The market is down now. Some people are speculating that SFI is holding on to the park until the property values rise. That's why I said the park could be sold in a couple of years.

The property that SFA sits on is the most valuable in the chain. I'm sure it is being used as collateral and a year 1/2 ago when the parks were being looked at, the market had reached its pinnacle. That would have been the time to sell the land. I'm sure if they were going to, they would have sold it then. You don't sale when values are rising, you sale when things have reached the top.

^True but if we see another rise in real estate values in the area they just might re-consider selling.They also could consider just selling the park as is to another company such as PARC much like they did with SFEG & SFDL.

The jury is still out on PARC. I would rather wait and see what Six Flags does with Six Flags America over the next three years. Each park is suppose to have a five year plan. From where I'm sitting Six Flags is investing in the infrastructure to make SFA a better park. Look at the things the park has done this year, new sound system, tram, additional security cameras, lots of money into getting Skull Mountain running. You don't invest money in a dieing ride if your going to sell the park.

Exactly, the park is safe as far as I'm concerned for a long while. Based on the changes and improvements they've been making I'm not worried. And the park is improving, I'm excited to see how the park is next season based on things have been going.

__________________
Rebel Yell is better backwards.

Well by not adding new attractions to the park it's sending the message,at least to me...and I'm sure to others in the GP that SFI doesn't care too much about the park especially when KD & HP continue to invest in new rides/attractions to help draw people in.

SFA is adding a Tony Hawk themed water slide this season... Its better then nothing.

__________________
Rebel Yell is better backwards.

I still see SFA as a Dorney sized park that got a fistful of attractions at once that was suppose to last as the major additions for years. I just see some flat work needed if compared to that property. It's no KD or SFGADV.

I could see SFA as being a new slate of Washington Redskins players' houses as well in that area but I don't want to speculate a demise.

I'm glad I grew out of the idea that all SF parks will become mega destination parks with an unending addition of rides. That time is over and it's more like arranging the parks into different tiers to represent the different sized markets. KD already beat SFA to the chase. SFA has great coasters to balance out the bad ones, just not the charm. More trees would be nice. I feel better about blowing gas money to SFNE, SFA was part of that cut for me. I can say lack of additions added to that too cause I see myself staying away from Hershey if it didn't get something new. That's the cause of being a credit whore. SFGADV is the only place I go for just the experience nowadays.

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

With the drastic cutbacks in operating hours for the 2008 season,plus the lack of capex going towards the ride side of the park I truely see this as the beginning of the end.

Remember,CF did the same thing with GL just before announcing that they'd shut down the ride park in favor of being only a waterpark & I foresee the same thing happening here with SFA.

They cut the hours for a lot of parks because keeping the park open longer costs more money and after a certain point you are no longer gaining enough visitors to make it worthy to stay open. They extended the number of Days for most of the parks too.

OK, reading all of this has given me a bit of a headache. Out of all the remaining Six Flags amusement parks, SFA is not one of the parks I forsee closing or being sold off. SFAW had not seen a new coaster (outside of a clone) in 15 years. SF in Ohio simply was in a bad market area. SFEG was landlocked and has no room for expansion. SFDL was another park in a bad market area. What basis is there to think SFA is in danger? It hasn't gotten a new coaster in some time? Yes that may be true, but SFOG used to be like that too but that surely is not getting sold anytime soon. SFA is in a very good market area and I see it as very profitable. Everyone knows that Six Flags is cash strapped. It is going to be some time before you see large coasters get added, but you need to crawl before you can walk. At least the park is not being totally neglected like SFAW was. The writing was all over the wall that that place would close. And like someone mentioned earlier, the closure of SFA has been rumored about for years now and nothing has happened. I think it's safe to say that that rumor needs to be buried finally.

There's a ton of people on this site who are obsessed with saying how bad SFA is and how jealous they are of all the other SF parks, but then if someone else says something bad about SFA, they'll defend it. Would it make you all feel better if we just agreed with you and said they should just close SFA?

In my personal opinion, there's nothing wrong with SFA. They may not have gotten a new coaster for a while, but they're still the only big park in all of Maryland, and they cater to two major metropolitan areas. And, the coasters that they do have aren't that bad. Intamin Hyper, Premier LIM, Vekoma Flying Dutchman.

What Nitro Luvr is saying is right. Six Flags had the chance to sell off un-profitable parks. They never even considered SFA. They almost got rid of SFMM though. Remember, Snyder doesn't care about how big the park is or what coasters are in it, as long is it's making him some money.

Six Flags America will see good coasters. Just wait.

True (about DL) but DL is still open, and if they simply shuffle around the camp grounds, they will get themselves from getting landlocked and HUNDREDS of acres will be available.

I don't think Shaprio cares about SFA mainly because his "OMG FAMILY!1!" only plan hasn't hit them, as it has most (if not all) of their other parks. To me it looks like he's thinking "why waste the money on something that we're going to sell?" (though that directly conflicts his Deja Vu idea). So, to me, it shows he doesn't have plans to keep SFA, because he would've wanted it to be his "perfect" little kiddie park like the rest.

SFA has a ton of potential, they are right in between two major populated areas, and, according to Wikipedia, has over 500 acres to use. They should, well could, be one of the nations top performing parks.

__________________

^I'm getting annoyed by people saying Shapiro will only add family attractions. It's not true. Shapiro is balancing out the parks so that they can host as many families with smaller children as they can groups of teens and adults. He doesn't want the parks to seem bare, so he'll fill them with whatever he feels the park lacks.

As said by Nitro Luvr and myself, the park wasn't lost in the initial park sale, so they had a reason to keep it. What happened to Geauga Lake was because of its location. I would definately drive an hour more to Cedar Point. But SFA has some good competition. Kings Dominion as neglected pretty badly too.