Thunderbolt

~$10 for cotton candy is outrageous. The *ONLY* decent deal is the souvenir soda for medium drink price with SP coupon. Does that offer include free first day drink refills?

Disney Fastpass Schwarzkopf Calypso or Huss Breakdance (Rodeo)

You mean Lenovo. ThinkPads running Mac OS X own.

Tough one!! I just love the lights on Zierer Wave Swingers (Flying Wave). I'll say both as I loved Joust-A-Bout. Da Vinci's Cradle (BGE) or Joust-A-Bout?

Didn't "The Great Gadzooks" precede "The Salty Dog", or did "The Salty Dog" make two runs? I remember "The Great Gadzooks".

I remember "The Great Gadzooks" and "The Salty Dog" Puppet Shows, but not "Perthy P. Pellican". When did this show run again?

LOL! So THAT'S why it's SBNO!

I'd look towards La Ronde or The Great Escape.

I thought it was The Dark Knight.

I'm actually quite interested in seeing the Glow in the Park Parade. This might turn out to be the hit of the summer for SFGAdv., more-so than TDK.

How did you get the pics in front of the Autobahn? Isn't that section of the park closed? You appear to have entered the B&R:TC Observatory too. Was the park giving you a tour, or you an authorized employee? Some people have all the luck I guess.

Busch Gardens is what Six Flags should aspire to be in the areas of theming and ambiance. Six Flags also shut down entire sections indefintiley, although "The Old Country" doesn't feature major attractions like Kentucky Kingdom's shuttered Twisted Twins. Universal is the standard I'd like to see for ops.

I mean overall weaker attendance numbers vs. the Magic Kingdom. Yes, I also understand there is less to do at the other Disney Parks. EPCOT and Animal Kingdom also saw new attractions with Soarin', the rehabbed Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Expedition Everest open. It's natural those parks would have a spike in attendance. Regarding Six Flags, I also remember the Bally, Time Warner/Boston Ventures, Premier Parks, and RedZone years quite well. During each regime, Great Adventure has had its ups and downs. I would argue the park was easily at its worst in the mid-80's prior to Ray Williams taking the reigns. Time Warner did a decent job with the park, but they are also responsible for Viper and B&R:TC; so you can hardly say they were perfect (I don't believe you are for the record). Personally, I still say the park benefitted most from Premier Parks. Superman Ultimate Flight, Medusa, Nitro, El Toro, and especially Kingda Ka would have never seen the light of day under RedZone. Projects like The Golden Kingdom and Plaza de Carnivale are also doubtful. I think Great Adventure suffered during 2002-2004, as the economic downturn forced the entire industry to cut back spending Things rebounded during 2005 and continued to until mid-2006. I do believe PKS would have gotten around to the lacking customer service aspects (Burke admitted this was a problem during a 2005 Magic Mountain visit), but he was ousted in a boardroom coup. The park is cleaner today, no doubt. I also think part of the park's "dirty" reputation lies with the fact almost all management teams prior to Time Warner didn't even bother to paint/maintain ride appearances. The Gum Wall in the Runaway Mine Train and Roarin' Rapids queue did little to remedy the reputation. As for Mark Kane, I wish I could share your enthusiasm. I don't want to fault him unjustly, but the park's lack of shows and intermediate rides is appalling for the $60 gate price the place commands. Cedar Point manages to deliver everything Great Adventure should with a $17 discount ($42.99 gate price). I don't question Mark's passion for the park. I know he worked there for years (can he bring back The Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats to the Americana Music Hall (neé Showcase Theater? I'll settle for the Evolution of Rock, or The Red, White, and Blue Revue at this point!). I just don't think he's being given the tools to make the park the success it should be. It's late and I'm tired, so I probably could/should expand my thoughts here. Losing the fireworks still bothers me (my Dad more-so). Great Adventure has been seeing a landscaping rejuvenation since 2005. I do applaud the efforts being made on this front. The "No-Smoking" policy also gets kudos from me. The rest of the conduct policy seems to be the same as ever, except it's now in writing. B&R:TC deserved its fate. The park also didn't bother fulling rehabbing the ride by replacing the missing LIMs and generator removed in years past either. Didn't Mark Kane mention this during the GADV Online event last year? Didn't he mention the ride would finally get the full rehab it never received by all previous managements? You know it was corporate who (wisely) put the bullet in the coaster's head and overruled Kane's proposal/promise to fix it. I'm sure Premier Rides also paid the cost to replace the heartline spins, with the humps, to avoid getting their pants sued off ala Togo for the lemon they sold (with a serious design flaw).

