Misc GA Mumblings

[29yrswithaGApass]

Is this the premium experience we have been hearing about?

[The Master]

3 hours ago, Mr.Six said:

Unfortunate new signage around the park

 

They have to be kidding! So most of the Northern half of the park won't open until the Summer? That is pathetic. So that half of the park will only be open for the Summer season from now on? Last year they closed that section down in the middle of Oct. This is going to be a rough season. 

 

 

This explains why they are opening the haunted houses this spring. Its to help offset all the closed rides. Especially convenient since the haunted houses are upcharge attractions and the closed ones aren't.  

[Yoshi]

Very disappointing to see. I can understand them keeping Tango and Macho Nacho closed along with El Toro since not many people are going to go into Plaza Del Carnaval with El Toro closed but to have all of Frontier Adventures closed plus the Skyway is too much.

 

I miss the days when almost everything was open on opening weekend. I remember opening weekend 2010 when it was in the 30's on Saturday and 40's on Sunday and rides that you would expect to be closed like the log flume were still open.

[The Master]

If I known so much of the park was going to be closed I would not have renewed my season pass this year. Do other SF parks also have large sections closed down too? 

[29yrswithaGApass]

At least our stuff will open in several weeks.  Six Flags America has whole sections removed from its map this year.  
 

[The Master]

It just seems that much of the amusment park industry has been going down the tubes for the past decade. When you think things can't get worse, they somehow do. 

[Daved Thomson]

4 hours ago, The Master said:

If I known so much of the park was going to be closed I would not have renewed my season pass this year. Do other SF parks also have large sections closed down too? 

Sad to say, but it almost seems like Six Flags is going the route of the sleazy car dealership with a bait and switch policy when it comes to ticket sales and, especially, season pass sales.

[I Have No Name]

On 4/1/2023 at 11:35 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said:

At least our stuff will open in several weeks.  Six Flags America has whole sections removed from its map this year.  
 

 

Wow, that's my home park (for better or worse) ....

I don't know if that means Mind Eraser will be gone for good (I'm hoping so). Sad to see the state of this park.

And I saw on their site that Superman: Ride of Steel "will be soaring later this spring".

At this point, I'm going to ride out the 2023 season and possibly switch loyalties to Hershey Park.

[pashacar]

On 4/2/2023 at 12:01 AM, The Master said:

It just seems that much of the amusment park industry has been going down the tubes for the past decade. When you think things can't get worse, they somehow do. 

 

Funny you say this, because I think the industry is in the midst of another golden age. Wizarding World set off an arms race in destination parks, spurring investment that's totally unprecedented and has given us attractions, worlds, and even resorts far beyond anything that's been built to date. Even for regional parks, most chains are thriving, regularly building large new rides and keeping their parks clean and busy, and even building new properties from scratch, which was always said to be financially impossible. While it's not all sunshine and rainbows, it seems to me that the industry is booming and Six Flags is the unfortunate exception.

[29yrswithaGApass]

2 hours ago, pashacar said:

 

Funny you say this, because I think the industry is in the midst of another golden age. Wizarding World set off an arms race in destination parks, spurring investment that's totally unprecedented and has given us attractions, worlds, and even resorts far beyond anything that's been built to date. Even for regional parks, most chains are thriving, regularly building large new rides and keeping their parks clean and busy, and even building new properties from scratch, which was always said to be financially impossible. While it's not all sunshine and rainbows, it seems to me that the industry is booming and Six Flags is the unfortunate exception.

 

I think in general visiting a park has become a less enjoyable experience and more of an advanced planning military-like series of maneuvers.  The days of a spontaneous enjoyable day at the park are over - regional or destination wise.  

[The Master]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:36 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said:

 

I think in general visiting a park has become a less enjoyable experience and more of an advanced planning military-like series of maneuvers.  The days of a spontaneous enjoyable day at the park are over - regional or destination wise.  

 

This is one of the many problems with parks now, and it stems from increasing crowds flooding parks. Park crowds are very much like inflation in that they both increase over time. 

