Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

^ It's special effects fire. I heard they have a contract for Walt Disney Imagineering to create it for them. It's supposed to look like fire, but be cool to the touch. Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you what I heard from Jim Hill Media.

 

"This fire. Won't be like other. Fires that you have. Seen. Or felt."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is exciting. My favourite wooden coaster. It has gotten really rough since the first time i rode it, in 98, so much so that if i ride it in the back, I come off it with a stiff neck and back. I hope they do a combination of tearing it down and then rebuilding it exactly the way it was back in 1990. Thats just me, though, I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made it to SFOT on Monday (absurdly crowded), and TX Giant was dreadful

 

Park could also use much larger and non-disgusting bathrooms although that seems to be a chain-wide problem

 

Other rides running well (Mr. Freeze was broken down for about 5 hours), staff was slow, etc.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be nice to see Texas Giant get a complete refurbishment, especially with its current state. I've never actually ridden it but it looks like a great ride! I remember thinking it was impressive looking back when I saw it on one of the Wild Rides program 10 years ago.

Giving it new track, trains, and all seems like a brilliant idea. I personally think that fixing up the Giant is a great way to celebrate the park's 50th Anniversary.

 

Maybe I'll have to come over to Texas and ride it once it has been redone, and get my Texas Giant credit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As bad as many think people Texas Giant has become, it stayed busy all day today. First of all, when we arrived at the park, we had to park only a few rows from the VERY back of the parking lot(as in back close to the Ballpark)! Our first hour and a half were spent in the Flash Pass line. I can not remember the last time I saw SFoT this crowded! Lines for everything were flippin' unbelievably long! When we checked the Fast Pass time for Texas Giant at about 7:50, it said that our time in line would be 9:28!! It might be rough, but people still love that rough ol' woodie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just thinking off the top of my head here....Does anyone think it possible that this retrofit could include re-tracking of the Intamin kind?

 

If I were Six Flags and investing $10 million on a wooden coaster I would want it to be the latest technology that would reduce maintenance costs. It would only seem wise to invest in the latest track technology otherwise they are going to be in the same situation (a rough woody) in a couple of years.

 

Thoughts????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It could be technically possible, but probably insanely expensive. As far as I'm aware, the Intamin track connects to the supports in a different way (I could be wrong though). That could make it very expensive to retrofit.

 

But yes, that would be awesome, and would open up a huge potential revenue stream for Intamin!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ The price would probably depend on whether SFOT decides to use traditional wood coaster track (American Eagle, Aska) or prefabricated track (Balder, El Toro).

 

... but that's only if Intamin still produces non-prefabricated woodies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more information on this plan.

 

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Six Flags Over Texas customers will get to swill beers at the theme park starting Saturday.

 

Across the street, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor customers can buy brewskis when the water park opens for the season on May 16.

 

The two parks received a mixed-beverage permit Tuesday. That's after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission ruled an opponent of the beer sales wouldn't get another hearing.

 

Despite the permission to sell liquor, the parks say they plan to sell only beer. A 16-ounce cup will sell for $5.99.

 

Six Flags park-goers would have to drink in designated spots and won't be allowed to roam with beers in hand. The park also would halt alcohol sales on days set aside for students, such as Physics Day and Math and Science Day.

 

Opponents of the alcohol sales say beer shouldn't be sold at a place geared toward the youth market. They also think increasing the availability of alcohol could worsen the risk of drunken driving accidents.

 

Six Flags Over Texas already serves liquor at private events at its two catering locations. It also serves alcohol at other parks, including beer and frozen margaritas available at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.

 

The two parks in Arlington are among 20 in the U.S., Mexico and Canada owned by New York-based Six Flags Inc.

 

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

http://www.kcbd.com/global/story.asp?s=10074877

 

All things considered $6 for a beer isn't the worst. However it should still be high enough that most people will not be getting drunk very often. Will there be problems? Most likely there will be some people, however I think that this will be a good source of revenue for the park, and at that cost won't (generally) allow for a lot of drunkenness at the park.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't even realize that Six Flags parks didn't sell alcohol. I never bothered to look for it.

 

To me, it seems like a total no-brainer that they should sell it. The preponderance of alcohol-consuming guests will cause no problems. And you have security to eject the few that do. There's also this funny thing called "not selling more alcohol to the obviously drunk".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Busch gave away one free beer to anyone over 21 and I never really saw a problem with it (except some careless people leaving empty bottles behind). If SFOT decides to serve free alcohol, it should be limited to one or two free drinks and then charge for any other drinks afterward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$6 is cheaper than what I get on Miami Beach!

 

Opponents of the alcohol sales say beer shouldn't be sold at a place geared toward the youth market.

 

I think the parks wants more adults, thus the beer sales. They typically have more cash in their pocket to spend rather than a teenager with a season pass roaming around with friends to pass the time.

 

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's just hope they don't "improve" it by ADDING TRIMS!!!!

 

P.S. Did the search on this, couldn't find it. Sorry for reposting something that was already here. -Howie-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As stated before this is a overhaul not a tear down. 10 million is the whole cost for the rehab. The 2 company's that have the submited bids are GCI and M&V. Bids for the Trains are at 2 right now but could be three if they can Talk one company into giving them a try. I just wish they would put the double up back. & one of the train company is not G trains or Intamin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^I understand that, but that is alot to invest in something that could be completely replace for not much more than the overhaul price. Think of it this way. You are spending $30,000 to repair a poor performing car that orginally cost $15,000, when you could pull your resources tighter to buy a new car for $34,000. No matter how you look at it, new trains, retracking, padded seats, it's still going to be the same rough ride. I just think with an investment of $10 million, a much better ride could be built. All this money is, is a really expensive band-aid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^I understand that, but that is alot to invest in something that could be completely replace for not much more than the overhaul price. Think of it this way. You are spending $30,000 to repair a poor performing car that orginally cost $15,000, when you could pull your resources tighter to buy a new car for $34,000. No matter how you look at it, new trains, retracking, padded seats, it's still going to be the same rough ride. I just think with an investment of $10 million, a much better ride could be built. All this money is, is a really expensive band-aid.

 

I'm sure the structure is pretty solid and from what I've heard TG is already a great ride. They can re-wood the whole track and get new trains and the ride would probably be considerably smoother and I'm sure they will spend a lot of effort making sure it won't get rough again just a few years down the line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are also assuming they are telling the truth about the price tag. I know of a park the announced a 5 million dollar new ride, when in reality it cost much less. That park *might* have spent 5 million dollars on total improvements that year, not just that one ride.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Retracking a ride can only do so much. It'll help make the ride "barable". I just wouldn't have made the same decision.

 

Do you think if they replaced the top X (10, 20, ??) feet of the top of the track all over that it wouldn't make a difference? They would also fix all the spacing on the track to make sure the track is the correct distance apart and smooth out all of the curves where it is probably warped now. The only thing that would remain of the old ride would be the supporting structure so the layout would be preserved but all the track would be new. I think that would make a huge difference and keep costs much lower than a whole new ride especially the size of TG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/