Six Flags America: Thoughts
Last saturday I visited SFA. Overall I was dissapointed with this park. First of all the layout of the park was poorly designed and everything was cramed together. Many rides were not operating such as typhoon and many flatrides. S:ROS was only operating one train. JJ was running on and off all day. I dont mean to bash this park but is it always like this or did I catch it on an off day?
I went there 4/12/01. The Blue S:RoS train wasn't even to be seen on the matinance tracks, I don't know where it went! Tower of Doom only had 2 sides working! A kid blew chunks in the Roar Station! Mind Eraser had 1 train going. Joker's Jinx was broken the whole day, Superman broke down at 11:30 and didn't reopen, all of the ride operators and station crews were slow as crap and not safe about their work, Face-Off was broken! They are also advertising for Batwing which hasn't finished construction!
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Steel- 1.Millennuim Force
Wood- 1.The Beast
"We're not worthy, We're not worthy!"
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Steel- 1.Millennuim Force
Wood- 1.The Beast
"We're not worthy, We're not worthy!"
A lot of people have complained about SFA's "opening." I experienced the same thing in June last year, and was not pleased. I can overlook the chain break on Superman (have I mentioned?), but I'd like to think that when you go to a park that everything is going to be open.
Geauga Lake and Darien Lake tend to be the same way. So far, the only Six Flags park I've been to that actually opens their rides with the gates was Great America.
Do these parks have third shift mechanics or is the park a ghost town after midnight? If the latter is true, that's not a good way to keep your customers happy.
A certain large park has a great philosophy: Make opening day, closing day and every day exactly the same. That's how you run a park.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
Geauga Lake and Darien Lake tend to be the same way. So far, the only Six Flags park I've been to that actually opens their rides with the gates was Great America.
Do these parks have third shift mechanics or is the park a ghost town after midnight? If the latter is true, that's not a good way to keep your customers happy.
A certain large park has a great philosophy: Make opening day, closing day and every day exactly the same. That's how you run a park.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
XL-Force2000 said:
Joker's Jinx was broken the whole day, Superman broke down at 11:30 and didn't reopen,
Both of these rides opened later in the day. I heard that Joker's Jinx was running, so I got in line for it, and while in line S:ROS started running too. I can't remember what time they started running though.
I found SFA to be a nice park and I think it will be even better once Batwing opens.
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Joe Cernelli
Head Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com/
Hey wait just a minute. This makes me incredibly angry. Has no one read any of the trip reports from the last week for Six Flags America? If you read mine you would've read where I praised the park for opening on a day where it was pouring down rain and miserably cold. They had everything running except for two water rides and two flat rides. It was so cold and wet that no one would've ridden the water rides anyway. I went there again on Saturday and again they had everything running except for one water ride and one flat ride. As for the ops being slow, it's early in the season. Joker's Jinx and Typhoon Seacoaster have been mechanical nightmares from the get-go. Should they be returned where we got them from? Maybe. As for the Batwing advertising, King's Dominion is also advertising a ride that isn't operating, most of the time. Should they not advertise the ride? How will get people excited for it? I'm sorry you don't like the layout. I for one think it's great, because you never have to walk far for any given ride. Kennywood is also crammed, but I don't here anybody talking about that. The ride is called Two-Face, Face-Off is at King's Island. And please stop comparing every park to Cedar Point. Both Turbo Drops broke on Power Tower while I was there, should have I asked for my money back? When will people realize that most parks will never be able to compete at that level? SFA is a small park for god's sake and it's only 3 years old (as a Six Flags anyway).
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 4/18/2001. *** *** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 4/18/2001. ***
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 4/18/2001. *** *** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 4/18/2001. ***
And one more thing, the Seacoaster is incredibly fun. Designed by Intamin, it's a long ride (7:00) that is similar to a log flume and it also has some darkride elements. The big difference between this and a log flume is 3 turntables that rotate the boats during the ride. After the first lift the boat is turned backwards, drops and then it goes over a small hill. Believe it or not, I heard that this is where many people have had to be walked down. It is quite freaky dropping backwards on a boat ride.
