Saturday April 4th Trip Thoughts

[Aaron084]

After missing the first opening day due to having to work, we took the gamble on making the 2 1/2 hour trip south on Saturday for our first trip of the season. After a great seven hour day there, it was definitely worth the trip.

Weather was beautiful from 10-2 with bright sun, minimal wind, and plenty warm enough in just a heavy sweatshirt. After 2ish the wind picked up a bit which made it a bit colder, but it still was bearable.

All rides were a clear walk on from 10-noon and after noon only those which were running one train had a wait. These one train rides included Whizzer, Demon (still no wait), American Eagle (quite a long line at 3:30ish with only one train operation), Iron Wolf (never a wait), Batman, and Superman. So, basically nearly all coasters were running one train but the waits were still nearly non-existent. All rides were running great. American Eagle red was especially smooth and fast at 11am.

Park atmosphere was a mixed bag of thoughts. Employees were everywhere, beyond friendly and actually overly eager to help at times. We'll see how far into the season that carries. Park music was absolutely terrible. Pop music around the entire park, including being blasted at the park entrance to the point where you couldn't even talk to someone without having to shout.

It's obvious they have a ways to go before summer comes along, but there were quite a few improvements already in place. There are now stickers on the entrance/exit turnstiles for the park advertising more flags more fun, Geico bumper stickers on the bumper cars, no more turnstile exiting the Batman station, working lockers at Demon, non working lockers yet at Viper. Cyber cafe was open and actually looked to have decent food. Fresh made doughnuts were only 1.69 which I thought was reasonable. There was a row of computers but they were all locked with no instructions as to what they were or how to use them.

Overall, great day and well worth the trip.

[[jonrev]]

Park music was absolutely terrible. Pop music around the entire park, including being blasted at the park entrance to the point where you couldn't even talk to someone without having to shout.

I would call being blasted with "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT" every hour on the hour so much more than "absolutely terrible".

[themanoftheland8]

Park atmosphere was a mixed bag of thoughts. Employees were everywhere, beyond friendly and actually overly eager to help at times. We'll see how far into the season that carries. Park music was absolutely terrible. Pop music around the entire park, including being blasted at the park entrance to the point where you couldn't even talk to someone without having to shout.

I personally enjoyed a bunch of the park's music for now. I saw a lot of people dancing and singing along, which helps to lighten the mood. But it was obnoxiously loud in certain areas, as you said.

Also, the employees were FANTASTIC! As you said, they were all VERY friendly. Even the cleaners were asking how we were enjoying our day so far. And the ride hosts at the front of the line of each ride were doing the same. It was exceptional! We can only hope this lasts the rest of the season.

Everything you wrote seems to be pretty head on. In my opinion, the best addition is Mr. Six. I can definitely see some dance parties starting up while he's doing his infamous dance.

Oh, and I saw Dick Clark's Bloopers. There were a couple of entertaining parts, but I thought the rest was pretty lame.

[SixFlagsGuy76]

^Could you post a review on Dick Clark's Bloopers? I heard it has a live host and I am wondering what it is like. Also, how long was it?

[Ilovthevu']

The employees being friendly kind of bugged me a little bit, and they bothered the person I was with. The person is just sitting on the bench, and they asked if they can help (This person got asked like by 4 or 5 workers the same thing over and over again.) To avoid them, this person went into the gift shop where they bugged them again (Is there anything I can help with you?)

How did they bother me? I was on a ride, and than every time I exited the ride multiple times (line) and the person would say I hope you enjoy your day at Six Flags, and it was just getting annoying. I think there's a difference between friendly, and over the top. At Disney, they don't really say much. I think it's just if you would talk to them, they wouldn't be mean or something (They have a smile attached to their face. That's being friendly, and nice --not just bothering people). I haven't really met mean employees except at the waterpark. The thing is just that if you are sitting on a bench, I don't know why every employee says do you need help?

[w00dland]

^Sorry bud, but I think the friendly employees are the greatest step Six Flags can take to get their company back on top. Yeah, you're a roller coaster dork and you'll ride stuff over and over, but for the normal family that is a great way to show that the company actually cares.

Good work.

[themanoftheland8]

^Could you post a review on Dick Clark's Bloopers? I heard it has a live host and I am wondering what it is like. Also, how long was it?

I don't really feel like doing a long review on it, but I'll post a quick overview here.

Basically, yeah, it was a live host. Before the show began, he did some trivia with the audience about old TV shows and such, which was pretty neat.

The show itself was a lot like America's funniest home videos, where the host would introduce each set of videos with a (not-so-funny) one-liner. There were some of the clips that I found amusing, but I had also seen a few of them before.

Twice during the show, the host brought up a couple of people from the audience, and had them do a little game. (One was charades and the other was a trivia type game where they guessed what would happen next in the video). This was by far my favorite part.

That's about it in all honesty. Oh, and there were no exit hosts, which I found to be amusing because people would get lost in the curtains haha. I'm sure they will change that somewhere further down the line in the season.

[BP317]

The employees being friendly kind of bugged me a little bit, and they bothered the person I was with.

At Disney, they don't really say much. I think it's just if you would talk to them, they wouldn't be mean or something (They have a smile attached to their face. That's being friendly, and nice --not just bothering people). I haven't really met mean employees except at the waterpark. The thing is just that if you are sitting on a bench, I don't know why every employee says do you need help?

Disney parks they staff people before they setup for the parade/fireworks show to just walk around and strike up conversations with people or ask them if they need help. Although at any park if its crowded the over-the-top friendliness is just not going to happen. It looked like there was no one there opening weekend and probably wont be for a little while but I wouldnt expect to see employees randomly walking up to you and asking you how your day is going when it gets crowded at any theme park.

[Ilovthevu']

^Disney sort of has to staff employees around the parade route to get people off the street for the parade to go by. It's like cramming 1,000 of people in the same area. It's really bad. A lot of people at Six Flags don't seem to care for the parade like Disney.