Six Flags Over GA - Should they stay open later in the season? (Atlanta: hotels, college)

[shivtim]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

But no one does theme parks like the Orlando resorts.

I think this is they key point. People pay $50 for a season pass to Six Flags over Georgia and expect the park to be as good as Disney World? It costs $90 for a single day admission to the Magic Kingdom. The annual pass costs over $600.

For the relatively low admission prices, Six Flags is great. Yes, it has problems, but I go multiple times per year and it has improved greatly over the last 5 years or so. Mindbender and Goliath are world-class coasters. Superman was the first flying coaster in the US. Dare Devil Dive is the first "eurofighter" style coaster with just lapbars. The Monster Mansion ride and the carousel are both unique pieces of history.

[ATLTJL]

I don't know how the Orlando theme parks manage to stay open year round

Two words: college students.

Disney lures college students to take a semester off school and work in the park. They provide housing, but they make the workers share rooms in the corporate owned apartments (last time I checked it was 6 kids per 3 bedroom apartment) and they automatically deduct rent from paychecks. If you get sick and can't work for a week, it is actually possible to receive a negative paycheck. Disney disguises all of this by referring to the program as an "internship" but your learning internship opportunity might be schlepping people back and forth from the parking lot in the trams or frying food at a restaurant. Of coure, your internship might also be roaming the park as a character, working in one of the stores, or operating a ride. It all depends on how bubbly and attractive you are.

I'm not saying it's all bad. You don't get much valuable work experience and you work long hours, but you're also in a Disney apartment complex with nothing but other kids your own age. The complex is (or at least was) called Vista Way, but it is affectionately known by the nickname Vista Lay for obvious reasons. They also bring in people from around the world to participate in the program and work at EPCOT. I had a friend in the program. She had a blast, but it was total chaos. One of her roommates was from Japan and didn't speak English, another was a control freak from Germany, and another was just an American girl who had to drop out of the program early so she could have an abortion.

Even with all that, you still basically get a good quality of help because you've got college kids taking time off from classes who have no responsibilites. They just work silly Disney jobs then go home and party all night.

Then, of course you've got college kids from UCF and around Orlando as well as some high school kids to help fill in the gaps. There are also very highly paid performers, but these are the ones who are trained to do stunts, singing, etc. around the park and in the parades. These are real professionals with honed crafts and they don't operate rides or sweep the park.

I don't know too much about it, but I do know that Cedar Point also has its own living arrangements and hires kids to come work for the summer and puts them up with other kids. It's actually a really great model because the workers get to have a blast and they don't mind working a relatively crummy job because it is so much fun. In fact......if you promise to keep a secret I can tell you.......rumor has it that if you time your peek just right, you can catch a glimpse into the restroom of the ladies dorm at a certain point when riding the Blue Streak. But I've only heard that

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Just a thought ... but isn't it possible that SFOG has always been kinda crappy, but when we were younger we didn't realize it or simply overlooked it?

Think there is some truth in dat der post

Originally Posted by shivtim

I think this is they key point. People pay $50 for a season pass to Six Flags over Georgia and expect the park to be as good as Disney World? It costs $90 for a single day admission to the Magic Kingdom. The annual pass costs over $600.

For the relatively low admission prices, Six Flags is great.

Disney and Universal are great and all, but I would much rather spend 1/2 the cost of a one day ticket for a season pass and get more coasters. Don't care about characters and magic.

But sure sfog could improve.

[Newsboy]

I'm just jealous of my friends who live in Florida and nonchalantly post things on FB like "took the kids to Epcot after school today" or "met up with friends at Universal tonight." The in-state resident theme park discount is one of the very FEW benefits of living in Florida, IMO. Still wouldn't be a reason to move there, but it's a nice perk.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Just a thought ... but isn't it possible that SFOG has always been kinda crappy, but when we were younger we didn't realize it or simply overlooked it?

