Categorizing the Six Flags parks
2Hostyl said:
CoasterFanMatt said:
"But if you can say that, then why not speak of all of the good coasters that SFMM has and SFGadv doesn't."Okay, let's do that!
Riddler's Revenge
X
Okay...I'm DONE!
-------------
Ha! I knew you didn't really think Goliath looked all that great! Glad to see you wised up, man. :)
FWIW, I think both SFMM and SFGAd have at least two amazing coasters, that make me want to go to the parks every year. Hell, SFGAd has my #1!
-----------------
Have you ever considered that maybe it's not you that's the problem, but THE PARK? ;)
-----------------
The top parks that warrant the most in capital each year are, in this order, Great Adventure, Magic Mountain, and the Arlington parks. I am sure you all read about great cash infusions over a 2-3 year period, like Geauga Lake, KK, etc., but these older parks still grab over $10 million a year in service improvements, like POS systems, computers, admissions systems, lighting, paving, phones, vehicles, etc. All items that no one really sees or considers on a day to day basis.
Like building a $1 million games warehouse. Its damn well needed to supply a park like Great Adventure. Same for new f/b freezers. If you need vehicles, you are better off to buy em out of your capital, then lease, as it comes off the bottom line.
Gary Story is making great strides in doing this across the board at the parks. More rides means more space needed to maintain and store the rides in the off season. Just a thought.
Oh and Legendary and RG-dub, I wasnt very impressed by NITRO (as hypercoasters go) it's near the bottom of that small list (though the separation from top to bottom is very small). Actually, Medusa was my favorite coaster there. The reason I only pulled out X and RRv from SFMM is because those are the only two which GAdv doesnt have anything comparable to. Like Big G and NITRO are similar enough, both have B:TR, Viper (adv) and Flashback (mm) are POSes, blah, blah, blah.
What I cant understand is out of the supposed top three "thrill parks" (GAdv, CP, SFMM) not one of them has a standout woodie...
jeremy
--who's sticking with SFGAm and HersheyPark
I'm with you, if I want good wood, Knott's is the only option here in So-cal, which is why I honestly don't understand how people can say we're so spoiled here. : /
-----------------
Have you ever considered that maybe it's not the park that's the problem, but YOU?
jeremy, you're scaring me with how CLOSE that comes to G-dub, the original...ouch!
As far as good wood at the megaparks mentioned, you have the option of a well-maintained Blue Streak, or the SFMM option of Colossus....hmm, maybe you guys DO have a point, as the rest really need HELP badly!
There is no way that SFA is a tier 1 park. All they have is a bunch of cloned coasters and very little themeing.
Just because a park has cloned coasters doesn't make it bad. SFGAm is a perfect example. Granted, the service is great, and the park is clean for the most part but lookie here...
Demon-SFGAm, Demon-PGA
Shockwave-SFGAm, GASM-SFGADv
Deja Vu-SFGAm, Deja Vu-SFOG, Deja Vu SFMM, Twister-WB Madrid
Batman TR-SFGAm, I'm too lazy to list all the B:TR's in the SF chain.
V2-SFGAm, V2-SFMW, S:UE-SFWOA
Iron Wolf-SFGAm, Vortex-PGA(it's not an exact clone, but close enough)
Viper-SFGAm, All the Cyclone clones
Whizzer-SFGAm, Whizzer-PGA
I'm not sure if Spacley's Sprocket Rocket is a clone. It's a Vekoma kiddie coaster.
Raging Bull wasn't cloned but SFMM came pretty close with Goliath. American Eagle also isn't cloned, but it's a wooden out 'n back. I'm not saying all of these coasters are unoriginal, because Shockwave, Iron Wolf, and B:TR were all built first at SFGAm, all I'm saying is just because a park has X amount of coasters that can be found elswhere that are nearly identical, doesn't mean the park should be rated lower.
As for rating parks in tiers, go ahead, but one man's trash is another's treasure...
-----------------
Flying High Again.
*** This post was edited by Ozzyhead on 2/4/2002. ***
Also, Six Flags Elitch Gardens is getting a coaster this year. If you read Amusement Today, then you would know what parks are getting any major attractions in the Six Flags chain. Suprised that the most thrilling thing the SFGAdv is getting is Dolphin Discovery.
