I'm a bit frightened of this happening myself. I feel that the corporate park buyouts of the late 90s/early 00s are starting to collapse. The whole big park industry is. It's sorta like what happened to some movie studios lately. MGM went under and is now owned by Sony, and the same goes for Columbia/Tri-Star. Orion completely collapsed. Entertainment industries are very unstable, especially right now.

I had a marvelous time both times I went to SFA. (I went in 1999 and 2000) And Superman was down when I went! Not getting a new ride in 5 years, with numerous ride removals is kinda questionable to me. This could be Six Flags' second sacrificial lamb.

What I think they should do is get rid of the park and hopefully the group that bought Elitch and Darien Lake will buy it.

I don't think so Redfoot12,SFI already drew up contracts/designs etc. for their new for 08 attractions long before the SFKK accident happened.They simply don't care enough about the park to invest in it to the level that they should.

PBR was probably a disappointment for them as the last major ride expenditure for the theme park side...the ride isn't as popular as they'd hoped judging by the fact that the queue rarely fills up past the station turnaround even on hot days.

When next season's attendance figures come in & SFI finds that they lost more guests to KD & HP due to their new additions they're gonna wish that they'd done things differently because the new coasters going into both HP & KD(we know that Dominator is pretty much assured for KD at this point) are certain to eat into SFA's market share simply because they chose not to offer any incentive for guests to patronize the park.

Are we really pushing it with this idea? They're probably at least scratching their heads about that place.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Rookie Year CHILLERLC1
Philadelphia Phillies - the 2008 World Champions!!!
Me and my crumbs of playoff hopes.

I don't think it woudl happen. SFI doesn't need the bad publicity associated with closing down the ride side for just a water park. also closing it down completely would look bad on them as well.

if they decide they don't want it they will sell it. but while attendance is flat it's not terrible. they are using SFAm like they have other parks to generate money for other parks like SFNE, SFGAdv, etc.

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Michael C - Speedzone Editor

Didn't you go through this rant last year? And the year before that? And the year before that....I have a feeling you'll be saying this same thing this time next year.

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Back from the dead.
"ROSEBUD. Rosebud frozen peas, full of country goodness and green peaness."

BatwingFan,

I have known you for a long time. We talked quite a bit SixFlagsNews, we use to IM each other some, we've chatted on sfafans.com and thispagecannotbedisplayed. You really need to take a close look at this park.

First, please read this article. If you read this article, you should walk away with the impression that SFA is trying to correct some of the image problems people are complaining about.

Second, we don't know if Six Flags will add anything to SFA for 2008. Did you notice only one water ride was released today and the rumor is SF is building eight coasters next season, but only seven were announced. I'm still holding out hope for something new and you should as well.

Third, I have repeatedly told you, be specific and quit misleading people. Six Flags America built two new attractions in 2005. Two new water slides, along with a complete Hurricane Harbor makeover. If you want to say SFA hasn't built a dry ride or Thrill ride on the dry side of the park in 5 years, but be specific.

Fourth, the park is in pretty bad shape. There is a lot of infrastructure work that needs to be done and then, so the mistakes that haven't been made in the past are not repeated, the park needs to plan its space out. Do we want another dead end situation like there is with Wild One or Batwing. Another situation where there isn't water pressure for a bathroom, like Batwing. You saw the start of some of that infrastructure work this season. The additional food stands in Gotham City and the running of wires for an in park sound system and security cameras. You have three coasters that need a paint job and lets not forget all of the work that has went into fixing Skull Mountain. They still have one turntable to replace and while it still operates infrequently, it has seen considerably more uptime this season. Lets not forget the work that has went into getting Batwing running more reliably as well.

Fifth, the planning process and permitting process in Prince George's County is brutal. You have to have a permit to erect a tent for one day, they scrutinize every detail down to the design on the bolt (okay, I'm exaggerating but it is probably the toughest of any park in the country). How many companies wanted to build a park in D.C.? Marriott wanted to build a park in two different locations in Maryland before giving up. How about Disney? The Baltimore/Washington corridor is a place major amusement park companies want to be.

Sixth, Go and enjoy Fright Fest. You have already paid for it with your season pass. You don't have to buy anything and you know you want to ride Superman in the dark. I rode it recently in the pitch black and to be honest, it has never ran better. I might even purchase some Flash Passes for multiple rides in the dark.

Your not looking in the right spots for improvements. The trip reports I have read this season show other people are seeing the changes. There are those that still feel the park has a long way to go and they have a right to that opinion. Not every customer is satisfied with the Bloomin' Onion at Outback but others think it is the BGE of appetizers.

