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Postby Danhockey04 on August 25th, 2004, 3:55 pm
Alright, in my opinion, they will probably start construction on the waterpark after this week because weekdays are ending, and that will give them 5 days a week to work on the park. If not this, they will start after they finish the back lot. Also, they will most likely finish with the back lot before Fright Fest, before it gets too crowded again, probably by the second week in September. You will probably see the deconstruction of SWF during the off days in October, since it is closed during Fright Fest.
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Postby Timmy179 on August 25th, 2004, 3:57 pm
I wouldn't be suprised if this weekend was your last chace to ride SWF, if its still open.
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Postby sixflagsguy5 on August 25th, 2004, 4:00 pm
Yes exactly. They will work on it during the week, when the parks closed.
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Postby Binks Drake on August 25th, 2004, 4:03 pm
Technop! Calm Down. If you think it's all stupid don't post here. You're just making a fool of yourself. Learn from Sfgamers mistakes! (I'm sorry that was mean) And now look at the rest of the posts between mine and yours to see the rest of my points because i don't feel like typing them.
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Postby SFGAmfreak4life on August 25th, 2004, 11:31 pm
Im not sure if it was mention already but I went to the park today and in the lot I saw what looked like a concrete cylinder for a sewer system.

Also there are some spots in the bus lot where the asphalt is broken up. Looks like it was probably done with a sledge hammer or something.
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Postby SIC COASTER on August 25th, 2004, 11:38 pm
SFGAmfreak4life wrote:Also there are some spots in the bus lot where the asphalt is broken up. Looks like it was probably done with a sledge hammer or something.


No that pavment has been broken up on its own and it is pretty bad but there going to be putting a water park over it this year so its fine.
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Postby w00dland on August 26th, 2004, 12:12 am
Timmy179 wrote:I wouldn't be suprised if this weekend was your last chace to ride SWF, if its still open.


Ugh, on Sunday I saw SWF broken down on the lift hill 3 times.

That's horrible.
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Postby Virtua Tennis on August 26th, 2004, 12:45 pm
/\ Bleh, i've seen Giant Drop stuck halfway+ up the tower a ton of times my last few visits :lol:.
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Postby LaTiNoObSeSeDSFGAm on August 26th, 2004, 10:56 pm
Ok I havnt been in this chat room in a while so correct me if I am wrong. So there is like a 90% chance that the water park will be built in the pics that guy above sent ( you know with the link ) all I want to know is that how are they going to make room for there?
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Postby Virtua Tennis on August 27th, 2004, 7:30 am
technop wrote:ANOTHER THING. read the back of your season pass. it states "since your id has ben processed at the park for which it was purchased, your season pass may now be used at any six flags theme park, enchanted village/wild waves, the great escape, la ronde and wyandot lake on reular operating dates THiS IS WHAT IM GETTING AT >>>> "NOT VALID AT WATERPARKS OR FRONTIER CITY/WHITEWATER BAY"

That's why they offer the the waterpark in the season pass for a little extra $.
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Postby coastersrmylife on August 27th, 2004, 10:10 am
I have never been to a six flags water park, so i have a question. Are they heavily themed like disney waterparks or are they just a bare bones park with some slides and no theming
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Postby planea380 on August 27th, 2004, 10:18 am
Heavily themed for the most part.
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Postby DejaVu The Ride on August 27th, 2004, 2:00 pm
Six Flags St. Louis's waterpark was very nicely themed.
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Postby ihauntu2 on August 27th, 2004, 2:08 pm
Virtua Tennis wrote:
technop wrote:ANOTHER THING. read the back of your season pass. it states "since your id has ben processed at the park for which it was purchased, your season pass may now be used at any six flags theme park, enchanted village/wild waves, the great escape, la ronde and wyandot lake on reular operating dates THiS IS WHAT IM GETTING AT >>>> "NOT VALID AT WATERPARKS OR FRONTIER CITY/WHITEWATER BAY"

That's why they offer the the waterpark in the season pass for a little extra $.


