Six Flags Over Georgia Tips?

I am looking to go to SFOG either this Sunday or Monday, and I didn't know if there was anyone from the area on this forum. I know that Atlanta is having their Spring Break next week, but I didn't know how much that would affect crowds this early in the season. I have heard horror stories of Six Flags parks near large cities on busy days, but I am assuming that being in early April this shouldn't be the case.

Is there anything else I should look out for this early in the season? Any tips, tricks?

If you miss Monster Plantation, you'll regret it. It's been updated/upgraded, and is now arguably one of the best old-style dark rides going. Certainly among the best you'd find in any non-Disney chain park....(DarKastle and Spidey excluded).

Get there before opening, hit Goliath twice before any crowds hit. The ride is fabulous, and you'll WANT more than two, but....

Mindbender seems to have replaced Vu as "the ride that might open late"....so beware of that. Nonetheless it's one of the very best looping coasters in existence, so it IS worth waiting for....

THIS year, thus far....Ga. Cyclone is the bomb-diggity, and is running as well as it has in recent memory, probably better. GASM-I, not so much... ;)

Thanks! I will be going on Monday now, since my friend bought us tickets for the Braves-Mets game on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to a new park, and even after 75 coasters, this is my first Six Flags... so it should be interesting :-)

Be sure to let us know what you think. :)

Sounds like a nice weekend. Have fun.

I need it. The closest I have come to a coaster since October is the Toboggan Slide at Pokagon State Park in Angola, IN. It should be a nice start to the coaster riding season.

As long as Six Flags isn't as "horrifying" as some people make it out to be...

Wow... a one-day pass is 39.99, but a season pass is 69.99. I maybe should just get a SP, since I am planning on going to SFGAm at least once this summer, and possibly going to SFNE or SFGAdv... If I go to a park twice It's paid for itself... Anyone see any reason not to?

*** Edited 3/31/2008 7:09:42 PM UTC by Josh M***

Not if your going to go to those parks this year! Its one of the best deals around if you travel a lot.

In general, if you plan on spending two days of any given season at a SF park - the pass is the way to go.

You get in-park discounts and the coupon book too. :)

I don't know why you would go to SFGAm in the same year you go to SFOG. SFOG has a lot of the same roller coasters as SFGAm (Iron Wolf = It hurts, and is worse than Georgia Scorcher, Raging Bull to me = worse Goliath, Batman the Ride at SFGAm = worse to SFOG's Batman the Ride (I like the paint better at SFGAm. They are the same ridewise though.), and of course you have Superman Ultimate Flight.

People like that SFOG's Superman is terrain based compared to the other ones which aren't. I think of Mindbender like Demon, but people say Demon is too rough.

Goliath gives you a whole LOT of airtime! I think Cyclone does too. I even get airtime on Mendbender.

I say go to SFGAm another year instead of the same year you go to SFOG so you aren't riding the same rides. I don't go to SFOT, and SFStL in the same year because of Mr. Freeze, and the mine train at both parks.

The Georgia Cyclone is going to be rough. It's just that ride. I love it, but other people might not. I don't care for the Monster Plantation. It's good for air-conditioning in my opinion. Sometimes, they like to close the rides down early so make sure you get in the line before park closing. One time, they closed it 5 minutes before, and another time they closed it 15 minutes. It's called bad management. Ninja is going to be rough. You might like it, or you might not.

There aren't that many flats at this park. The scrambler was run short, but it was quite fast. It's a unique experience. They have music on during the ride if that's working. It's called Shake, Rattle, and Roll. Other flats are the antique cars, Enterprise that looks cool (Wheelie), bumper cars, Wave Swinger, train, Rock N' Tug, Smaller version of Balloon Ride (8 cars), and the Carousel (It has something to do with the mob.).

The other flats are the water rafting ride that might not be open, the Log Flume (water ride), Shoot-the-Chutes water ride, the Interative play structure with kids slides, and the Intamin Generation Drop ride in which you have "no seat", and your privates are supposed to hurt.

Freefall (First Generation Intamin Drop) is extinct along with the Intamin Space Shuttle (Upside down flat ride), and the Intamin Parachute ride called the Gasp. Hey, they dumped three Intamins. What's the next Intamin to go. Actually, Intamin is the roller coaster company, and Ride Trade is the flat company. That's what they say on the website.

LOL, why go to SFoG and SFGAm in the same year?

Maybe you're going to be in both cities ANYWAY? Besides, there's Mindbender @ SFoG, which is possibly the best looping coaster in the U.S. (2nd for me, but hey), and SFGAm has Whizzer, which (also IMO) is the best non-looping Anton coaster in the U.S. SFGAm also has a cool Impulse, a fabuolus Cy-clone, a spinner, one of the new Dark Knight rides, a BIG waterpark, and the whole of Chicago for extras. Didn't even mention the CRAZY collection of flats at the park (Crawler and Fling are must-rides for me).

I'd never question someone visiting ANY park....then again, I've done MUCH worse I'm sure... ;)

Basically, don't listen to Spinout. Go to both parks as both are great, well run SF parks.

Agree completly, SFGAm, and SFOG are half of what I would call the "well run" Six Flags Parks I have been to (the others being SFOT and SFFT.)

Well I have made my decisions. I will be buying a season pass, since living here in South Bend puts me close enough to Chicago to make a day trip up to SFGAm.

