six Flag Magic Mountain looks second best in my opinion (far from number one), with Great America (2014) in third, Over Texas in fourth and Over Georgia in fifth.

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I've been to New England, Great Adventure, Great Escape, Over Georgia, America, and Magic Mountain (and Darien Lake when they still owned it). For 18 years of my life, SFNE/Riverside Park has been my homepark. I've been there hundreds of time, know it inside and out, and will pretty much always love the place no matter what. I think because of my bias and history towards it, I can't really vouch for how well SFNE would come across as for a first-time/infrequent visitor.

 

So if I would have to pick the best Six Flags park, of the ones I've been to, it has to be Great Adventure. It has a great coaster collection, decent flat ride collection, great selection for families, thrill seekers, and children; very nice midways, animals, shade. Over Georgia would be a close second for similar reasons, and the Great Escape and Magic Mountain would make third though for completely different reasons. I've been dying to go to SFGAm, and based on the results of this thread (and a little wooden coaster they're getting this year), I need to get there faster.

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From the looks of it, it seems that SFOG is one of the Six Flags parks that's just simply out of the way for most enthusiasts. It is a wonderful park and has been the only SF park I've been to. Hopefully, I can get out to SFGAm this year.

 

I think SFOG has 2 big problems when it comes to attracting enthusiasts. The first is that they're really the only big park in the area. SFOG is a good distance from the Florida parks and 4 hours from Carowinds and Dollywood. This makes it harder for enthusiasts to plan vacations around that park. Not to mention Atlanta isn't a huge tourist city compared to others either.

 

The second problem is there's no BIG draw to southeast parks compared to other regions. I mean SFOG's main draw is Goliath. The coaster has a great reputation but the problem is there's no reason to make this a priority considering a lot of other Six Flags parks have a B & M hyper. Not to mention Dollywood's main draw is a woodie that's ranked behind the Northeast ones and Carowinds has Intimidator and Afterburn but neither are the priority for their type of coaster.

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I've been to every Six Flags except for St. Louis, Great America, the Texas parks, and Mexico.

 

Overall, in terms of being able to have the best day as a whole, I'd say New England slightly over Great Adventure, but a few years ago, I would've said New England without a doubt. But, in recent years, they've really been becoming less and less "well-rounded". Just in the past couple of years, they've done away with way too many flat rides, including Nightwing (George Foreman Grill), Rodeo (Huss Breakdance), Time Warp, SWAT, etc. The sh*t your pants star flyer they're adding this year was definitely a great move, though. Their waterpark is honestly one of the best waterparks I've been to, and the fact that it's free makes it even better. The park as a whole also has a refreshingly unique collection of coasters, including BTDK, Cyclone, Bizarro, and Goliath. However, they really need to do something about Bizarro. I know it's been said a million times, but the trains just drag through the course. I don't know what kind of modifications are structurally feasible since I'm not an engineer, but if they could add an elevator lift to increase speed going into the course, or if Intamin can just build another set of original megacoaster trains, that would be great.

 

Great Adventure is really awesome, too, but they could really benefit from some kind of modern flat ride additions. Maybe a Screamin' Swing, giant pendulum ride, just something to give more options. Their coaster collection speaks for itself, though.

 

 

Since everyone's also mentioning the worst Six Flags parks, my pick would probably be the typical Six Flags America. The park is just really thrown together and the last time that I went, operations were just awful. Most coasters were taking minutes to dispatch and the employees seemed more interested in joking around with each other than entertaining guests or maximizing operations. All that said, Superman Ride of Steel is an awesome coaster that nobody ever seems to talk about. The airtime is crazy and it's developed an "Intamin rattle" in the best possible way, making it feel crazy fast, even in the straightaways. I'd probably rather ride it than Bizarro right now.

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Six flags Fiesta Texas. Best scenery ever. Great theming. (For the most part) as long as the fix stuff up. Love SFGAm as well. SFFT has the greatest character though. Hope they can keep it up. Nice mix of coasters. Everything from a great mine train to a cookie cutter Boomerang to a custom B&M floor less and a premier speghetti bowl coaster. The park had a lot to offer.

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Of the parks I've been to...

 

1. SFGAm - probably the most complete Six Flags park with it's excellent flat ride collection amidst a solid coaster lineup.

2. SFOG - stellar coaster lineup in a very nice and shade filled park.

3. SFStL - probably one of the more unusual layouts for a park it does add to the charm. Three excellent wood coasters and nice shade filled areas.

4. SFGAdv - another very nice shade filled park, very good coaster lineup but sorely needing more flats to round out the park.

