SFI s new coaster for 08

While I'm not at liberty to give sources. Great America is currently operating at Guest Levels Prior to Hurricane Harbors Addition. about 42% drop from the year the Harbor arrived. Even Corporate Six Flags won't deny this as being true. Take Labor Day With many Flats Closed, Demon/Whizzer/Viper/Eagle Red (Only Side Running All Day)/Iron Wolf/V2/Batman all walkons. Even Superman was brought down to 1 train operation after 3:00, parked closed at 7:00 NOT 10:00. Does this tell the tale ro should I go into how many Shops/Shows/Resturants where closed?

I'd like to see some investment in SFA, which could be a jewel in the crown. We've lost a few flats last year (the Tilt is gone, the rumors are out there about Tower of Doom maybe leaving, and nothing has replaced Iron Eagle and Sky Escaper). Something like Tony Hawk's Big Spin would be a great addition, but the "dry" part of the park needs ANY kind of love right about now. They're sinking roughly a million dollars into Skull Mountain, the former Typhoon Sea Coaster (according to a local news report), so the resources are there.

Ronman, your post seems kind of ridiculous. You used the plural when referring to new coasters at Cedar Point and King's Island. That should be singular as Firehawk is not a new coaster by a longshot.

We spent a day-1/2 at King's Island in the middle of June on a Friday and a Saturday, and the park was relatively dead. Compare that to last year's BeastBuzz where 40,000 people showed up on that Saturday. How would you explain that?

And how many families said this year "Kids, we're driving seven-hours to go to Minnesota instead of Great America for a wood coaster?" One or Two (and their parents are enthusiasts)? Come on, let's be realistic.

What's the last major attraction that Indiana Beach added? That would be Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain in 02', not a marquee attraction in my book. Listen, IB was somewhat cool (I loved Cornball Express), but it was also kind of cheezy at the same time. I was calling it Knoebels on the Lake.

Adventureland looks fairly weak as well when compared to Great America. How many families would drive five hours for that?

Now Ronman, you make it sound as though Great America has added nothing major from the year S:UF was added in 03'. Did you conveniently forget about what lies beyond Viper, or do you not own a bathing suit? The addition of Hurricane Harbor was huge, and in 06' a Tornado was added to the mix. Those things aren't cheap.

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Ronman said:
Sfgam really is in need of a new Coaster. Superman failed to deliver any lasting appeal. Keep in mind Cedar Fair has surrounded Great America from all sides. Maverick added to the East, Renegade to the North, Patriot to the west. Yet year after year SFGAM added nothing and this year even with just about perfect weather attendance is down.

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You have to be kidding in regards to Superman. It's a very popular ride whether you believe it or not. Wow! Just because some of the enthusiasts don't like it, doesn't mean anyone else doesn't like it. It's very hard to reride unlike V2, Batman The Ride, Demon, Whizzer, American Eagle, Spacely's, Raging Bull, Viper, and about every flat. The only other two rides that are almost impossible to reride are Deja Vu, and Ragin Cajun.

The only pont I'm making is Great America not Hurricane Harbor is why people visit the park. For the rest of this Season Hurricane Harbor is Closed. Every year it runs on a very limited time frame compared to Great America ride park. This season with low attendance Hurricane Harbor closed at 5:00 not 7:00, while Great America stayed open until 10:00. Sorry I prefer Viper in all it's Underated Glory to A Tornado Water Slide. Of 31 visits I never made it over to Hurricane Harbor. But, I never missed out on a chance to ride Whizzer/Viper/V2/Demon/Vu/Eagle Red/Batman The Ride/Ragin Cagin. I also enjoyed Show Stoppin' each visit. Plus I love my flats like The Triple Play. Now like it or not Great America must start competing like they use to. ShockWave vs Vortex.etc. 5 years of no new attractions in Great America has lead to bordem. If Superman is so Popular why did they remove 1 train at 3:00 on Monday, While all the rest of the coasters left their trains a normal capacity. My friend Paul say it best Superman is B@M biggest let down. Unlike Batman which flies theough it's course, Superman Lumbers along only the first drop and pretzel loop offer fun then its swing to the left, swing to the right and the slowest flatspin in B@M history, only to be followed by hanging and wating for the other train to load. This ride was built for Georgia's layout not our former parking lot. Six Flags needs to wake up and join tbhe arms race again, or do all of us a favor sell Great America to Cedar Fair they will fix it up ;ile it used to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or if they sell it to Cedar Fair, then Cedar fair can get rid of all the coasters like they are with Geauga Lake. Pick your poison.

