SF expanding 2008 operating season next year at some parks.

This is from SF's website.

-- 2008 OPERATING CALENDAR: The Company intends to stretch its season
into November for some of its yet-to-be announced parks and to launch
its popular Holiday in the Park offering in a Northeast park next
season.

Hmmm. Makes you wonder what parks are going to extend into November. Of course Halloween falls on a Friday next year so Saturday and Sunday would be Nov. 1st and 2nd. My belief is SFGAdv will be the Holiday in the Park choice next year.

That's more East than North-East. I'd guess New England or Great Escape.

SFNE and GE regions are way too cold to have holiday events - it has to be SFGAdv they're referring to. Which makes me hope they'll actually be able to run the two indoor coasters and the two motion 'theater' rides if they can be heated. Hershey seems to have a nice collection of rides open for their xmas thing and SF is probably thinking they can tap into some of that market segment from the Philly and ABE areas who are heading west to attend the Hershey one.

15 bucks says they turn the drive thru safari into a holiday lights drive-thru winter wonderland and charge a nice buck to do it - if they're raping 15 bucks out of people to park, they'll probably charge ten bucks a head to drive thru the holiday light thing. Now that I'm thinking of it, they might not even open the main park and just use that new safari station section at the exit for the holiday festival area since the attendance may only warrant the smaller mini theme park area with it's own mini parking lot over there. At least now somebody will feel that a hotel off the I-195 exit is a worthwhile year round investment?

Makes sense. Hershey has been doing it for years, and it has been very successful for them. I know many families that go to Hershey's Candylane view it as a tradition for their family.

If Six Flags can build that kind of loyalty with families their Holiday in the park could be just as successful.

I wonder if season passes will be valid for this thing - if they were smart they would include it and can market more pass sales out of the longer 'season' - they'll still make a killing on the 4 dollar hot chocolates and photos with mr. six santa - there is a lot more religious diversity in this market unlike the squeaky clean and homogenous hershey area, so it should be interesting to see how they incorporate kwanza, chanauka (spelling?), xmas, and ramadon into a holiday hybrid festival

SF Great Adventure is good (Nitro) but I like SF Over Georgia best. It is a lot closer to me and would be warmer. Goliath, Mindbender, and Superman make it for me. Too bad about Deja Vu. It was bought by someone and moved. I wonder where it will be and if it will be operating.

^According to this, the DV's have not been sold yet. Make an offer and you could have one for your very own backyard. :)

^ That would be something to see in a person's backyard. Why make your own backyard coaster when you can buy a Vekoma giant inverted boomerang at a decent price.

*** Edited 11/11/2007 9:27:11 PM UTC by Coasterfantom2***

Great Adventure will probably not be getting this. It gets pretty cold in Jersey by November. I certainly wouldn't want to be at any park while it's snowing.

Why not? It's just as cold in Central PA, and people flock the Hershey for Christmas Candylane. I could see something like that going well for Great Adventure. Just like I said earlier. As long as they can build a base of people that view it as a family tradition like they do here for Hershey they could make a lot of money operating the extra days.

I hope it's Great Adventure and they run the coasters. I understand major rides like KK being closed but rides like BTR, Skull Mountain, The Dark Knight, Rolling Thunder, Medusa, SUF, RMT etc. I hope are open. It might even convince me to get a season pass.

I hate how Hershey closes all their coasters for Christmas Candylane yet at Springtime in the Park this year it was in the 30's and they ran Comet and SDL.

Plus, without the coasters Great Adventure has very little to offer besides kiddie rides. With the rumors of Space Shuttle going and Fantasy Fling listed for sale the only rides they could run are Tango, Music Express, Bumper Cars, Swings, Twister, Spongebob 3D, Tea Cups, Merry Go Round and maybe 1 or 2 others. *** Edited 11/11/2007 10:54:36 PM UTC by YoshiFan***

^ It is strange how Hershey does that, but they still manage to be very successful without any coasters being open. If I could see any of them open it would be the Comet, SDL, and Trailblazer.

Thats what I liked about Halloween this season is that they had all their coasters running for it. We'll see how that works out in the future. I have a feeling if the demand keeps up, and they have the light winters like we have been having that they may open a few coasters for Candylane.

I know for Frightfest I have been there when it has been in the 30's. All their coasters were running. It was cold, but I loved being able to get some laps in. They'll sell a lot of hot chocolate as a result. I could see Great Adventure at least having their indoor coasters, and Blackbeard's Treasure Train open for their winter celebration. Skull Mountain, and their new Dark Knight coaster they could almost put heaters in there to keep it warm, but I think that people will still ride when it's freezing. I know I would.

Its a matter of changing the grease in the wheels and on the wheels. Disneyland Paris does it every year to keep Big Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones running. So, based on that, they could open any of the gravity based coasters, but maintenance would have a much shorter time to work on them.

Perhaps SFOG will stay open into November like it use to back in the 70s.