It’s been well over 5 years since I went to SFA and while it definitely had that somewhat cheap and trashy SF feel to it, I thought you could tell it has good bones and the potential to be a rather pretty park. The colonial themed entrance area and Coyote Creek both have nice foundations and could easily become well themed areas with just a little TLC. The wooded plaza and path past the entrance area towards the Looney Tunes area is incredibly charming. And the New Orleans themed area was a surprisingly well done — a perfect example of how an enjoyable themed area can be put together on a shoestring budget.
It’s really the swath of land between Roar, Firebird, and the middle of the park — plus Gotham — that needs some improvement to get rid of that “concrete jungle” reputation. But I think some additional landscaping, water features, and maybe some buildings could really improve that problem dramatically. The rest of the park, the part with good bones, is mostly just marred by the classic SF problems: ads everywhere, chain restaurants, uneven cleanliness, and subpar aesthetic maintenance. Fortunately, it seems like SF’s new corporate team really wants to tackle most of those problems in the near future.