5. SFDK - was Marine World when I was there in 2001 it definitely felt a bit more family friendly with all the animal exhibits.

6. SFMM - while having several very good coasters the park did not feel inviting, seemed dirty, and employees seemed like they didn't care (from my 2001 visit).

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The three I've been to, Great America, New England, and not so great America. And yes for me, I rank Great America at the top of those. Even though I haven't been since 2007, they had a great collection of coasters and flats. To top it off, they had the best atmosphere as well. New England is another great park, but I only got to spend three hours at the park, having two of those hours waiting in line for Bizarro and BDK. I'd like to go back and visit again so I could get more credits in. I don't have to explain why SFA is at the bottom of my list...

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The only ones I've been to are Great Adventure, New England, America, Magic Mountain, Great Escape and the defunct Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.

 

Great Adventure is the clear cut favorite for me. Their coaster collection is one of the best in the word, and while the park is FAR from perfect the coasters always make up for the flaws (the lack of flat rides which they do seem to be working on, the inconsistent theming. the dead ends, some really ugly areas, all of the ads and the fact that you feel like they're shaking you down for money all day). When you have great coasters like Nitro, Batman, Kingda Ka and El Toro nothing else really matters.

 

Magic Mountain would probably be my second favorite but it's worth pointing out that the only 2 times we've been there we were running around all day riding coasters and didn't have a chance to stop and notice any flaws the park had. Just to give you an idea... the only non coaster rides we've ever ridden at that park in 2 full day visits are Jet Stream, the Sky Tower and Lex Luthor.

 

New England is the closest major park to me and this park has been in a steady decline since about 2005. The park used to be beautiful (by Six Flags standards) with friendly employees and a lot of great non coaster rides. They've removed a lot of rides and areas that made them unique and replaced them with a lot of ugly rides / areas or just empty pads with no regard for theming whatsoever. Bizarro has also declined a lot over the last few years and is a shadow of it's former self... luckily the park did add Goliath which is a great coaster even though it's horribly misplaced in the park and it replaced a great family attraction when there were tons of other places they could have put it. The thing that really annoys me about this park though is that they have the worst employees of any park I've ever been to. They're extremely rude to the guests and extremely slow at dispatching trains. They're very eager to let you know how much they hate their jobs.

 

Great Escape is actually a very nice park but the slow operations and lack of any major thrill rides put it behind New England for me. The park isn't bad at all, but it just doesn't appeal to thrill seekers (Comet is obviously an exception here).

 

Six Flags America is obviously the worst park in the chain. I don't need to beat this dead horse any more but I absolutely hate this place.

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I've so far only been to three parks: Great Adventure, America, and Over Georgia.

 

Great Adventure, NJ - 200?: Can't remember when exactly I went but it was before Kingda Ka and El Toro. I was still young but I remember it was a lot of fun, and this was the first time I went on a ride that had inversions (GASM). I'll say this was the best park even though I didn't get on that many rides, it was just a fun experience.

America, MD - 2009: Okay, this park could've been a lot better. Some of it's reputation has to do with the location. It's like that cousin you never talk to, but they're always asking you to see them. We basically had a free day here from the discounts we got, and most folk were in the waterpark. Superman was the highlight of course, but even that was just a pretty good coaster. Some rides weren't even open that day for no real reason I could see. I did ride my first SLC clone, Superman, and flying coaster. Really wanted to ride that log flume. Oh, and on that cow rodeo ride the ride op had to clean this big girl threw up and almost hit us. The ride op had to clean it up, and on his last day too.

Over Georgia, GA - 2011: Unfortunately, this was during spring break so I couldn't ride Goliath(3.5 hour line), S:UF(4 hour line), or much else. I feel like it was kind of a wasted experience, not to mention we had been close by for a wedding the summer before. It was a great park even with all the crowds but, really hope to get back here as well so I can basically have another chance. I did see two ladies fight in line though, so not a complete waste.

Out of these three Great Adventure is the best.

Parks I really want to visit: Great America, and Over Texas.

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I've been to SFGAdv, SFGAm, SFOG, SFOT, SFFT, SFStl, SFMM and SFNE. Here's how I'd rank them:

 

1. SFGAdv - I just love their collection of coasters. I'd put it up against any park in the country.

2. SFGAm - A great variety of rides and coasters. Pretty decent theming as well. It's always really clean, and the ride ops do a great job here. This was my "home" park growing up. Hoping Goliath will give the park its first must ride roller coaster.