I would take Cedar Fair over Shapiro any day. At the rate he's going The Columbia will be the center of Great American Condo's. Remember Opryland/Riverview? Keylime Cove should offer interesting challenges to Six Flags Gurnee

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Ronman said:
If Superman is so Popular why did they remove 1 train at 3:00 on Monday, While all the rest of the coasters left their trains a normal capacity.

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On Sunday I was there, and they had removed one train also. The ride was broke for awhile, and than I believe they removed the train that was causing the problems. A day after, and they remove it again. It sounds like the same thing. It doesn't sound like it's unpopular so they removed it.

During the end of the day (with one train removed), the line was all the way to about the second sign with a character on it. First it's Brainiac, and than after that, it might be Doomsday. I don't know off memory, but that's pretty good when it's only 20 minutes before closing.

People are getting so whiney about SFGAm all of a sudden. For how many years, did the park get something new. It's quite ridiculous to tell you the truth. That's how SF has accumulated all of this debt. When people talk about SF being in huge debt, they go start blaming SFMM. What about SFGAm? We have gotten a lot of stuff. Estimated prices for these things follow: I will do since 1990.

1990-Iron Wolf (I'm guessing 10 million.)
1992-Condor (1 million used- The ride probably costed more than that.)
1994-Space Shuttle America (Who knows?)
1995-Viper (Woodies are always like 3-4 million unless it's Hades or Voyage)

1996-Southwest Territory (They added Chubasco, Trailblazer, moved the Big Top, and also added River Rocker. Considering the area's theming, I say a chunk of change.)

1997-Giant Drop (I've heard estimates that this ride nearly cost the same amount as V2 which is 8.5 million.)
1999-Raging Bull (I'm guessing that it costs at least 16 million.)
2001-V2 and Deja Vu (I know V2 was 8.5 million, and I can only guess that Deja Vu costed about 10 million. Maybe, it was more?)

2003-Superman Ultimate Flight (I heard that it costed 15 million.)
2004-Mardi Gras was introduced (They added King Chaos=around 3.5 million), Big Easy Balloons, Jester's Wild Ride, and Ragin Cajun=4 million. Don't forget about the new stage.) Don't forget about Revolution the Ride that was taken from SFGAdv. They painted it at least.
2005-Hurricane Harbor=25 million

2006-Tornado=2 million I'm guessing. It could have been more than that. I don't know.
2007-Wiggle's World (I really don't have an idea of how much it cost, but I would guess 3 million with the licensing thing involved.)

That's a whole LOT of money through the years. So, please stop whining that the park gets nothing wonderful.

SF Great America is a park that clearly profited from the Years of Great Spending, so I don't know why people are complaining about that park. By comparison, SFOT, SFStL and SFKK got practically nothing.

hmmm....

Hasn't SFOT added:

S:ToP
Several new Flat Rides
Two new coasters since 2001
Tornado (SFHH)

SFSTL

Tony Hawk
Scooby Doo
Xcalibur
S:TOP
Tornado
Looney Tunes National Park

SFKK and SFA seem to be getting ignored year after year. Granted SFA has received one water ride and a water over "ultimate" makeover. However, the park has lost all of its inverting flat rides and has only added one dry ride to the dry side of the park.

^Tornado isn't part of SFOT. So, you shouldn't even count that as SFOT. That's a separate paying park. It's not like SFGAm in which Hurricane Harbor is part of it until it's not, and than it shouldn't count anymore.

Some of the flats at SFStL and SFOT are just giveaways. Some park had to get them. SFStL (Excalibur, & STOP) SFOT (Acme Rock N Rocket & Crazy Legs) SFGAm has Condor, and Revolution the Ride.

I don't think there is any comparison between the number of major rides that parks like SFO/SFWoA, SFA and SFMW/SFDK received and parks like SFOT. We're talking four or five big coasters versus one or two.

At this point, I'm sure some of the parks that haven't seen a ride in a long while, would more than happily accept a giveaway.

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Spinout said:

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Ronman said:

1992-Condor (1 million used- The ride probably costed more than that.)

