dmax11 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Superman is great for sure, The Joker is a solid coaster as is medusa. I agree completely on the animal sections of the park they need to redo it all phase out animal attractions slowly because a bunch of them are next to useless and the animals don't appear to be happy in many of them. I went today just got back its like idk the 5th time for me there this year probably? the usual issues I have with the park joker was up and down all morning and medusa was single training in the morning but fortunately by afternoon they had two trains back on and Joker sorted its issues out and was solid the rest of the day running two trains. Harley Quinn CC tested and actually opened for once albeit just running one train (i mean the 2nd is always there but they never loaded it) man that thing is noisy and rough i rode it just to see how it was and i think it might actually be worse than Kong and that is saying something! on the new Zamperla spinning coaster it looks for sure to be slated to go where the old elephant area is that was converted into a once or twice a month toyota off road buy our trucks attraction so for sure a good thing to add at an end of the park that draws nobody at all anymore because its rundown and mostly just a few random flat rides some working, some not and animal cages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAWKIN_coaster38 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 I also find it funny that other parks - like Fiesta Texas - ran major teaser campaigns for flat rides, while this is the second year in a row that SFDK has added a coaster with almost no teasing. In fact, I don't recall seeing ANY teasers for Batman last year. Honestly, I can't think of any legitimate teaser campaign the park has done. I think there might have been a few teasers or hints prior to Superman and Joker, but nothing on the level of what some of these other parks have done. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe they don't think their clientele would be interested? Now here’s my gripe with the park, and I’m sure this has been said a million times. The animal section is horrible. Now before I get into that let me preface it by saying I’m from San Diego and we have the best zoo quite arguably in the world and Seaworld. I literally felt bad for all of the animals there, it was the first time I’ve ever felt that way. The shows, the exhibits were just sad. My question is why is six flags continuing with this?? The answer in my head is they have special zoning laws where they can only build tall rides near the front of the park and hence if they get rid of all the animals 75% of the land is useless for a them park. Yes they do have zoning laws like that and yes, the height restriction towards the back of the park is pretty strict. But I don't think that's the only reason. Most of those animals have been there for years. They're used to their environment as it is. Getting rid of them or performing major refurb would most likely be more damaging to them than leaving things as they are. Plus, I've heard some keepers before say that elaborate scenery is more for the guests than the animals anyway. And doing all of that most likely wouldn't bring new guests to SFDK. Also, SFDK has always marketed itself with "wildlife, wild rides" type marketing campaigns, so I think they would lose a lot if they 100% switched to a rides-only park. Not to mention all the behind the scenes tours and experiences the park offers. Just last visit I saw a group of about 10-12 people on one of the behind the scenes tours. At $45-50 a pop you can easily do the math and figure out how much they made in that 90 minutes. I agree completely on the animal sections of the park they need to redo it all phase out animal attractions slowly because a bunch of them are next to useless and the animals don't appear to be happy in many of them. Tell me about your years of experience with zoo care and animal behavior. I'd love to hear more about how useless the exhibits are and how you know the animals are unhappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyboy13 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 Tell me about your years of experience with zoo care and animal behavior. I'd love to hear more about how useless the exhibits are and how you know the animals are unhappy. Seriously. Everyone on the internet thinks they're an expert lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 ^ Not just the Internet, I ran into someone at Silverwood who talked my ear off in line. Turns out he is an expert in nuclear engineering (the radiation from Fukushima will kill all the fish in the Pacific Ocean within 3 years) and roller coasters (steel coasters are less safe than wood coasters because they legally don't need to be inspected). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joelwee Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 I also find it funny that other parks - like Fiesta Texas - ran major teaser campaigns for flat rides, while this is the second year in a row that SFDK has added a coaster with almost no teasing. In fact, I don't recall seeing ANY teasers for Batman last year. Honestly, I can't think of any legitimate teaser campaign the park has done. I think there might have been a few teasers or hints prior to Superman and Joker, but nothing on the level of what some of these other parks have done. