The Sloppy Mistakes of 2000's Era Six Flags and How I Would Fix Them

[Scoobert McDoobert]

In the amusement industry, it always seems that Six Flags is in the news, but never for the right reasons. From closing down or selling parks with potential to AI generated merchandise that might get them into legal trouble, it has always seemed like Six Flags has been up to no good, making hasty decisions that both affect the guest experience and their wallets, and never in the way they intend. But, that wasn't the case at one point in time.
Picture this; the year is 1998, and your small amusement park chain has just bought Six Flags from Warner Bros. This gives you access to some of the largest amusement parks in the country, and it even gives you exclusive theme park rights to some of the most iconic pop culture figures at the time, including Bugs Bunny and Batman. Of course, you're going to use this newfound success, and try to spread it to your own portfolio. The main question is, are you going to do it with time, care, and effort, or are you just going to piece it together to get by? Premier Parks chose the ladder, not dedicating enough effort to little things that can make or break a trip to your local amusement park, and they just put a coaster with Superman colors on the parking lot, and called it a day. They did this a lot, even building over 20 coasters a year at one point, but did they put their money anywhere else? No, they didn't, and when they tried to start over with things such as the Mr. Six ad campaign and large themed areas such as Great Adventure's "Golden Kingdom", they were already too far in the hole, and they were taken over by a man with little to no knowledge in the industry.
You can kind of say the "bad news" started here, but there was at least some optimism. Now, I wasn't able to see this huge expansion, but it seemed so dumb at a business standpoint but also so grand at the same time. It created the public's image of Six Flags as we know it, and we even got some of the best coasters out of it. Now, what if this was done right? What if they spent more on theming, coherence, and the guest? What if they tried a little harder? That's what this series is for. I will go through at least all of their US-based parks from 1998-2005, and list some general changes that could have added to the guest experience, as well as their reputation. I f this gets popular enough, I might do some of the international Six Flags parks. Now, this is NOT one of my "What If" series, as those are more literal, and really go into detail about things that wouldn't really matter to this series. A lot of this will also be based either upon old rumors taken from some old coaster forums from back in the day or old concept art.
Now, if you have any suggestions of where I should start, just comment them, and I'll be ready to go. This is going to certainly be a wild ride.

 

[Rob Coasters]

Not sure I quite understand these "what if" threads that have been popping up recently.

What if Thorpe Park got a giga? It would probably be pretty good if a little short.
What if Alton Towers was managed by Aspro instead of Merlin? Major investment probably would have stagnated.
What if Compagnie des Alpes bought Heide Park? They'd probably add something along the lines of Mecalodon.
What if the Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger never happened? Then one of the chains probably would've gone bankrupt again and would have to significantly downsize by selling or closing parks.

"What if Six Flags tried harder to improve guest experience?" - then the parks would probably be held in higher regard than they currently are.

I just feel that the amount of discussion to be had across these threads feel very limited, but I'm open to my mind being changed. You can make a "what if" out of any scenario, and once the absolute basics and 'obvious' bits are laid out, what else is there to add?

 

[Scoobert McDoobert]

Not sure I quite understand these "what if" threads that have been popping up recently.

What if Thorpe Park got a giga? It would probably be pretty good if a little short.
What if Alton Towers was managed by Aspro instead of Merlin? Major investment probably would have stagnated.
What if Compagnie des Alpes bought Heide Park? They'd probably add something along the lines of Mecalodon.
What if the Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger never happened? Then one of the chains probably would've gone bankrupt again and would have to significantly downsize by selling or closing parks.

"What if Six Flags tried harder to improve guest experience?" - then the parks would probably be held in higher regard than they currently are.

I just feel that the amount of discussion to be had across these threads feel very limited, but I'm open to my mind being changed. You can make a "what if" out of any scenario, and once the absolute basics and 'obvious' bits are laid out, what else is there to add?

Again, this isn't one of my "What If" series. I honestly feel the same way you do about them now. They did indeed feel shallow, and they also honestly gave me burnout. I will also admit, this is a very similar concept. I made this to be more open ended, so nothing could seem "definite", and is more of just general improvements. It also goes through more of the "why this would improve the experience for guests", because I believe these things deserve more of an explanation. I do appreciate the feedback, though.
Oh, and the whole "What If" thing was kind of started by me. It started with "What if Warner Bros. Still Owned Six Flags", and it just kind of became it's own small little subculture, I guess.
In short, this isn't "If they added this coaster, then it would become the best park ever." It's more of "If they added more theming to here, it would elevate the coasters around it." I am also planning on doing some artwork to visualize it. I just need an excuse to do coaster art .

