SFGAdv offering free rides on Kingda Ka with donation of toy or food.

It happens this Friday from 5-7pm.

http://themeparks.about.com/b/2009/11/10/free-six-flags-coaster-rides.htm

Looks for Obligatory Kingda Ka disclaimer if ride is inoperable you dont get your food or toy back :)

When did they reopen this piece of crap?

Disclaimer: The editorial above is that of the author only and is in no way related to the prior wise crack made by the VT grad.

I'm probably going, I kind of hope that they open Nitro instead (the flyer on SixFlags.com says they will run Nitro if Kingda Ka can't run because of the weather).

It is surprising they are picking this ride since it basically stops all families with younger kids from attending and because it is such a limited time frame, and for only 1 ride, I can't imagine that many people turning out for the event.

I thought the park was closed for the season?

I coulden't imagine riding kingda ka in 30-40 weather. Now el toro on the other hand......

Six Flags is just never going to shake their rep with enthusiasts are they?

If this were any other park (or even worse, certain other parks) the reaction would be totally different.

Poor SF. :( ;)

I'm very glad they are having the event. I just don't think they are going about it in the right way. If they want a huge turnout, they should have had a handful of rides open and scheduled it on a Saturday or Sunday for 3 - 4 hours. They could have had Nitro, Skull Mountain and maybe 3 or 4 rides in Wiggles World or Looney Tunes Seaport so almost everyone could find a ride or if they wanted Kingda Ka to be open, they could have opened the kiddie rides in Balin's Jungleland.

Unfortunately, it looks like the weather is going to be horrible too.

YoshiFan said:
I'm probably going, I kind of hope that they open Nitro instead (the flyer on SixFlags.com says they will run Nitro if Kingda Ka can't run because of the weather).

It is surprising they are picking this ride since it basically stops all families with younger kids from attending and because it is such a limited time frame, and for only 1 ride, I can't imagine that many people turning out for the event.

OK, I am confused here since you said that you wish Nitro were open instead but then say that KK stops families? Nitro is 54" to get on.

Since the ride was down alot this season, maybe that is why they are picking it since it is running and it will get people to come out for a ride or two that they missed earlier in the season.

Lord Gonchar said:
Six Flags is just never going to shake their rep with enthusiasts are they?

Pretty much Gonch. Shapiro could announce tomorrow that all SF parks will provide free soda, free sunscreen, cheaper food and free parking and someone would still bitch!!! :)

Chitown, in a way, we coaster enthusists are no different than comic or Sci-Fi fanboys and fangirls.

We'll debate minute details of coasters for hours. We travel hours just to ride ONE coaster! Heck, some of us know more about coasters and parks that the people who maintain and operate them! I can tell you that at CP, there are over 2100 trash cans, 4 million cubic yeards of concrete in the midwats and coaster cue lines, and 29,000 gallons of ice cream consumed by guests in a season.

We are coaster nerd, plain and simple, and DAMN PROUD OF IT!!!!

Lord Gonchar said:
Six Flags is just never going to shake their rep with enthusiasts are they?

I gotta ask.. Does it really matter? People form opinions all the time. Some are critical, some have validity.. (Kingda Ka has been closed quite often this year.. Even the public is complaining).

I hear complaints at every park.. SF is not the only one. And yes the reactions would be totally different because other parks arent sharing all the same issues as SF is. Some are operating in such a fashion that doesnt lend to as many complaints or at least the ones that seem to speak volumes.

We all have our own measure of expectations, but at the end of the day.. people are still walking through the front gate of the park.

Part of a 'role' of an enthusiast is the examine things under a microscope more than others. SF has had quite a bit of blemishes throughout time that has soured some here and there.

Me personally.. I just dont want to go to a park and continuously see a very expensive coaster down, especially when its sister one has been operating much more fluidly. Sorry.. I do have a problem with that. We can blame the company that designed it for only so long. When the keys are turned over its now also the parks issue.

I dunno.. I guess I dont understand your question or concern about SF not getting any love. It just seems like you are saying they are doing everything perfectly that they dont deserve some of the critical views they are getting.

But I guess it goes back to, we all have our own measuring sticks.. But it appears most are using the same units of measure in this case.

You are calling out Gonch much more than is warranted.

Kingda Ka and TTD have both had their fair share of probs. It really has nothing to do with this worthwhile event that SF is doing.

So SF decided to use Kingda Ka for this event, so what? If they think it is running when they do this, more power to them.

Haven't heard one response saying "wow, this is a great thing SF is doing to help the unfortunate, I hope they can pull in alot of needy things".

Instead, you get "why are they using this coaster, this coaster is crap, etc, etc."

Look at the big picture with what SFGAdv is doing with this cause.

It takes a long time to change a reputation. I will not be stepping foot into a Six Flags park anytime in the near future after "experiencing" SFGAdv in 2004. That may change, but I have yet to hear any conversation or evidence that runs contrary to the stereotypes or my own personal experience. Quite simply, it was the worst-run park, on every level, that I have ever been in. Mind you, I am not a world traveler, but it stands out as the worst.

