Trip Report - 6/10/24
Hi everyone! This is my first post in ParkFans – I joined the original GAH forums around 2009. It means a lot to me that this community still has a home, and I wanted to make an effort to document what I can, even if it’s only in the present. I’ve lived in FL for a few years and I was long overdue for a trip to SFGA. The last time I was at the park was the day of my last shift as an employee back in 2019.
We arrived around 11:15 and made our way over to Jersey Devil. They were only operating with 1 train. We only waited about 40 minutes, which I didn’t think was that bad. However it felt like a missed opportunity as with two trains that line would have moved.
I was surprised to see that these former ride pads were still in place. I would have thought they would have removed them when they paved over everything.
The theming for this area wasn’t amazing, but it was nice to see an effort to bring a new energy into this corner of the park that wasn’t another DC Comics IP. It was nice and quiet over here too.
I find it interesting to see how the former location of Hydro Flume has evolved over the years. It’s been almost 20 years and you can still see how it has influenced the general form of the area.
I’ve heard multiple strong rumors that the SkyWay will never return. Obviously aside from the barricade and sign removal, I noticed that the gondolas were not visible in storage by the boneyard as they often used to be.
Learning this was just the worst. And it’s perplexing too, as I always thought that having two sides meant that they could at least cannibalize it and use parts to keep one side operating. My understanding was that Dopplemayr helped support it as well (same company that manufactured Disney’s Skyliner or the Hogwarts Express). But I guess it is still too costly to maintain. Does anyone know any more?
We waited about 10 minutes for The Dark Knight. The ride was operating with the pre-show on a loop, which I’m guessing has been the case for some time now. Multiple effects were not in show that I recalled from the past.
The Giant Wheel is currently closed, but this one’s alright with me since it’s undergoing a major rehab. Very excited for this!
We wanted to ride Houdini’s Great Escape, but it has been closed for the season.
El Toro was closed as well…
Medusa operating with 1 train, but there’s so little foot traffic in that area that they didn’t really have a demand for much more. I love that they restored it back to its original theme. I get a kick looking at the former Bizarro sign, but it gets the job done.
The fencing on the side of the arena was overgrown.
Zumanjaro was also closed, so we circled back through the animal habitat toward Dream Street. I enjoyed this “Fright Fest Fanatics” store, I think it’s a clever idea for a regional theme park.
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to see this view! The bricks were a clever idea, but what really brought it over the top was the nice timeline display on the red tent (former sight of the GAH Museum, if I recall). There used to be a similar timeline in the gift shop at the front of the park.
Now I had heard that that Parachutes had closed, but I was surprised to see that the structure is still standing. Too expensive to even bother to remove it?
Interesting to see Six Flags jump on the bandwagon of cashless parks. I wonder how much of an operational nuisance that is for employees.
By this point in the day we were pretty hungry, but the lines for food were so long across the park. Is it me, or is this somehow worse than it used to be? Prices for a burger or sandwich were in the $18-$20 range. That’s roughly equivalent to what you can expect to pay at a Universal or Disney park. The quality of the food in the Orlando parks isn’t always amazing, but I do feel they have at least a leg up to Six Flags in that regard.
The menu offerings at the Jersey Devil BBQ looked like it could be decent – anyone have any thoughts?
I thought this “Great Adventure Guide” was a great idea and it was nice to see that they don’t just force everyone to refer to an app.
Justice League and Skull Mountain were walk-ons. There were some lighting and prop updates to the interior of Skull Mountain since I had last seen it.
By this point, we had exhausted everything that we wanted/were able to do. Around 3:30 we took a drive over to the new Safari loading area (former Exploration Station). This area was not in good shape when I last saw it, so again it was great to see it get some TLC. Having to leave the park and drive to a separate location to board was not ideal, but hopefully this is a short-lived inconvenience.
Not pictured by noteworthy was how far behind construction for the Savannah Sunset Resort. This was suppossed to open four days later and did not look ready. How did that go?
My Thoughts
Without being overly negative, my honest thought is that this park is not what it used to be. It was saddening (and concerning, really) to see this park operating with so few rides. Many of them are currently closed with the intention that they will re-open bigger and better. But I can’ t imagine that the average guest is happy about that.
If you are parking a car, it can’t possibly feel like a good value to visit this park. As I’ve gotten older, I don’t prefer to ride rollercoaster after rollercoaster all day. So there wasn’t much for me to enjoy.
There were/are some genuine attempts underway to make enhancements, many that have been on this community’s list for ages. But something about this park doesn’t look well. It looks like it’s struggling. The park feels understaffed, and the little staff they have doesn’t care. For every new and improved area, there is another that is falling apart.
Just my two cents on the whole Savannah Sunset: I have a feeling the resort will be nice, but I’m not sure how sustainable it will be.
I know operating the Safari must be a nightmare for the company. The fact that it still exists at all is a major victory in my book, even if that means that it has to go through a bit of a messy identity crisis. But I really hope that it’s here to stay, and I want this to work for Six Flags if this is the best they can do.
I’m looking forward to the future when, hopefully, the corporate changes can breath some new life into this park.
Ride Count:
Jersey Devil x1
The Dark Knight x1
Medusa x1
Nitro x1
Skull Mountain x1
Justice League x1
Safari x1
What I Liked:
Giant Wheel and Log Flume getting some TLC
New (Old) Lion Statue on Main Street
Pine Barrens Area
Medusa is back
New pathway between Toro and Zumanjaro
Dream Street has been restored
What I Didn’t Like
SkyWay and Parachutes are no more
Parking Fee ($49)
Numerous ride closures
Food Prices
Experience getting to Safari
Closed Attractions:
SkyWay
Giant Wheel
Mine Train
Log Flume
El Toro
Zumanjaro
Cyborg
Parachutes
Hi everyone! This is my first post in ParkFans – I joined the original GAH forums around 2009. It means a lot to me that this community still has a home, and I wanted to make an effort to document what I can, even if it’s only in the present. I’ve lived in FL for a few years and I was long overdue for a trip to SFGA. The last time I was at the park was the day of my last shift as an employee back in 2019.
