I spent the weekend in Maryland visiting some people I know. On Sunday we went to Six Flags America, which was a mere mile from their home. So I kept telling myself, don't compare it to Disney parks but it's not going to be the same, just let go. I did for the most part and enjoyed my visit but dang that place is run-down!

So many people on this board love Disneyland and WDW so much that they spot things like burnt out bulbs and paint chipping and trash. Damn, DL looks pristine compared to this place. Honestly if added up all the little spots in DL that need to be painted or cleaned and dumped them into one ride, it'd be the carousel at Six Flags. The canvas(?) tent was torn and faded, the carousel animals ALL needed to be painted and repaired. There was a giraffe with its tail broken off. A substantial amount of leaves, the floor was completely worn out. That was just one ride. Now multiply that horror by what, like another 30 rides, restaurants, theatres and restrooms. I thought it was a crackhouse. (I've never been to a crackhouse).

Ok so back to my general report. I got on the Rodeo ride and got tossed about so much I thought I was going to hurl. Went on a boat swing ride (like the Orange Stinger). Nice colissions with the people in front and behind me upon take-off and landing. Saw several shows: Stunt Show - good but background music was so loud you couldn't make out everything the actors said, Batman - good but odd to have stagehands moving things backstage after every scene, Characters Show - cute for kids, but you could easily see the necks of the actors in costume (Bugs, Sylvester, etc) and worst if you saw Foghorn Leghorn tilt his head just a bit and were standing anywhere but in front of him, you'd have seen the 19ish yr old dirty blonde girl in costume. A TRAVESTY! You should NEVER EVER see the person in costume. Eek!
Chinese Acrobat show was phenominal. Food was just ok. Bottled water was $2.75. They had free samples of ice cream and fudge on Main Street which was a nice treat.

So as bad as it all seemed I was happy to see a good handful of characters about. Tweety, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Bugs Bunny at one time or another were walking around the park meeting people. Marvin even walked through the Hollywood Cafe and went from table to table while we ate lunch. Employees were pleasant and everyone wished me a good day. But there was no spiel or safety precautions offered when I got on the few rides I rode. A definate lack of communication.

In the end I bought a pass because there's a Six Flags 2 hours from my home, and I hope to visit my best friend in San Antonio this fall so...if I use it once more, it'll pay for itself.

I MISS DISNEYLAND!

Well, keep in mind that the SF chain operates 30 + parks on a shoe string budget,typically in some kind of financial distress. Whereas Disney operates only a handful - and those handful pull down a gate revenue untouched by any other theme park chain in the world, and has the resources of a massive corporation behind it. It's like comparing a house in a ghetto vs. beverly hills, and then wondering why the house in the ghetto isn't as nice as the other.

I doubt very much that the park managers of the various SF parks are happy with their small budgets and would take care of all the clean-up/fix-up issues that plague their parks.

When I was there, the train got stuck directly in front of the single tiny path leading under Wild One to Superman, Batwing, Joker's Jinx, and basically had half the park blocked off. None of the employees tried to do anything about the crowd, so eventually people just started climbnig over the train and trampling flowers and whatnot. The park layout is just horrible with all sorts of potential problems like that and dead ends everywhere.

I thought it was fairly nice for a SF park though.

Out of curiosity, is SFA a seasonal park? I'm just wondering if the fact that the parks are covered in snow for some months out of the year plays a significant role in their decay, if indeed it does snow in Maryland. (I'm definitely not an expert on Maryland's expected snow fall, that's for sure...)

If so, I'm sure it must be heck on the rides and buildings. And if the managers have a small budget for yearly rehabbing, ouch! No wonder Walt insisted on his parks being in climates that are temperate year-around.

Sheila

It's seasonal. Still though, it's not like they're gonna be dumping salt on the sidewalks or don't have many weeks to cover anything up that needs to be. There are many parks that get severely flooded each year and yet look great, all just a matter of budget and whether management thinks minor fixes are going to make the difference of attracting guests compared to a major new ride.

That's interesting. Is good maintenance of parks more noticeable in privately-run parks or in the brand name ones (like SF)?

Sheila

I can't forsee winter causing this much of a mess on a theme park. Like mentioned before you'd need rocksalt for that. Besides, they've had warm weather in MD this spring and could have been out there painting. If its the budget that is the problem then maybe Six Flags should stop buying so many pre-existing parks.

They bought Riverside in Agawam, MA its now Six Flags New England. I haven't been yet but I should be going this summer and I can make comparisons between it and MD.