2016 and Beyond Speculation at SFGA

[robertleax]

I kind of understand why people won't renew their season passes but I don't think its just because of Looping Dragons. For the past few years I've been contemplating about renewing our season passes. And recently the past year or two the only reason we got 4 (the 4th is for my wife) was because of the free parking and lower prices. Seems like for the past few years we have been going less and staying for less time. I don't mind them not getting a large coaster right away because they already have a pretty good line-up, but they need to add more shows at the very least. That would keep our family coming back if we can watch a decent stunt show(s), high dive shows, etc...The last time I was there we watched a dance party by the fountain at 1pm with 1 character and 1 host and no one dancing.

 

It's 8:30 right now and the past few Sundays including today my kids and I always debate if we show go or not. The last few Sundays we decided not to go and today it looks like we are staying home again.

 

We are getting a little tired (especially my kids) to go to the park just to ride the same coasters (we hardly do flats because of the carnival style feel) and then wondering around the park at 1 pm deciding if we should just go home (which we end up doing). Most of the time we wont even wait for the 3:30 sea lion show. We have seen the tap dancing shows (don't even mind of it being just 3 persons) but where it is at when sitting at the tables it's very difficult to watch with all the umbrellas around (very poorly planned).

 

They need things that you would want to go back time and time again. Quality stunt show, Muscial revue shows with the songs always being updated, An interactive dark ride (would always go back to try and get a better shooting score).

 

Again I would love another coaster and I am not too upset of what they are adding but I think they need to change the entire "style" of the park and make it feel like a Hershey/Busch Gardens/WDW/even Knoebels (they even have a few shows) style park. But still in a unique way (great coaster package/beautiful lake with shows on the lake/Safari/Western show near or in the grandstand).

 

I am 2 hours away from Hershey and only 1 hour away from Gadv and Dorney Park. If Hershey was an hour away we would have Season Passes there of if Dorney Park Max season passes were comparable to Gadv we would have Season passes the Dorney instead.

 

It's also weird one the main reasons we renewed our Season Passes this year is because we are still planning to go to SF America before this season ends. Even though it's smaller and not as many coasters (even though I like their Batwing better than our Superman) the 2 times we went so far was more enjoyable.

[DANofNJ]

for the price SF charges for the season pass, you cant not buy one. if you hate the addition, take the quick drive next year up to SFNE and go ride that great RMC they are adding. And I hear they have a great Intamin coaster, too. And if you aren't too far from Dorney, but the platinum pass there too, and you can take drives to Cedar Point and Kings Dominion, 2 great parks.

Edited August 31, 2014 by DANofNJ

[Nitro1118]

Again I would love another coaster and I am not too upset of what they are adding but I think they need to change the entire "style" of the park and make it feel like a Hershey/Busch Gardens/WDW/even Knoebels (they even have a few shows) style park. But still in a unique way (great coaster package/beautiful lake with shows on the lake/Safari/Western show near or in the

Our park will never, ever be like those parks. Hershey is incredibly unique with a gimmick that only they hold the rights to. Knoebels is a very small family park with a completely different demographic. Busch and WDW are located in established tourist destinations and are capable of things only Disney/Busch/Universal can do.

 

The goal of a regional park like GADV should be CP. Well-rounded in terms of rides, clean, every coaster addition being top quality, and hotel to make it a destination for thrill seekers. Those are all very attainable goals, and the park already has a big head start in terms of the most expensive criterea (coasters).

 

I do respect and agree with the rest of your post. I have liked what they've done the last 3 years to fill out some holes in the ride department, but I really wish that LD $ went to new paint, pavement and maybe a show. The appearance of the parks needs an upgrade, and shows are severely lacking.

[KK456]

^Agreed

[errico5errico]

I did the math on the season pass, this year I went to six flags 18 times so far which means I have only spent $3.89 on each visit.

[Nitr0o]

As far as Giga's go, I don't know where we are gonna put one. They require an enormous amount of room considering how massive they are. Even the space occupied by Nitro would be hard to fit a Giga. So not sure how we are gonna get one. But I'm really praying for a wingrider or a B:TR at SFFT kind of thing because that looks pretty fun.