We arrived around 11:15 and made our way over to Jersey Devil. They were only operating with 1 train. We only waited about 40 minutes, which I didn’t think was that bad. However it felt like a missed opportunity as with two trains that line would have moved.
I was surprised to see that these former ride pads were still in place. I would have thought they would have removed them when they paved over everything.
The theming for this area wasn’t amazing, but it was nice to see an effort to bring a new energy into this corner of the park that wasn’t another DC Comics IP. It was nice and quiet over here too.
I find it interesting to see how the former location of Hydro Flume has evolved over the years. It’s been almost 20 years and you can still see how it has influenced the general form of the area.
I’ve heard multiple strong rumors that the SkyWay will never return. Obviously aside from the barricade and sign removal, I noticed that the gondolas were not visible in storage by the boneyard as they often used to be.
Learning this was just the worst. And it’s perplexing too, as I always thought that having two sides meant that they could at least cannibalize it and use parts to keep one side operating. My understanding was that Dopplemayr helped support it as well (same company that manufactured Disney’s Skyliner or the Hogwarts Express). But I guess it is still too costly to maintain. Does anyone know any more?
We waited about 10 minutes for The Dark Knight. The ride was operating with the pre-show on a loop, which I’m guessing has been the case for some time now. Multiple effects were not in show that I recalled from the past.
The Giant Wheel is currently closed, but this one’s alright with me since it’s undergoing a major rehab. Very excited for this!
We wanted to ride Houdini’s Great Escape, but it has been closed for the season.
El Toro was closed as well…
Medusa operating with 1 train, but there’s so little foot traffic in that area that they didn’t really have a demand for much more. I love that they restored it back to its original theme. I get a kick looking at the former Bizarro sign, but it gets the job done.
The fencing on the side of the arena was overgrown.
Zumanjaro was also closed, so we circled back through the animal habitat toward Dream Street. I enjoyed this “Fright Fest Fanatics” store, I think it’s a clever idea for a regional theme park.
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to see this view! The bricks were a clever idea, but what really brought it over the top was the nice timeline display on the red tent (former sight of the GAH Museum, if I recall). There used to be a similar timeline in the gift shop at the front of the park.
Now I had heard that that Parachutes had closed, but I was surprised to see that the structure is still standing. Too expensive to even bother to remove it?
Interesting to see Six Flags jump on the bandwagon of cashless parks. I wonder how much of an operational nuisance that is for employees.
By this point in the day we were pretty hungry, but the lines for food were so long across the park. Is it me, or is this somehow worse than it used to be? Prices for a burger or sandwich were in the $18-$20 range. That’s roughly equivalent to what you can expect to pay at a Universal or Disney park. The quality of the food in the Orlando parks isn’t always amazing, but I do feel they have at least a leg up to Six Flags in that regard.
The menu offerings at the Jersey Devil BBQ looked like it could be decent – anyone have any thoughts?
I thought this “Great Adventure Guide” was a great idea and it was nice to see that they don’t just force everyone to refer to an app.
Justice League and Skull Mountain were walk-ons. There were some lighting and prop updates to the interior of Skull Mountain since I had last seen it.
By this point, we had exhausted everything that we wanted/were able to do. Around 3:30 we took a drive over to the new Safari loading area (former Exploration Station). This area was not in good shape when I last saw it, so again it was great to see it get some TLC. Having to leave the park and drive to a separate location to board was not ideal, but hopefully this is a short-lived inconvenience.
Not pictured by noteworthy was how far behind construction for the Savannah Sunset Resort. This was suppossed to open four days later and did not look ready. How did that go?
My Thoughts
Without being overly negative, my honest thought is that this park is not what it used to be. It was saddening (and concerning, really) to see this park operating with so few rides. Many of them are currently closed with the intention that they will re-open bigger and better. But I can’ t imagine that the average guest is happy about that.
If you are parking a car, it can’t possibly feel like a good value to visit this park. As I’ve gotten older, I don’t prefer to ride rollercoaster after rollercoaster all day. So there wasn’t much for me to enjoy.
There were/are some genuine attempts underway to make enhancements, many that have been on this community’s list for ages. But something about this park doesn’t look well. It looks like it’s struggling. The park feels understaffed, and the little staff they have doesn’t care. For every new and improved area, there is another that is falling apart.
Just my two cents on the whole Savannah Sunset: I have a feeling the resort will be nice, but I’m not sure how sustainable it will be.
I know operating the Safari must be a nightmare for the company. The fact that it still exists at all is a major victory in my book, even if that means that it has to go through a bit of a messy identity crisis. But I really hope that it’s here to stay, and I want this to work for Six Flags if this is the best they can do.
I’m looking forward to the future when, hopefully, the corporate changes can breath some new life into this park.
Ride Count:
Jersey Devil x1
The Dark Knight x1
Medusa x1
Nitro x1
Skull Mountain x1
Justice League x1
Safari x1
What I Liked:
Giant Wheel and Log Flume getting some TLC
New (Old) Lion Statue on Main Street
Pine Barrens Area
Medusa is back
New pathway between Toro and Zumanjaro
Dream Street has been restored
What I Didn’t Like
SkyWay and Parachutes are no more
Parking Fee ($49)
Numerous ride closures
Food Prices
Experience getting to Safari
Closed Attractions:
SkyWay
Giant Wheel
Mine Train
Log Flume
El Toro
Zumanjaro
Cyborg
Parachutes
