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Six Flags Over Georgia Austell, Georgia Weather: Thunderstorms Crowds: Light to Moderate This trip was somewhat of a homecoming for me. Now, I think it’s pretty obvious I’m not from Georgia, but I did live in Atlanta (and surroundings) for seven years, and even got myself a driver’s license to make it official. I moved to California almost 2 years ago now, and this was my first visit since. It’s a very strange sensation going back to somewhere you used to live, both familiar and foreign at the same time. This was not the case at SFOG where little has changed, for better or worse. It was a hectic tour of the southeast, which also included stops in Charleston, SC and Athens, GA. We were headed down from UGA country early that morning and a quick stop downtown in Atlanta had us on our way to Austell by 10:15am, for the 10:30am opening. We had bought season passes earlier in the visit, and although the coupon book will be useless at my local Six Flags park in San Francisco, we were off to validate them. Nothing remarkable there, a pretty smooth process thanks mostly to a very short line. They have, however, changed one thing, and not for the better. In years past, you used to be able to enter the park directly through the season pass processing center. Now, for some unknown reason, the door is closed, and you are required to go back around the front of the park to the main entrance. Fine, it only costs an extra few minutes, but it’s the principle. It wouldn’t be a visit to Georgia in spring without a thunderstorm, and the weather was quick to oblige. It started sprinkling as soon as we walked into the park but gave us enough time to get up to Shake, Rattle, & Roll before the sky really opened up. This scrambler-in-the-dark is the only indoor ride in the front half of the park, and we fortunately realized that before most of the other guests did. We figured with its painfully slow loading procedures, there was a good chance the rain would be done by the time we exited. The ride itself was mildly entertaining. It’s a relatively intense scrambler, though the “special effects” do as much to annoy you as they do to enhance the experience. Blaring 50s music and using a mirror ball do not a theme make. The short ride cycle had us quickly back out into the rain. We worked our way eave-by-eave over to Goliath, as the thunder had subsided. What followed was an excruciating practice in Six Flags’ strange policies and poor customer service. Here at SFOG, they have the habit of not reopening coasters until the last drop of rain has fallen. Given the humidity and climate of Georgia, that can often be 30+ minutes after any reasonable person would say the rain has stopped. Nope. Have to wait. Can’t run the rides even with the slightest precipitation. What BS. Fine, parks have their policies, they have their reasons. I’m not on the operations team; they may have perfectly sound logic for this annoying policy. But to communicate this via the poorest customer service in the entire industry is just salt in the wound. The queue was closed, so a crowd started to gather at the entrance. Any park-goer who wants to wait around for an unopened ride clearly has that right, even with no guarantee that they will be able to ride. The amount that this annoyed the queue attendants was palpable as they scolded us repeatedly for waiting for a ride that wasn’t open. Their frustration with the situation was made very clear as they whined about having to stand around and “deal with” this otherwise orderly crowd. They were not only complaining to each other, but also to guests. One of the two remarked, “You guys are lucky, we have to be here all day, even after the park closes and you go home.” Unbelievable. The final straw came as Goliath began testing and these two attempted to communicate the loose articles policy. At first, they threatened everyone with not letting us in until everyone paid attention to them. This was a long line of a couple hundred people now, stretching 100+ feet away from the entrance. When they finally realized they weren’t going to get everyone’s attention despite the threat – they explained the locker policy to the first few people in the line, and told – TOLD - them to tell the people behind them and pass it on. It’s one thing to complain about your job when you actually do it. It’s also one thing to not enjoy it but keep it to yourself. For these two employees to so vocally disparage their employment and then perform their duties unprofessionally, incompletely, and frankly – rudely, is unacceptable. What really concerns me is this: SFOG is considered one of the better parks in the chain, and Goliath is their marquee attraction. If you can’t find two capable employees who are willing and able to appropriately interact with guests at the premier attraction of a “good” park, what can you expect from the rest of this organization? Anyone who has said that Six Flags will or has taken the appropriate steps to change their image is wrong. There is no two ways about it. This is their image, and it is a reputation that they have earned. With single train (a-hem) operation, the full station wait was about 15 minutes, plus the 30 minute ordeal outside the queue. Worth it for Goliath, no question – this is the only thing about the park I really miss. Top notch and deserving of its place in my top 10. We headed back to Gotham City, and with our 2-for-1 pretzel coupon, the $5.25 we spent was almost reasonable after the discount. Mindbender was running, a single train of course, so we hopped in the line. The queue was an adventure as a 3 inch deep puddle spanned the width of the entire walkway. Guests had to climb over the hand rails and walk through the shrubbery on either side of the path. So much for drainage. Whoever would have thought it may rain heavily in Georgia? We sat towards the back after the 20 minute wait, and were thrilled at how well this ride has been holding up. Not sure if it was a train rehab or what, but it was running as smoothly as it ever has. Batman was obviously next; again the single train operation made the station wait unnecessarily long. As usual, the last 2 rows (25% of the capacity) were blocked off for Flash Pass. Whoever was in the last open row would fill up the vacancies, assuming they were paying attention. What a kluge, there HAS to be a better/fairer/more efficient way to do this! Walking out of Gotham towards the other end of the park, it was easy to see the natural beauty of this park. The unique topography and abundant foliage make this a lovely park. Essentially, everything that Six Flags hasn’t touched is wonderful. Heading down the hill into “Lickskillet”, (a.k.a. poorly executed theme land #5) we saw the sad hole in the sky where Déjà Vu used to sit. Sure, most of the time it sat there closed, but there was always the excitement that at any moment you too might get to wait 2 hours for a ride. I’m of two minds about it; it certainly was a unique ride experience – but its problems were also unlike we’ve ever seen in a coaster. The best part was how Six Flags bought 3 of these untested prototypes, sight unseen. Only one of the three remains. Wheelie was up next, your park-model Schwarzkopf enterprise. A great ride, if a little lacking on the ride cycle length. It was just great to get on it; you don’t see many of these anymore. It was one of the first “thrill” rides I was able to overcome when I started going to parks. A quick game of Ninja-chicken (where you see who is willing to go further into the queue before bailing out) kept us entertained on the way to Scream Machine. Finally, a coaster running two trains! We found ourselves on the non-wheel seat in the last car, and were pleasantly surprised at how smooth the ride was. Smooth for GASM, mind you, but still an improvement over years past. Superman’s line didn’t seem too daunting, so we gave it a spin. Nice to get on the original, but after Tatsu this is barely worth the time. Sorry Superman, your best days are behind you. Completing the loop we worked our way towards the front and found and empty queue for Acrophobia. I had forgotten how insane this freefall is. You are completely exposed, and your only chance of survival is to trust your life to the Intamin restraints. Terrifying all around. Hoping Cyclone would be in as good of shape as GASM, we gave it a shot. Ugh, it’s a good thing I had had some Excedrin earlier in the day. Awful, essentially nothing fun about it. Supposedly the recent re-tracking efforts had improved it from its condition after I had left – but it was just as brutal as my last unpleasant experience on it. What happened with this coaster?? Finishing the loop we waited for the single train on Georgia Scorcher. Pretty fun, especially for a stand-up, but this coaster has lost so much of its appeal now that Goliath towers over it. We considered one last ride on that before we headed out, but we had just had enough of Six Flags, our spirits were broken. There you have it, another tale of some great rides and the awful SF crap you have to deal with to enjoy them. I wish that some day this will no longer be what people expect when they go to Six Flags, and that it will no longer be what they ultimately endure. Back to Trip Reports
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