Six Flags America - 'Tropical Fun Warning Announcement' date set.

Yeah, it tasted SO much better that day than the next! It was SWEET!

At least if the weather co-operates this time around they'll probably be able to get more rides up & running than last year on opening weekend.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons behind moving this season's opening day up by one week?,that'll also give the park ample time to get as many rides as they possibly can certified by state inspectors for operation & of course hopefully warmer temps because last year's opening weekend was down right cold.

If the opening day is moved up one week that gives the park less time to get things ready. Perhaps you meant the date was moved back?

The date was moved back this year. The rides were certified and ready to open when the park opened for the season in 2004. If you look at the state inspection certificates on the ride op booths you will see the date of last inspection clearly marked. The exceptions were Superman and JJ. While they were approved by the state to oepn, the park was doing extensive testing on Superman at the beginning of the 2004 season and I don't know why JJ didn't open.

I suspect the delayed opening this season has to do with the fact,t spring break for local schools and easter is one week earlier (the last week(end) of March). The weather in late March in the D.C. area can be quite tempermental and as we saw last season, even early April has surprises for us from time to time. I don't think delaying the season opening weekend has anything to do with last years sudden burst of cold weather.

^^Yeah that's actually what I meant.

Superman failed to open that weekend(or at least on the 4th) because it was too cold & the excessivly high winds would've increased the risk of the ride stalling somewhere out on the course but other than that & JJ along with the water rides & Iron Eagle everything else was open most of the day.

Really? ;) Then why would they even bother testing it if there was such a great risk of it stalling on the course?

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BATWING FAN SFA said:
Ok so which two coasters are getting paint?

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Mind Eraser and Jokers Jinx will get paint.

The park usually has a buyout or two the week before its regular opening, this year they must not have the buyouts, or they're also a week earlier.

So beside the water park and the paint jobs....what else are they gonna improve or install. Will SFA, add more themeing, will the employee become more efficient, trees, paths, bathrooms, coke spray thing (like PKD), etc......These small changes can make the experience totally different. SFGAdv has done a great job in theming, services....I hope SFA follow their steps.......

I think customer service needs to come first and foremost. Customer service can make or break your experience at a park. SFA was doing REALLY well at the beginning of last year, but it was starting to slip by the end of the year. If they can keep it at the same level it was at the beginning of 2004 for all of 2005, that alone would improve the park almost more than any amount of money spent on landscaping or themeing would. After that, or along with that however you see it, comes efficiency, and it's mainly for three rides: Batwing, PBR, and TSC. For Batwing, I realize the problem is a result of the coaster itself and its manufacturer, but if there was someway that the park could always run two trains, and even better run two stations, that would improve Batwing many, many folds. I mean, I love Batwing, I think it's one of the highlights of a trip to SFA, but everyone else seems to love it too, and I just can't take waiting in line when one only one train is running and the queue is completly full, which is often the case. PBR's problem results from the seatbelts. I agree they should be there, but it slows down the opperation SO much. I mean, when the ride first opened, they would run a good 6 or 8 boats and the line would move so quickly. Now when I see the line filling into the maze, I tend to walk on by because I know the wait would be long and painfully slow. There must be SOMETHING that could be done. It is a really fun ride when the wait is reasonable. Finially Typhoon Sea Coaster is another one of those great rides SFA has to offer, and they've been doing a wonderful job improving the capicity and efficiency every year, but if they could get it up to full capacity, or at least 10 boats or so, lines would move so much faster and guests would be so much happier.

As far as general improvements I'd like to see otherwise. I really like the magnetic locks they have on the exit gates to Rodeo and Iron Eagle (they may have them other places, but I don't recal seeing them if they do). For safety and convience, it would be great to see these installed in more areas around the park. Some places I see best fit would be the entry gates for PBR, the exit gates for Wild One and Superman, and (especially) the exit gate for ROAR. I also love how they removed the last queue rail on Superman. Doing the same on Wild One and Joker's Jinx would be a plus. The themed station platform message on Batwing is first class and adds a completly new element to the ride. I'm happy to see how all of the major rides have boarding messages, but to have themed messages like Batwing has would add greatly to the park experience. Finially, Rodeo. Isn't there a way to open the restraints on this ride without going around and inserting the bar to open them manually? Also, I'd love to see the old ride sequence that they had a few years ago where after spinning forwards for a while, it stopped and started spinning backwards for a short time.

Rodeo's ride cycle is just fine for my liking....anymore intense & I'd probably lose that over priced,under cooked pizza I always tend to eat while in the park.

Lately PBR's only been using just one loading dock the last few times I've been there & even with all possible boats there's stil alot of stacking no matter how good the crew is,TSC also can benefit from having more than 3 boats in operation but we'll probably never see that happen anytime soon.

Last fall they did manage two train op on Batwing,which is a good start(that boarding/exit spiel is a nice touch,don't forget the "ride out loud" spiel on Roar too)but now they've somewhow really gotta continue the effort to get both stations operational(hire & train more ops) other than that get IE up & running,fix the broken seats on KK & for the love of humanity at least clear the enterprise site in preperation for a future attraction.

At least now we know for certain which two coasters are getting paint...since ME & JJ are getting paint this year they'll probably do the same for Supes & Batwing next year,now if only they'll consider buying the new style SLC trains from vekoma for the ride...then I'd really be happy.

^^ How often does Iron Eagle run? I'd say the last 2 or 3 times we were at the park, it's been closed. I know that Knott's took their Roto-Shake out because it was a maintenance nightmare, but I have never seen the one at MoA closed.

--Robb

Not very often over the past couple of seasons although it seemed to be doing fine until about the middle of the 03 season when it kept stopping in mid air.

Last year it was definitely closed more often than it was running despite supposedly getting a new motor installed during the off season.