Lunch TR: 6/1/06

Today the plan was more to walk around and check out the place. Only a few dozen cars, unfortunately, in the rides-side lot, but lots of buses again.

I did sneak on Dominator, this time in the second row. It was pretty rough too, so I don't think my experience on Tuesday was an issue of seats. Again, it's in the turns where it hurts. Not an industrial-piercing-friendly ride. I'm kind of discouraged by this because I really like the ride, and I'm starting to think that it's not rough for any reason that the park can overcome.

Anyway, I'm still struck every time I come in the entrance how the park has atmosphere. The people, the music playing, the landscaping... it's just a really good first impression. What's weird is that the atmosphere is on and off throughout the park. Part of the reason for that is the ongoing transition, part of it is the haphazard way that Six Flags put stuff in (the park has zero "flow" to it). I guess another contributing factor is that the place is just so damn big. Seriously, when you look around, you really appreciate how much unused land and buildings they have on that property. It's huge.

There are at least two awkward areas still in transition. The first is the old water park area, which I thought would be history this year. The other place that's "weird" is the area behind the big slide tower where there are a handful of flat rides and the film and simulator. I also noticed there's a lot of land west of the new wave pool, which you can't really hide, but it's kind of a mess.

They're running an electric golf cart on the path behind the red house, which I assume on busy days is for grandparents, tired mothers and the like. That's a nice touch.

The new wave pool area is huge! I miss the old style mother-wave pools you could body surf on, but this one still puts up a nice wake. There were more lifeguards than there were people in the pool, and the procedure they follow to monitor the pool is insane. Safety is no accident though, so I'm not complaining.

I really think the water park is the gem of the park overall. I wonder how it handles capacity in the busy part of the year. Let's face it, there really is no other direct competition in the area anymore, and this place is like gold. I hope that attendance can justify some additional slides in the future.

Despite the small crowd, I was impressed that pretty much everything was running in terms of rides. That alone makes a huge difference from the old days, where you'd get half a park on a light day. Not many choices in terms of food, but it's mostly the same stuff everywhere anyway. They need to paint and/or clean up that 60's style joint. It's looking weathered.

All things considered, the park is looking better every year, and when you consider the bargain they scored when they bought it, there's little doubt that it'll be solid in the long run. They just need to figure out how to position it, and I think that's as the greatest water park in this part of the country. It's not there yet, but I think it's getting close (not that the local audience would know any better anyway).

The water park does well at handling crowds. It was more crowded than I had ever seen it on Memorial Day (observed). It actually looked like a water park should look, as opposed to the way you described the crowd today.

However, even with the water park doing well this past Monday, the ride side was walk on.