Coasters:SFNE,SFoG,SFEG
Dark rides:SFFT,SFStL
Chute-the-chute:SFDL
Besides upcharge attractions and shows, no other Six Flags parks are getting any major new rides in the USA(no Acros this year either)
Agent Johnson said:
The top parks that warrant the most in capital each year are, in this order, Great Adventure, Magic Mountain, and the Arlington parks.
Yeah!!!
-----------------
For Big Bad John updates visit
The Magic Springs Guide
Seriously, it's clear there are many opinions about how to even go about 'categorizing' the parks. Should it based on the overall experience, like a 'favorite parks' list? Should it be based on quality and number of coasters? (maybe that's an obvious choice on a coaster website!) Revenue? Attendance? It's been an interesting discussion ...
I suppose we can wait and see where Six Flags puts their capital $$ and effort and reward those parks that do it successfully with our attendance and $$.
However, if you are talking about the complete park experience, you have to take into consideration the look of the park, landscaping, crime, crowd control, food, etc.
For instance, many of you place Marine World pretty low due to its small number of coasters, but there is a lot more to the park than just the rides. The animal area is very nice, and great for the kids. It's a relaxing area to hang out when you need a break from the coasters. Although the theming on the rides is mediocre to say the least, the park itself is very picturesque, situated right by a natural lake, with scores of trees all around. The crowd is also quite well mannered. Even though it's in a not so high class area, the clientele is not unruly. I rarely see gangbangers and thugs prowling the premises.
So, if all I wanted was to spend the entire day riding rides, I would definitely take Magic Mountain first. If I wanted to take my family (Hypothetically... I'm not married.) out for a nice day at the park, I would choose Marine World. The kids would have a lot better time, and there are still enough thrills to satisfy my own needs.
Ozzyhead said:
Just because a park has cloned coasters doesn't make it bad. SFGAm is a perfect example. Granted, the service is great, and the park is clean for the most part but lookie here...
Whizzer-SFGAm, Whizzer-PGA
The Whizzer at PGA has been gone for years. I remember that thing fondly though. Going up that spiral was the best. The headlights were cool too. What a blast it was to ride it at night!
A) look what they've added the past couple of years.
B) odds are, they would have built some sort of hyper THIS year, if they wouldn't have run into roadblocks with local government (anyone remember them filing for permission to build a 200+ ft coaster?).
C) the themed rides they have planned for the lake and Wild side ... (20,000 leagues under the sea type stuff).
believe me or not, but SFWoA is going to blow up (if it hasn't already) within the next 5+ years...
THANK GOD FOR COMPETITION!!! ... CP and PKI aren't going to back down... and i don't think SF will let WoA shrivel into nothingness (which is what will happen if they don't build a multitude of kick booty rides).
That's not the only thing that makes this a top park in the chain, there's not many, if any other parks that offer 10 coasters, a water park, and a wild life park under one price, cheaper then alot of these 'big name' parks.
ECR
-----------------
Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
-----------------
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas.
Six Flags New England has the great Superman and is still far from being a top-rated park.
SFoG is very close to it, but we'll wait and see.....
I think that's such a great idea, I may have to change my sig again...
-----------------
Florida needs an Intamin and/or CCI soon...PLEASE!
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!
I also liked SFWoA quite a bit too. This year I may favor SFNE's coaster selection slightly though.... never the less SFWoA has some pretty impressive coasters. However, when I was there they had operations that are SFNE quality which is not good. Also the flat rides weren't as good as SFNE and they didn't have a drop ride a S&S tower but the Mr. Hyde's thing was pretty cool though. I found SFWoA's Beemer to be not the most exciting I have ridden but still very fun. The impulse was great and I found villain to be slightly enjoyable but kind of painful. X-Flight was cool at first but I don't understand why people think this ride is so forceful... I found it to be good but not great. However, my favorite coaster at this park had to be the Big Dipper.... this ride is one awesome airtime machine and it has the wonderful "woodie" roughness to it to match. Also SFWoA had an animal side to the park that was very nicely done. Loved the Pirates 4d show and some of the animal shows were actually entertaing. But I felt SFNE beat this park in certain categories and SFWoA beat SFNE in certain categories.
And this brings me to my final point. All the Six Flags parks that I've been too have their own unique charms. Six Flags seems to be building all their parks very differently now and it really is making the guest experience much more enjoyable now.
-----------------
Six Flags really does care about SFNE in 2002
You must be logged in to post