Whatever you decide, you need to quit misleading people. Posting these kinds of rumors can lead to a bigger problem that could cause the park to shut its gates. To my knowledge, Six Flags America isn't going anywhere.

I would like to have a new thrill ride as well but if they are going to dump the money into fixing the park, then I'm fine with that also.

Just a little speculation (and I am speculating).... Hershey didn't building a Spinning Coaster, Kings Dominion is rumored to be building a Floorless, Great Adventure didn't build one... I wonder what might be in the future for SFA?

Wouldn't it be nice to get a

Wiggles World
Thomas Town
and
Tony Hawk

All in one year after the infrastructure of the park is fixed? If nothing else, to put the park back on the map.

Yeah, it's sitting over in a field near Superman's long straight section.

I can't really see them closing SFA, but IMO it needs a lot of fixing up. I don't really get it why they didn't just throw money at the park though. It's right at D.C. and somewhere near Baltimore both of which are huge cities. It seems like they could really have a spectacular attendance, so I'm confused as to why SFI has neglected the park for so long. But, Shapiro likes to take the cheap and easy way out of things, so I can see how this rumor was presented. If anything I wouldn't be surprised if he sold the park, along with SFKK and possibly Great Escape

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Thats what I'm hoping we'll see. I don't see the point in plopping another cloned coaster in the middle of a field when people will still go to the park and notice that it still has some glaring problems that need to be fixed. After last season I atleast am under the impression that many of these problems have been resolved or are under the process of being resolved. Little things like the tram from the overflow parking lot to the main gates, the park being much cleaner... Things like that make me hopeful that after another year or two the park will be in top top shape and we can add a nice well themed coaster/thrill ride and everything will be great.

How many years go by between the large additions at BGE? Apollo was built in 99, and Griffon opened this season. The only ride added between those two huge coasters was DarKastle. To me the number of years that elapse between large additions can't really be too great an indicator of whether or not a park is going to be closed...

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

As long as he sold the park and not just the land it sits on I would actually be happy with that. It seems he'd find someone willing to purchase it because it certainly has potential to be a huge money maker given its location. I'd be happy the park was owned by someone new but would be less excited that my SFA pass isn't good at SFGAdv anymore...

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

But before Apollo in 1999, Alpengeist had just opened in 1997 and Drachen Fire in 1992, both Apollo and Alpengeist were $20,000,000 (from what I've read) so I'm a little confused as to why it took so long to get Griffon, which was only $15,600,000.

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Before last season I was just starting to wonder when they were finally going to get a new coaster because so many years had gone by since Apollo.

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Rebel Yell is better backwards.

You have to have money to throw at it. Six Flags is broke. They are mortgaged to the hilt. There isn't one ride more than $10 mil this season. I believe Shapiro said Capex is locked in at $80 mil this season. Do the math, $80 mil divided amongst 21 amusement parks and water parks is a little more than $3.8 mil per park. Obviously some parks are getting more.

That's what I just don't get especially when there's so much regional competition in SFA's general market area.You've got KD to the south,which has been in existence long before SFA's predecessors known as wild world & adventure world adding new rides every season to draw from their northern Va./DC base as well as HP to the north that is sure to pull from their northern/central MD. base with their recent ride additions.

Remember when SFI announced that parks were up for sale earlier this year & SFA was a possibile candidate to be included in that sale? I sure do & it wouldn't suprise me one bit that if during the off season Snyder decided to sell the park due to less than stellar performance....just as CF suddenly did with GL recently,and like GL,SFA's main draw has been the waterpark as it's always busy even though I don't even go to that section of the park myself.

At most I'd give the park maybe two more seasons before something happens & they finally decide that it's simply no longer worth the investment required to improve,let alone operate the property as a park anymore.

Six Flags wouldn't gut the park, at WORST, they'd sell it whole... why, you ask? Because they invested quite a large chunk of money in improvements that couldn't be recouped if the park was just bulldozed over...

For example, they park installed a MASSIVE park wide sound system this year that certainly cost a pretty penny. Not only was the hardware expensive, but I'm SURE the labor for laying the miles of cables to set up the new sound system wern't cheep either. An investment like this could not be moved to another SF park and would be of no value to someone who just wants the land. They park also invested nearly $1 million in inprovements to their Typhoon SeaCoaster/Skull Mountain... once again, the improvements made are not improvements that would be recouped if the ride were moved or bulldozed.

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If you can't stand the heights, get out of the line.

What less than stellar performance? You have no facts to back that up. How do you know the park isn't the most profitable in the chain? Again, your making assumptions and have no facts.

I knew there was a reason why you keep saying SFA hasn't had any new attractions in five years.

Again, your making assumptions based on no facts. SF isn't going to sale land in a down market, oh and by the way, the loan companies are going to have a say on what is sold.