I-Fan: Good for you, glad everything met your expectations. Don't get angry because they didn't meet the expectations of others. It's not your fault, really.
I doubt very much that my experience was an isolated incident. Don't get me wrong, I like the rides the park has, I just wish I could have been on more of them. Several flat rides I haven't seen before were closed, not to mention the SLC (no loss there).
And who said anything about Cedar Point? No one did, but I guess subliminally we all know where the benchmark is for park operation.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
I doubt very much that my experience was an isolated incident. Don't get me wrong, I like the rides the park has, I just wish I could have been on more of them. Several flat rides I haven't seen before were closed, not to mention the SLC (no loss there).
And who said anything about Cedar Point? No one did, but I guess subliminally we all know where the benchmark is for park operation.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
Actually, every park is still chasing after the Disney Magic (TM), but I digress...
Anyway, to VILLIAN DUDE (an excelent coaster might I add), I too was there on Saturday (4-14) and I do not recall ANY ride DDM all day. Typhoon didnt open till like 4:30, S:ROSes blue train was MIA, and Mind Eraser only ran one train as well. Other than that though, I dont recall any other downtime. Even Iron Eagle ran all day (GASP!) Sorry, I just didnt notice all the things that you said. Could you be more specific about which flats were down? (if you dont remember the excat ride names use the generic name, I'll know what you mean)
Anyway, those that dont like the park, I'm sorry if you didnt have a great time. At least I know you wont be back in line in front of me.
lata,
jeremy
Anyway, to VILLIAN DUDE (an excelent coaster might I add), I too was there on Saturday (4-14) and I do not recall ANY ride DDM all day. Typhoon didnt open till like 4:30, S:ROSes blue train was MIA, and Mind Eraser only ran one train as well. Other than that though, I dont recall any other downtime. Even Iron Eagle ran all day (GASP!) Sorry, I just didnt notice all the things that you said. Could you be more specific about which flats were down? (if you dont remember the excat ride names use the generic name, I'll know what you mean)
Anyway, those that dont like the park, I'm sorry if you didnt have a great time. At least I know you wont be back in line in front of me.
lata,
jeremy
Well the pirate was down and so was renegade rapids. The thing is typhoon opened at 4:30 when the park closed at 6:00. No shows were operating. The thing that really made me mad was the S:ros had a 2 hour wait. Sixflags Darien lake had usualy a 30-45 min wait. By the way jeff I think that sixflags ohio has a much better atmosphere and better coasters including the villain one ride and you will love this woodie.
I think SFA has many great rides. The problem is that the park isn't very well managed, as has been previously stated. Actually, I really don't even think the park ITSELF is that bad, considering layout and such. I just hope everything is up when I visit in August.
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Don't touch the watch.
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Don't touch the watch.
I love Six flags America it's one of my favorite parks.(I live 2 minutes away) Jokers Jinx is awsome it's bumpy but good. They should just put lapbars in like the flight of fear. Superman is really really good. Wild one is the best wooden rollercoaster i have ever been on. Roar is okay. Mind Eraser is good and at almost every other six flags park. Plus they have the typhoon seacoaster the best log flume around and it will be even better when batwing opens. Stealth was good but i didn't like the corkscrews and they were replaced with barrel rolls on Batwing. So stop complaning about the park it's never going to be Cedar point but i still like it. I hope i have proved a point. see ya!
I had one great experiance at SFA and one bad last season. So I don't really know what to say about the park. I hear raves and complaints. I guess it depends on If you get there on a good day or not.
My good day at SFA the place was empty there was no wait for anything! We rode all the coasters in about 45 minutes. We had a great few hours.
The next time it was packed 4th of July. ROS was breaking down every 20 minutes or so ( a motor was smoking in the station) Eventually they went to single train operation. Everything else was running two trains but their slow dispatch made it like just one train. I timed a full train on Roars brakes sitting there for about 4 minutes.
I think with a well trained staff SFA can become an awsome park.
SFA= Six Flags America
or
SFA= Stay Far Away
You Decide
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Hello, My name is Dan and I'm a coasterholic.
