Park Improvements 2022

[Crunchewy]

Sounds like a lot of nice improvements at SFA this season. Some are in place, some are still coming (most notably, the landscaping that will add more and much needed shade):

Six Flags America Opens in Time for the Official Start of Spring - Six Flags America

The park unveils multi-million dollar list of guest driven improvements BOWIE, Md. — March 15, 2022 — Six Flags America, D.C.’s Thrill Capital, opens this weekend, Saturday, March 19, just in time for spring. Located just outside of the Capital Beltway, the park launches into the 2022 season...

www.sixflags.com

TL/DR:
- Lots more benches and picnic tables
- Lots more trash cans
- 1000'+ (combined) of re-tracking on Roar and Wild One
- Landscaping will add more shade and "tranquility" this Spring
- 3 new festivals, the first of which is Viva La Fiesta, the other 2 to be announced later (but no Holiday in the Park, unless a replacement for that is one of the things to be announced)
- 2 new shows
- New AC units at Chop Six and Heritage House
- New food options including premium salads, fresh lemonade, Tillamook ice cream at Coffee & Cones (and if that is still a dining plan snack option it's an even bigger value than it was in years past), and steak and chicken steak subs
- Single rider lines on SUPERMAN: Ride of Steel, THE JOKER’S Jinx and Voodoo Drop
- Locker rentals via your phone
- EV charging in the parking lot
- Some other stuff

 

[I64 Trekker]

Sounds like a lot of nice improvements at SFA this season. Some are in place, some are still coming (most notably, the landscaping that will add more and much needed shade):

Six Flags America Opens in Time for the Official Start of Spring - Six Flags America

The park unveils multi-million dollar list of guest driven improvements BOWIE, Md. — March 15, 2022 — Six Flags America, D.C.’s Thrill Capital, opens this weekend, Saturday, March 19, just in time for spring. Located just outside of the Capital Beltway, the park launches into the 2022 season...

www.sixflags.com

TL/DR:
- Lots more benches and picnic tables
- Lots more trash cans
- 1000'+ (combined) of re-tracking on Roar and Wild One
- Landscaping will add more shade and "tranquility" this Spring
- 3 new festivals, the first of which is Viva La Fiesta, the other 2 to be announced later (but no Holiday in the Park, unless a replacement for that is one of the things to be announced)
- 2 new shows
- New AC units at Chop Six and Heritage House
- New food options including premium salads, fresh lemonade, Tillamook ice cream at Coffee & Cones (and if that is still a dining plan snack option it's an even bigger value than it was in years past), and steak and chicken steak subs
- Single rider lines on SUPERMAN: Ride of Steel, THE JOKER’S Jinx and Voodoo Drop
- Locker rentals via your phone
- EV charging in the parking lot
- Some other stuff

I really give them credit for doing what they can with what they are allotted. The park will never be in the same company as Magic Mountain, Great Adventure or Great America, but I have always had a nice time at the park, and it is nice for folks in the DC area to have it as an option.

 

[mtpelepele]

I wonder if they're still getting the LED light package for their Wave Swinger.

 

[bill s]

Complete retracking was previously promised for Roar. Oh well.

 

[horsesboy]

Complete retracking was previously promised for Roar. Oh well.

I wouldn't say that you can rule that out Rebel Yell and Grizzly both were done in stages of multiple seasons given SFA's ride lineup it would only make sense for them to take a similar approach to insure that Roar was up and running for the season.

 

[Crunchewy]

sixflagsamerica_fans on instagram told me the new shade is not in yet. SFA did say Spring, and not at opening, so this isn't surprising, but just figured I'd report confirmation that this shade-adding landscaping, whatever it proves to be, is not in place yet.

 

[Crunchewy]

We went to SFA yesterday and want to comment on the park improvements aspect. There are a lot more benches around, but the added shade is not there yet. Not a big deal right now. They have time until it gets really hot... I hope.

The food improvements: I can only comment on Chop Six as that's where we went. Mostly it's the same except they now have a tofu with vegetables dish, which I appreciate them adding - really glad to see them adding more vegetarian options (might be vegan too, but I'm not sure). They put up a kind of ugly wooden hood thing, for lack of a better way to describe it, to protect the food prep area. Also now there are no tables inside Chop Six. It's just a queue. You have to eat outside, which hasn't changed. It's a fairly large covered area with tables. And I think the area where you pick up food is new. It sort of looks like a bar. I can't say that any of the new stuff is that attractive.

