Six Flags Parks attendance this year?

I was at SFA on Sunday the 15th in the morning. With a decent but not great weather forecast, the joint was packed. All coasters that are designed to were running two trains and pretty efficiently. Lines were still just a few trains long when I left. Judging by the parking lot though that was likely to change. They were looking for spots to squeeze in just one more car. Seriously, the lot was at full capacity.

During my 7:30-9:00 trip to SFGAm last Friday (beautiful weather, by the way), the place was walk-on city except Superman. Unusual.

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Buy "Stereotype Be" from Kevin Max at Amazon.com

In Great Adventure's case I would guess that the NYC crowd floodgates have not yet been opened. The have been consistently getting rain for a number of weeks now. I am sure that once the weather changes attendance will pick up.

On another note, Goliathkills, the the long lines at Marine World is due to their snail's pace operations. Medusa, Roar and Kong run two trains but the wait times between dispatch is horrendous. Last Sunday the line never went past the station for Medusa yet I waited for over 0.5hr.

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Bid my blood to run, before I come undone...

SFOT has been rather crowded lately also... even on weekdays and through rain.

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Am I really that shy?
*** This post was edited by The Shy One 6/19/2003 11:26:36 PM ***

SFStL has had consistantly large crowds every weekend this season, with pretty good crowds even on the weekdays. However Missourians like their parks and most people go several times during the summer (and they travel to other parks too). So...maybe it's just at some parks?!?

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SW:):)SH
midwestinfoguide.com

I've noticed low attendance at every park I've been to, with the exception of Gemini's 25th Bday, Anniv... etc... there were lines for everything until at least 830.... AND it was raining all day.

Swoosh,

What kind of waits has SFStL seen this year? Do they run three trains on Boss (I've never seen that in my five or so visits to the park since 00) due to the larger crowds?

I'll be visiting in mid August, hope it's running three trains when I'm there!

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Top Thrill Dragster -- The most intense, unbelievable, and spectacular fifteen seconds on any coaster, anywhere, ever.

I just got back from SFWOA, and yes, it was a ghost town. I got 5 rides in on Batman: KF, 3 rides in on Superman, 2 rides in on Villain, 1 on the Double Loop, and 1 on Serial Thriller, this all in 2.5 hours! Last year I was there 10+ times, and the service was horrible, and the ride-ops were uninterested. This year it is totally different, great service, awesome ride-ops, but yet totally deserted. Maybe it is too late.
*** This post was edited by stopher 6/19/2003 11:59:09 PM ***

Another thing I've noticed is that SFWoA is offering a lot of buy one get one deals. On Coke cans, coupons at Wendy's, when you buy carpet (yes, you heard me right), heck, they were even giving free tickets to kids at the Pirates game. Their attendance must be down a good bit this year.

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My mind works in strange ways. Yeah with a chain driven lift hill and gravity.

Remember folks... the economy is getting BETTER! Trust me.

Well despite what the politicos say, things are still in the toilet. I imagine that has impacted SF parks big time... or people finally got tired of the piss poor service. Maybe a mix of the two.

At SFOG, the weather has resulted in a drop in attendence from last season. Don't know about other parks.

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Well SFGAdv was absolutely packed when I went at the end of May, there again, it was the one day the weather was nice, so everyone who planned on going to the park that week, all went on the Friday and it was so busy.

SFA and SFNE on the otherhand were DEAD because the weather was crap.

I'll take rain instead of crowds anyday.

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Coaster Grotto - Over 1,000 coaster photos and 80 theme park reviews now online!

SFGAm must be DOWN on Season Pass sales this year. They are still advertising the $72 season pass 4 pack at Pick 'n Save. This price originally ended Memorial Day. Obviously Not. Also, the Season Pass Upgrade price in the park is now $39.99!!! We called on it a few weeks ago, and it was $52!

D8, who is very much enjoying the walk-on's this year!

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"Welcome to Wisconsin... Illinois' Largest State Park."

I agree, du8die. Great America was deffinitly more crowded last year than this year. Heck, I went yesterday, and they never bothered to put the third train on the bull because the line was never more than 20 to 30 minutes.

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Deja Vu is down again. For some reason I feel like I already experienced this......

Damn, it's raining pretty hard again today (Fri). BFSFA, I was not there on the 14th. I decided to take a break last weekend. I'll probably go tommorow and see how many ACER's show up for the add-on day of the CoasterCon, that is if it isn't raining really hard again.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

I've been to 3 SF parks so far this year, and each time it was on a weekend.

I went to SF:FT on a sunny Sat. in early April, and while not packed, it was pretty busy. There was at least a 15 - 20 minute line for every coaster we rode, and S:KC was about 45 min.

SFGAdv was quite crowded when I went there on a Sat., and it was even an overcast and chilly day (early May). It was actually not a very pleasant visit, and I don't just mean because there were so many people there. Of all the amusement parks I've ever been to, it's easily the worst environment I've been in. :( (Too bad because they have a great collection of rides!) But that's really for a different post....

SFStL really is the only one of the three that I didn't find too crowded, and we went on a Sunday in mid May. We were able to get on every ride with very minimal waits, and even did Mr. Freeze. The Boss, and Screaming Eagle more than once. Plus I must also throw in that I found SFStL to be one of the nicest parks I've ever been to.

WOF was dead when I was there, but that was because of rain during the day. CP was crowded both times I went, once on Wed. once on Sat. PKI was also plenty busy on the Sat. I went, and there were even threats of rain that day, though it never did.

So my conclusion from this is that probably weather is the main contributer to the lack of visitors, and possibly being early in the season. I'm sure things will pick up as we head into July and Aug. I just hope the crowds are down in time for my visit to SFWoA in mid Aug. during the week! :)

Take care and God bless!

CobraRoller said:
Heck, I went yesterday, and they never bothered to put the third train on the bull because the line was never more than 20 to 30 minutes.

I went yesterday too. Viper (back row) was about a 20 minute wait, even though there were only 8 people in front of me. They had the ENTIRE last car shut off on one train, as well as the first row of the car before that. Really slowed stuff down.

d8

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"Welcome to Wisconsin... Illinois' Largest State Park."

The weatherman said tonight that the Maryland area has had two days of total sunshine--one in May and one in June. Not good when you're a themepark operator (or any other outdoor operation for that matter).
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

SFEG has been deserted most of the year too. Especially towards the beginning of the year, but it is starting to come around. For instance, today the park was full most of the day and they even had over flow parking for a bit.

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"Here's my ten cence, my two cence is free"-Eminem

As SFWOA goes maybe people realized that the park flat out sux, its dirty, paths are narrow, lines dont move, and they seem to host a million inner city bus trips a day, other than maybe 3 decent coasters that park sux,

Up until 2 weeks ago we had been to SFStl Just about every day they were open.(Granted it was usually only 1-3 hrs. in the evening. God, it sucks living so far away. That 7 mile drive is a real killer! :) )

The busiest we had seen the place was 2 Saturdays ago, and to our pleasant suprise the were running 3 trains on boss, 2 on Freeze and Eagle and all 3 on Mine Train. Other day were moderatly crowded, least ways on the rain free days as there were cars parked in 3/4 of the parking lot.

On a different subject does any one know where the 3rd train for Ninja went? Havent seen it on the transfer all year, not that it needs it most of the time!

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Just a couple of G-Force junkies!