RobertDavid

^^ I don't think I would call the current look of the park as you enter "magical" or "happy". "Epic", yes and definitely a "dynamic coaster-showing entrance". Unfortunately I do not beleive this is a good first impression. It looks like Wally World from National Lampoon's Vacation. They created the most outrageousely tacky painting for that scene, and it seems like someone from Six Flags thought it was great and wanted to fashion their parks after it. It also takes away from the excitment of the rides in the park when your riding them in the parking lot. Coasters are so much more exciting when they are themed to go with the park and travel through trees, down hills, and over rocks and water instead of around themselves on a slab of cement. Seeing everything in the park from the parking lot just sort of ruins the magic and leaves nothing left to discover once inside.

I'm pretty sure it was steam driven when the park opened. Didn't steam also power the colliape before they removed it and sold it?

I don't think there is any way such a place would survive in the middle of all the "real" parks in this area. Maybe if they were offering really great coasters, but not with the mass-produced, cheap rides they're planning.

It WAS "magical". I"ve always regreted the fact that they blocked off Dream Street the way they did. But the current entrance was "magical" too, until they cut all the trees down. You still entered a forrest and discovered magical things all throughout. The only thing you could see from the parking lot was the top of the ferris wheel and a very small portion of the skyride. It would have been incredible if they had left some of the trees in the parking lot, so you actually parked in the forrest.

Me too. Unfortunately, now that Busch has new ownership they seem to be slowly heading down the Six Flags path to destruction. They have added obnoxious advertising, not nearly as bad as Six Flags, but tractors and cars parked in the parks where they really do not fit. They have also started pumping loud pop music through their parks. They make it pop music from the countries of the section of the park they are in, but it's not the same as the background classical music that fit Williamsburg so well and the African music that fit Tampa. I hope they are getting a lot of feedback from guests about it. I would hate to see Busch ruin the atmosphere of their parks. That is what makes them so great and has made them so popular with adults while still attracting teenagers with the thrill rides.

It looks like it was originally part of the Happening and then moved and perhaps used as a puppet show by itself.

I like the second one better because it was permanant and didn't look like it could be rolled away at any time. I also liked the landscaping around it.

If we were to get new swings, I think the best thing to do would be to put them where they were before. That area needs them desperately.

Obviousely this is not the only ad they are ever going to make. My point is that they should have started with a family ad, that is where there biggest challenge lies. They could have waited until the new coaster opened and did a coaster ad then. This idea that coasters are what draw people to theme parks is misguided. Busch Gardens Williamsburg had a record attendance last year. Not just better, record. They only have 4 coasters and have not built a new one in 4 years. Yet people flock to that park because it is well-rounded, attractive and offers something for every demographic from children to seniors. Six Flags has taken the "Coasters will save our parks" stance for many years and it has proven to be wrong time and time again.

^ Thank you for showing I'm not alone here.

People with no imagination?

They can't afford to wait a few years to make the parks well rounded. This is the very philosophy that sent the company into bankruptcy, "coasters will solve all of our problems". If coasters were the solution, Six Flags would be the most successful company on earth. They have proven over and over again that having the most coasters does not bring success. Other theme parks have had record attendance in the past year, while GA should be happy with "not as strong as it once was" and assume it will never be that good again? The other parks are dealing with the same economy Six Flags is dealing with. Making excuses will not help, making changes will. Exactly, they get rid of the only things left for families. Saturday Night Lights only happened a few nights out of the year to begin with. I know that when you love the park you tend to look at it through rose colored glasses, but Great Adventure and Six Flags have serious problems. They know they have them, they know what they are, and they keep saying they are going to fix them. However, they keep making them worse.

Honestly, I don't LIKE complaining about everything. I just care a great deal about Great Adventure and get very disturbed by what Six Flags has done to it. It is also disturbing to see that no matter who runs the company and how many times they keep saying they realize what past mistakes they've made and that they are going to correct them, they just seem to continue making the same mistakes over and over. They have GOT to make these parks family-friendly in order to survive. If they are going to make different commercials for each demographic, they should have focused on the family FIRST. Everyone knows they have roller coasters. What people do not know is what there is for families, and they still don't.

A forrest ANYWHERE would be cool. It was great when the park was a forrest, but trees are the enemy of Six Flags.

OK, time for me to rain on everybody's parade. The commercial is the same old market-to-teenagers-only approach. Shot after shot after shot of roller coasters with one quick girraffe, rapids shot, and a shot of the flume blocked out by a season pass. The music is inappropriately ominous for a theme park. If all they want to attract is teenagers, congratulations. But if they want to attract families, as they keep saying they do, this is not going to do it. There is absolutely nothing about that ad that portrays the park as a fun place for families, quite the contrary.

Filming a promo for Hurricane Harbor?

I wish they would use the monitors in the que lines to set up the story of the ride. "Commercials"? Really? the LAST thing we need is more commercials, music videos, and other pointless videos.

"highly anticipated movie". Really???

I LOVE M&Ms, but I don't want to see advertisements for them at the park.

This is the same excuse we get every time the park management changes. Blame the past management and continue to make the same mistakes. They need to stop making excuses and start making changes.

Those theme park reality shows are boring! The only ones that have fun are the couple of people actually participating. It seems like yet another attempt to produce a show that teenagers will like. Teenagers don't go to parks to watch shows, they go to ride rides. Make shows that adults will enjoy so they will have something to do at the parks.

I'll die if it's har braiding!

I hate to rain on everyone's parade and I know most people don't want to hear this, but I just don't get it. No matter how many times the parks change management, they just keep going down the wrong path. Turning the rides into giant product advertisements?!?! People go to parks to get away from that crap. Yet Six Flags insists on shoving it down your throat at every turn. They make the parks an unpleasant, endless barrage of advertising to the point that people hate coming back. And it sounds like it's just going to get worse. A giant marketing blitz for their new pizza partner, Fantasy Fling and the snack stand both pushing Tornados, and the skyride hawking M&Ms. The skyride needs color, but by painting each car a different color like the old ones used to be, not with advertisements. Between cutting down all the trees, blaring loud music throughout the park, and shoving advertisements down everyone's throats the park just keeps getting more and more unpleasant to be in. This is why adults hate the parks, and don't want to bring their children, and the parks are a joke in the theme park industry. They have a reputation for being tacky, obnoxious, unpleasant places and the company works full time at making it worse every year. Well there, I've had my say. I'll get off my soapbox now. Go ahead, let me have it!

Yet another obnoxiuos marketing blitz. Exactly what the parks do not need. There goes the chance to get rid of outside marketing overload and offer something unique and atmosphere-enhancing. Why can they not learn from their mistakes instead of constantly repeating them.

That's great news! Now lets hope that the parks get unique food offerings that enhance the atmosphere and experience and not just some other fast food chain. But what are the chances of that?