GAcoaster

I hear you and I know I really want to eventually launch a Busch Gardens history website, and we would really like to eventually expand to have historic information for other Six Flags parks as well. If anyone has a passion for putting together historic information for other parks, I encourage you to put something together! I'd love to see every park eventually have a website on its history and I constantly find myself frustrated with the lack of historic detail about other parks. I don't know why I always expect that somebody else is as passionate about their home park as we are with ours. If you haven't seen them yet, there are a couple of other parks sites I enjoy: http://www.greatamericaparks.com/ https://www.tampapix.com/buschgardens10.htm I love that there are so many Disney history pages, just wish every theme park had one...

We had a lot of challenges over the summer with our migration to a new server (which was necessary). I write most of the text for the updates as well as having been the point person on the migration and upgrades that have occurred and unfortunately I have to work a full time job and a part time job (generally about 60 hours a week between the two), and I would LOVE to have more time to devote to GreatAdventureHistory making updates and new spotlights as well as updating my own website, but there just isn't enough time in the day for all that I want to do. Harry and I are lucky to have two great moderators on here to help us out with the day to day stuff here on the forums, and we are working on possibly bringing on new contributors to help with the pages and spotlights. We have SO MANY big plans of what we would like to see and do with the site (all the links that are still inactive on the home pages give hints about that) and hopefully now that the back-end stuff is out of the way we can continue to grow and expand the site with great new stuff. Part of the challenge is that we keep getting new stuff to update and expand the existing spotlights and pages so then it turns into the decision of update something that already exists or create something new. Thank you for your continued support and patience!

There are several of those dome buildings here in Orlando, and one that appears to be the same size as Showcase and is part of the Pirate's Dinner Theater was just destroyed by Irma:

I'm shocked to see so many parks removing log flumes like this. They still get long lines and are family favorites. And it's not like they're replacing them with new versions or other water rides. I guess the maintenance is costly, but at the same time there's nothing on these rides that should be too hard to replace. The pumps are standard equipment and the fiberglass troughs should be easy enough to repair. The only thing I can think is maybe the logs/boats are costly to replace when they wear out.

Having worked in Show Ops I can tell you the problem is MOST of GA's crowd won't sit through a show like this. You have people walking in and out throughout performances. The park absolutely should have entertainment, but it really needs to be things that you just "find" around the park where you can sit and watch or just catch part of as you pass by. Universal does a lot of this with small street shows around the park throughout the day. The idea of a sit down musical review like this is something that unless it done REALLY well doesn't play to theme park crowds anymore. I love these kind of shows when they are done well, but that takes money which most parks don't want to spend on entertainment anymore.

The problem is that Six Flags contracts out for the lockers rather than running them in house. The company that runs the lockers wants to make money so they charge. It's not unreasonable to ask you to put things in a locker or to charge you a dollar to do it. It's a fact of life for theme parks which are businesses, not charities. While I get that some people have zipper pockets they keep their stuff in, the park knows that many who use those are also the ones who pull the phone out on the ride.

All it takes is one person who doesn't follow the park policy to ruin t for everyone. In this case multiple people disobey the policy of no loose articles and bring things on and/or film on the rides and it has ruined it for everyone. Any time people complain about this I just have to remind them that those are the rules and the park is private property. Don't like it, stop going. I personally hate those policies. I have a camera that securely fits in my pocket. I am not taking it out while I'm on the ride. I also understand that the park's policy is there for a reason and I just throw my stuff in a locker or give it to someone else to hold while I ride. Because of policies like this I don't ride the rides where I have to empty my pockets as much because it's so annoying. I still remember the first parks to really get strict about this were the Busch parks and I remember many years ago being furious when I went to ride Montu and they wouldn't dispatch the ride because someone saw me put my camera in my pocket (I had taken pictures in the queue). They insisted that I had to leave the camera in the station or I couldn't ride (and it was a new, expensive camera!). I was pissed, but they had good reason because so many people kept taking photos on ride (it was pre-digital/cell phones, but people would still take pictures).

Pretty much everyone and everything is prepared as it can be for the storm. Many businesses are closed, but the tourist district is still going to serve the guests until things get bad. Our Wawa is open and doing HUGE business. Luckily it is one of the locations they determined is critical because of its central location (just off I-Drive across from SeaWorld and many hotels) and has been getting gas and other deliveries. Hopefully the storm continues to track to the west and loses more strength. It will still be a powerful storm when it hits just not as powerful.

I hope everyone is liking the new Forums/Galleries/Calendar as much as I am! I love that when you click the "Unread Content" button it shows you not only the new replies on the Forums, but new things posted to the Gallery as well as when something new is added to the calendar. It's great because you won;t miss something new being added anywhere. I also like that after you read something the thread goes away so you don't have to remember which one you just read without having to do a new search.

In a rare move all three of the Orlando theme parks announced they will be closing early in preparation for the Hurricane on Saturday evening and remain closed Sunday and Monday with plans to reopen on Tuesday. This looks like it's going to be a really bad one...

So, in case you haven't noticed, we finally got our Forums and Galleries updated!!! If you spot any issues, please let us know here...

Every time they say "Hurricane Harvey" on the news I swear I hear "Hurricane Harbor"

My hope is that this is a small, relatively small addition to free up capital for a "major" new attraction next year. Especially if the Meadowlands thing finally gets off the ground. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a later announcement of something for Hurricane Harbor.

I'm guessing they are re-locating the Picnic Grove entrance somewhere further down the pathway now since this looks like it's going right where the entrance has been for years.

https://youtu.be/lH4ThJn8HEk