3. SFOG - I've only been here once, but I really loved this park. Goliath is my favorite B&M Hyper, and everything else is a nice compliment. You can tell that this is one of the original parks, because there's actual theming. I need to get back here.

4. SFFT - I was really surprised by this park. If Iron Rattler had been open, I'd probably rank it higher. One of the coolest settings for a park that I've seen.

5. SFStl - It's a nice little park. They need a marquee ride to really put it on the map, but American Thunder, Mr. Freeze and Screamin' Eagle are all fun rides. I've actually had good luck with The Boss the last 2 seasons as well.

6. SFMM - Lots of roller coasters, but none of them are really "great". Tatsu is the best flyer I've been on, but beyond that, there's nothing here that really blows me away. Note - X2 has been closed both times I've visited the park.

7. SFOT - TPR had a bad day here last summer. I'm going back in May, so I'm hoping to have a better time. No NTAG or Shockwave last time I was there put a damper on things. I actually thought the park was pretty nice, but the employees were terrible and the park just seemed like it was in a funk following the NTAG accident.

8. SFNE - Not impressed. Mind you, I'm 6'6", so I wasn't allowed to ride Bizarro, Mind Eraser or Goliath (which was closed the day I was there anyway). I think I spent about 3 hours in the park. It was a very disappointing visit, and I'm not sure that I'll ever go out of my way to visit the park again.

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SFOG is my personal favorite by a pretty good margin. If I'm ranking the ones I've been to:

 

SFOG

SFGAdv

SFStl

SFGAm

(SFWoA)

SFA/SFNE

La Ronde

(SFKK)

 

I've yet to go to the Texas/Mexico/West Coast parks. I think SFMM would rank highly for me because I'm not offended if some kid employee probably working their first job doesn't look thrilled to be at work. If they want to smile at everyone like creeper cheshire cats and wish everything that moves a Six Flags Day, that's fine, and if they want to sit there texting and looking like they're on work release from the local county jail, I'm also ok with that. I'll go to SDC or Dollywood if I want to be charmed.

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Out of the four that I have been to:

 

1. Great America - Good collection of rides, good staff and clean.

2. Fiesta Texas - Awesome location for a park.

3. St. Louis - Nice little park with a pretty good GCII.

4. Over Texas - What can I say that hasn't been said by most people on the TX/MW Trip already? This could be a really good park.

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Its so hard for me to pick a "Best Six Flags Park" each park I have been to has things that stand out that make it better than the others... With that being said I can NOT pick just one, so I have two best:

1.) Six Flags Over Texas: I may be a bit more forgiving with this park since it is my home park. Sure the employees seem rather... Out of it? 90% of the time. But the park has a nice mix of attractions. I can never get enough of NTG. Titan, Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast, Batman, Shockwave. . . They are all amazing rides. I enjoy the "Feel" this park has over all the other Six Flags parks... But it could just be because I have spent so much time there.

1.) Six Flags Great Adventure: The staff in this park is AMAZING!!! After an awful experience with Kingda Ka being down (big shocker there) and being the next to board the coaster. Hours passed, we waited, the park closed, we waited... Kingda Ka never reopened... (Shock) So the management led us over to El Toro for several night rides. This park the staff makes the difference. You can tell that they truly love their job.

 

---

 

On a side note I absolutely HATE SFFT, and refuse to return to the park. A mixture of really bad staff, and bad experiences makes me hate the park. Not to mention they really do not have any attractions that make the drive to the park worth it for me. I guess I've been spoiled with NTG... but even iRat does not make the drive to the park worth it. Sorry not sorry SFFT. . .

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I wonder how many people who hate on SFMM have actually been to the park or just hate on it cause it's the thing to do. People act like they perform baby eating rituals at MM or something.

 

I have been to the park dozens of times and I live two hours away, so I can hate on it as much as I want to.

 

Plus, I don't like the park due to my own experiences, not because of a bandwagon effect.

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I wonder how many people who hate on SFMM have actually been to the park or just hate on it cause it's the thing to do. People act like they perform baby eating rituals at MM or something.

 

Uh I've been going to SFMM at least once a year for like 25 years. It used to be a pretty good park and now it's awful. I honestly can't spend more than four hours there.

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I wonder how many people who hate on SFMM have actually been to the park or just hate on it cause it's the thing to do. People act like they perform baby eating rituals at MM or something.

 

I've only been once so I cant give the best review of the place, but when I went I just remember it being a generally unpleasant place. Granted, X2 was down so it kinda sucks not being able to get on the premiere attraction, but if your entire visit relies entirely on one ride thats not good either.

