RollerColt

Maybe I'll run into ya next year! Can't wait for Cannonball!

I agree 100% with all of this. Exactly my feeling as well. Fun story about our experience at Disney: my wife planned ahead of time and bought our kids the light up wands that so many purchase inside the park. Fast forward to the evening before our first time visiting Magic Kingdom and we get the wands out only to realize the batteries had died... No problem, I think in my head... I'll just go buy more batteries at the Caribbean Beach Resort shop. But then I realized my mistake... I left my multi-tool (my daily carry that I almost always have with me) at home... uh oh... Now we don't have a screw driver to open the battery compartment lol... Needless to say I went to guest services with a very odd request: to borrow a Philips screwdriver to get the batteries out and buy new ones. The manager just so happened to be working that evening. He also happened to be a dad and knew exactly what dad life is all about: you're constantly replacing batteries of toys lol... "Say no more". Not only does he have his own multi-tool on hand, he replaces the batteries and then on top of that gives my kids two new wands! That's a type of magical experience you get with Disney World. Even the smallest of interactions just feel top notch. These people (for the most part) love their jobs and take intense pride in their work. Kings Island kills me with how bad it has become... and it's frustrating because we know it used to be better. You just have to look at Cincinnati Zoo to see that it isn't the new group of "youth" who are the problem. Every time we go to Cincy's zoo we see something extraordinary happening with the staff. They love their jobs, they take pride in their work. I saw a young janitor cleaning up by the tables in the elephant area, and while she was cleaning she was singing songs from Lion King while also drawing animals with her water sprayer! That little detail is not missed by me or a lot of families. That's what keeps us coming back to the zoo year after year.

Right? Hence why buying any type of pass from Six Flags just feels like a bad idea right now. How can they be trusted to keep their end of the deal? My family is seriously considering getting Holiday World passes instead for next year. I know we're 3 hours away, but I already attend French Lick every July for professional development and we've made it a tradition to stop by the park before heading back home lol. I feel like going even just a handful times of year is worth it.

I think Six Flags will fight until the bitter end. "Do not go gentle into that good night". They'll defiantly use this free over 65 campaign to inflate their attendance numbers. As such, as much as I selfishly want Kings Island to get out of this mess of a corporation, I doubt they'll sell. It'll be the smaller "non flagship" parks that get the axe. What we can look forward to in the future is probably more staffing cuts, and even less customer experiences and general park care.

If I could afford it that would be amazing. Maybe one day. In the meantime I’ll live through your Facebook adventures (and be jealous every time you get food from Buc-ees lol…)

It took my family 5 years of budgeting and saving to go to Disney. Unfortunately for my wallet, we enjoyed it so much that we're planning to go back again in the next few years. But I can't complain. In my house, experiences are valued over material possessions.

Yeah this is a very interesting and intriguing roller coaster they're going to be introducing. I like that it ties with the Kentucky Derby too. Little flavors and touches that are unique to the region are what makes these parks stand out compared to the generic slop Six Flags stamps on everything. I would rather eat a good burger from a mom and pop restaurant than McDonald's. Getting to feel the same way with amusement parks. I'd rather spend my money on tickets to unique places and experiences... not copy and pasted rides.

Well, the good news is there's a pretty sizeable amount of general guests who want something in Vortex plot . So... only a matter of time? lol... But yeah, if they focus on the small things and family orientated stuff like Holiday World does, they'll continue to be a great park!

Said it in the other thread. Could this be a sign they're preparing to start selling off a lot of parks? To me this is playing it safe by keeping AFO in the Six Flags portfolio...

I wonder if this decision is based off of a potential plan to start selling a lot of parks. Why relocate a ride like AFO to a park that may not be in the portfolio soon?

I would think if there was any truth to this, it would be all over the news. Media would be salivating to break this and pile on. I'm just not a fan of Reddit at all. Full of trolls, bots and liars. I used to go on there to ask serious questions about DIY stuff (house, auto, etc...) it was always met with snarky, stupid answers that did nothing to help. Never trust Reddit, my friend. It's a cesspool.

I am a sucker for anything with jalapeños lol…

Yep, just saw KI share it too. Adding seat belts to the rides.

While non-Six Flags B&M hyper models have been reopening, as far as I can tell the chain's are still closed indefinitely.

Look. You're right. Every situation and tragic event has certain circumstances. And yes, this particular restraint has, up until this month, been safe. As far as your particular example from 2004: That guest's body size was incompatible with the Intamin T-restraint AND the seat belt to start with. The guest had undisclosed cerebral palsy. They should have never even attempted to get on that ride in the first place. Intamin afterwards changed their restraints and used standardized seat belts that used fixed lengths on every seat to ensure proper clearance.

A follow up. 1) I am now convinced more than ever that the seatbelt would have at least kept him on the ride vehicle. Would it have saved his life? Too many variables. From witness accounts we know the restraint opened during the ride operation at some point after the first drop. We also know he was aware and was trying to keep the restraint down. Before the final hills he lost consciousness... Once a rider loses consciousness and has no control of their body it's too difficult to fully predict what would happen. But seatbelts need to be a must for rides. I don't care if it slows down operations. 2) The evaluation is still early, but it really feels like this was a mechanical failure due to a lack in maintenance. Yes, B&Ms are incredibly safe... but they aren't infallible. 20 years of being in operation... That's plenty of time for wear and tear.

Oh I should clarify I’ve since returned after Six Flags left. Yes, it’s leaps and bounds better. They’re operating within their scale and they’re focusing on families (that’s where the true money is made, not extreme rides in my opinion).

Yep. And now the Cedar Fair executive group is basically gone. I’ve always been biased against Six Flags. And that’s just my own personal reasons… every time I tried Kentucky Kingdom it was a horrible experience. It was a small snapshot, but from the ride maintenance, to the absolute poor customer service… I just never felt like this merger was ever going to be a good idea. Cedar Fair was taken for suckers.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/15/us/six-flags-injuries-invs There’s your nail in the coffin news report. Stick a fork in Six Flags the corporation, it’s done. This is the type of stuff that damages a reputation so badly there’s no coming back. Remember, not long after CNN released a damaging report on X2, the ride officially closed permanently.

Apparently they’re still reviewing and plan to make a decision in the next day or so for Candymonium.

I believe Candymonium is, not sure about Mako but I imagine pretty much all of them are closed at the moment.

Yeah Ryan the Ride Mechanic has a very good, well detailed preliminary video. It goes over the mechanic aspects of that particular restraint. There really is something strange about this entire situation. The fact that the restraint had a total failure and all of the fail-safes failed... just seems so shocking. With so many other parks and brands that use this particular hyper model, I don't think Six Flags can skirt away with this. They'll need to make public their findings. I guess we'll see just how much of a mechanical failure this tragedy was. If parks start reopening their rides this weekend we'll know something else happened. But if they stay closed for the rest of the season, then we know something indeed catastrophically failed with train itself. And then I keep going back to seatbelts...

Yep. And if / when they do, a lot of the lawsuits can go unpaid.

People will always be desperate to get money from others. They’re easily sold on hiring attorneys for the sake of attacking a large corporation and hoping for a quick settlement.

Funny you mentioned airplanes. My wife is absolutely terrified of them because naturally when an accident happens its major news. So we never, ever fly anywhere. It's always drive, no matter the distance. And yeah, from what I'm seeing the corporation is doing a pretty poor job of at least attempting to do damage control with all these news outlets. I think I saw that same ranking on Facebook that you're talking about... Wasn't it provided by a law firm that specializes in amusement park lawsuits? Makes me wonder if the end game is to just eliminate theme parks all together... of course there goes their job security!