Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG) Discussion Thread

SFoG just announced they will be extending daily operations through August 16th (excluding Thursdays). This is no doubt due to the delay of the Cobb County school year. At least it is some good news.......

Is scream machine still terrible after all the re-tracking they did?

It is unbearable after the second drop, which is where the retrack stops.

Is scream machine still terrible after all the re-tracking they did?

 

It is unbearable after the second drop, which is where the retrack stops.

"Don't worry everyone! We heard your complaints about the ride being rough as hell so we re-tracked the lift hill"

why retrack the parts of the ride everyone complains about, when we can retrack the part where nobody does?

Visited the park last Monday. Gotham City looks really clean and freshly painted. The new enterprise type ride, Catwoman Whip was fun but seemed a bit slower and less exciting than I remember the Wheelie being. Very smooth and feels great on a hot day but just something missing. The other "new" ride, Poison Ivy Toxic Spin was a blast. I loved it as Shake, Rattle & Roll in the old Chevy Show building and I'm so glad it's back. Me and my 14 year old daughter just laughed the whole ride long. A true 1950's era carinival ride. As others have stated, park was practically empty and the only lines we waited in for longer than 5 minutes was Goliath and Superman and this was due to only running one train and half capacity. Mask usage was pretty good even on a over 90 degree day. Food and beverage availability is spotty and truthfully has been for several years. They just don't have enough crowds to justify staffing them. Quite a few games were open but never saw a single person playing one.

Other notables... Pandemonium was closed and they were running tests on the ride but not operational. It was open a few weeks earlier when we visited. Love the heck out of that ride! Twisted Cyclone still blows me away. 1 minute packed with excitement. Park was clean, hand washing stations everywhere as well as hand sanitizer pumps. Ride ops were stopping to clean rides often as well. Above mentioned face coverings featuring supeheroes as well as Six Flags logos were available at the front gate and several shops.

Overall, a great 2nd visit post Covid. Going back in a week. We arrive at 1130 and leave by 5 having riding as much as we wanted. Heat plays a factor in us staying till closing but with the low crowds you can really pack alot into a short amount of time.

This showed up in my memories today. Trip for my last rides on Georgia Cyclone. Who knew #NotAGiga could have been a thing 3 years ago.

does anyone have pics of new Gotham with the new rides?

 

would love to see how they look in the area (as well as the refurbed Harley Quinn)

Don't think that you've been forgotten. I have pictures for a report ready, and I was going to post it just now, but the server logged me out and I lost half my post.

I'll try to have it up by the end of the week, but here's a preview in the meantime.

What does the "2" mean? You'll just have to wait and see. Be afraid, be very afraid.

I'm still afraid

Bad news...no "Fright Fest" this year.

Good news...The SF chain has created a temporary replacement event: "HALLOWFEST", to take place in the parks that are operating now, including here in GA.

I looked at the calendar and the hours are more limited than years' past. The park closes at 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays, but is open until midnight on the Friday's they are open. I have already made reservations for a couple of the nights I know I will be attending. If anyone is planning on attending on Halloween - which falls on a Saturday this year - reserve it now.

Of course everything is subject to change but it bears repeating - the pandemic is not their fault, but SF has really stepped up to make the best of a bad situation.

A better look at New Gothem City and the rides.

Sorry for taking so long to prep this. Again, I had this finished over a month ago, but ended up being logged out before I could post it and lost around half of what I had written. After that, well, procrastination is a *****. I'm going to post this as if the above video was not, but there are some things here that aren't in the video.

Anyways, I want to give a quick explanation for the format of the pictures. The pictures that I'm going to show were taken across three visits to the park. Pictures with a "1" were taken on June 30 (the day after the new rides opened), pictures with a "2" were taken on July 14, pictures with a "3" were taken on July 27, and pictures with a "6" are from the park website. With the exception of the "6" pictures, which can be found online easily enough, I have censored the faces of guests and team members for the sake of their privacy. Most pictures have been cropped to the picture's focus point.

Before entering the area proper, I felt it was worth showing off an updated direction sign, featuring some of the new ride logos (this particular sign is by Dare Devil Dive).

Here's the new area entrance sign.

Before I get to the new rides, let's take a quick look at the old ones. Joker Chaos hasn't changed, and while it's the only ride in here without a new sign, I'm pretty sure that the canopies are new.