I really think it was better kept in the past. My mother was an avid gardener, she loved to go just to see the planting beds in the park. On a trip to Disney, she noticed that while it was indeed grander, we still had a great park back home. As a youngster, she instilled in me an awareness of details like this that most kids probably don't care about. This is the kind of deterioration I have noticed, the lack of money and time put into things like flower beds and just the general upkeep.... fading paint, dirty restrooms with broken fixtures, those little detail things that make a place seem past its prime.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I really think it was better kept in the past. My mother was an avid gardener, she loved to go just to see the planting beds in the park. On a trip to Disney, she noticed that while it was indeed grander, we still had a great park back home. As a youngster, she instilled in me an awareness of details like this that most kids probably don't care about. This is the kind of deterioration I have noticed, the lack of money and time put into things like flower beds and just the general upkeep.... fading paint, dirty restrooms with broken fixtures, those little detail things that make a place seem past its prime.

Well, the place is closing in on 50 years old! Short of tearing stuff down and rebuilding from scratch, what can they do? (Imagine what it looks like behind the scenes!!!)

BTW ST MARKS -- I've always heard from Texas people that while the park in Arlington is bigger, the one here in Atlanta is a lot prettier. Is that true? I've only driven past SFOT and it looked dreadfully flat, hot and ugly ...

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Well, the place is closing in on 50 years old! Short of tearing stuff down and rebuilding from scratch, what can they do? (Imagine what it looks like behind the scenes!!!)

BTW ST MARKS -- I've always heard from Texas people that while the park in Arlington is bigger, the one here in Atlanta is a lot prettier. Is that true? I've only driven past SFOT and it looked dreadfully flat, hot and ugly ...

I don't think the TX park is bigger at all. There is nothing like the area where the carousel is.... a feel of being in the woods. The whole thing feels more crammed together than the GA park, like you could easily see one end from the other from the interstate. The rolling terrain and large trees at least give the GA park a feel of being spread out somewhat. The terrain itself makes Georgia much prettier than Texas. But I say that about the two states as a whole, no need to go to an amusement park to see that, lol!

I don't think it is a matter of age. Disney is just a few years newer... what, mid 60s for Six Flags, early 70s for DW? There is no need for tearing the whole thing down and rebuilding... you can update and remodel and paint and keep your planting beds in order. Lenox and Greenbrier are from around the same era. Which one is kept up and looking nice and which one is down in the tooth?

[Saintmarks]

It is too bad that the location along the Chattahoochee wasn't taken advantage of more. I would like to see a whole scale redo of the place. Take the huge parking lots to the west side of the park. Make the current parking lot a part of the park and incorporate the riverfront. Of course that stretch of the Hooch would need to be cleaned up and whatever is on the other bank would need to be rehabbed. But think of what could be done with that piece of property.

[Newsboy]

What's "on the other side of the river" is the biggest problem with Six Flags. Fulton Industrial is absolutely one of the scariest, sketchiest, weirdest areas of all Metro Atlanta. It's the ONLY PLACE I've ever been where drug dealers and hustlers walk right up to your car in broad daylight soliciting with Fulton County cops sitting watching everything in plain view. Fulton Industrial at night is the only place in Metro Atlanta where i have ever felt truly afraid for my life. And you've got families with little kiddies enjoying a day at the theme park one exit over?! Creepy ... scary .... sad.

[ATLTJL]

Holy cow! I just looked at the aerials and I never realized that the Scream Machine basically hugs the river at one point. What an underused resource, if nothing else, just for views.

Though I can understand the Fulton Industrial thing. I am a fan of the seedy and weird. I love Clermont Lounge and Cheshire Bridge Road makes me happy. I've gone to Bankhead Courts and Greenbriar Mall just to see what they're like...but even I have never ventured onto Fulton Industrial. The only time I have ever even heard it mentioned as a place people go is when couples mention it because I think there is a swingers club over there. Why the best swinging club in Atlanta is there, I don't know, but I have also heard it's one of the few places left where you can pick up a street walker and go to a local motel.

Of course, now my curiosity is piqued and I want to go check it out! To see the sketchiest and grossest parts of Fulton Industrial, what stretch of the road would you recommend?