Six Flags

3/23/2023 0 Comments

Six Flags America Unveils Plans for Regions Tallest Master Blaster Water Coaster at Hurricane Harbor Maryland

Park Undergoing Largest Capital Investment in a Decade

Bowie, MD — March 23, 2023 -- Six Flags America today announced its newest attraction --RipQurl Blaster — will launch this summer at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Maryland. This latest addition is part of the park’s largest capital investment in over a decade. RipQurl Blaster is an innovative water coaster, which takes riders in a raft for a white-knuckle ride through three powerful uphill rip currents while zig-zagging through 550 feet of twists and turns. The ride features three breathtaking drops, three AquaLucent hairpin turns, and a pitch-black wall-hugging helix finale before the final splashdown.

“We are excited to debut RipQurl Blaster, which will be both a thrilling and refreshing experience for guests visiting this summer,” said General Manager Ramar Vaughan. “This is just one of many investments we’re making to be the DMV’s most convenient and enjoyable out-of-home experience for the whole family.”

Six Flags America opens for the 2023 season just in time for Spring Break on April 1, with the park open daily through April 10. For a limited time, when guests purchase a Gold Pass they will receive a FREE upgrade to Platinum, which includes unlimited visits to Six Flags America & Hurricane Harbor Maryland all season, free parking and a variety of other perks and discounts.
To amp up the fun, Six Flags America is debuting Scream Break on select weekends in April – 1-2 & 8-9. When the sun goes down, stay late and experience this all-new, limited-capacity event that will bring vitamin scream to your Spring Break.

Upcoming 2023 Events

Viva La Fiesta will heat up the dance floor with a bigger, better party than ever before in Hurricane Harbor. Enjoy limited-time Latin tastes, big band sounds and colorful atmosphere all around you;
NEW! Pride Week is the perfect way to add your splash of color to the park. Enjoy photo ops & décor, plus special limited-capacity experiences for the whole family;
4th of July Fireworks Celebration brings three days of non-stop fun, capped off a giant fireworks display each night. There is no better way to celebrate the red, white & blue than at Six Flags America;
NEW! Thrill A Thon is the ultimate way enjoy all the thrills and get all the behind-the-scenes look at the park. Whether you consider yourself a coaster enthusiast or just love roller coasters and theme parks, you don’t want to miss this event;
NEW! Oktoberfest brings the German celebration to Maryland. Enjoy craft & seasonal brews complemented with a menu of German-inspired cuisine and live entertainment.
Kids Boo Fest is a daytime fall event that provides families with Halloween activities, kid-sized festive entertainment and other not-so-scary experiences. Back by popular demand, Kids Boo Fest will feature three new themed areas just for families, plus some activities that may even illuminate the night;

Fright Fest Fright Fest presented by SNICKERS®, the region’s scariest and best Halloween event, will be more immersive than ever with its largest investment in nearly a decade. The event will see park-wide enhancements, including two new haunts, new live entertainment and two new scare zones;

Veteran’s Weekend returns this November as Six Flags America honors all who served in the United States Armed Forces. Veterans, retired military and active duty personnel receive special park benefits & offers as a thank you for their service; and
Sensory Friendly Days will be on select days throughout the year. These days will be open to all guests and focused on reducing environmental triggers throughout the park. Features of these days will include the elimination of park audio. sound and music where possible, signage highlighting surprise sounds and experiences, free noise-canceling ear plugs upon request, and additional low sensory locations identified throughout the park.

Guest Enhancements Coming in 2023

Two updated park bathrooms – modernized, restored and refreshed with new paint and fixtures;
New shade structures in Looney Tunes Movie Town;
Restored fountain & kids splash area in Looney Tunes Movie Town;
New deck and enhanced seating areas at Heritage House Food Court;
More than 125 new umbrellas throughout the park;
Restored Capital Railways train with restored 1940’s locomotive, added car & expanded operating hours;
Refreshed and enhanced game opportunities throughout the park;
New strategic landscaping by themed areas;
New rest & recharge areas;
Premium coffee coming to Coffee & Cones;
New Guest Upgrades Center; and
More coming to Hurricane Harbor Maryland.

The popular Season Dining Pass is back! The dining program offers guests with any level Pass a convenient way to fuel up for their day. The Season Dining Pass allows up to two meals per visit with a 3-hour window between meals.