Next, is DC Super Villains Swing. I forgot to take a picture of the sign, and this one from the park website is really small, so just pretend that there's a "6" in the corner. A larger picture from the park's Instagram page can be found here.

Deathstroke has replaced one of the previous villains (Two-Face?), but that's the only alteration to the lineup.

Some of the villains received updated artwork, with Harley Quinn having the most noticeable difference.

I have to say that I preferred having the villain names up top as opposed to the logos there now, as it makes everyone easier to identify, even for those who don't pay as much attention to Batman. I will admit to having to look up Deathstroke.

The center of Gotham City Crime Wave had a cityscape that has been replaced with a simpler solid color palette; same with the heroes originally featured on the base. The color variation on adjacent panels is also a two-tone palette that's the same on each side. I'm not a big fan of any of this, as it most certainly was cheaper than giving the nicer old art a touch-up.

Also gone is the old sign (naturally). This is also a bit of a shame. Six Flags New England has the same theming as the old Crime Wave, but I wouldn't be surprised if they update it in the future.

On my first visit, the top of the canopy hadn't been installed.

However, this was rectified before the second visit (this was Tuesday of the week that the park started closing on Thurdays, meaning that they either installed it overnight or closed the ride for a day or two to add it).

The Riddler Mindbender... lots of people are upset about the new sign. I'm indifferent towards it, but would prefer the old one (or a new sign in the same style as the old one) if given the choice. I also didn't see the ACE Landmark plaque, so I can only hope that they'll have it back by the time it reopens in 2021. I don't know of any other Landmark recipients changing their names, which means that topic could be uncharted waters.

Just after the wood boards is where the track currently ends. I believe that construction is currently halted and will not resume until the offseason. Wires are preventing track and supports from moving out of position, with some being visible in that picture.

The park showed the new track color on their Instagram page, but not a lot of attention has been drawn to the new support colors. Prior to Gotham's reopening, it was really only visible from Log Jamboree (the train was not operating until after Gotham reopened).

This picture comes from outside the park. The spiral staircase support, and the bottom of another, is painted the new color. You can also see the difference in one of the previous pictures.

The supports under the brake run have been enclosed in this metalwork, which was likely done to make it look a little less out of place. Maybe.

Harley Quinn Wild Whirl (formerly HQ Spinsanity) doesn't have many new visible changes beyond this sign.

Unlike the swings, Harley's jester design remains intact here. I remember someone speculating that the ride vehicles were going to be replaced with new ones that spin more, but I can neither confirm nor deny this rumor. The lap bars aren't leaving rust on your hands and clothes, which is a plus. In addition, the queue (a small cattle pen) was altered to allow for riders to not have to walk back and forth or go under the handrails, which is great considering the ride's typical wait time (walk-on). Plus, with how tilt-a-whirl cabins are designed, this ride is running at full capacity, despite the social distancing requirements hampering other rides.

Batman had its entrance moved sometime last year, and while it does mean the city park theming and test seat are gone, I don't consider this to be that much of a loss, as the extra queue space that it provided was chump change compared to the cattle pens under the station (that are almost never used outside of holiday weekends and Fright Fest), along with something else that I'll show off a little further down.

This, on the other hand, threw me for a loop when I saw it (I got a picture on the first visit, but this one was better). The size and outlets gave me an idea of what was to come. You might remember that I posted this picture as an apology for taking so long. Well, it's finally time to reveal what it means. I told you to be afraid, because...

Bruce Wayne has adopted 90 little blue bunnies, and wants to make sure that we all "enjoy" them. The bins in the station are closed and have the yellow "not in use" social distancing stickers keeping the lids down, "tamper-evident seal"-style. Waist packs and zippered pockets are still permitted, so I was able to walk right past these, but if you can't do the same, just be ready for them. With this addition, every B&M in the park has lockers.

But enough about these old rides, let's talk about the new ones. Here's Catwoman Whip. This is where Batman's entrance used to be. I had never been on a Zamperla Endeavor before (or any similar ride, such as the old Wheelie). Personally, I felt as though the ride was a bit underwhelming, especially for the line it drew. Probably the weakest ride in Gotham, especially since Joker Chaos does something very similar.