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This was a "gift" from Great Adventure during ride-rotation, so the costs were minimal. The Condor was by the Lakefront at Gadv.

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coasterguts said:
hmmm....

Hasn't SFOT added:

S:ToP
Several new Flat Rides
Two new coasters since 2001
Tornado (SFHH)

SFSTL

Tony Hawk
Scooby Doo
Xcalibur
S:TOP
Tornado
Looney Tunes National Park

SFKK and SFA seem to be getting ignored year after year. Granted SFA has received one water ride and a water over "ultimate" makeover. However, the park has lost all of its inverting flat rides and has only added one dry ride to the dry side of the park.

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SFOT has added NO COASTERS since 01, and the flats are mostly kiddies or hand me downs, leaving the only REAL major attraction as S:TOP, so yea I think that they have been spoiled.

Hey, we have received ONE ride since 2001 on the dry side of the park, not to mention there has been no work done on Thunder Run in the past 3 years, and we have removed Busy Bees (ride over by TT), Quake, Chaos, and now we are losing S:TOP! So that leaves us with 5 adult flats. So be happy with what you've got!

Guys I new talked about the price of the Condor. While the park runs it at it's slowest cycle I still would ride it over SuperMan. 15 million for Superman OH MY GOD maybe now I'll shed a tear when it leaves. Come on people 4 Vipers could have been built for that cost. Any Viper type Coaster appeals to the whole family. Keep in mind many fo the rides at Great America existed priopr to Six Flags buying the park. Along with the Looney Tunes Characters Great America gave alot to Six Flags. When you have a park surrounded by so many other parks a days drive away you better have a ride arsenal. That's my point we stopped adding to that 5 years ago. So attendance is suffering for it that's the way it works here always has.

While I don't fully support Ronman's entire argument, I will support two things:

1. Superman has not been particularly popular with the coaster riding public. This is based more on my anecdotal experiences, listening to people talk, etc. Not that I'm complaining about it's addition, I just think that it's easily the weakest of the "big coasters" they've added since 95. (Viper, Bull, V2, Deja Vu).

2. The park's attendance will continue to decline without some type of exciting new ride added. After a while, riding the same old rides gets boring. People need something really exciting to get them through the gates--like something they've never ridden before.

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Ronman said:
The only pont I'm making is Great America not Hurricane Harbor is why people visit the park. For the rest of this Season Hurricane Harbor is Closed. Every year it runs on a very limited time frame compared to Great America ride park. This season with low attendance Hurricane Harbor closed at 5:00 not 7:00, while Great America stayed open until 10:00. Sorry I prefer Viper in all it's Underated Glory to A Tornado Water Slide. Of 31 visits I never made it over to Hurricane Harbor. But, I never missed out on a chance to ride Whizzer/Viper/V2/Demon/Vu/Eagle Red/Batman The Ride/Ragin Cagin. I also enjoyed Show Stoppin' each visit. Plus I love my flats like The Triple Play. Now like it or not Great America must start competing like they use to. ShockWave vs Vortex.etc. 5 years of no new attractions in Great America has lead to bordem. If Superman is so Popular why did they remove 1 train at 3:00 on Monday, While all the rest of the coasters left their trains a normal capacity. My friend Paul say it best Superman is B@M biggest let down. Unlike Batman which flies theough it's course, Superman Lumbers along only the first drop and pretzel loop offer fun then its swing to the left, swing to the right and the slowest flatspin in B@M history, only to be followed by hanging and wating for the other train to load. This ride was built for Georgia's layout not our former parking lot. Six Flags needs to wake up and join tbhe arms race again, or do all of us a favor sell Great America to Cedar Fair they will fix it up ;ile it used to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I wouldn't complain too much about the lack of coasters being added to SFGRAM....come on out to SFA sometime & see just how bad SFI can neglect a park.Aside from SFOT SFA is the only park currently in the SF chain that hasn't recieved a new coaster since 2001 so they're long over due compared to SFGRAM which recieved it's last coaster just 3 seasons ago.

Ronman, I think you should try Hurricane Harbor. I was like you two years ago. I didn't want to "waste" my time in there, and boy did I get hooked on that place. Wow!! I really like Hurricane Harbor. I still enjoy the other rides too, but that place is awesome. Though, SFGAm is still much much much > than SFHH.