 

I remember it not being the cleanest park in the world and the overall atmosphere being ugly...lots of barren, un-landscaped areas, and a lot of unsavory guests. I did get a FlashPass but on rides it wasnt good for, the lines crawled. To me a good amusement park should be pleasant to be in even if all the rides were gone...I would not want to spend any more time than I had to at Magic Mountain, which I saw as a big slab of concrete in the desert.

 

I will say that I enjoyed Scream and Goliath more than most people seem to. But the rest wasnt anything great IMO.

 

On another note, it looks like I definitely need to visit Great America and Fiesta Texas.

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One thing I noted about SFGADv that no one ever mentions...the park is BEAUTIFUL. Almost the entire place, especially the center of the park, lies in a forest with huge trees, and there's the big lake on the backside. Nitro especially has a setting that's nice enough for me to rank it over SFOG's Goliath.

 

And for comparison...I would say Great Adventure is prettier than...Hershey, Dorney, SFA, Cedar Point, SFOG and many others.

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Really? I've been to Great Adventure 3 times and thought the only pretty places were the Lakeside area and the Fantasy Forest area... What was once Movietown is horrible looking. The Boardwalk looks like it should, I suppose, good themeing there, but kind of ugly as a lot of boardwalks are. The frontier area has had most of it's themeing removed over the years....

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I've been to most of the Six Flags Parks (Only missing SFA, SFOG, & Mexico). This is how I'd rank them.

 

1. Six Flags Great America - I love this park. It has a great balance of coasters, flat rides, water rides, and more. All they're missing is a dark ride. Plus, they're getting a RMC Woody, which are amazing.

 

2. Six Flags Great Adventure - EL TORO!!! That plus other fun coasters and some of the best operations in the Six Flags Chain with many rides running three trains.

 

3. Six Flags New England - I really liked this park. Lots of good rides (including Bizzaro) in a nice setting.

 

4. Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Great setting by the Quarry with a nice balance of coasters, flat rides, and they've even got a dark ride here. Just an overall really fun park.

 

5. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - Shamu...I mean Shouka. The animals are cool and some of the coasters are cool.

 

6. Six Flags St Louis - I liked this park and all. It was balanced with some good coasters, flat rides, and even a dark ride. I think it was the extreme heat that put the park off for me, that or they just need a new coaster.

 

7. Great Escape - This does not feel like a Six Flags park at all. It feels very much like a family park with a fantastic wooden coaster that was just fun to hang around.

 

8. Six Flags Magic Mountain - I have a little bit of a soft spot for this park due to my history with the park and really like some of their coasters. But I do not like the direction they're going in. Really wish Jay Thomas was back at the park.

 

9. Six Flags Over Texas - Maybe years ago, this was the best park in the chain, but it certainly wasn't anywhere NEAR the top based on their performance last year. Operations were attrocious, nobody working there seemed to know what they were doing, there plenty of dumb rules in the park, I barely was able to get all the (open) credits WITH a Gold Flashpass, and hearing that someone fell out of your best ride the day after you visit does NOT do you any favors.

 

10. La Ronde - This park may have some good coasters, a nice setting, and available booze, but the terrible operations, uncleanliness, and lack if a damn about customer service really makes me strongly dislike the park.

Edited by XII
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I wouldn't say Great Adventure is better looking than Cedar Point but it is a very beautiful park. The only area I think needs a great amount of improving is Movie Town. Great Adventure has the best coaster collection I've ever seen and the operations are always pretty good for the crowds they get. If the park were to add shows and more flat rides it would be light years above any other Six Flags park.

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I don't say it because of the theming or landscaping of it. It's because of the HUGE trees everywhere and how your view is mostly "Pretty forest and water", or "Amazing giant colorful rollercoaster skyline". And again, the whole hub and middle of the park is nice forest.

 

And I DO think it's an advantage when your park layout is the hub and spoke like Great Adventure. Park design has always been a modest factor in how I judge places as an overall. For instance, walking between Bizarro and Nitro at SFGADv VS walking from Sheikra to Cheetah Hunt at BGT or Maverick to Gatekeeper at CP. The latter two just FEEL like they take decades longer.

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Geauga Lake and Kentucky Kingdom are the only Six Flags parks I have been to besides Six Flags Great America. And both were in 1998 so even though Geauga Lake was owned by Premier that year, they were not rebranded yet and I remember a lot of people complaining about the park going downhill the next two years.

 

I need to get to more Six Flags parks but I like to imagine them all as nice as Great America.

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