Waterparks that are part of a Six Flags parks general admission ( like hurricane Harbor at SFSTL ) are included with a Season Pass - there is no additional charge. This works even if your SF season pass was not issued from that park. Additional stand alone waterparks that require an additional amount are not included with your season pass.
There will be no way to tell whether or not your park will be an upcharge until the official announcement. However, it seems that the majority of waterparks built recently have been included in admission. It seems that the older waterparks that were first built by SF are the ones that have an upcharge. Perhaps Six Flags has learned a better way since then. As for those who are certain that charging extra is the only way for Six Flags to make money back quickly, I point out that concessions , souvenirs, and parking are where parks make more money because the profit margin is higher on those items. Once again only my two cents, and we will have to wait it out.

As for construction, from what I could see in the pictures there could be several things happening in that lot.

The compaction beneath the lot may not be sufficient to hold expected new traffic, causing parts of the lot to sink slowly over time. The way to fix this would be dig up those prtions thought to have sub-standard compaction, re-fill them to standard and pave over them.

The other option (and more likely) is that they are tapping in to an existing utility of some sort. This could include storm sewer, water or sanitary sewer main, or gas/electric lines. Someone mentioned seeing large concrete pipes I believe. Since they will be taking a large mainly grassy / asphalt area, and putting concrete all over it, it will change the surface drainage drastically. They might have to increase the size of the storm sewer, and possibly the retention pond. The pipes you saw would have been storm sewer and would fit this possibility. A definate way of knowing would be to look for utility marking flags and paint. Anything marked in white is a proposed area to be disturbed. I thought I saw these kind of marks along either side of the holes in one pic indicating a long trench which would match a storm sewer expansion.

As for the lights - when you rehab or expand a parking lot, you often relocate the lighting to optimize lighting patterns, or replace the existing features with newer more energy efficient fixtures. Given that old Mercury Vapor Lights are being continually replaced with newer High Pressure Sodium Lights , this could be a possibility.

Sorry for the novel. Please remember that all of the above is speculation just like everyone else in the topic. I was hoping that I could use some of my limited civil / electrical engineering experience to help guide some speculation for you folks.
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Postby planea380 on August 27th, 2004, 3:12 pm
Nobody believed me when I saw markings in the Lot.
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Postby Cs6153 on August 27th, 2004, 10:06 pm
Another thing they could be doing in the backlot is building a parking structure. They have to think future wise. If they keep eating up the parking lot where are the people going to park?
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Postby DejaVu The Ride on August 27th, 2004, 10:12 pm
No parking structure for Six Flags. Just some re-doing of the parking lots that we have now.
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Postby InsaneNewman on August 28th, 2004, 2:46 am
As much as I think that a parking structure is exactly what GAm needs, I think that it is just too costly at this point for it to be a realistic option. At some point down the line, however, Six Flags will have to contemplate the cost if they want to keep expanding.
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Postby Timmy179 on August 28th, 2004, 11:24 am
Its not practical, or really needed.

In other news, some bigger bulldozers and bucket trucks were brought in on semis yesterday and parked in the employee lot.
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Postby chimike on August 28th, 2004, 12:17 pm
Timmy179 wrote:Its not practical, or really needed.

In other news, some bigger bulldozers and bucket trucks were brought in on semis yesterday and parked in the employee lot.


It's not practical?

What happened when Disneyland ran out of room and needed to expand? They expanded into the parking lot and built a parking garage.

===

It's not really needed?

Right now it is not needed, but last I checked, Six Flags was in the theme park business. In the last 90 years theme parks either expand or die.

You can expand by removing existing areas or building into new areas. If you look at a map of Six Flags in 1978 and now you will see SFGAm has done both.

