Six Flags Marine World to be renamed Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Six flags worlds of discovery california african lake...got a better ring to it.

/// sfwoa all over again

SFGAm is listed as being in Gurnee because it's (essentially) halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Identifying it as being in one area alienates the other.

And if it took you "a good hour" to drive to SFStL from St. Louis, you were either driving in circles or riding your bike. ;)|

-Nate

Just like Great Adventure markets itself to both NYC and Philly, since it's pretty much in between the two metro areas (although a bit closer to Philly, I'm sure). SFA is close to D.C but also Baltimore. SFNE is between Hartford and Boston. SF parks "belonging" to more than one city are pretty numerous.

I like the name change. A ssaid before, the park features all sorts of animals... not just marine life... same as Six Flags Geauga Lake did.

HOWEVER.. I would have just renamed this park SFWOA, they already had the logo and it had a nice ring to it.

"The park name was the least of WoA's troubles."

Perhaps the same could be said of this park, too. I was not much impressed with what SF has done with that place when I visited for the first time this year. The entrance plaza outside of the gates is ugly; Medusa sitting atop a parking lot is ugly; Kong sitting atop gravel is ugly; the gigantic slab of unused concrete where Zonga once stood is ugly; Zonga in the parking lot is ugly--notice a theme here?

And this isn't all. Some of the parks midways are unbalanced--perhaps because of the size of the midways and the locations of some of the rides. SF just didn't do the best job with ride placement here. Add in less than stellar maintenance, and you have a park that really didn't impress me much. The best thing there, to me, is Medusa. I didn't even like Roar all that much, and I'm used to the first one at SFA, which I might actually like better!

I thought SF had said they weren't planning on renewing the contract to run this park? Or was that another park I am thinking about?

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coasterdude318 said:

And if it took you "a good hour" to drive to SFStL from St. Louis, you were either driving in circles or riding your bike. |

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Or went to the park when they were working on I-44 near the Eureka exit OR got caught in rush hour trying to get off of I-270 or even got caught in rush hour on I-44 there by the I-270 interchange.

Obviously you aren't a local. ;)

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rc-madness said:
Six Flags may actually need to change some things if they want to turn things around.

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Six Flags may actually have to wait for most of the parks to be closed for the season before they make major adjusments, physical or otherwise.

Definitely not a local to St. Louis. I should've specified that it was probably an hour or more from our motel in Altamont, IL, NOT from St. Louis. That was my guess anyway. But we did hit terrible traffic tieups in Illinois. We were moving so slow that my passenger was getting tons of pictures of the Gateway Arch! I even got one with my cell phone. That seemed to be our fate just about everywhere major we drove. We also hit the infamous I-94 mess in Chicago on our way out. At 2am in the morning though when we arrived the first night, there was barely a car on the road. What do you want though? It's summer time and the construction is everywhere.

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RatherGoodBear said:
Does this mean that people here will be referring to the park as SFDiK?

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LOL, "We hereby bequeath the moniker...."

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DevilDucky said:
The original Marine World Parkway still exists as a freeway exit in Redwood City even though there is no theme park there.

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Actually they have changed the name to just Marine Parkway.

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Swoosh said:
Or went to the park when they were working on I-44 near the Eureka exit ...Obviously you aren't a local.

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Do people typically estimate driving times by the worst possible scenario? In that case, it takes about three weeks to drive to Orlando because your car might break down, the road might wash away, and you could be re-routed due to nearing hurricanes. Yeah, I'd say Orlando is a good three weeks away.

-Nate

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DevilDucky said:

The original Marine World Parkway still exists as a freeway exit in Redwood City even though there is no theme park there.

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Ya it should be called Oracle Parkway now.

I worked in that market just a few years ago and I remember people still referring to PGA at "Mariott's" not Mariott's Great America, just Mariott's. I was sort of new to the area and aware of the park's history but always found this weird. (this was around 2002)

Also on the other hand I remember referring to SFMW as Six Flags and some assumed I was talking about SFMM. The branding was only about 3 years old then so possibly it hadn't sunken in yet.

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RatherGoodBear said:
Does this mean that people here will be referring to the park as SFDiK?

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LMAO, thats a good one but I think it would end up being SFDK if that was obvious already;).

I'm surprised they didn't name it Oracle Parkway actually. ;)

But yah, locals are pretty stubborn once they get a name into their head. I've mentioned it before that a lot of folks still like to go to Marriott's.

^ Considering PGA, I think I'd have *preferred* Merry Ott's as well... :)

I guess this means I will never get to SFMW? ;)

SpringCon '07, I'm going to Vallejo regardless!

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rablat5 said:The entrance plaza outside of the gates is ugly; Medusa sitting atop a parking lot is ugly; Kong sitting atop gravel is ugly; the gigantic slab of unused concrete where Zonga once stood is ugly; Zonga in the parking lot is ugly--notice a theme here?

And this isn't all. Some of the parks midways are unbalanced--perhaps because of the size of the midways and the locations of some of the rides. SF just didn't do the best job with ride placement here. Add in less than stellar maintenance, and you have a park that really didn't impress me much.

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You'll have to realize, unlike every other SF park past or present, SFMW was not originally designed and built with the intention of being a ride park. It had been a wildlife park for over 30yrs before the first mechanical ride was ever installed. That entire section of park in front of the gates that you mentioned where all the parks biggest rides are located used to be the original barren main parking lot. Inside the original park itself, most rides had to be spaced apart enough and shoe-horned in as best as they could to fit along the crowded midways that were never meant to handle the large crowds that now pack SFMW.

It's been rumoured that Zonga was always meant to be only temporary and last only a few seasons anyways, so no point landscaping the slab underneath. Besides the point that there's been rumours floating around out here for years now that the entire area from the go-carts past Roar/Zonga area and all the way to Medusa will be completely redone and a brand new huge park entrance created right there. Which also moves the entrance gate alot closer to the 2 main parking lots.

So it's easy to see why The City has no desire to spend millions to make the area underneath the coasters look pretty when this entire area has always been earmarked to be ripped up and redone soon anyways for something much bigger and better, which is suppose to include finally landscaping underneath the coasters. Since this all has been planned for years now, good bet it'll now happen as part of the renaming/rebranding to DK.