 

EDIT: Or a GCI *fingers crossed*

Edited August 31, 2014 by Nitr0o

[warnerleroy]

Honestly I wouldn't be suprised if park attendance took a dive next season. Honestly you don't need to add the biggest, or fastest every year, but you have to add something unique and attention grabbing. Looping dragon, while by no means a bad ride, is neither

[KK456]

LD isn't that bad. My friend went on a ring of fire ride last week, and showed me a video. It's really not that bad. The only thing Im mad about is them marketing it as a coaster, and perhaps not getting Namtab. But they could announce that at a later date

[GAcoaster]

When it comes down to it, this year was bad for the theme park industry attendance wise. Six Flags, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld have all reported their numbers as being down to LY (and I know Disney hasn't been making their projections for attendance either). They are being cautious with their expenditures because of this, and offering cheap tickets and SPs to keep the turnstiles clicking. I have no doubt there were other, bigger, better plans for the parks getting these rides (or at least for some of them like GA) which changed at the last minute as the numbers started coming in and the stock market reacted to those numbers.

 

I'm sure Looping Dragon will be a good addition to the park and very popular. The only problem I could see would be if for some reason it is not built and open by the park's opening day. There is NO REASON why a carnival ride can't be installed in just a few days, so they really have no excuse if they don't have it up and running for the park's opening day.

 

One of the big reasons Six Flags gave for their poor performance was delays in getting new capital up and running because of the harsh winter. This year even if they have a harsh winter, they should be able to get the new ride up and running on time.

 

Now 2016's attractions will all depend on the 2015 performance (or lack of), and if it starts off to be a good year, expect better things for all parks, and if it turns out to be a slow year, I'd bet we see the same pattern of the big parks (GA, GAm) getting good additions while the other parks get hand me downs and carnival rides. This management team will see the same thing the previous teams did, that if the big parks don't get big additions, the whole chain suffers financially.

[KK456]

As far as Giga's go, I don't know where we are gonna put one. They require an enormous amount of room considering how massive they are. Even the space occupied by Nitro would be hard to fit a Giga. So not sure how we are gonna get one.

 

Actually, it depends. I agree with you it would be hard to fit one, especially a B&M as their layouts are spread out and take a lot of space. One of Intamin's talents is making incredible coasters that are compact. For example, I-305 is far more compact than any giga coaster ever built, yet by far the most intense. They can take very limited space and build something amazing. B&M needs some room to do the same thing because they tend to do out and back layouts. I agree that is is very, very unlikely, but nobody even remotely, even slightly ever expected Kingda Ka, so you never know!

Edited September 1, 2014 by KK456

[errico5errico]

Theres a difference between the ride were getting and the carnival version, its going to take a lot more than a few days to put up LD. Brain Drain took a few months to complete I think so it will probably be up on memorial day.

[RADZADcoasters]

As far as Giga's go, I don't know where we are gonna put one. They require an enormous amount of room considering how massive they are. Even the space occupied by Nitro would be hard to fit a Giga. So not sure how we are gonna get one. But I'm really praying for a wingrider or a B:TR at SFFT kind of thing because that looks pretty fun.

 

EDIT: Or a GCI *fingers crossed*

Even though giga's take a lot of room, if you take out bizarro, and a bunch of uh trees around it, and use the safari section that isn't used anymore, you have a huge space of land for a giga

Edited September 1, 2014 by RADZADcoasters

[SFGadv123]

As far as Giga's go, I don't know where we are gonna put one. They require an enormous amount of room considering how massive they are. Even the space occupied by Nitro would be hard to fit a Giga. So not sure how we are gonna get one. But I'm really praying for a wingrider or a B:TR at SFFT kind of thing because that looks pretty fun.

 

EDIT: Or a GCI *fingers crossed*

A giga coaster can easily be put over the lake if they knock down Fort Independence. and the station would go there. They could even have the coaster go underwater which would be awesome. The view from the top would be insane. That would cost a lot of money to do i'm sure so I would say if that happened they would need to take another "off" year in 2016 to add another smaller, less expensive attraction, and then the giga over the lake would come in 2017, and I would be fine with waiting an extra year for that.

Edited September 1, 2014 by SFGadv123

[YoungPup]

I really wish that LD $ went to new paint, pavement and maybe a show. The appearance of the parks needs an upgrade, and shows are severely lacking.

https://www.change.org/p/six-flags-great-adventure-don-t-give-us-looping-dragon That's exactly what I'm trying to get with this petition, but not enough people are sharing it.

