I saw this over on the sfneonline forums and thought it would be fun to bring over here. Now that the 2012 season is over, what do you think was the best of it, and what was the worst? What things did the park do great and what areas could use some work?
For me;
Pros:
- X Flight: Is it the most over the top amazing ride ever? No. But I think it was a great fit for the park, tons of fun, and totally glad that we got it.
- Porkys Buzzy Bees: It was great to see that rather than keeping the spot empty or fill it with a game they brought back a nice ride for the kids.
- Social Media: While obviously the park has had this for years, I feel like this year they really started using it to their advantage with better youtube videos, twitter hunts, Q&As, and just a general better online presence
- Season Dinning Pass: Not something I personally used, but I can see how it's a great deal for some
- Fright Fest expanding: It was great to see the park really put some money into Fright Fest to bring four new attractions this year. The event in general had a strong year too in my opinion
- Expanded Merchandise: It was nice to see the park selling more park and ride specific merch, rather than just generic Six Flags stuff
- Mardi Gras: I loved this event. The food was great, the atmosphere was great, the street actors and parade was great and of course the fireworks were great too. The only thing not great is that it was only two days!
- Screams and Dreams 2: Every time I saw this it seemed less than popular with the GP, so it's great that they continued the series despite that.
- Extreme Pass: Again, not something I personally used but I love to see the park embracing it's hardcore fan base more.
Cons:
- American Eagle not opening with both sides. When the rides line reaches the entrance, it's beyond time to open the second side
- Staffing: It seemed like this year in particular I noticed the effects of low staffing the most. One ride op at a ride is just not enough to keep the line moving, especially when they are responsible for the entire ride. (Once before Glow I was in line for HTFM, and the ride op had to leave his post, walk through the line, close the ride line, then go back. This not only left the ride unattended and at a stand still, would it really have been too hard for one the area supervisors to walk over and close the line themselves?!)
- Southwest Ampitheater sitting show-less once again. It's sad to see it rotting away with remains of Operation Spygirl scattering the area. Clean it up and bring back an old west stunt show. Even Six Flags America is able to do it.
- Raging Bulls two trains op for the first two months. Self explanatory.
- Iron Wolf and Maqi-quest remains. For whatever reason, Great America seems to have a problem with actually removing all of a ride when it closes. If IWs station is actually going to be reused, at least take all the old IW signs and clean it up a bit so it doesn't look so abandoned. The gaping hole left by Maqiquest could easily be covered by a tarp or used as a space for sponsor displays rather than being left empty.
So whats your opinion? It'll be interesting to look back at the lists after the 2013 season to see how the park has grown.
