You are correct about that. Those that like the calmer rides and live entertainment tend to be of an age bracket with more income. Yet the majority US parks only target thrill riders and little kids. It’s really not a great business plan.
Attraction Skyride
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
Given the thought is that it's a structural issue that'd be super expensive to fix, and transport rides have little to no ROI, and the park/chain isn't necessarily flush with capex funds for these kinds of repairs...
We'll have to wait and see that the alleged new investments will be in the next couple years, but I'm guessing those making these kinds of decisions are keeping an eye on how to attract, satisfy, and retain guests who generate profit - fixing an old skyride system that isn't directly connected to revenue (at least breaking even on operating and maintenance expenses, if it could be directly measured) may simply be throwing money away.
We'll have to wait and see that the alleged new investments will be in the next couple years, but I'm guessing those making these kinds of decisions are keeping an eye on how to attract, satisfy, and retain guests who generate profit - fixing an old skyride system that isn't directly connected to revenue (at least breaking even on operating and maintenance expenses, if it could be directly measured) may simply be throwing money away.
I saw on Screamscape that SFFT is getting a cool monorail ride. It would be neat if GAdv gets one too to replace the Skyway but I doubt it would ever happen. They only want to build coasters in GAdv.
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That station for the skyway was always really ugly, the only positive from losing the sky ride. I hope they're working on some way to get people across the park because Great Adventure is absolutely huge, but I think most likely Great Adventure will just not have a transport ride from now on.
Oh absolutely, shame this station never got finished over the 50 years it was around. Even as a kid I thought it was bizarre that one end was so elaborate and the other looked like a gas station.
The skyride removal is a disgrace. The park is going to be depressing this season with so many missing rides no matter how many token refurbishments they perform.
The only silver lining will be IF when the park opens everything opens with it and is running at decent capacity. The park should be clean and fresh looking as well. The whole point of removing the things they are taking out is to free up maintenance budget for everything else.
Now, if they open and those rides are all gone and nothing has improved, there's a BIG problem.
Now, if they open and those rides are all gone and nothing has improved, there's a BIG problem.
The demolition of the dream street station guarantees the park will never see another Skyride, at least for the foreseeable future. I highly doubt any kind of substitute ride will ever be installed either.
I don't see why the demolition of the station guarantees that SFGAdv will never see another skyride...? The structure was purpose-built for a defunct ride system. Frankly, even if the park were to build a new skyride tomorrow, they would have almost certainly razed the existing building regardless.
I'm not saying it's likely that Six Flags will invest in a new skyride of course, but I don't think bulldozing a small, minimalistic, severely-dated, eyesore of a structure makes it any more or less likely.
I do hope that some very forward-thinking folks in park management can manage to keep the original skyride's right of way clear in the years ahead though. Even if Six Flags isn't interested in a transportation ride investment now, the flexibility afforded by the existence of the current skyride envelope can and should be preserved for the future.
I'm not saying it's likely that Six Flags will invest in a new skyride of course, but I don't think bulldozing a small, minimalistic, severely-dated, eyesore of a structure makes it any more or less likely.
I do hope that some very forward-thinking folks in park management can manage to keep the original skyride's right of way clear in the years ahead though. Even if Six Flags isn't interested in a transportation ride investment now, the flexibility afforded by the existence of the current skyride envelope can and should be preserved for the future.
That station was as bare bones as it gets. If we ever get another skyride, it would probably be cheaper to build a new one than to modify that one anyway.
The park is also considerably larger than it was on opening day, and it’s likely that a new skyride wouldn’t follow the EXACT plot of this one.
The park is also considerably larger than it was on opening day, and it’s likely that a new skyride wouldn’t follow the EXACT plot of this one.
The park has recycled purpose built ride structures for other ride systems before such as the former Viper to El Toro Station and the Chiller's observatory, even adding the drop of doom on KK. It would be easier and cheaper to modify an existing station rather than construct a whole new station from scratch. Also depends how much of the old utilities for the Skyride they might rip out. If they ever do plan to build a new Skyway, the demo of one station is already a shot in the foot, which the park seems to have done a lot over the past 1.5 years IMHO. Hopefully they will keep the former Skyway right of way clear. Personally I don't think they will add much more other than the 2026 coaster to potentially block the old route.
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Those structures are in no way comparable to the skyride station we're talking about. This skyride station was literally skyride ride hardware with a roof. It was ugly, it was as barebones as possible, and it was purpose-designed to match the exact spec of a long-extinct skyride model.
This is almost certainly not true. If you look at the station designs on modern skyride systems, they are radically different than what Great Adventure had left over. Frankly, there probably wasn't even enough vertical space under the roof to accommodate a modern design a la what Legoland New York is installing.
Hell, there's a good chance they can't even demo the existing skyride without demoing the entire building with it—making reusing it impossible regardless of whether or not they could squeeze a modern design in there.
And then, and this will lead to my next point too, a ton has changed since that skyride station was built. Oftentimes, with a major renovation, new building codes will be enforced. The cost required to retrofit the existing (again, barebones and ugly) structure to meet current requirements alone could surpass the cost of just building a new skyride station shelter in the future if the park decides to go that direction one day.