That said, El Toro was great! :)

You are not the only one, OhioStater. Understaffed, closed rides, way to expensive for what you get, angry guests left and right, SFGAdv has really turned me off to the whole chain, although I am planning to take a chance on SFoG sometime in the near future. If that goes well, I'll try to forgive. If it goes just as bad, I'll go another 8 or 10 years without SF.

It's great that they are doing some charity work, when you think of who benefits from it. A little bit of charity work isn't enough to lift their reputation, imho. They are still uncaring to their guests needs, and a very poor value, especially compared to the other chains.

YoshiFan complained:
I'm very glad they are having the event. I just don't think they are going about it in the right way. If they want a huge turnout, they should have had a handful of rides open and scheduled it on a Saturday or Sunday for 3 - 4 hours. They could have had Nitro, Skull Mountain and maybe 3 or 4 rides in Wiggles World or Looney Tunes Seaport so almost everyone could find a ride or if they wanted Kingda Ka to be open, they could have opened the kiddie rides in Balin's Jungleland.

..And all they would get for operating all of those rides would be a can of food from each "guest"? Remember, SF is beyond poor right now. SF is experiencing a great amount of karma in this period of their time line.

Chitown said:
You are calling out Gonch much more than is warranted.

Look at the big picture with what SFGAdv is doing with this cause.

Exactly. :)

OhioStater said:
It takes a long time to change a reputation. I will not be stepping foot into a Six Flags park anytime in the near future after "experiencing" SFGAdv in 2004. Quite simply, it was the worst-run park, on every level, that I have ever been in. Mind you, I am not a world traveler, but it stands out as the worst.

That said, El Toro was great! :)

SFGAdv in 2003/2004 was probably one of the worst parks anywhere without a doubt. (the absolute worst was SFWOA circa 2001/2002)

El Toro in 2004? ;)

At any rate, if anyone gets there, let us know what was up.

Chitown said:
Pretty much Gonch. Shapiro could announce tomorrow that all SF parks will provide free soda, free sunscreen, cheaper food and free parking and someone would still bitch!!! :)

And the people who have complained that the freebies offered by Holiday World, Knoebels, et al, were just gimmicks whose cost was buried somewhere else would hail Shapiro as a marketing genius. The knife cuts both ways.

It is good that they're doing this to help out the less fortunate. I'm not sure this is the most effective way to do it, or that it will attract as large an amount of donors as some other event might.

And just to get my SF jab in, since the event is only 2 hours long, I wonder if they'll rent Qbots for the people who won't want to wait too long for their 20 second ride. ;)

OhioStater said:
It takes a long time to change a reputation.

More like it takes a long time to build a good reputation, but good can be changed to bad faster than the blink of an eye.

This is the same situation with any business. Let's say you have 100 customers. 99 of them are happy and will tell five of their friends, but that one person who had a bad time is more likely to tell more of their friends or post a bad review on the web that will reach thousands. It will take a lot more than a free ticket to change that one person's mind.

I went back to that park this year(twice actualy), and had a great time.

I went in...maybee 2002-03 , and was not very impressed. This time around it was one of the cleanest parks outside of disney that I have been to. Every security guard(lots of them), and park supervisors had the garbage picker upper things with them. And they were using them. I also did not see 1 overflowing garbage can eather time I was there.

The ride crews were on top of things(except for medusa), and most coasters were running 3 trains. The workers were also VERY friendly. Last time we were there, it took the operators 12 min to dispatch a train on gasm because they were more interested in messing around on the phone than doing there jobs. This time they were hitting interval with almost every train.

There also seemed to be a better variaty of food at the park as well. With my season pass book, I had a coupon for $10 off a family meal bucket(cost $30 without coupon), so me and my friend split it and got wayyyy more food than we could ever eat for $10 a piece. And it also included free refill souvinear drink cups as well.

They also had really good deals on t shirts and collectables. We bought a bunch of stuff. And another nice thing they are doing is the package pick up. Whatever you buy in the gift shops durring the day, they will ship it and hold it at a location near the front gate for you to pick up on your way out. And it was a free service.

They also had living statues in the park as well as some really good shows. The tiger show was great. They also had a stage set up near the log ride that had a really good rock band playing. There was also a dolphin show that was good also.

The only thing I would change about the park is that they need to add a few more flat rides like a himalaya or bumper cars.

I only remember 1 time durring both visits that someone cut in line.

So yes...the park has done a 360 in the past few years. Is the park perfect....no, but it is a hell of a lot better than it used to be. We had more fun there, than any day we spent at cedarpoint in the past few years.

I also have to mention that we bought our season passes at sfa for the same cost as a 1 day ticket to that park. I added the parking for $40 more, and never had to pay for parking again at any six flags park for the rest of the year.We did several trips to many six flags parks like great escape, sfne, sfa, sfga, sf great america, six flags atlanta, all in the same year. It cost $15 to park every time if we did not have the parking pass....so you do the math.

I just relized that I have been babbling on about the park(sorry).

OhioStater said:
It takes a long time to change a reputation. I will not be stepping foot into a Six Flags park anytime in the near future after "experiencing" SFGAdv in 2004.................

That said, El Toro was great! :)

Interesting, as El Toro debuted in 2006!

Anyhow, Good job Great Adventure for your charity work. I'm sure many children will be thankful for those toys.