darkridedan

Thank you everyone! Harry, whenever I'm at Rolling Thunder and a guest comments on how old and rickety the ride is, I smile when I tell them that I'm 3 years older. Happy Birthday Harry. You'll always remember when The Dark Knight opened. I'll always remember when Kingda K_a_ opened. Dainan will remember, nevermind!

Horizons, for sure! Spaceship Earth would be my current favorite operating ride. Wood: Hades Steel: S:ROS SFNE Spin: Jump Flat: Rye Whip Water Ride: Dorney's rapids Water Slide: family raft at Mt Olympus Spook House: Spookarama

^ LOL! I had to back up at the Verazano bridge tolls because the person in front of me was in the cash only lane. Superman ride employees at SFA grind my gears. If it weren't for them, SFA would be one of my favorite parks. This crew is almost criminally horrible. 10 minute dispatches; No spiels; The operator never pays attention... this past weekend, he spent most of the time on the phone. They'll always YELL at guests to not go under the handrails when there is NOT a line and they'll always ignore line cutters when there is a line. Actually it's quite comical to watch, but it wastes an hour of my time!

Perfect. And now...

That would be a great ride! A coaster and a flat ride in one.

I rode the scrambler at Hershey on Sunday. It runs slower than Centrifuge but the hand slapping was fun. Starship America (Roto Jet), Howler (Tornado), Flying Falcon (Condor) and Frontier Flyers are a blast! I voted for: Scrambler Monster Spin Tilt-a-Whirl Enterprise Others: Wave Swinger Jump Jump is an awesome ride. I remember always waiting two to four cycles in line. I think it was getting longer lines than Chiller in the last few years. I don't think this park would ever give Jump another shot but it would be a one-of-a-kind in the USA ride.

A maintenance shop for the Antique Cars?

Pleasing people after removing 24 rides in 10 years? A price reduction would be horrible!

I don't know, Harry! If Old Country is getting cleared, please leave the trees. I would love to see GAdv move the bumper cars between TDK and the Backlot Beer Garden. The huge treeless area of the blue pavement would be a great location for the roofed ride. I hope Six Flags would save Musik Express. My friends and family always have a fun time on it. A revamped ride could be renamed The Moon Walk and the roofed ride could go in the Boardwalk in Spaceshuttle's spot or in front of the Great American Road Race. It has the late 1960's pretty-hippy flowers. I personally would love to see Houdini reopened. Not too many parks have these. I would like to ride a couple of SFGAm's 14 spin rides. Their scrambler would look nice in Pirate Flight's spot. Their monster spin could be placed in the Chaos spot. The Monster Spin is currently themed with Batman and is named East River Crawler. It could go in Time Warp's spot and themed with Fantasy Forest or Lakefront and named Silly Squid. A rehab for the Carousel, Big Wheel, fin brakes and comfortable vinyl seats for Rolling Thunder would be a godsend. Shows in the Great Lake Grandstand and Showcase Theater would be awesome too!

I can think of 4 bumper car rides that have been in the park: Traffic Jam, Fender Bender, the kiddie bumper cars (was called Log Jammer when I worked them) and die Autobahn. Kiddie Kingdom/ Shirt Tales Land/ Looney Tunes Land/ Bugs Bunny Land had at least one airplane ride, (Bugs Bunny Red Baron.) Bugs Bunny National Park looks like it has the same model, but is a different ride (Bugs Bunny Ranger Pilots.) Looney Tunes Seaport has Yosemite Sam's Flight School and Wiggles World has The Big Red Planes. Could it be a tie, or are you tricking us, Harry? Kiddie Kingdom had a helicopter ride, Balin's has Royal Elephants and Looney Tunes Seaport has the Bugs Bunny Barnstormer.

LOL @ transfer track. That is awesome about BBNP and LTS. The park did something similar to this for a short time in 2001, opening Bugs Bunny Land from 10am - (5?) and Looney Tunes Seaport from (3?) to 10pm on weekdays in May. Bugs Bunny Land would otherwise have 3 kids in there from 8 to 10pm. The Land of Make Believe crowd should be making a sacrifice along with the rest of us.

I always though the RT part was cool since I was operating. Red Rocket and Blue Bomber & Yellow Lightnin' and The Green Tooth Bandit looked hot racing on those hills. ** In 2000, there was a short lived commercial with a cartoonish flight over the park. They had a cartoon Ferris Wheel and cartoon four tents, etc. Does anybody have this on tape?

I never thought of that... I got to work the ride on it's 15th anniversary!

It was "More flats! More fun" until a typo forced them to change their itinerary. JUST KIDDING!

From what ride operators have told me, Evolution could have used vomit pouches too. It didn't make me sick though. I kind of liked it once I got up the nerve to ride it.

I keep thinking that. I'm afraid to go on Saturday.

Oh, I know that removing rides at SFGAdv was not the park's idea. The part that bothered me about the article, besides the "PR speak" was this line: I'm not sure if they have worked on the details. My fear comes from Snyder and Shapiro's approach to SFMM and SFGAdv. I wouldn't be surprised if they ripped out rides at existing parks to send them over seas. I know this doesn't make any sense, but it sounds like them.

A strong media company is good but he bought an amusement park chain. He should invest more money back into them, into us. He's taken 10 mainstream rides away from a flagship park and he's returned one. I feel ripped off. From 1999-2005, I used to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the park. I would buy souviners and ride pay attractions. But that was in a time when the park had over 40 mainstream rides and the price of admission was around 40 dollars. Now there are under 25 mainstream rides and the price of admission is over 60 dollars. I feel better with investing in Wawa since they increase their selection over time. Since I've been a season pass holder, I've never been the type to bring a lunch and dinner or go out to 537 to eat. I've always bought a three park season pass, even in the years that I worked at the park. This year, I purchased a two-park pass and I won't even pay for a parking pass. A group of us will go to the park in one car and go in together. It's not even a matter of how many rides are missing, how many show venues are closed or the price of admission. It's a matter of how many rides are never replaced. It's a matter of the chain investing in a locker system or cabanas when they won't invest in a scrambler, a paint job for the Big Wheel or a theater show. It's a matter of closing rides that see plenty of guests while employees stand in front of game stands or kiddie rides in hopes that guests will spend more money. I know Premier and Time Warner and others before them made their fare share of contributions to Six Flags problems. TW invested short term when they built Viper and Chiller which couldn't even last a decade. Premier built Superman and Kingda Ka, which brought fewer guests to the park than less expensive, reliable rides. However, they took profit from the guests and invested it back into their parks. Shapiro and Snyder only seem interested in lining their own pockets. Their destiny seems more aligned with a Wesray than a Time Warner. At least we have the Scream Machine!

When did Gary Story change his name to Mark Shapiro? It sure would be nice to see a benefit from all these deals one day. The guy can't even keep open a bumper car ride in his flagship park.

It was only a carnival version of Mission Space. You missed out big time buddy.

Great photos Harry! I like your photos taken on the Big Wheel, especially the night photos. Indoor minature golf sounds tempting. Maybe next year. SFGAm's Condor or a topple tower would look so good in Teepee's spot... besides a Teepee.

The part where the kid in looks up at the fireworks in the sunglasses brought back a memories. Astroland had a commercial with a kid looking up at the rides at night with glasses on. That one may still run.

I think they have played the soundtrack from Beetlegeist and Jurrasic Park too. Fun Fair> Movie Town (Sorry, just had to!)

The tiger and balloon logo looks the best and the rainbow logo brings back the best memories!