This image was taken from the ride's queue, which shows that the barbed wire fencing was being installed. The way they spread it out looked interesting, but it's a shame that I couldn't really see they guy use it, as it got a bit tangled up just before this picture.

So I'm just going to move on to Poison Ivy: Toxic Spin. This is where the Batmobile and games used to be (I honestly forgot about the games until writing this, they were so insignificant). The map boards located throughout the park show the Batmobile by the entrance to Batman, but there's not really space for it. Makes me wonder what the plan is for HitP, as there's no longer a Batmobile to replace with a Christmas tree.

On the first visit, the cabins were a solid color...

But that was rectified by my next visit (similar to the empty bunny cage, I chose a picture from a later visit due to quality).

Birds of Prey Cafe(sic) is mostly the same, with the only major differences being the new paint, new sign, and Mobile Order pick-up window. I believe that the menu is less varied than before, but that might be able to be chalked up to the health crisis as opposed to Six Flags just being lazy. We'll know for sure next season (or whenever we get some semblance of "normal").

This wall (sign? poster?) is also different. I recall seeing somewhere (here?) that a permit was filed for the demolition of the Axis Arena. As a result, I thought that one of the new rides would go there alongside a possible expansion of the food offerings (or at least more seating). It feels like they expanded the seating area, but towards the rest of Gotham as opposed to towards Axis Arena. As a quick aside, Gotham City Snacks didn't have any noteworthy changes, so I didn't get any pictures.

I should also mention that the "fries" being served at BoPC are this potato wedge/curly fry combo that I found to be really good. If you're going to have regular theme park chicken tenders, I would recommend doing so here purely for the potatoes.

The Big Top Store is now Gotham City Gifts. Not sure what changed on Batman's exit spiel (or if they just stopped playing it) because I didn't think about it until writing this up. The variety of products being sold remains the same.

However, there is this cool new statue of the Caped Crusader. Or at least, he will be once the employees attach his cape.

We'll finish off this tour of the new Gotham City with a picture of the new restroom building colors. The inside of the men's room is unaltered, and I don't know about the women's room for hopefully obvious reasons.

And there you have it, an extremely overdue look at the new Gotham City that ended up being a second look. Again, I apologize for taking so long with getting this up, but losing half my post really bummed me out. Anyways, my parting picture will be this shot of the new fans in Goliath's station:

Before, there were only fans in the front half of the station, despite the structure for them always being there.

Really bummed out about Mind Benders big neon question mark being gone, but at least the ride is still there. Also, about time they got fans in the back of Goliath's station.

I really like this park but most of this “refreshening” feels like a cheap downgrade. All the well-crafted (if not unique) theming elements of the area have been replaced with gaudy carnival-like facades and paint jobs.

But yes, I am happy Mindbender is getting some love and that its future is secure.

I enjoyed one of the last summer days and got to see New "Hallowfest" decor has been added as the park ramps up their prep for their Halloween season. With a scaled-back edition of Fright Fest, this year looks to be more of a fall festival vibe and less on the intense scares.

If you have friends that do not visit the park during Fright Fest because of the scares, THIS is the year to talk them into a fall visit. Any scare actors roaming the park will not be able to get closer than six feet anyway!

It is somewhat disappointing there will not be a genuine Fright Fest but I do understand the reasoning. On the other hand, this will be a unique year and I will still enjoy it. Now all we need is matching weather. The past four years we have had 80-90-degree weather into October. Enough of that!

I plan on visiting on Hallowfest opening day, Friday Sep 18th.

Entrance sign package is still the same but oddly enough the Christmas lights canopy has been installed already!

Not many things say 'fall festival' as much as hay bales and pumpkins!

The grand entrance sign is much more cheerful than in years' past

put me in the camp of not caring for the new Mindbender sign. I mean, I get it - they wanted to make the signs consistent in the Gotham area - but I too LOVED that neon question-mark, and wish they had left it and simply put the new sign on posts to the left of the entrance path.

weird to see them change the (in my opinion much better name) "Gotham City Crime Wave" to match what SFFT did with their similar ride. DC SuperVillian's Swing just isn't that great of a name .. tho it does appear that in addition to the repaint to make it match the SFFT version, SFOG now also has the wood cutout of the Villains. So that makes sense they repainted to add Deathstroke to the ride, since the cutout features him prominently.