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe they don't think their clientele would be interested? Magic Mountain doesn't do much teasing either. Maybe it's a California thing. CraZanity came completely out of left field with zero hints. For WCR, the park posted there would be a major ride announcement, but offered no hints on what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INF199 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Does anyone know the Fright Fest mazes at SFDK? On their site it says NEW: Demons Lair and Scarecrows Hollow. Are these the only mazes or are there more. I bought the Fright Fest wristband and now wondering if it was even worth it. Also their page says Monday, October 8 is a non Fright Fest product (OCT 8 is Tuesday). So I’m wondering if this is even the right page because I can’t seem to find anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INF199 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 How dead is this thread lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdcon Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 How dead is this thread lol As much as I love this site, sadly Ifeel like this whole site is slowly dying. I am probably wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAWKIN_coaster38 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 How dead is this thread lol Not to toot my own horn but this thread hasn't been the same since I moved out of the area. I visited the park pretty often and would make a point to post frequent updates and photo TRs. If you don't believe me, look back to 2015-summer 2016 for comparison. I've never understood why but other people just don't post photo TRs or updates about this park nearly as often as other parks even when there is construction and other things happening at SFDK. EDIT: I realize Joker construction did help keep the conversation/interest flow during that time, but this was happening even before that. As much as I love this site, sadly Ifeel like this whole site is slowly dying. I am probably wrong though. I've been feeling that way too. Maybe there's just too many people moving over to Facebook feeling disinterested in online forums the more they surf on their phones rather than desktop/laptop computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireandBlood91 Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 I plan on taking a trip to Discovery Kingdom next Friday for the first time. The park is open from 5-10 for Fright Fest I'm assuming. What is a good game plan once I get into the park? Also, I bought the all season maze pass at Magic Mountain, will it work for Discovery Kingdom? Is there any good hotels that are kinda halfway between CGA and SFDK for $100 or less? Any tips are greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAWKIN_coaster38 Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 I plan on taking a trip to Discovery Kingdom next Friday for the first time. The park is open from 5-10 for Fright Fest I'm assuming. What is a good game plan once I get into the park? Also, I bought the all season maze pass at Magic Mountain, will it work for Discovery Kingdom? Is there any good hotels that are kinda halfway between CGA and SFDK for $100 or less? Any tips are greatly appreciated! I usually do the left-side coasters first (Joker, Superman, V2, Batman) but so do most other guests. The lines will clear out more when the mazes start and also closer to closing. However, the launch coasters and Joker tend to break down more and they don't always open with the park. When you walk up see what's testing and gauge it that way. Go to whatever is running. The park is smaller but maze lines can get a bit long so it might be tough to do everything in 5 hours. You could spring for the maze VIP if you really want to do them and that helps cut lines a bit for those. I don't think the maze pass works at all SF parks, just the one you got it for, but I could be wrong. Check it out on your membership portal and see if it says. I don't know any hotels but the area between SFDK and CGA (Vallejo and Oakland specifically and also parts of San Jose) isn't the best and you might want to think twice before jumping onto the first cheap hotel you find. Have you ever tried Air Bnb? You might be able to find some cheaper places that are better. But again, just be careful about the neighborhoods you book. Have fun! Take some pictures and let us know how it goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) I plan on taking a trip to Discovery Kingdom next Friday for the first time. The park is open from 5-10 for Fright Fest I'm assuming. What is a good game plan once I get into the park? Also, I bought the all season maze pass at Magic Mountain, will it work for Discovery Kingdom? Is there any good hotels that are kinda halfway between CGA and SFDK for $100 or less? Any tips are greatly appreciated! I've never stayed here, but Dublin seems to be your best bet based on the location you're looking for since there are a bunch of hotels there and it's kind of between the parks. This place seems to fit the bill and the area looks fine on Street View. It's a Holiday Inn, it'll be perfectly acceptable. Don't overthink it. Edited September 26, 2019 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 I plan on taking a trip to Discovery Kingdom next Friday for the first time. The park is open from 5-10 for Fright Fest I'm assuming. What is a good game plan once I get into the park? Also, I bought the all season maze pass at Magic Mountain, will it work for Discovery Kingdom? Is there any good hotels that are kinda halfway between CGA and SFDK for $100 or less? Any tips are greatly appreciated! I live in Hayward which is almost in between both parks, though I'm a bit closer to Great America. I would suggest looking at hotels in Emeryville, Oakland, Hayward, Union City, Newark, or Fremont. As I listen the cities going left to right, you get closer to Great America. Six Flags requires you to cross a bridge so I recommend getting that out the way and staying in the cities I listed. Without traffic from my city I get to Six Flags at about 45mins-hour. Great America is only like 25-35 minutes, I drive a little fast though Dublin is great too as Coasterbill stated but Dublin is about 15-60 minutes out the way East depending on traffic. Unfortunately, going that way can have the worse traffic in the area if you plan on hitting the parks on a weekday. That whole are is full of affordable homes so you have everyone driving towards San Fran & Oakland in the mornings for work, then it's just as bad when everyone heads back in the afternoons. You'll be fine on the weekends though it's just about 15-20 minutes out the way from N880 freeway that would lead you to both parks. Edit: I forgot the parks are only open on weekends now but so my traffic warning would only apply if you go on Fridays. I'm not sure how Sixflags FF is now as I actually stopped going due to them running it horribly a few times. If they still do wristbands, get those right away. I remember having to wait almost an hour one time due to