Official Buccaneer Battle/2009 Attraction Thread

[onyxhotel08]

MACK is boring, unoriginal, predictable and cheap looking.

[saylorman47]

i dont know if this was posted earlyer in the thread but on MACKs website they show a pirate themed splashbattle.

http://www.mack-rides.com/lang-en/c130/default.html

Its the 3rd picture down on the left, if the theming is like the pictures i think it will be a pretty good ride, theme wise. But i hope sf doesnt cheap out on the theming like the dk.

I think that I like the first layout first, and the themeing looked great, but the themeing also looked great on TDK, until they actually built it.

Wait, but if this thing actually turns for the better on the GP, SFGAm was the first to have it, just like Raging Bull, B:TR, I don;t know how this would help, but I always thought it was cool that we had B:TR first.

[FParker185]

onyxhotel08, I take it you deduced your "opinion" of Mack from a single wild mouse installation?

[onyxhotel08]

You can base your opinions on one thing/idea. I based mine on The Dark Knight and recent pics of MACK splash battle rides.

[demonbulleagle]

MACK Splash Battles actually look sort of fun, not like coaster fun, but still fun, I will go on it a few times maybe, depending on the line, I might even go on the day it opens, just to say that i did, and if it turns out to be a really good decision, I have that to go with it.

[guitarhero119]

water wise how are the logistics of this going to work? the flumes and rapid have their lake, and swf had its cracked pond. does anybody know if there is a big water source near there or will they be running water lines in the off season?

[demonbulleagle]

I think they will just expand the small amount of water that is over there already to have a pond.

[RagingBullFan]

water wise how are the logistics of this going to work? the flumes and rapid have their lake, and swf had its cracked pond. does anybody know if there is a big water source near there or will they be running water lines in the off season?

It will be fed via a 12" feeder line from the city water supply, same line the SWF pond was fed off of. The only water rides that do not run on city water are Loggers/Clipper.

[KyleK414]

i dont know if this was posted earlyer in the thread but on MACKs website they show a pirate themed splashbattle.

http://www.mack-rides.com/lang-en/c130/default.html

Its the 3rd picture down on the left, if the theming is like the pictures i think it will be a pretty good ride, theme wise. But i hope sf doesnt cheap out on the theming like the dk.

If this is what the ride is supposed to be like, it doesn't look too thrilling. Fun, maybe. But not thrilling. I'm still trying to hold judgment until I know exactly what ours will be like though. Although, I am starting to wonder why across SFI certain parks are being targeted as "family oriented," like ours truly, and others. Yet others just keep getting new coaster after new coaster, or major attraction. TDK doesn't count for obvious reasons. Neither does HH, though it's pretty cool that there is a waterpark closer to me than Noah's and others in the Dells. And I enjoyed it when I went. But it's NOT part of SFGAm the original. Like someone else said in this topic, this will have been the THIRD MACK ride added to the park in 5-6 years. Last B&M (2002) Superman UF, last Vekoma (2001) Vu and V2, last coaster and B&M before that, Bull (the last REAL coaster) in 1999! Add to that, the obvious you all know, something about rides removed...

Sorry that I am going a bit off topic here, but I am starting to get what a lot of others here are saying. It does seem like there is a trend within SFI, reguarding the placement of rides and what parks they go to. I mean, why would they sack SFGAm with the OUTDOOR Waterpark, and a Splash Battle ride, that can only be open from a - b seasonly, and y-z daily during the season? Yet at other parks that are in warm weather climates where said things could operate ALL year long, get the coasters, flats, and awesomeness, whatever that means lol. If it's because of the "height restriction," then that's understandable from SFI's standpoint. If it is because Gurnee doesn't approve new coasters that are brought to the village board, then that's a different story for a different day.

I got excited as hell about TDK, and was let down in a big way. It sucked! lol. I was excited about HH, but went once and that was pretty much it for me. If I go to another water park, it is going to be anywhere in the Dells. S:UF is great for a first ride, but not after going on any other coaster in the park, including Whizzer. I think Bull/V2/Vu rased the bar as far as future expectations for the park, and those haven't been met since. It's kind of a shame really, cause being a chain park, there are so many expectations, yet certain siblings get treated better than others.

[RemoveShapiro,NotVu]

Dude..you need to join the club and accept the reality that many of us understand...the park sucks now, you just need to enjoy the memories from the glory days.