 

Then there are increacing costs, new upcharges being introduced, and decreacing value in return. Yes many parks are building new fancy rides, but some like Rise of the Resistance are so difficult to get on even once during an entire vactation trip that it might as well to have never been built for many visitors. Visiting a theme park should not be a day long chain of hassles and hoops to jump through. If it is, you might as well just go to work and have a cash inflow rather than an outflow. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by The Master

[The Master]

Went to the park today, Wednesday, and things could have been better. Drove through the safari first which was nice, but the theme park had many issues. In addition to the rides that have been listed being closed till Memorial Day, Batman, Nitro, and Houdini were also closed. Along with single train operation on Skull MT which made that line slow. Jersey Devil broke down in the afternoon. Its probably the rockiest first visit of the season I have seen in years.    

Edited April 6, 2023 by The Master

[Coaster Guy84]

Just a sad and disappointing state of affairs the park has become. I would imagine these decisions were made at the corporate level to try and save a a few dollars in maintenance costs. 
 

If you follow the industry and looked at what Magic Mountain has been doing you shouldn’t be surprised. They have rides and attractions which have sat idol for months.
 

I don’t see how Six Flags expects to become a premium brand when they offer a subpar product. People are going to notice and not come back.  

[DantheWoman]

Nitro finally opened, but after I left. Eff me.

 

Does anyone miss Bugs Bunny on the gates to the parking lot? It was so cute. I just noticed they removed him.

[GAcoaster]

I keep thinking about what the current issues with the park are, and looking at other parks in the chain and seeing/hearing anecdotes which are much more positive than GA's opening has been. I think the biggest difference is the park's lack of leadership and being in flux without a park president in place calling the shots. I see what's happening specifically at Fiesta Texas and realize a big part of why they seem to be doing so much better between updates, rehabs, events, etc., and ACTUALLY providing an improved (PREMIUM) guest experience is they've had a dedicated park president for several years so they have consistency. One vision steering the ship and sweating the details. It makes such a difference. Between that and having very direct competition with SeaWorld (they're only 15 miles apart) means they have to keep up the experience or they lose their guests.  

[29yrswithaGApass]

You would think the CEO would know that before eliminating the park president.  Doesn’t seem he is in a rush to replace him.  

[GAcoaster]

You'd think since GA makes up such a large percentage of the company's revenues it would be a priority to get a park president in place... 

[The Master]

GADV has not been a well ran park in the decades I have been going to it. Many of the other SF parks I visited over the years seemed better ran than GADV except for SFMM and SFA, those 2 were worse than GADV. 

[29yrswithaGApass]

^ I think GA was above average in part because of the following:

 

- Aggressive operating calendar including many weekdays in the off season.

- Aside from water rides, almost all rides were always open.  
- Coasters operated with maximum number of trains even when not needed.  
-  Park allowed rerides without leaving the station.  
- Rides operated even when temperatures seemed extreme (cold).  
 

They seemed to be most inefficient in the foods department with the number of outlets usually less than ideal.  

[Coaster Guy84]

Shortly after the “war on lines” era and opening of Hurricane Harbor things started to slowly go downhill. 
 

Essentially it came down to not enough staff to run the park and to the guest suffered. The ride maintenance costs skyrocketed and budgets were completely blown up. 
 

To me this changed how the park thought about operations as they clamped down on their operating budget to try and maximize efficiency. 
 

As the years went by Six Flags put profits over people and you see where we are today as a result. 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Coaster Guy84

[GAcoaster]

With each successive management team from Time Warner onward, the maintenance budget and staff has been downsized and the park has never recovered properly. Things that other parks do to winterize and rehab the park no longer does. Look at Cedar Point- they have/had many of the same rides and they keep them in amazing shape. Every year their Ferris wheel has all the cars removed and rehabbed, then reinstalled before the park opens for the season-- it's the exact same wheel GA has but looks like new in comparison. GA used to do the same, but the lack of maintenance personnel and lack of budget means instead things only get fixed as needed rather than getting the preventative maintenance they should get. 