I will be going to SFOG on Sunday now... And going to the Braves game on Saturday night. Gotta love changing plans. I'll be going to the park by myself, since none of the others I am going with are Amusement Park fans. Oh well... It will let me make my own itinerary. I will let you know my thoughts when I get back!

Thanks for all the helpful tips!

Don't miss Mindbender, as everyone has said before. I regret not re-riding that one every time I think about the park. GA Cyclone was tied with MB as my favorite of the park, and although people say it's rough I found it to throw you around a lot, but doesn't pound on you like say SOB. Superman was cool (my first flyer) and in the last row the loop is INTENSE. Goliath was fun, not too intense, nice airtime. And if you like drop rides and haven't done the "stand-up" version try Acrophobia, it's a rush.

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Touchdown said:
Agree completly, SFGAm, and SFOG are half of what I would call the "well run" Six Flags Parks I have been to (the others being SFOT and SFFT.)

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Wow, just wow. The other parks must be pretty darn bad if SFOG is in that list of great run parks. I think SFOT, SFStL, and SFGAm are well run. I have been to SFKK, but it was such a slow day, that you can't tell how that park is run. SFA was bad!

I would just like to add that the line for the antique cars is deceptively much longer than it appears, so if you plan to ride be forewarned. A good bit of the line is hidden. Also, the Riverside carousel on top of the hill is a must ride!

I agree with past posts that you should head to Goliath at (or before)opening.If when you pass Georgia Scorcher and the line is short ride it.
The ride line will be long all day till the incoming people slack off.It is the first ride in and I guess everyone heads to it.Monster plantation has not opened before 11:30 or 12:00 the 2 days I have been this year.Skip the shows
they are AMA and CMA highlight reels.If I want to watch TV I can do that from my couch .If you get the AP make sure you get a coupon book.You can get a reduced price on the sport bottle that has reduced price refills.10.00 off a large pizza combo so it will only be 40.00 instead of 50.00
I personally do not eat in the park a cooler in the trunk with picnic stuff .If you pull to the back row near the farthest tram stop there are some picnic tables in the shade.With what I save on food I can take the whole family out after for a nice dinner.

Kevin38

^^Ive only been to SFOG twice, it was back to back summer weekdays. While it was moderately crowded both days, I did not see any major gaffs (hell Deja Vu ran both days I was there, when my then home park SFGAm I had yet to ride Deja Vu there two years after it opened) every coaster ran at least two trains, the park was clean, ride ops/staff pleasant, and all the rides were well maintained. Heres the SF parks Ive been to:
SFGAm, SFOG, SFOT, SFFT, SFNE, SFDL, SFWOA, and SFAW.

^This how that park went for me. I went two times at different times. The first time they were running all roller coasters with one train. This had to be early summer like June which stunk. Than, everything broke at one time. Georgia Cyclone, Acrophobia, Georgia Scorcher, and Superman were some of the rides down.

You name it, there wasn't a lot of rides that weren't roller coasters open. They did open later though, but why is every ride broke? It just doesn't happen at other parks unless they aren't maintaining the rides very good. They were having trouble with Deja Vu, but I did get on it this time. I believe I went two days this time, and two times the other time. They closed the park 15 minutes before closing. You couldn't even get on the walk-on swings if you wanted to. I was mad as heck. The one train operation was bad enough, and than they kick you out 15 minutes before the park closes.

For the second time, Batman the Ride had a real slow line. It was painfully slow, and thus I blame those employees for that. The day it was more crowded, I was in line for quite awhile on the Great American Scream Machine, and it took them a whole stinking 2 1/2 hours to put on another train.

Why are we waiting this long which was around 20-30 minutes when they have another train? They couldn't get Deja Vu working. The mechanics were like let's rest awhile, and eat food while working. Now, many rides actually did have more than one train which was so much better than last time. I think a lot of rides broke down that time though. This was in 2006 by the way when Goliath opened. They still don't understand to not close the rides down early though.

They ask me at Georgia Cyclone what time it is. They should have someone calling them up to close each ride, or have a speaker announcement that the park is closed. Who makes up there own time of when to close the rides down? I have been to Cypress Gardens, and they closed the rides earlier to. If the park doesn't close til 9:00, than the rides shouldn't be closed til 9:00. That's what you are paying for.

The difference between SFOG and Cypress Gardens was the fact that Cypress Gardens was really empty. Three people were in the park while SFOG did not have 3 people in the park. So, I give them sympathy, and an understanding for doing that.

Who closes the park earlier if there are people in the park? SFGAm, SFStL, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, California Adventure, IOA, Universal Studios, Kiddieland, SFMM, SFA, MGM Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, SFKK, and Santa's Village I never had this problem with.

It was only at SFOG! At SFMM, they did close X though, and said it. I'm okay with that as long as say it! It's your choice whether you want to ride it or not.

The whole thing is this than. If the workers don't want to work til 8:00 pm in June and beyond, than make them work til 7:30 pm, and closing the line at 7:30 pm. Close the park earlier instead of doing this stupid stuff SFOG! Has anyone been to the park, and has not been kicked out before closing time?

I got on Georgia Cyclone that time, but they asked me the time, and they closed the gate right away. It was still 5 minutes until closing. I'm sorry, but I think that last impressions are more important than first impressions. That was the last impression I got. *** Edited 4/1/2008 4:54:58 PM UTC by Spinout***

I would say go to both, have a great time, and report back.