Not to get all environmentalist here, but a couple weeks ago I saw a really interesting video about solar panel road ways. The basic concept is that they'll energize themselves by collecting solar energy (to light up parking spots, passing lanes, etc.) and also collect enough energy to power other things such as homes or in Six Flags' case, theme parks. And the greatest thing about them is since they light up, you can change the configuration of them to fit the needs of the park better like for physics day they could add more bus parking.
....as cool as that looks it also sounds ridiculously expensive to tear up a roadway and then dig below it for tunnels with fiber optics and other cables. I do think it would be beneficial to Six Flags though, if they can implement the technology and show that it works the way they say it does it could change the industry and possibly go even further than that.
"I've been told that some part of every wish will be heard but lately I lost sight of the truth in those words."
On the topic of solar panels, from the recent earnings call:
Sure. Joel, as it relates to the solar field, we mentioned that we are leasing 100 acres in New Jersey. There are only a handful of our parks that have that type of excess land. We've talked about 1,100 acres in the past and that's really isolated to three locations, New Jersey, our park in Maryland and our St. Louis Park. So since a solar field requires so much land, we don't anticipate doing that in any of our other parks at this time.
I'm going to say a few more of my 2016 ideas that are semi "locked in":
-We've gotten a coaster every other year for the past 8 years. If Six Flags keeps it up, we're getting a new coaster. And by Six Flags logic, a Super Loop is all but possible. I think it'll be called Bourbon Street Fireball, and it'll go in RC's old spot. There are other places one can go, but I feel that's the most viable option.
-40 Seasons kind of confused a few guests(seasons vs. years). So a continuation of the 40 seasons to become 40th anniversary celebration, that'll probably work, but cause more confusion.
-Kind of like the previous point, I think some all-park upgrades could happen. Needed repaints of Eagle, Superman, and Whizzer, repaving paths, repainting buildings, etc. It'll be semi-expensive, but 2 "off-seasons" could help save up for something nice and juicy for 2017.
-Justice League Dark Ride will eventually come, as many have predicted, but where? SWAT is a big place, but out of them. Pictorium is viable, but I've heard that a rock is in the land. But with new 2015 tools, we might be able to at least cut it. Another place is the area between TDK, the train, and the service road from employee to guest parking lots. They could just retheme that section of Orleans Place to DC Plaza/Gotham City.
-A launched coaster. I don't care what type of launch it is, what manufacturer it is, just make a high thrill launch.
-A kid coaster to replace Sky Trail. Now that it's gone, you can really see how big that land is. It can fit a decent kid coaster there. It can snugly fit a Speedy Gonzales Hot Rod coaster, or even an SBF spinner there. It is a lot bigger than you'd expect.
-A Sky Screamer might happen, as the Deal with Fun Time is slowly fading. It can easily fit in Sky Trail's or RC's spot.
So on Friday I was at Six Flags on a field trip and we went to a presentation with the Director of Marketing (John something I think) and at the end he took so questions and someone in the audience asked what was going to be coming in 2016 and John said that the plan right now is to add something totally unique to the park, so my assumption would be that it'll be an interactive dark ride or a skyscreamer because that is unique to our park. He also told us that Goliath wasn't their original plan for 2014, as Hank, John, and others were taking RMC to originally look at options for American Eagle and happened to pass by Iron Wolf's old spot so I think they can build where American Eagle is