Coaster Guy84

They’re closed so they can save on staffing and maintenance.

Reactive maintenance always increases your long term expenditures. Now I am not suggesting the park is compromising safety but given the recent events with El Toro you have to assume they are doing the absolute bare minimum to keep these attractions operating. El Toro's problems should have been caught before an accident occurred and preventative maintenance certainly would have helped. With Kingda Ka it always surprises me how the park seems to consistently gets this attraction up and running. You would think they'd happily delay its opening until Memorial Day weekend to save on some operating costs. I also think there is a chance they could revamp it like what Cedar Point is doing with Dragster however I think it would be another reactionary move if something major broke with Kingda Ka or hopefully (not) another accident.

Shortly after the “war on lines” era and opening of Hurricane Harbor things started to slowly go downhill. Essentially it came down to not enough staff to run the park and to the guest suffered. The ride maintenance costs skyrocketed and budgets were completely blown up. To me this changed how the park thought about operations as they clamped down on their operating budget to try and maximize efficiency. As the years went by Six Flags put profits over people and you see where we are today as a result.

Just a sad and disappointing state of affairs the park has become. I would imagine these decisions were made at the corporate level to try and save a a few dollars in maintenance costs. If you follow the industry and looked at what Magic Mountain has been doing you shouldn’t be surprised. They have rides and attractions which have sat idol for months. I don’t see how Six Flags expects to become a premium brand when they offer a subpar product. People are going to notice and not come back.

I love this time of the year because it gives me something to look forward to. In just a little over a month I can start my season once again. It seems like only yesterday I’d be online trying to figure out whether or not the Chiller would be open and now more then 10 years after it has come and gone I really can’t believe how far the park has come. I’m sure that many will be heading towards Kingda Ka, El Toro, or Superman but I’m a Batman the Ride kind of guy. Hopefully the weather is somewhat warm for early April. Does anybody know if the park is having an employee preview night this year?