 

Part of the issue has always been GA's costs are higher than just about any other park because it is unionized, but it also been a bigger draw and made higher profits for the company than just about any park in the chain. 

 

I'll be curious to see if Kingda Ka gets similar modifications to Top Thrill Dragster since both are maintenance nightmares and bottomless pits of money for repair and upkeep. Supposedly the cost is about $5 million each year to keep KK running, so the ride has cost the park more than $100 million between purchase and maintenance over the past 18 years. Imagine what they could have done with that instead of dealing with Ka. If modifying it costs $10 million but it's cheaper to maintain and becomes a better and more reliable ride, maybe they update it? 

[DantheWoman]

Apparently, rerides without leaving the station are done for. You need an AAP pass to skip the line.

[Daved Thomson]

1 hour ago, GAcoaster said:

With each successive management team from Time Warner onward, the maintenance budget and staff has been downsized and the park has never recovered properly. Things that other parks do to winterize and rehab the park no longer does. Look at Cedar Point- they have/had many of the same rides and they keep them in amazing shape. Every year their Ferris wheel has all the cars removed and rehabbed, then reinstalled before the park opens for the season-- it's the exact same wheel GA has but looks like new in comparison. GA used to do the same, but the lack of maintenance personnel and lack of budget means instead things only get fixed as needed rather than getting the preventative maintenance they should get. 

 

Part of the issue has always been GA's costs are higher than just about any other park because it is unionized, but it also been a bigger draw and made higher profits for the company than just about any park in the chain. 

 

I'll be curious to see if Kingda Ka gets similar modifications to Top Thrill Dragster since both are maintenance nightmares and bottomless pits of money for repair and upkeep. Supposedly the cost is about $5 million each year to keep KK running, so the ride has cost the park more than $100 million between purchase and maintenance over the past 18 years. Imagine what they could have done with that instead of dealing with Ka. If modifying it costs $10 million but it's cheaper to maintain and becomes a better and more reliable ride, maybe they update it? 

I've been saying this for years.  While I can't speak to absurd costs to maintain Kinda Ka, unions do result in greater expenses to any business.  Personally, I believe SF management (corporate and/or at the park level) began to show their true colors when they first displayed a willingness (or need) to allow so many of the park's iconic structures, as well as labor intensive features such as shows, landscaping, and grounds quality, to slip in favor of extremely expensive rollercoasters and other rides that really draw a limited audience.  

 

At the corporate level, the company (I think foolishly) decided to appear to expand and increase annual attendance through the acquisition of parks that were well below Six Flags standards.  I think this was most evident following the sale of the parks by Time-Warner.  Now, if this company wants to continue in the theme park industry, they need to shed all of their less than stellar parks, particularly those in smaller markets, and focus on improving the quality, upkeep, and guest experience at their largest parks and largest markets.

[DantheWoman]

18 hours ago, Daved Thomson said:

I've been saying this for years.  While I can't speak to absurd costs to maintain Kinda Ka, unions do result in greater expenses to any business.  Personally, I believe SF management (corporate and/or at the park level) began to show their true colors when they first displayed a willingness (or need) to allow so many of the park's iconic structures, as well as labor intensive features such as shows, landscaping, and grounds quality, to slip in favor of extremely expensive rollercoasters and other rides that really draw a limited audience.  

 

At the corporate level, the company (I think foolishly) decided to appear to expand and increase annual attendance through the acquisition of parks that were well below Six Flags standards.  I think this was most evident following the sale of the parks by Time-Warner.  Now, if this company wants to continue in the theme park industry, they need to shed all of their less than stellar parks, particularly those in smaller markets, and focus on improving the quality, upkeep, and guest experience at their largest parks and largest markets.

I love the Time Warner era. It had such great theming and more personality.

[coliwood_studios]

20 hours ago, DantheWoman said:

Apparently, rerides without leaving the station are done for. You need an AAP pass to skip the line.

I can say from personal experience that this isn’t the case.  I’ve stayed in the station and rerode Kingda Ka, Zumanjaro and others multiple times this year when able to, and never had any issues.