them having only one person at each wristband booth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 How dead is this thread lol As much as I love this site, sadly Ifeel like this whole site is slowly dying. I am probably wrong though. TPR is still very active in the world of facebook groups. There's just nothing exciting going on at SFDK. I went almost 10 years between visits from Los Angeles because the bay area didn't offer anything compelling until RailBlazer and Joker were added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INF199 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I went yesterday and it was pretty packed. All the main rides were running. Harley Quinn was down until a few hours into the day, then it was constantly running. V2 had about a 10-15 min wait. Joker was around 30 min. Superman and Batman had long lines so skipped those. Medusa had a bigger line as well, not sure what the wait time would be. SFDK still does the wristbands. We had purchased online and redeemed them early on. The lines were really long around 6pm so definitely get those as early as possible. Shipwreck was probably the worst maze. It had 3-4 actors with a kinda small line but long wait time. By the time we got towards the front, then sent groups of 10 so that kills the thrill as well. St Hades Hospital was probably the best haunted maze Ive been too. The scares were great and the maze was really well done well imo. St Hades Hospital and Demons Lair are both next to each other and they had the shortest wait times. Its kinda hidden so maybe people couldn’t find it. Carnevil had the longest line but that maze was really good as well. All in all, we had a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOG1991 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 How dead is this thread lol The forums have died and even Robb/TPR has alluded to it. The new Facebook Groups option is further suffocating out the threads. My only suggestion if they want to “fight” progress is to somehow make the site Google login capable and post social media content that directs to the forum. I remember when there would be dozens of new posts in the forum every hour and now it’s Sunday evening and there have been like 3 in the last hour. Oh well though. I’m still holding out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 It sounds like you had a good trip. It's too bad about Shipwreck, that was my son's favorite one. I love the location, but I always thought they could have done more with the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsupercity Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I much prefer this site to reddit or facebook. Rob and the team do a good job of keeping the crazy's out while on facebook my head expodes after 10 comments lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasBaby Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I much prefer this site to reddit or facebook. Rob and the team do a good job of keeping the crazy's out while on facebook my head expodes after 10 comments lol Agreed, I'm still a big fan of this site and hope that the people who make it great will still continue to post. The quality of the posts and comments is just so much better than any other theme park related site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) TPR is still very active in the world of facebook groups. There's just nothing exciting going on at SFDK. This. The lack of discussion in this thread is probably more telling of our excitement level towards this park right now than anything else. They've made a lot of nice moves lately but there's still not much to discuss without any Discovery Kingdom locals actively posting about it. Edited September 30, 2019 by coasterbill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtEvansSnowboarder Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice for this weekend. I'm coming into town for business Sunday morning and plan to drive south to Santa Cruz first to visit the boardwalk. Then, driving to DK with the goal of riding Batman, V2, Harley Quinn, Joker, Medusa, & Superman. What is the opinion on a Flash Pass level, will the park be busy enough to justify a pass or not? Traveling from Colorado I don't visit parks as often as I used to so I'm alright with going with a platinum pass for the visit. I'm open to suggestions and appreciate everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark549 Posted October 22, 2019 Share Posted October 22, 2019 Went on Friday. Haven't been for a little while. the main "new" thing is almost the entire parking lot is now a construction site for the overhead solar panel system. It will be great on hot sunny days and rainy times. One oddity - the solar array is nearly flat (most arrays are closer to the angle of latitude) and aimed to the west more than the south. The parking lot is sloped that way but solar panels work best when aimed to the south. Joker and Medusa had short lines until sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtEvansSnowboarder Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Thank you for the info, with regard to the Flash Pass, I'm presuming that is something that I could buy once in the park and see what the lines are like first hand? (I haven't visited a 6 Flags park in probably 8 years, so please forgive me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domm Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 Thank you for the info, with regard to the Flash Pass, I'm presuming that is something that I could buy once in the park and see what the lines are like first hand? (I haven't visited a 6 Flags park in probably 8 years, so please forgive me). for sure, just gauge it when you get there and take a look around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark549 Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 I-80, the main highway around SFDK, is closed just south of the park due to a new fire. Much scarier than some actors pretending to be zombies. https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/vallejo-fire-cal-maritime-sig-alert-14566182.php the park's online schedule says they're open today (?!?) but not tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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