Harley looks fantastic (as does Ivy, and the new Catwoman ride). That's still the "old" version of Tilt-A-Whirl tho. . . not the next-gen version that spins so much more. But maybe the refurbed cars still will spin more?

the area looks great. . thanks for the pics (and thanks to you too, Lotologist for the entrance pics).

put me in the camp of not caring for the new Mindbender sign. I mean, I get it - they wanted to make the signs consistent in the Gotham area - but I too LOVED that neon question-mark, and wish they had left it and simply put the new sign on posts to the left of the entrance path.

I really liked the old Mindbender sign also. Even though the neon had been removed for many years, it was still cool. I do wonder - does the park send old signs like this to the scrapyard or do they give fans a chance to acquire them. I see a real opportunity for the park to raise money for a cause of their choosing - or just sell it....

Wow, the GP was already calling "the Mindbender," The Riddler." Now I feel they really will think the name of the coaster is "the Riddler." I guess it's just an annoying quirk, but the park hasn't officially renamed the coaster. But the GP certainly will. While the sign is consistent with the area, it just looks like a pretty poor attempt at beginner graphic design to me. Oh well.

...While the sign is consistent with the area...

Yeah, they consistently went to Fast Signs and spent about $100 per sign

Visited "HALLOWFEST" today and I have to say I am quite impressed with what I saw.

OK - so my expectations were not all that high but this is a pandemic and I am beyond grateful of the efforts put together by the park to be open. Although this is not a real 'Fright Fest' I still thoroughly enjoy it for what it is - a unique year.

A few items of note:

As of today, SFoG is CASH FREE. There are six machines across the park where you can convert cash to a card at no charge / no fees. These are VISA branded cards and can also be used outside the park wherever Visa is accepted.

There are no true haunted houses but there are a number of scare zones which are actually really good. Perhaps the best one was "Zombie Zoo", a walk-through set up near the Dare Devil stage. Most of the props used appear to have been taken from ZX-1. There are several others as well.

There is a new haunted railroad attraction: "Terror Tales from the Rails". The narration sounds like an imitation of the Warrens on a paranormal investigation but I have to admit I had a difficult time understanding what it was all about.

There is no Dr. Fright Dead Man's Party this year but there are new shows at the Dare Devil Stage. "Nightmare Cirque" was pretty good.

On a side note, with the heavy rain over the past couple days, the picnic pavilion area appears to have been partially flooded. The mud covered some of the walkways - plainly visible from the Sky Screamer ride.

All-in-all - props to Six Flags for giving us some fall fun. I know many here like to throw rocks at SF - and for some its like a drug - but this year the chain has really stepped up in a big way.

Photos below - enjoy!

New decor (and sign package) to greet the brave...

Less intense scares and more fall festival vibe this year

This hill looks pretty much like last year - pretty cool!

..........and after dark this hill comes alive!

This might be the scariest thing I saw all night - a recycled sign with the old text still visible. Enter if you dare....

Fall festival at night

I really do like the cheerful look of the entrance sign this year.

IMHO the best scare zone...

Several character encounters - social distanced of course!

Was it busy? I hope crowds show up for there efforts

I am a diamond elite member and just got an email from Six Flags (maybe) offering me a chance to pause my membership or upgrade to a Diamond Elite VIP membership. I click on the upgrade link like an idiot and the resulting website failed security checks in my broweser and would not load.

Does anybody know if this is legit or is it some kind of scam? I moused over the link before clinking and it does point to newsletter.sixflags.com.

^I'm a platinum member (SFOT) and got the same email. It appears legit.

^I'm a platinum member (SFOT) and got the same email. It appears legit.

I'm talking to them on chat so seems legit but sending a bad link out and no real details on how you get this new card and so forth ... pretty much par for the course for six flags.

While talking them they just told me "you'll see the new VIP indicator on the app not on the website"... nope nothing on the app either.

Six flags is a pain sometimes...

Does appear legit and their IT department screwed up as usual.

So the details are you cannot get this new VIP card until march when parks reopen next year. I guess with the shortened season they are trying to avoid people cancelling during the off-season since there was not much of a season.

I'll admit a PERMANENT 4 skip the line passes every trip is a pretty good incentive.