So, the original poster is VERY correct that if the park is to continue to operate (something that makes sense because Six Flags dominates the 3rd largest market in the country), then they need to keep expanding. Unless the Theme Park Fairy is going to drop from the heavens and destroy the residential areas around the park; sooner or later a parking structure is going to be needed. Especially with the Water Park consuming a chunk of the lot up-front.

This isn't Rollercoaster Tycoon.

The question is how long in the future will this happen. I would say at least another 10 years minimum. If the theme park industry stays weak financially and attendance wise like they are now, and with interest rates on the rise, I see a huge slow down in additions for the next 5 years. Hence a second gate waterpark for SFGAm, instead of simply another offering tied to the first gate. They are trying to expand their revenue sources. Even if a park like Paramount builds a park inside the first gate, it is still very telling in what these parks think will keep revenue growth trending up. PGA removed a flyer for their waterpark.

So, down the road demand for new signature rides will pump back up like it did in the mid/late 90s. When that time comes some things will be replaced at the park, and some things will be expanded out, because in theory there will be a larger base of visitors in the market demanding that a park expand it's current capacity.

After so many expansions, SFGAm will need to build a rather inexpensive park structure and fund it with even more exuberant parking fees.

===

BTW, Ihauntu2

That was an excellent, excellent post, and I'm surprised I am the first one commenting on it. Thank you for sharing logic and reason, while providing a very detailed explanation of a dimension of the process.
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Postby Timmy179 on August 28th, 2004, 1:18 pm
Its not practical for RIGHT NOW, which is what I was commenting on.

Now if in the future Gam expands further into the parking lot (Which honestly, I dont see it happening too soon, maybe in 5-10 years.) THEN a parking garage would be practical.


Its also not practical for SF to spend that amount of money until it is needed.
Parking garages are pretty pricey.
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Postby chimike on August 28th, 2004, 1:40 pm
It IS practical .. It IS NOT needed.

Building more restaurants IS practical ... It IS NOT needed.

Timmy179 wrote:Now if in the future Gam expands further into the parking lot (Which honestly, I dont see it happening too soon, maybe in 5-10 years.) THEN a parking garage would be practical.


So because you really have nothing to respond with, you take exactly what I say and try to portray my words to be a disagreement to my very own points? Actually, read my post and you will see I've already subscribed to that POV, while you at the time think this is all impractical.

A TTD installation next to Eagle is IMPRACTICAL. A re-working of Superman as somebody alluded to a couple weeks ago is IMPRACTICAL. A parking garage is not impractical, but as we have already agreed, currently UN-NEEDED.

Timmy179 wrote:Parking garages are pretty pricey.


Define "pricey" ... Some cheeseburgers are "Pricey"

When one doesn't know what they are talking about, one often resorts to ambiguities.

Parking garages are common commercial components to any real estate development. They are never a large undertaking and require only slightly more maintenance then a traditional lot, and that maintenance doesn't need to address constant re-paving. They are cement so at least offer a better parking surface to the user. Compared to buying land or converting distinct land for multi-purpose build-outs, a parking garage is typically a more economic choice in utilizing hassle-free parking lot space.
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Postby rct2wizard360 on August 28th, 2004, 3:21 pm
Get it through your head, THEY ARE EXPENSIVE. Its un-needed when they have more room to make parking spaces than waste the little spaces and make a big garage thats not needed. Jeez, this is gunna die.
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Postby Binks Drake on August 28th, 2004, 3:28 pm
Jeez! Chimike! You yelled at me for disecting your post?! wow. Calm down. This is a disscussion board! You don't always have to be right! Get over it!
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Postby diggerg56 on August 28th, 2004, 3:59 pm
I doubt Six Flags would ever consider an actual parking structure. Current costs for a post-tension poured-in-place 4 level ramp would run $25,000+ per space. A 500 car ramp would cost a minimum of $12.5 million at that price per space.

I work for a university parking system and that was how the price averaged out for a contract we just awarded for a new structure.
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