Out of all the Six Flags parks out there, what park made the biggest mistake IN YOUR OPINION?
Mine is when Six Flags Elitch Gardens added nothing. I'm serious, they could be shut down some day (he he he)!
And they will continue to add nothing either. What a waste. At least they could take away the six flags branding...why turn the entire state of Colorado against the Six Flags chain. Ugh, what a bad move....moving from one place, to another landlocked place where there will never be any more room. Six Flags is just trying to milk money out of it because of the lack of competition.
BTW, all the rides there are terrible...but then again, I'm spoiled, CP is my homepark. :-)
I don't see what's so wrong with Elitch Gardens... however, I am just judging that from their web site, because I live 2000 miles away from there...
What is honestly so bad about it? They look like they have a decent selection of rides (sure, lacking in the coaster department... but for flat rides, looks like there's a diverse bunch).
Is it the space they have, or lack there of?
Is it the staff? The overall atmosphere?
Oh,
BTW:
I don't think and hope that noone suggests Six Flags Darien Lake as the biggest mistake.
You got to give the park a little more time, and it will develop. I dis it for its 23 rides including 5 coasters... but there's always a lot to do, and in the future... with all the land they have... it can become a force to be rekoned with!
Exactly. What is wrong with SFEG?? I've never been there but from what it looked like on 3 Ninjas: High Noon @ Mega Mountain it didn't look that bad at all.
What is so bad about it?
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Ken, Jake and Taylor conquer SFWoA :
5/26/1
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. I went there a year ago, and will never go back. I will not go into detail for respectful reasons, but I just did not feel safe on any coasters.
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SFEG has: A cookie cutter Boomerang and SLC, a mild woodie, and an Arrow shuttle loop.
There are a few flat rides along with a Giant Drop and a Sky Coaster.
That's it! You get bored after being in the park for an hour!
What themeing? What cleanliness? Where to expand? What's that I'm eating?
The ride ops are actually friendly and there is a water park, but it is also small. SFEG desperately needs a signature attraction, and to be honest, I don't care if they remove something to fit it!
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Colorado Avalanche-Western Conference Champions!
*** This post was edited by PT300 on 5/22/2001. ***
The biggest mistake, ALL THE STANDARD ROLLERCOASTERS THEY ARE BUILDING, Super Boomerangs (Deja Vu), SLC, Boomerangs, next years the Flying Dutchman clones.
Well, all amusement parks make mistakes... even my favorites have been known to mess things up every now and then.
I think Six Flags' biggest mistake is something that has plagued the entire company recently- that being the company's rush to turn all of their properties into Six Flags-branded parks. I haven't been to any of the converted parks, but I think anyone who has will tell you that the success of these attempts has been acceptable, at best. I haven't heard too many bad things about Six Flags Ohio/Worlds Of Adventure and Marine World, but Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags America, Six Flags New England, and Elitch Gardens all seem to produce more negative feedback than positive. Its no secret that the converted parks are viewed as understaffed, high-priced, and are seriously lacking in the area of ride capacity (one-train operation, slow loading procedures, etc.) It just seems that the parks could have stood a few more years of improvements before being billed as equals to parks that have been earning the Six Flags reputation for decades.
It all depends on the money, where it is, how many people it gets, I used to think Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom looked dumb, but now , its getting there I think.
(Note: These are observations of a person who has not been to a Six Flags park... just impressions from the out side looking in)
Mistake 1) Names of parks.
Okay, so Six Flags has "brand recognition". However, why do they have to go and re-name some of the parks they take over? Riverside Park becomes Six Flags New England, Gaeuga Lake becomes Six Flags Ohio (now Six Flags Worlds of Adventure), Adventure World becomes Six Flags America (okay, in that case it is an improvement.) I like Cedar Fair's method... buy the parks, but keep the original names (Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Valleyfair!).
Mistake 2) Names of Rides.
We've been here before... but its bad enough they have all of those clones, do they have to name them the same thing? How many "Superman: Ride of Steel" do we need? It would be one thing if they would put these in a park on the east coast and one on the west coast, but they have three in the north east (MD, MA, NY)
Mistake 3) Mass Produced feel
How many clones can you have.
