Is Six Flags America Worth the Trip?


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Though I've never been there, I've never felt the desire to drive up to DC to visit SFA. They don't have any unique attractions at the park, or anything even near record-breaking (and that's the only point of visiting an SF park, right?) Their Superman coaster is, from what I've read, underwhelming. Again, I've never been, but I've never wanted to make the drive and spend the money. If I drive up to Maryland for an amusement park, I might as well continue on up to Hershey or Knoebels.
 
Franco said:
Though I've never been there, I've never felt the desire to drive up to DC to visit SFA. They don't have any unique attractions at the park, or anything even near record-breaking (and that's the only point of visiting an SF park, right?) Their Superman coaster is, from what I've read, underwhelming. Again, I've never been, but I've never wanted to make the drive and spend the money. If I drive up to Maryland for an amusement park, I might as well continue on up to Hershey or Knoebels.

I have been there and actually had a bit of fun. Naturally the cleanliness isn't as high of a priority as it is in other places. The fun is great though. I am not sure if they still have their reverse-incline launch coaster but I LOVED that. The Batman ride is pretty cool and smooth from what I remember. The Joker's Jinx or whatever it is called is just pure insane, you can tell it is nothing but a huge not with steel coming at you from every direction. So far as Superman goes I loved it. There is a too high limit though for it. The helix and airtime on it would take the cake for the best I have been on yet.

Overall I saw it as a cool once every 5 years or so park but nothing more. If you have a free weekend and want to try something different give it a try and get a hotel for the night
 
No, I wouldn't go. But, I don't go to parks unless I know they're high quality. If you're looking to increase your coaster count and remind yourself how much nicer BG and Holiday World are, go for it.
 
It's all about the coaster count. :cool:

I don't know. I'm afraid that if I go to a terrible park now I might end up really missing Holiday World. As it is, I'm already planning/hoping to go back next year. O, Holiday World, why must you be so far away? :(

Really though, when are you going up there, Chris? It's worth every min. of the 11 hour drive. Hey, you get to stay on I-64 all the way there.
 
Swiftman said:
Really though, when are you going up there, Chris? It's worth every min. of the 11 hour drive. Hey, you get to stay on I-64 all the way there.

I go up for work a lot. (It's I-95)
 
Swiftman said:
Talking about Holiday World now. :p I hope it doesn't take you 11 hours to get to DC...

I thought you were joking about the traffic. Sometimes it feels like 11 hours.
 
The first time I went, I was really glad that I had, if only for The Wild One. It had apparently been almost entirely retracked the year before and it was shockingly fun. I think it was my favorite wood coaster for a short little while.

Lots of things were broken on that first trip I took...Two Face, Batwing, Joker's Jinx. Roar was rough, but only "fun rough" and I really liked it a lot. I also got my first SLC credit, not that that is a plus or anything.

The next year, I got a season pass and quickly regretted it. A couple of fun rides are not worth a 3 to 4 hour drive more than once or twice, and a couple of fun rides is all that park has going for it. Operations are abysmal. I've waited 20 minutes for Wild One with only two people in line in front of me. A five cycle wait for Batwing? That's an hour and fifteen minutes of your life you'll never get back. The place if filthy, the staff would rather you drop dead than sell you food or drink. The last time I was there, I saw people in uniform hanging out on park benches and smoking in non-smoking areas.

The year I had my season pass, it came with a couple of free tickets. I had made plans to take a friend of mine who had never been anywhere but Kings Dominion. She was a student then so she didn't have any money and she was really looking forward to a free day at SFA. That morning, I just couldn't bring myself to make that drive for that park. It was actually worth it to me to pay her way into BGW and buy her lunch rather than endure a trip to SFA, so that's what we did.

Now I hear it's gotten better in the last couple of years, but I've been hesitant to believe enough to make another trip there. Maybe next year.
 
The place if filthy, the staff would rather you drop dead than sell you food or drink. The last time I was there, I saw people in uniform hanging out on park benches and smoking in non-smoking areas.

So it is just like the other Six Flags parks I've been to (SFSL & SFKK)? :rolleyes:

Anyway, thanks for the info.
 
I actually went there in June this year. Everyone was wearing shirts to remind everyone to keep the park clean. And the park was surprisingly very clean. It didn't have really any foliage or anything like that though. The rides were ok. I hate, absolutely hate two of the rides though. Batwing and Mind Eraser. Batwing is a Vekoma flyer that straps in your upper body and provides a post to put your shins on to keep you in the ride. As soon as the ride flipped over, I swear I was about to fall out. I didn't feel safe at all in that ride. And Mind Eraser should have been named mind bruiser. The OTSR squishes your face. You can not wear glasses on this ride. And your squished head gets slammed into the OTSR the whole time. Superman was OK. The ride ops were good there and the ride was a decent intamin. I'm not a big fan of the T-lap bars. I almost felt like I was going to fly out over the last couple of hills. The little carnival games were cool. The food, eh, not so good. I ate some Panda Express there and felt very sick shortly thereafter. The kids area is pretty cool. We rode the cranky Crane drop tower ride. Its sort of like the elmo spire, but the lady operating it kept dropping us over and over, I was close to losing my lunch. It was pretty fun for a kiddie ride. Overall I had a good time. One downside would be long wait times at rides since they appear to just use the minimum number of trains. Some of the rides broke down alot. Their locker rentals there also don't make any sense. On one side of the park for a water ride there are lockers nearby. For two of the other water rides, there are no lockers at all nearby.

The water park there isn't bad either. They have a good assortment of water rides. The wave pool makes stronger waves than the one at WCUSA. (At least it appeared too). And the water park is included with park admission.

So in summary, it's an OK Park to visit at least once. I don't know if I'd go back again more than once in a year though.
 
If you are worried about coaster count thsn its worth it. I live 40 minuits from it and would rather drive 3 hours to Busch Gardens any day. They have decent rides and have cleaned the place up a bit over the years, but if you are used to Busch Gardens LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
 
I have never been to the park but will be in DC for a long weekend the first weekend in June. I have given some thought to going to the park for a day but my question is it worth it? I currently have season passes to both KD and BGW so I am trying to find out if Six Flags has enough that the other two do not to justify the cost to someone on a moderate budget?
 
This is a tough one. This park makes Kings Dominion look like Disney, it's really, really, bad. Out of the nine coasters seven are clones and none of them are really that great other than Superman, my favorite is Rajun Cajun. There are two "shows" but they are barely entertainment. The main reason I don't like the park is because of the crowds. They are some of the worst people you will meet. I remember somebody spit on me last year on Superman for using a flash pass and then preceded to get the station to "Boo" me for cutting (After the incident I received a Christmas Card from the high-ups of SFA and the email to the Park President, I usually bump into management when I visit now) I will be there June 14th as I make an annual visit every year. I'm torn on if I would recommend the park but you can still probably make a fun visit out of it.
 
I'd go if you have specific credits you want to get, but the park is dirty, the rides are poorly maintained, and the crowd is rowdy. On a single trip to Six Flags I encountered a knife fight AND had a flat break down while I was on it. Absolutely not worth the trip in my mind, unless I wanted to complete my B&M credits by riding IronWolfAlypse
 
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