[KK456]

^^ and ^^^ I agree with you both! Would be amazing! However, I don't think they should remove bizarro because if they put some flats and/or put in season pass parking, it could easily be popular once again. Looking at the park map and satelitte images, They could build it in that empty space between movietown and the entrance and have it go towards nitro, as nitro is colossal and would be easy to go over/under and intertwine. Either way it would have to go in that side of the park

 

Also, it would have to be an I-305 style with the double spine because of 2 reasons, respectively. A. It would have to be compact. B. They would need the double spine to lessen the amount of supports required, because with my concept it would have to maneuver around a lot of stuff. Thats not a bad thing though. Cedar Point has TTD and MF, but MF is not an intensity park coaster, rather being geared towards speed. Great adventure with 2 super intense rides? I would legit go every single day

 

^^I don't think they would be able to build the underground tunnel. Seeing as the state wouldn't let Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro run at the same time, I don't see even the slightest chance of NJ allowing them to do that. But who knows? The concept is actually very possible, just not likely. The view would rival MF's. I would be fine with waiting an extra year, if it meant an intamin giga. Heck, i would wait another 3 if I had to. It's just that worth it. I hope Six Flags is willing to spend that much money though!

Edited September 1, 2014 by KK456

[KK456]

^^They have already paid for it, so it's pretty much impossible to change anything. I do agree with you, they should improve the small things. Also, repaint Nitro! That thing has been SCREAMING for a paint job for years

[SFGadv123]

Also, repaint Nitro! That thing has been SCREAMING for a paint job for years

Indeed it has. The worst part is at the pre drop, at that part the track actually looks disgusting. Batman could also use a paint job but not as bad. Batman would be more likely though cause it has much less track to be covered.

 

Although the real issue is the parking lot, and before repainting any rides repaving the lot should be the top priority.

Edited September 1, 2014 by SFGadv123

[KK456]

Indeed it has. The worst part is at the pre drop, at that part the track actually looks disgusting.

 

It's so bad there that when the train exits the station you can hear it screeching out. A fresh paint job would make it look as pretty as Behemoth

[RADZADcoasters]

I'm pretty sure if this whole forums ran the park, it would be the world's best theme park.

[KK456]

^And bankrupt XD. But yeah, it would be awesome

[errico5errico]

I'm pretty sure if this whole forums ran the park, it would be the world's best theme park.

are you the one with the youtube channel? Ive been subscribed to your channel for a few months and I like your videos

[29yrswithaGApass]

^True. Plus, im not sure when this was said, but I heard that Six Flags said they would never spend as much as they did on Tatsu ($25 million) again as it simply wasn't worth it for them. That sucks because besides RMCs the only truly spectacular steel rides are in the 20 millions category. I would appreciate it if someone told me if Six Flags really did say that and who in particular. IMO they shouldn't have spent the same amount on a B&M flyer as they did with the tallest and second fastest ride in the world. I wonder what made it cost so much

 

The statement about no longer spending multi-millions on a roller coaster was made by Mark Shapiro of the Red Zone management team. He felt that they would never get a return on investment for high cost rides. You can read the article HERE.

 

I don't believe the current management team mentioned a per-ride limit but if I recall correctly, they did target annual capital somewhere around $90 milllion +/-.

[Nitro1118]

A giga coaster can easily be put over the lake if they knock down Fort Independence.

You have a very loose concept of the word "easy" lol. Building onto the lake would be a very difficult task, and there is very little land between Fort Independence and the Main Street buildings for the massive supports and track needed for a giga. Maybe possible in theory but I can't see them ever entertaining the thought.

 

IF a giga were to ever come to the park with currently available land (i.e not removing any coasters), it'd have to start out near RT's station. From there you have a HUGE amount of space to the old turnaround, behind Ka's tower, the old safari entrance, and the baboon area. The only issue is it's kind of pointless to wow the GP with height with Ka dwarfing it by 100+ feet.

[hollyferry]

I thought I posted this before, but can't find it. So if it posts twice...apologies in advance.

As much as I want a big new thrilling ride (and oh how I do!)...at this point I'd almost rather have the park take a year off and do the much needed improvements. The parking lot (which looks so awful), paint that ugly water tower...take the time and money to paint the current coasters, just do a general spruce up around the parks; remove the buildings that are old, run down and not in use or repurpose them.

It certainly wouldn't be a popular option...but one I think GA desperately needs.

[Nitr0o]

I thought I posted this before, but can't find it. So if it posts twice...apologies in advance.

As much as I want a big new thrilling ride (and oh how I do!)...at this point I'd almost rather have the park take a year off and do the much needed improvements. The parking lot (which looks so awful), paint that ugly water tower...take the time and money to paint the current coasters, just do a general spruce up around the parks; remove the buildings that are old, run down and not in use or repurpose them.

It certainly wouldn't be a popular option...but one I think GA desperately needs.

amen to this I'm praying for something thrilling but everytime I go to the park ever since I've been to Hershey and Dorney I just realize our park seems somewhat rundown compared to other parks.