[onyxhotel08]

The park doesn't suck the economy sucks. I don't know how much this splash battle ride will cost (500 dollars?!) but it is nowhere near what a new coaster would cost the Six Flags chain. This way, they can say that they made a good deal by giving us a new water ride and not putting the chain in more debt. I have come to accept that a new coaster will not happen until 2010/2011. Maybe even later. I hate that MM gets a new woodie next year when they have more than any other Six Flags park already and they could go a season, two or even three without a new ride. They don't get many flats announced just coasters. That's what pisses me off. Lately, we have been getting family oriented rides and attractions since 2004 and they can't stay away from the thrills. I know I know they added Thomas Town in 2008 but that wasn't promoted and talked about like the newly redesigned X2. They don't seem to follow the marketing and audience outreach that the other parks have been.

[demonbulleagle]

Vekoma (2001) Vu and V2,

V2 is an Intimin.

[Chitown]

Dude..you need to join the club and accept the reality that many of us understand...the park sucks now, you just need to enjoy the memories from the glory days.

And you need to accept reality that the glory days don't work anymore. Burke and co. screwed SF up, plain and simple.

As long as Shapiro is running the show, more family attractions will be added, and when, and only when, SF starts pulling in a profit, you will then start seeing the high thrill coasters start popping up again.

You can't keep investing in 10-20 million dollar rides when the business is in the tank.

If you wan't your high thrill coasters sooner, call up Intamin and B&M, and tell them to make their coasters cheaper.

I think this is a great addition. It's unique to the market and they are getting positive reviews from other parks that have put in these Splash Battles.

[jm2775]

When TTD was built, I NEEDED to go out there and ride it, and I live in Chicago. And it's been open for quite a while, and I still NEED to go ride it. And now Maverick opened, and I need to go even more.

Perhaps you misunderstand Six Flags (parent company) & Six Flags Great America's business models, they do not want any Six Flags to be a national destination. The whole point of Six Flags is to cater to the regional population. Cedar Point is more of a national destination because of where it is located, it must draw crowds to survive, it cannot rely on the population of Sandusky.

Six Flags Great America on the other hand can rely on the populations of both Milwaukee and Chicago, we're talking 2 major metropolitan areas with over 10 million people combined. Add in the fact that Great America has no real competition we should be glad that we are getting anything at all. Even if nothing was added people would still come, and Great America (unlike many other Six Flags parks) knows how to turn quite a tidy profit on it own.

^ GREAT POST! Most people on here whiners and want to cry about what we don't have/ aren't getting. Be happy with this great park we have close to us. Sure it doesn't have the biggest, newest, best rides, but it has some quality, enjoyable rides.

[demonbulleagle]

^ agreed, Take Demon, not really big, not really fast, but most can agree that is is still a fun ride!

[FParker185]

k, just wanted to clarify that.

As for our new splash battle, put me into the group who thinks it will be a great addition for SFGAm. It's a ride with an incredibly wide range of appeal, slow moving fun ride for the very old and young, interactive which appeals to most everyone, a competitive aspect to keep everyone else happy. And I'm thinking in the cooler months they can make it quite a bit drier if they want by turning off everything except for the guns, so you don't have someone from another boat activate a water bomb on another boat on a 40 degree day.

Another thing is anything made out of metal has a very finite life span, especially when it's submerged in water and/or constantly wet, SFGAm's flumes are 32 years old, they could just be looking towards the future here also. And if they do in fact make HH a separate gate, SFGAm needs more water ride capacity. Most GP don't differentiate between the 2 flumes, as a whole it basically counts as one water ride.

Mack makes some of the highest quality rides in the world from a mechanical standpoint, everything is made to extremely strict TUV standards regardless on what country it's being installed in. Themeing is completely in the hands of the customer. Wild Mouse is a portable coaster and is based on a nearly 70 year old tried and true design, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do, now if a park sticks it in a darkened box(completely negating the entire concept of a wild mouse) and gives it low quality and inconsistent themeing, it's not their fault. Every park model ride I've ridden from Mack are some of the best rides I've ridden. In fact EuroMir is in my top 10 and I'd love to see SF pick up a few of those, despite the enormous price tag. Also Mack is fanatical about capacity, most of their coasters run 5+ trains with well over 2,000 pph capacity in many cases.

[RBull4life]

Dude..you need to join the club and accept the reality that many of us understand...the park sucks now, you just need to enjoy the memories from the glory days.