About Six Flags America
Six Flags America is home to a host of thrilling rides, shows and attractions, including nine heart-pounding roller coasters, a special section just for kids and rides for the whole family. Hurricane Harbor Maryland water park features a variety of water slides, a lazy river, three kid’s areas and an 800,000-gallon wave pool. Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor are recognized by IBCCES as a Certified Autism Center™.https://www.sixflags.com/america

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3/20/2023 0 Comments

Six Flags Magic Mountain: Opening Night Scream Break Review and Park Update

This past weekend we headed out to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the opening night of their all new Scream Break event. I'll be honest, we hadn't planned on going on opening weekend but they opened it up to a limited amount of passholders each night so we figured we'd go check it out. And we are glad we did!

I headed up with Gabe from Theme Park Duo to check out the event, but not before doing some update stuff first.

I also have some thoughts on how they can incorporate some of the amazing operational things they did for Scream Break into this years Fright Fest event. I outlined them in the video below, but if you "don't have time to watch a video" (actual comment from somebody who had been spending hours looking for info on the event) I'll share my thoughts here as well. You can see that at the bottom of this update.

Enjoy!

Looks like they're doing something out on the back parking lot. If I had to guess it's for some kind of commercial shoot in the parking lot. Something that has happened many, many times before.

Looks like they're also doing some work on some of the Hurricane Harbor slides.

It was AVID day, not the video editing thing, apparently for smart kids or something. Obviously not me. =)

Our first stop was to get our Event Wristband. Kind of a slow process, but it was the first night so hopefully they improve this a bit.

The glass shop has been moved up to Rapids Camp replacing some of the games. Still looks like it's getting set up, but this is not a terrible location for this.

Lots of little improvements like this going on throughout the park which is always nice to see.

We wanted tacos. They had no tacos.

Hmm, where have I seen this before?

Oh, that's where!! In New Jersey! We really do love you Six Flags. Don't ever change. =)

Alright, let's get into Scream Break. Which is like Spring Break but with Monsters!

The event officially opens at 9:00pm, but they open up the area with the two mazes and one of the scare zones at 8:00.

The idea is pretty much to keep you in this area from 8:00 to 9:00 so they can clear the park. A great idea, even if it wasn't totally clear to everybody. But it was the first night.

Be. Aggressive. B.E. Aggressive.

This area consists of 2 mazes, Vault 666 Initiation and Condemned House Party. One (Vault) was pretty much the same as Fright Fest, the other was SO much better.

We said this on social media, I mentioned it in the above video, but I'll say it again. They NEED to keep this party theme for Fright Fest!

It's basically a college house party in a haunted maze. And it's super fun!

Lots of talent and lots of photo ops in this area!

Even the demons are all decked out for Spring Break!

Make sure to take a drink from the huge Solo Cup!

The event also stretches back to DC Universe! Some Vampire Prom thing we think!

Superman has got some balls! Disco Balls that is!

Awesome DJ in front of DC Universe!

They also brought over some props and neon from the Scare Zone that's usually in The Underground.

Did we mention there were rides too? This was the wait for Twisted Colossus!

Goliath was scheduled to be open, but was not. We do think it opened last night though.

MORE OF THIS PLEASE! Not just for Halloween stuff, but all the time! It adds so much to the park at night.

Even the Golden Bear Theater got some lights and fog!

We had an absolutely fantastic time and we hope the word of mouth spreads for this fantastic event!

So, how would I incorporate operational changes from scream break to fright fest?

Anybody who's visited Fright Fest knows that at least on a Saturday night the event can get overwhelmingly busy with families and teenagers with no supervision. I'll be honest, I've never encountered any major problems at the event other than annoying people who seem hell-bent on ruining everybody else's time with the shenanigans. But I know the talent, blackouts and security have a tough go of it some nights.

With Scream Break, they kind of did what I think is a test for the future of Fright Fest. And it worked!!

There were essentially three categories of guests at the event.

Guests who paid $40 for a ticket for the event (definitely worth $40)
Guests who paid $160 for a Scream Break Pass (good for all 14 nights)
Guests with a Season Pass/Membership who got one of the wristbands, which are limited and available on a first-come, first serve basis (rumor is only about 1,000 of these are available each night)

Basically, if you want to go with your Pass/Membership you need to get there early, but we don't think were all gone the night we went.