I asked for the tofu dish and they told me it was made to order and would take 15 minutes. Since my son and nephew got the orange chicken which is readily available I asked about the Kung Pao Chicken which is what I usually got there. They told me that was also made to order, but it would be ready sooner. So I asked for that instead. In the end, though, it still probably took about 15 minutes and I wish I'd stuck to my original order. If you're getting either of these dishes I would certainly recommend ordering ahead in the app. I will do that next time. As for the quality... I do think they have really improved it. The vegetables seemed fresher and better prepared. They weren't overcooked. Probably still the best option in the park, though still we aren't talking amazing or anything. It's pretty decent.

One of the napkin dispensers was completely empty and I asked them for napkins. They directed me to a dispenser near the cash register I hadn't noticed, but it so happened that the manager came in then and overheard this and told them they have to fill all the dispensers. It appears the worker just didn't bother to fill it. But it was good that the manager was on them for it.

 

[Crunchewy]

I'm not sure where to put this and I'm not sure it qualifies as an improvement, but there's two new procedures at the park. First on the coasters they no longer want you to pull your lap bar down. They announce repeatedly, secure the seatbelt but do not pull down your lap bar. Unsurprisingly people pull them down anyway. I'm not sure they did anything when this happened other than just reiterate that you are not supposed to pull it down. I don't think they unlocked and made them do it again, but I'm actually not sure. Maybe they aren't strict now, but will be later in the season? I don't know.

The other change, though maybe this happened a while ago, is on Harley Quinn they are no longer having you just sit in the seat with the number you are standing on. The announcement still says to do that, so that is confusing, but once we started walking in they told us to sit on the other side, in order to balance the ride out. I imagine this is related to the shaking support issue they had in the first season? So it makes perfect sense for them to do this, but the announcement needs to be changed and they need to do a better job of telling us exactly where to sit. It was kind of confusing and probably slowed loading down.

 

[Crunchewy]

Oh. And yes there are EV charging stations. They are in the preferred parking lot. 5 or 6 of them. It was unclear to me if they were functional yet. But, they have a 2 hour limit? How is that going to work? You have to go back out and move your car after 2 hours? I don’t know if they are level 2 or quick charge. I don’t know how to tell. They are Volta chargers and Volta’s websites doesn’t list them, so they may not be on yet, though there were two cars plugged into them when we left.

 

[warfelg]

Oh. And yes there are EV charging stations. They are in the preferred parking lot. 5 or 6 of them. It was unclear to me if they were functional yet. But, they have a 2 hour limit? How is that going to work? You have to go back out and move your car after 2 hours? I don’t know if they are level 2 or quick charge. I don’t know how to tell. They are Volta chargers and Volta’s websites doesn’t list them, so they may not be on yet, though there were two cars plugged into them when we left.

I’m betting because of them being in a lot they have to pay for and they aren’t public access they’ll not list them.

 

[bill s]

^^-- the ones pictured here are the level 2, up to 30 MPH chargers; their fast ones have a visible "DC Fast" thing on them. Having a time limit I would expect at this stage, and to go back out to Preferred isn't the worst possibility.

Six Flags to provide Volta electric vehicle charging stations at its parks

Six Flags is partnering with Volta, Inc. to make EV charging accessible to guests at Six Flags parks across the United States.

attractionsmagazine.com

I'm not sure where to put this and I'm not sure it qualifies as an improvement, but there's two new procedures at the park. First on the coasters they no longer want you to pull your lap bar down.

They did that before, at least on Roar. In fact when they did that on Twisted Timbers I thought of it as the "Six Flags procedure". I can't recall if SFA stopped doing it in 2020 or slightly before.

 

[horsesboy]

^^-- the ones pictured here are the level 2, up to 30 MPH chargers; their fast ones have a visible "DC Fast" thing on them. Having a time limit I would expect at this stage, and to go back out to Preferred isn't the worst possibility.

Six Flags to provide Volta electric vehicle charging stations at its parks

Six Flags is partnering with Volta, Inc. to make EV charging accessible to guests at Six Flags parks across the United States.

attractionsmagazine.com

They did that before, at least on Roar. In fact when they did that on Twisted Timbers I thought of it as the "Six Flags procedure". I can't recall if SFA stopped doing it in 2020 or slightly before.

I never experienced that pre pandemic but have seen it during the pandemic and assumed it was a measure to reduce opps having to reach in as much an touch the belts.