That's precisely the reason my family avoids EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Sea World. Judging by the weaker attendance numbers at those parks, the GP also disapproves of this practice. Universal had the entire park open for business during the first two weeks of December 2004. We felt like the only people in the park, and they were more than happy to have us. I honestly rank Universal as the gold standard of theme park operators. Busch is my second. I love Busch Gardens, and they're what Six Flags should aspire to be park wise.

If that's the case, Red Zone's acquisition of the company goes down as an unmitigated failure for shareholders. Six Flags PAID $135M directly back to RedZone covering Snyder's takeover costs. That money could have been better spent improving operations chainwide, or paying down the principal debt. Don't forget, it was RedZone's takeover offer that forced Premier Parks to put the entire company up for sale, as well as selling off the Astroworld property (enacting a "poison pill" if you will. Burke hoped the speculated $150M appraised property value would stave off shareholders approving the RedZone offer). RedZone has watched the share price circle down the toilet. I certainly hope Shapiro is listening to senior management at the park level. His hubris had all but killed Magic Mountain, and left a "this place is closing" stigma that still resonates with locals. Jay Thomas and crew have made great strides improving the park, despite being left for dead by corporate during the past 2 years. I really hope that time will showcase the park isn't going anywhere, and is still open to thrill. I also love the fact Jay Thomas keeps the entire place running when guests are in the park. I wish Mark Kane did the same, but I think the corporate overlords are running his show for him. I'm speculating, but I remember how they cut him off at the knees last year with the B&R:TC fiasco (promising to actually address all failing areas of the ride as a whole, vs. the patch jobs done previously; only to see his promised jettisoned a week later as the blow torches were lit en masse). Burke left rides SBNO. Shapiro ripped them out. 6 of these, half dozen of the other I guess. We all know the removals (and SBNO status before) were done to reduce staffing costs. Premier Parks added a lot of major attractions to offset the ride removals too (something RedZone has yet to do, and I don't consider TDK worth the purported $7.5M cost). Had Six Flags reduced gate pricing (prices before coupon or online discount) as you suggested, I might be more sympathetic to the delayed openings. I was actually going to say exactly what you did about seasonal pricing (Dorney Park does this when Wildwater Kingdom is closed. Prices are reduced at the gate by $12). Considering all the ride removals made at Great Adventure, I do expect them to open all rides with the park as the park opens later, requires less staffing overall than in years past, lacks shows, and closes early. Let's not forget, Six Flags has not increased staffing expenditures. Shapiro & Co. wisely reduced the full-time staffing chainwide, and utilized the savings to hire more seasonal employees (I read that in last year's 10-K filing I believe.). I also agree Great Adventure's sign shop is under-appreciated. They do a great job, and I do like the more "open" communications.

This is a practice Mark Shapiro lambasted during the Red Zone takeover. Why these lousy policies are accepted now, and not during the Burke years; escapes me.

I actually preferred the "It's A Whole New Adventure" campaign. The ad largely consisted of in-park "b-roll", had a catchy tune, and conveyed the exact message the reemerging Great Adventure needed to send. It actually featured FAMILIES having fun and a park free of screaming racial Asian stereotypes! How can you not love seeing a train enter GASM's loop and skyway bucks sans cages at sunset? The 2007 local spots emphasizing park cleanliness get an honorable mention. The "Mr. Six" ads was easily the best national campaign. My friend joked his marketing professor wants to use Six Flags, as a case study on ruining brand recognition. His family also associate the brand, with jingle and the old man.

The Angry Video Game Nerd Schwarzkopf Enterprise or Huss Enterprise?

Harry, do you have a roster of former park GMs? I wanted to try and track down Kieren Burke. I'd like his take on Six Flags pre-9/11 (when Premier Parks was firing on all cylinders) and the serious challenges imposed by the 9-11 downturn. Alas, he's no longer listed on Six Flags's 10-K (for insider securities holdings). I'd like his assessment of RedZone, and what he wishes he did differently ($10 he wishes he never bought Sea World Ohio). I remember him admitting the customer service deficits needing a remedy before his ouster.

Supposedly, Ray went to work at an oil company. Vince Lupinacci left Great Adventure to become the President & CEO of Sunkist. He returned to the amusement business as President & CEO of Palace Entertainment (Water parks & amusement centers), and now heads Global Recruiters of Thousand Oaks, CA. http://www.grnthousandoaks.com

I wonder what Ray Williams is up to? Any chance of interviewing former park execs?