pashacar

Interesting to hear you say that. I felt just the opposite, that Sheikra was a one-trick pony that got boring immediately after the first drop, whereas Valravn packed much more action and dynamism in after the initial drop.

I would recommend going through any of the outdoor mazes as soon as they open, before it gets dark. You can see most of the scares coming so they end up being a lot less impactful. Also, any new trails that are produced by the park and not an outside company tend to be terrible. So, it stands to reason that Cell Block 6 will be pretty weak in the scare department, whether you hit it at dusk or after dark.

I hate to say it, but I really think they should remove Bizarro. It's a great ride, but it's so underutilized at our park. It could be a marquee attraction and bring the company a lot more value at SFSL, SFA, or even SFGAM.

Wow, never took the time to consider which parks were lacking one but that's really wild. Guess that's part of why we've held onto it for so long. And Yoshi, fully agreed. Another awesome stat that I hadn't considered!

^Would make a great ride rotation candidate, though.

Is that on the arena?

I'm sure it will happen sooner or later, but at this point I think the priorities are pretty steady. JRA is still very much involved, and there's not much we've seen from new management (least of all capex shifts) that indicates a new strategy. The only thing I'm noticing is slow-but-steady cuts in budget, which will hopefully not go as deep as in the Premier days.

I would put the chances at 90-100% that they haven't at all.

What are they doing by the exit? Didn't anticipate this coming with any thematic or other infrastructure upgrades....

Basic still exists. Not available at all parks right now, though.

^Agreed, Matt. I feel like they'd get a lot more mileage with the added figure in any market other than LA, where they're up against some of the highest-budget dark rides in the business.

Giant frisbee would be awesome. I wouldn't be surprised (nor upset) if we got some kind of blockbuster new show as well.

Agreed; it's a good addition. I'm worried about capacity in a park of our size, and I hope they can maintain the little details better than they maintain, well, everything else in the park. But definitely happy about it for now.

What do you mean? I don't know SFFT well, but on a recent visit found that it suffered from many of the problems of more "minor league" SF parks. (And the shows weren't even as good as everyone says....)

Who's he replacing?

That is a great tidbit. Didn't know he was such an advocate for it! I suppose it does seem like corporate's gotten at least somewhat more receptive to park-level feelings on capex in the recent administration.

Hah! If "fooled" means planned poorly and tried to save face...

Thoroughly agree. A park president can have opinions and try to advocate for them, but mainly they're responsible for keeping revenue up and costs down. At the end of the day it's corporate that decides on capex, as well as the budget that it's the park president's job to work within. They don't have as much leeway as people act like they do.

Great discussion in this thread. I think whether you trace the park's demise to the desire for CP to remain the jewel in the crown or to the Paramount Parks acquisition, it still comes down to Kinzel's ego. It was his way or the highway, and he thought he (and his team) could do a better job at running all of these parks than the competition. That's why CF pompously refused to maintain the animals in Aurora, which were a huge draw and what made the park unique. It's where their slogan for Geagua Lake, "The fun is back," came from, even though history has proven that to be wrongheaded. I will say that there were a lot of good things about Kinzel's era from a guest perspective -- amazing additions at CP, and even more amazing operational efficiency. But it was time for him to move on. Today, labor at CF parks is treated better (not that some of his legacy doesn't live on...) and capex is more thoughtful and modern across the chain. I agree with the sentiment that SFWoA, for its short life, was something immensely special. They even got the operations to far surpass usual Six Flags standards once they combined the parks. For a well-rounded experience, it easily surpassed CP, GAdv, or any other regional park while it existed, and whatever you trace it back to, the fate of the park is pretty devastating.

^Very interesting thought....

^ Wouldn't be surprised. Would be nice since it's experienced so much downtime during the regular season.

Yeah, it's amazing. I waited in an entirely full queue once and with 4 trains running it took -- no joke -- 9 minutes. Disaster Transport, RIP, was surprisingly nearly as efficient.

Wow, lots of good stories. Despite decades of visits to GAdv and other parks, I've never been stuck on a ride for longer than what I think was a stop to prevent a block breach on Rolling Thunder, which if I remember correctly was a somewhat common occurrence back then. We were stopped near the top of the lift hill for maybe 30 seconds and then went on with the ride.

What is Battle for CP? Squall?

Sorry the rain dampened your day (no pun intended). I was there a couple days later and while the weather wasn't *as* bad, it sure made me grateful for GAdv's rain policy. I'm curious -- how was the in-park Chickie's and Pete's?