The ancient utilities feeding this station would almost certainly need to be modernized or replaced in preparation for a modern attraction regardless.
Again, I don't think it's likely that Great Adventure has a new skyride on order, but nothing about the ongoing removal of the current one makes a replacement any more or less likely. The doom and gloom around this very specific aspect of SFGAdv's pre-2025 activities just isn't fair or reasonable.
Beyond everything already mentioned, even in the unlikely event they do already have plans for a replacement that goes to that exact spot, as unremarkable as the Dream Street station was I don’t think the new leadership would want to leave it rotting in the middle of a very active area of the park until they’re ready to reuse it.
The Great Arena and Batman Stunt Arena have probably gotten off the hook up to now due to the fact that they’re on the outskirts (in addition to previous leadership not caring as much about appearance), but I think they’d rather build a new station and actually finish it this time than reuse what was about as simple as a gas station overhang. That said, I don’t think we need to worry about the fort station. I remember seeing some discussion about making it a restaurant/lounge and I’d be all for that.
The Great Arena and Batman Stunt Arena have probably gotten off the hook up to now due to the fact that they’re on the outskirts (in addition to previous leadership not caring as much about appearance), but I think they’d rather build a new station and actually finish it this time than reuse what was about as simple as a gas station overhang. That said, I don’t think we need to worry about the fort station. I remember seeing some discussion about making it a restaurant/lounge and I’d be all for that.
First I am not just talking about the roof, but the entire structure including the foundation pad the drive motors were mounted to. Building a new higher roof is nothing compared to pouring a heavy duty pad.
If the demo for the Skyride could not be performed without demolishing the dream street station, then they would also be forced to knock down half the fort which contains the other station too with the counterweight system and deep shafts. As you said, a new station would need to met new standards which means higher construction costs. Also eyesore has become an overused umbrella term to lazily attempt to shut down discussions.
The doom and gloom is completely fair and reasonable as its the same pattern all the previous new owners did to the park being repeated for the umpteenth time. The main differences this time around are the already reduced ride count from previous owner removals without replacement and the larger scale and scope of this round of park gutting. 8 rides being removed at once is excessive and not a good sign of a healthy company or park. KK is likely the only ride to get a replacement, perhaps you can sort of count Flash as being a defacto GL replacement which Zimmerman likely does. Sadly the park is likely down 7 rides permanently. If he goes the Shapiro route and replace rides with kiddie ride, those will not count. Perhaps one needs to be an oldtimer who has visited the park for decades to see the pattern.
Moreover, dismissing others's concerns about the park's future and direction as doom and gloom is condescending. One can also just as easily call any positive outlooks for the park to be just denial considering its rocky past and even worse current situation but I will refrain from that. I wish I could have a more positive attitude but having seen this same pattern happen repeatedly before, I have doubts it will be sunshine and rainbows this time around. Especially as every repeat of this cycle gets worse. Zinnerman has already made himself Shapiro 2.0, electric bugalo.
Ripping the station out, foundation and all is clearly storched earth situation which is not promising for an replacement. Its no different than saying because a park is being completely raised and a warehouse being built in place is not a sign a park won't reopen. I prefer a park to have rides over voids but it seems many here greatly prefer voids to rides. Six Flags Void Adventure, the first park that glazes back into you.
Again, demolishing a heavy duty foundation, preparing the site, building molds, and pouring concrete for a new foundation is more than modifying any existing pad. With an existing pad they just drill holes to epoxy in new mounting studs for the new mount pattern, then construct whatever new enclosure is required. CF has pulled several controversial moves that has polarized the park's fan base, yet another shot in the park's foot.
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I think perhaps it is reasonable to give the new Six Flags management time to demonstrate what their actual intentions are, rather than assuming the worst. Perhaps you are right and for some reason they have decided to gut Great Adventure. To me, however, there is also a possibility that they plan to invest in the park, the way they have in other locations in the chain. The simple fact is that (as far as I know) no one here has any real information about their internal deliberations. Without those data, an endless stream of rants based on pure guesswork come off as baseless screeds.
Sadly the new management's actions and fumbling of the 2024 season is not promising. Yes we don't have access to inside corporate information but we can make inferences from long term trends for the park which unfortunately are not good. I lived though and experienced prior ownership and management changes and the current CF takeover is playing out nearly identical to the past takeovers. Making future predictions from past inferences isn't perfect but its what we have and is still useful for intelligent guesses. Past takeovers usually saw ride downsizing and cost cutting to help payoff the costs of takeovers. CF currently has major merger bills to pay off which limits capex. I also was a long term PS holder to Dorney (1992 to 2019) and disliked how CF let that park's quality decline.
This is a chart showing the flat ride count at GAdv taken from the GAdv history website.
As we can see the park has ups and downs in flat rides and its been down since 2007. So for the 2025 season the park will be down to 14 flats, 20 rides as of 2020 minus the 6 from 2024, the lowest number in its history. Again the situation is simply polarizing to put it lightly. The park has a lot of recovery to do before any of this promised growth can occur. Much of the needed recovery was caused by prior management, but CF did compound the issues futher.
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