My good day at SFA the place was empty there was no wait for anything! We rode all the coasters in about 45 minutes. We had a great few hours.
The next time it was packed 4th of July. ROS was breaking down every 20 minutes or so ( a motor was smoking in the station) Eventually they went to single train operation. Everything else was running two trains but their slow dispatch made it like just one train. I timed a full train on Roars brakes sitting there for about 4 minutes.
I think with a well trained staff SFA can become an awsome park.
SFA= Six Flags America
or
SFA= Stay Far Away
You Decide
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Hello, My name is Dan and I'm a coasterholic.
When I was at SFA on Thursday 4/12 everything was running except the raft ride and the rocking boat, though at times they couldn't get enough people to make a minimum load for Iron Eagle. All coasters were active. Though SROS and Two Face were down for some periods, they were up at least 80% of the day.
The crews seemed to be better trained than last year and everything was running pretty smoothly.
At PKD on Friday the crowds were heavy and things didn't seem to be doing as well. I expect the same thing may have happened at SFA. Parks have to rely on seasonal labor and early in the season seem to have trouble with large crowds when the crews are inexperienced.
I don't mind SFA's compact layout, and it can be a real help to the handicapped.
SROS's blue train is getting the new seats like those on the red train installed and will be operating soon.
*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 4/18/2001. ***
The crews seemed to be better trained than last year and everything was running pretty smoothly.
At PKD on Friday the crowds were heavy and things didn't seem to be doing as well. I expect the same thing may have happened at SFA. Parks have to rely on seasonal labor and early in the season seem to have trouble with large crowds when the crews are inexperienced.
I don't mind SFA's compact layout, and it can be a real help to the handicapped.
SROS's blue train is getting the new seats like those on the red train installed and will be operating soon.
*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 4/18/2001. ***
Question for those of you who know and love SFA (and those of you who don't).
I will be going to SFA for the first time this season. I've lived right around the corner in Silver Spring for two years, but kept hearing such bad things that I always went home to BGW or PKD. Anyway, I had finaly convinced myself to go, mainly due to the TR's that came out last week (my biggest fear was I would get there and discover nothing was operating - sounds like that's not a problem this season).
Anyway, yesterday I read an alarming thing on this site. In a thread dealing with stuff falling out of coasters, someone said that SFA doesn't allow people to wear glasses on JJ and SROS. I can't even see the big E on the eye chart without my glasses. This would totally ruin the experience. Anyway, is this true? What about with a strap? Or the type that wrap around the ear? Or have I been totally mislead?
Thanks
Carsten
I will be going to SFA for the first time this season. I've lived right around the corner in Silver Spring for two years, but kept hearing such bad things that I always went home to BGW or PKD. Anyway, I had finaly convinced myself to go, mainly due to the TR's that came out last week (my biggest fear was I would get there and discover nothing was operating - sounds like that's not a problem this season).
Anyway, yesterday I read an alarming thing on this site. In a thread dealing with stuff falling out of coasters, someone said that SFA doesn't allow people to wear glasses on JJ and SROS. I can't even see the big E on the eye chart without my glasses. This would totally ruin the experience. Anyway, is this true? What about with a strap? Or the type that wrap around the ear? Or have I been totally mislead?
Thanks
Carsten
Carsten: On both S:ROS & JJ it really depends on who is working. I almost always ride with my glasses (or sunglasses) but I keep a strap on them at all times. I only got harrassed my very first time riding on S:ROS. After that, they either just suggested "You may want to hold on to your glasses", or said nothing at all.
If they give you lip, firmly (but politely) state that you have a strap. If they insist, then follow WildOne's advice. In any case, give a shout out when you are going. I (and I'm sure others) would be glad to meet you up there.
lata,
jeremy
--who will be at SFA either Sat or Sun...likely PKD Sat & SFA sun...
If they give you lip, firmly (but politely) state that you have a strap. If they insist, then follow WildOne's advice. In any case, give a shout out when you are going. I (and I'm sure others) would be glad to meet you up there.
lata,
jeremy
--who will be at SFA either Sat or Sun...likely PKD Sat & SFA sun...
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