And this is what they need to do with Fright Fest. You need to have those three groups, and limit the event to a smaller number while doing a "soft closure" of the park.

So how do they do this?

Offer the same three categories outlined above
- Guests with a Fright Fest ticket
- Sell a "Fright Fest Pass"
- Make wristbands available to a finite number of Season Passholders/Members each night
"Close" the park at 7:00pm each night for day guests
Keep those with a Fright Fest wristband in the Full Throttle maze area while they cycle the park to clear out day guests
- Offer Spirits with Spirits for an up-charge
Fright Fest is 8:00pm - Midnight (8:00pm - 1:00am on Saturday). 4-5 hours is probably enough including the 7:00 - 8:00 hour for the 3 mazes near Full Throttle.

Doing this gives you a smaller crowd, likely gives you more people buying a Fright Fest Ticket/Fright Fest pass than you have now, and makes the event that much more enjoyable.

In addition, as we've been saying for years, Fright Fest should have a similar footprint to what they had for Scream Break. Six Flags Magic Mountain is simply too big a park to have scare zones and monsters in every corner. It's just not possible to fill out your mazes and scare zones.

Fright Fest should be:

Full Throttle Nights
Backstage maze area:
- Vault 666 (gutted and all new Willoughby's Haunted Mansion)
  - Included is Innocence and the Willoughby's from the Samurai Summit Scare Zone
- Condemned House Party
- New Maze
Scare Zone on main path from Full Throttle to Goliath (Carnivhell not inside BBW)
City Under Siege
Metropolis Scare Zone (move Nightmares here)
Underground Scare Zone (move Devils Triangle here) and rethemed Aftermath

And THAT IS IT! 4 mazes is enough for the event.

So what do you think?

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1/23/2023

First Six Flags Magic Mountain Update of 2023

Over the weekend we headed up to Six Flags Magic Mountain for our first update from the park in quite awhile. Since Fright Fest actually.

Our visit was actually quite pleasant, it was a beautiful day, crowds were very low and everything we wanted to ride was open. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of offseason refurbishments going on, because there are. In addition, it does seem they're still having a few issues with Wonder Woman. It's been opening later in the day and has had a lot of downtime. We have every confidence they'll figure out these issues and the ride will be ready to go full time for Spring Break.

Let's head into the park and see what's new!

Still one of the most amazing park entrances.

I'm going to reach out to the park to see what all is a part of Tailgate Weekends. Stay tuned!

Still some Holiday in the Park lights and decor sprinkled throughout the park.

Goliath is closed for a refurbishment and rumored repaint. Nothing evident yet.

DC Universe continues to add little touches which is nice.

Some new hoodies in the store!

Lots of tables and shade have been added. The land really does need a food location, restroom and another flat ride. Hopefully that is coming.

The new facades have been completed and look great!

Definitely more "Metropolis" than Gotham or even basic DC Universe. Will be interesting to see if there is further integration with the other Metropolis area.

Teen Titans Turbo Spin is looking great! Maybe the 6th name for this attraction will stick. =)

Jet stream is also closed for refurbishment. No visible work going on but we'd LOVE to see some work on the flume and either new boats or a complete refurb of the fleet.

Something is going on behind the go-karts. I don't know if this is for the park or for the houses/shops behind the park.

Could possibly be a sound wall of some kind.

After suggesting this for years, they've finally moved the Six Flags bus to the "Bus Stop" in The Underground. It is perfect here!

Another look at Jet Stream, no visible work going on here.

Those who have followed our site know that I had a lot of issues with this advertisement in particular.

I'm proud to say it's finally gone!! I don't mind ads for the most part, but that one just rubbed me the wrong way. Glad to see this back to normal. And yes, the cracks and stuff are part of what we call "themeing". =)

X2 is also closed for a refurb. When I rode Viper I did see a train outside of the station, not sure if the other one was in the station, but there was some activity going on.

Chop Six (which I actually liked) has been converted to Primo's Pizzeria.

Some new Goliath and West Coast Racers shirts. I love both of these designs and the WCR in particular is much better than the "West Coast Customs" font shirts.

A couple of additional Goliath shirts to wrap up this update.