Mistake 4) Replacing the history of the old parks with the new mass produced feel.
Before Six Flags took it over, I had a desire to go to Geauga Lake... now that desire is gone since it has been taken over and made over in the Six Flags image.
Of course, when you come down to it, is this a great problem? Not really. The GP sees the Six Flags name and they will flock there... just like they flock to McDonalds. They see that familiar name, say "Six Flags? They have some good parks... lets go," while at the same time letting the local, independent parks relying on the local population for their support.
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"Resistance is futile... you will be assimilated." The BORG's (and Six Flags') motto.
I think one of the worst part of any six flags park is the lack of themeing... I mean the most themed coaster is Batman and thats just sad especially when you compare it to busch gardens or IOA.
I think by not putting coasters in Old SixFlagfs park. Astroworld n' stuff. But I never been there so ya know!
One of their big mistakes is what they are doing this year.....continuing to add Vekoma coasters. Every Vekoma coaster i have ridden is a rough riding headbanger, in my opinion. Why continue to add rides like this?
The overuse of ride names, Ninja, Viper, and all the superhero names. Get creative, think of some new names. And if you use the same name, use it for the same type of ride so poeple can identify what it is.
Their theming has always been pretty poor. The real "six flags" parks are a good example of that. They have also lost some of the original theming of Great America, but not nearly as bad as Paramount did to the CA version.
I will say what they have done to Geauga Lake is miraculous. This was a mediocre, old looking park at best. They have did a great job bringing it into the 21st century.
Six Flag acquisitions only benefit us, since their season passes are good at all parks. $45 Kentucky Kingdom pass will get you in at all their parks all year long. Thats quite a deal.
*** This post was edited by super7 on 5/23/2001. ***
In regards to the new Vekoma coasters, we'll have to wait and see about X-Flight. But as of now, I really like the thing.
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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com
Even if X-Flight became rough, think about it, it doesn't use standard OTSR's so there wouldn't be headbanging anyways.
No desire to go to SFWoA? The rides they dropped in there can't have a massed produced feeling.
BKF:Unique Design
SUE:Unique (Until Now)
Villain:Unique
X-Flight:Unique (Only 1 Other Exact[Not Open Yet])
How could you get a mass produced feel from that?!
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"Villain-Once You Drop, The Fun Don't Stop!"~SFWoA Rules In 2001~X Marks The Spot In 2001(SFWoA)~With SFWoA ANYTHING Is Possible!
*** This post was edited by B&M-TYCOON on 5/23/2001. ***
I don't really get the branding thing either. I've never placed much stock in the Six Flags name. It could be because I grew up with Cedar Point, Kings Island and even Geauga Lake. Ohio already knew how to do amusement parks, so what's this Six Flags thing?
I had never heard of Six Flags really until I was 17, in 1990, when we passed by Six Flags Over Georgia on the way back from Orlando. We were like, "That's it?" We skipped it and drove all day to Kings Island.
Still, I would concede that the branding would work well in markets where much smaller parks existed and people had heard of the Texas park.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
*** This post was edited by Jeff on 5/23/2001. ***
I'm the exact opposite. "Six Flags" always seemed like one of the "really big amusement parks that we don't have around here" to me, since I had only ever been to Kennywood, but had seen SF commercials on television. ("No matter where you live, there's a Six Flags near you!" If I remember correctly, at the earliest I remember, the Kentucky park was the nearest to me.)
It wasn't until I really started getting into coasters and parks that I learned of the cloning and other things that are somewhat synonymous with Six Flags.
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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com
sixflags said:
"The biggest mistake, ALL THE STANDARD ROLLERCOASTERS THEY ARE BUILDING, Super Boomerangs (Deja Vu), SLC, Boomerangs, next years the Flying Dutchman clones.
"
Why is that a mistake. Do you think the average Joe would go to every Six Flags and ride every boomerang? Didn't think so...
Point made.. let's move on.
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The Jet Coaster ROARS!
Six Flags buys Vekoma stuff because it's big, flashy, and CHEAP. The crowds line up. It's the best bang for the buck (literally).