 

[Scoobert McDoobert]

Part 1: Six Flags America​

The story of Six Flags America has to be one of the most confusing ones I have ever heard of. It went from the butt of the joke for coaster enthusiasts to a sorely missed park, joining the likes of Astroworld and Geauga Lake. The park was the definition of "missed potential", and it saddens me that it was shut down before anything could be done. Well, I decided to pick this one first because it would be interesting and fun to fix it. I think I've been going on long enough, let's get this show on the road.

Main Street 1776​

This area was perfect, in all honesty. It was themed up well, and had a nice atmosphere. It also paid tribute to the area it was located in, so I honestly don't see a need for change over here.

Hurricane Harbor​

This was the most popular part of the park when it was open. It had a decent selection of waterslides, and a nice atmosphere to boot. I am also not too well versed in waterparks, but from what I saw from my one visit to Six Flags America, it was pretty good. Just don't let abandoned waterslides stay up for multiple years, and it's good.

Olde Boston​

Now it's time for the major changes! While the area was a nice extension of Main Street, I also felt like it, as well as the park in general, was missing something; a tall, eye-catching ride! You can't really see any of the rides from the road, so I thought that they could have added some sort of ferris wheel ride here. It could kind of be like an "icon" for the park!

Nantucket​

This might have been one of the smallest areas of the park, but that doesn't mean that there won't be changes. For years, the park was lacking a family coaster. I feel like a perfect solution for this would have been to put a Gerstlauer spinning coaster near the back of Hurricane Harbor. Oh, and give it the same "Mr. Six" theme that the one in New England got, and it would be perfect.

Coyote Creek​

This area definitely had the most theming out of any area in the park. The only change I would present might be another family coaster, but I don't know if it could necessarily fit. Either way, it's a good area, as long as you look past Mind Eraser.

Skull Island​

I might just be a sucker for pirate themes, but this area looked like it had a nice atmosphere before Firebird was plopped down in place of the unique Typhoon Seacoaster. Again, it's also small, but they just should not have added Firebird, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Gotham City​

The moment we have all been waiting for! This area was probably why coaster enthusiasts clowned on the park so much, especially the walk to Batwing. Thankfully, I am here to show a less messed up version of this Superhero "themed" section.
First of all, the stunt show arena just kind of looked ugly. It just looked like a big metal box, and had zero theming. Thankfully, this version of the building at Six Flags Over Georgia pretty much sums up how it should have looked in the first place!
The image
I also believe that the Two-Face roller coaster should have been in this area. In fact, I came up with an idea to switch the places of the skycoaster and this ride, as you can see in this image here.
Another thing I noticed during my visit was that the entrance to the Joker's Jinx coaster was kind of like a poor man's version of Six Flags Fiesta Texas' similarly themed coaster, The Joker's Revenge. I do think that they should have at least cloned that ride's amazing funhouse queue. I will link a YouTube video showcasing this queue here.
Now, for the long walk to Batwing. I have used several cancelled concepts to work this out. If you want to see it, then click (or tap, if you're on a phone) here.
As you can see, I have added two coasters to flesh out the area. One is a standup clone of Six Flags Great Adventure's Medusa named "The Riddler's Revenge". The next coaster is a reconstructed Arrow Shuttle Loop indoors called "Batman: The Escape", which features the Batcave as a queuing area. I also added a new restaurant, the Supervillain Café, an arcade themed to the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, and a Hall Of Justice Store, featuring character merchandise. It at least makes the area nicer than it was, and fixes the park's main problem.
Oh, and maybe have some actors dressed as the heroes and villains walking around. I never got why they don't do this; every kid wants to meet Batman!

Southwest Territory​

Like I said before, the Skycoaster would be moved here, and probably also given a western name to fit the theme. The other rides might also be renamed, but not Wild One. That coaster was a national treasure, and the name already sort of fits the theme.

Looney Tunes Movietown​

Why am I even talking about this area? It's just a little kiddie area. Well, there was some concept art for it's sign, and it honestly looked much better than the one that we actually got. The cleanest shot I have seen of it is on this amazing website called "Negative-G". I will post the link to where I saw it here (if you can't see it, it's on the second image).
Overall it was a decent little kiddie area, and was very well shaded.

Conclusion​

As you can see, this park just needed some love that it never really got. At least Firebird isn't there, but then again, Mind Eraser still is.
(For my British viewers, I'm sorry if you can't see the images because I used imgur. They were too large to put in Coasterforce, so I decided to use what I already knew how to use. Sorry about that.)