Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

I saw it operate for one hour during a visit late in 2018.  And the whole park knew it was operating between the ride's loud scream and the screams of pain from riders.

[grsupercity]

New for La Ronde in 2023...

[Canobie Coaster]

Looks like Ride Entertainment has a used skywarp available for sale for immediate delivery from California.  I'm almost certain this is Harley Quinn.

I'm surprised they went with an animation over actual ride footage, but I'm guessing footage of the ride operating was rare.  And the video is quieter with that background music than it would be if the ride were actually running.

The one weird thing with the animation is that it shows the ride operating with just one half of the train.  Maybe that's just an accidental omission in the animation?

 

[thrillseeker4552]

I'm actually a bit surprised they are selling it. It must have a dirt cheap price tag for anyone to pick this up...

[coasterbill]

Weird about the one ride vehicle... it's almost as-if they realized that forcing the park that bought it to needlessly hire at least one additional employee to staff a second station at all times that exists for no reason was a feature that nobody wanted.

[disownedpear]

 

Damn no more combined speed of 70mph. 

 

 

[coasterbill]

Friendly reminder that daily ops start Friday! Daily ops at California's Great America start... never.

Was this just a cheap excuse to rip on Cedar Fair some more? The world may never know.

[ryder]

I was just at this park a few days ago, and it's super disappointing that it 1) still requires reservations  2) every single flat ride is closed (exception for Penguin and some kiddie rides), and 3) most shows were not performing, including the Odin's Temple.

Harley Quinn is still standing.  Superman and Wonder Woman never opened as far as I saw, but left by around 2, because there was literally nothing left to do.  Plus, it was super hot.  Also, does The Flash: Vertical Velocity ever operate anymore?  The last 3 times I've been at this park, it's never been open and usually undergoing heavy maintenance.  Didn't see any progress on the site of the new coaster.

The only perks were that it did have an open Freestyle Coke machine (SFMM still has not opened theirs), and the food on mobile ordering was surprisingly fairly efficient--though it may have been more luck, haha.  Also, wasn't very crowded... but can't say I'm surprised when they still require reservations for a park that barely has anything open.

[jray21]

Thanks for the heads up.  We're going next week, we won't expect much now.  

[DBru]

I was there last Monday and the Flash's train wasn't even on the track. (It was the same situation when I visited in Fall of 2018.)

[grsupercity]

So I have finally got Six Flagsed. I have always had good and fun experiences with the brand. I was always the one in their corner rooting for them. Well my perception has changed a little....I looked into flying from Michigan to San Francisco to visit Great American and Discovery Kingdom. The weekend I wanted to fly showed both parks open. Intentions were to fly in Friday Morning and visit Six Flags. California's Great America would be the next day Saturday and we would fly back to Michigan Sunday Morning. I checked the websites a week later and both parks were showing open. I bought the Great America tickets for Saturday. Went to Discovery Kingdoms website and the park showed open and let me purchase tickets for Friday. I then bought the plane tickets, reserved a car and booked the hotel. Fast forward a few weeks later and I go back to Discovery Kingdoms website to look into flash passes and now that day is showing closed. After a few emails and phone messages they finally email me back and confirmed the park is closed on the day of my visit now since they changed their operating schedule. They removed every Friday out of February. I explained to them that I booked a whole trip around visiting the park on that Friday. They told me because of the circumstances that they will issue me a new ticket for any day since my current ticket is dated that Friday. I explain to them that traveling back from Michigan in the next year realistically not an option. After many back and forths they are still refusing to refund my tickets. So I guess all the way from Michigan to Cali just for Great America. Have a six flags day

[SharkTums]

^Ugh, sorry to hear that. We ran into a very similar issue with SFFT!  I thought we were already past all the schedule cuts but I guess not.

[CedarFlags]

Every Six Fflags park is wiping the floor with every Cedar Fair park for Pride Month stuff.

[moviemansig]

Here is a trip report for Saturday.  Sidewinder Safari experienced a delay in operation while I was in line for it.  You could hear the sound of birds chirping, although I don't think there were actual birds.  The ride was fun with twists and u-turns, although bumpier than I anticipated.  Starting in the afternoon, the lines moved slowly.  Thrilla Gorilla and The Flash: Vertical Velocity were closed.

[swfan1988]

Hi Everyone!

Next up on my quick NorCal trip was Budget Busch Gardens Six Flags Discovery Kingdom! Coming off a little disappointed with CGA this park surprised me in that liked it better. Not THAT much better, but a little better none the less. It might be a lower quality Busch-esque park but I appreciated the uniqueness.

What is is with NorCal parks and weird entrances. At CGA you have to walk around there amphitheater, and at SFDK you have to walk past like half the park to get to the gate. Can't you like move the entrance a little? Oh well, doesn't matter. Here's the coasters as best I can remember.

The big standout was Medusa for me. Having ridden Superman and Patriot, I hadn't really had a floorless that stuck well with me. I was surprised that I enjoyed this ride a lot actually. The sea serpent roll was unique. It wasn't rough, and all around a solid looping coaster. I think this ride tends to get overshadowed and forgotten about in many floorless discussions now days. I'm also gonna ride Kraken later this year and I'm curious how it holds up against that.

Joker was down or busy most of the day so I only got one ride in. While I thought it was fun for an I-box, I can definitely see why it isn't the highest regarded. I don't think it's a bad ride by any means, but it just doesn't hold up against other rides RMC has made. It's focus on inversions is unique but I think there were some missed opportunities for a more exciting ride. I really like the Joker/funhouse theme as I feel like it's one of the better expressions of this theme at the Six Flags parks.

Another ride that was fit or miss all day was Flash:V2. I was curious about this ride having never ridden one of these Intamin Impulses. I really liked the launches, and the 45 degree spike was a nice twist on an otherwise uninteresting layout. I think I'd rather have these than Sky Rocket II's, but I can also see why we didn't get more of them.

The rest of the lineup did the following for me:

- Sidewinder Safari: Broken

- Kong: POS

- Boomerang: "eh"

- Cobra: Didn't ride

- Superman: I'm sorry but I'm not waiting an hour in line for a Sky Rocket II

- Batman: POS (Hate those free spins!)

I think that's it...I'm not too worried about kiddie coasters at this point in my life.

Outside of a relatively weak coaster lineup, the rest of the park came across as a mishmash of "Six Flags stuff" and animals. The animals were to my surprise actually pretty well presented. I thought there would be more "old zoo/safari park" vides with the exhibits but most (especially the ones that looked like they had been redone in recent years, were actually quite nice. Not top notch stuff necessarily, but much better than I was expecting.

Part of me is kinda surprised that Six Flags never removed the animals. They must be something of a draw since I always seem to here that animals are expensive to take care of especially in settings like this. Plus the park is pretty full from a development standpoint, so I'm curious as to why some exhibits haven't been sacrificed for more rides.

Overall, I thought this was a fine park. No burning desire to go back, but what I would expect from a mid-tier (pre-merger) Six Flags. A couple good rides, a lot of mediocre ones, and "Six Flags stuff". The animals were a nice bonus that made the park special. I'm curious to see what direction this park goes with additions or if some CGA stuff migrates over eventually.

The final park on my short trip was one that I threw in as a bonus initially, and walked away from pleasantly surprised! See you guys then!

[scars]

We are flying to the west coast in June and I am currently looking for tickets, planning one day SFDD and then 2 days SFMM. Does the Diamond Pass in SFDD include parking and early entry at SFMM?