And you need to accept reality that the glory days don't work anymore. Burke and co. screwed SF up, plain and simple.

As long as Shapiro is running the show, more family attractions will be added, and when, and only when, SF starts pulling in a profit, you will then start seeing the high thrill coasters start popping up again.

You can't keep investing in 10-20 million dollar rides when the business is in the tank.

If you wan't your high thrill coasters sooner, call up Intamin and B&M, and tell them to make their coasters cheaper.

I think this is a great addition. It's unique to the market and they are getting positive reviews from other parks that have put in these Splash Battles.

Bravo, Bravo. Simple, and to the point. Couldn't have said it better myself. It's nice to see that some people get it, though I knew you did all along Chitown.

[KyleK414]

I know guys, I'm relaxed now. I just needed to rant a li'l bit, and thank you to the person setting me straight on V2! We are one of the oldest parks in the chain, and I guess that's what gets to me. We do have a storied past and hopefully a bright future. I'm just not sure where that future is.

I think I wrote in another thread a while back that like a lot of things in life, the theme park industry is kind of cyclical. If you look at the park over the long run, it kind of has been that way. Trends come and go, coaster booms come and go. People like me in their late 20's, who went and go there for extreme thrills, are forming families of their own now too. So I guess a proper balance would be a welcomed addition. Mom and dad want to go on Bull, but Billy and Mandy can't. Mandy loves the Wiggles though, so she could spend a good amount of time at Wiggles World. And Billy, woah does he like him some pirates,so he'll want to ride BB, as well as mom and dad, and even Mandy cause she likes the water in the summer. An then they can all go on TDK too. The coaster lovers aren't really being shut out either, as there are still a ton of them to go on. Hell it's been years since I rode IW, but this summer there was no line, and I had head achingly fun on it.

So I'm pretty sure I'll be able to ride out the lows, till the highs start coming back. I hope to be riding coasters well into my later years so I don't worry that I'll miss out Grandpa Kyle on the newest hyper, twister, death dropping, inverted, looping, mega ton, shocking coaster haha. Till next post...

[demonbulleagle]

Amazing post, but not all of us are late 20s and starting a family soon.... well.... But some of us are just about Driving age and we want more thrills, I can understand putting in family rides, but STOP SPOILING MM AND GAdv. and just as a side note my friends joke that I am going to die of a Heart Attack because I rode Coasters well into my Golden years.

[Chitown]

^How are SFMM and SFGAdv being spoiled?

Since Shapiro took over, he hasn't added any high thrill coasters to those parks along with SFGAm.

The only park that has gotten a new high thrill coaster since Shapiro is SFSTl with Evil Knievel.

[CoasterCruiser]

I'm so comfused with this "Shapiro" thing. Who is he, and why doesnt he want coasters?

[cycamps]

^Mark Shapiro is the president and CEO of Six Flags. Coasters cost a lot of money, and right now that's what Six Flags DOESN'T have, so he hasn't been adding large scale coasters, in an effort to save money. Instead, hoping to draw in a family crowd, he's been putting in additions that appeal to families.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing this new ride in action. I'm not very fond of water rides, but it will be neat to see lots of other people having fun.

[CoasterCruiser]

I'm interested in how it will turn out too. I'm pretty sure it won't attract me at all, but I think it will be a great addition for families and I hope it attracts many guests. Hopefully in a few years, this waiting will pay off and we will get an amazing mega coaster

[onyxhotel08]

Families haven't had the best of time on Dark Knight and history should repeat itself next year. At least from what I've heard. Maybe my 2 year old nephew will go on it in a few years.

[viper1988]

Families haven't had the best of time on Dark Knight and history should repeat itself next year. At least from what I've heard. Maybe my 2 year old nephew will go on it in a few years.

Please stop talking like you know something that everyone else doesn't know. How do you know what families on average are thinking about The Dark Knight Coaster have you read the Six Flags Great America Guest Relations comments, have you seen the guest satisfaction scores for a season that is still not complete? I'm pretty sure you haven't so don't go off and make wide generalizations such as "families haven't had the best of time on it" just because you or your family didn't enjoy it doesn't mean that a majority did or didn't like it. Yes tdk was not a huge hit with many people but still doesn't negate the fact that it is still a fun ride especially for families that don't want or cant even reach the thrills of Raging Bull, Superman or Batman.