Now I've seen it all ....

[domiii]

I was at Great Adventure Six Flags with the local High School on Friday. Talk about Disney Lite. Topiaries, the signage, the cleanliness (a shock), turkey legs AND Disney merchandise. Mickey, Tinker Bell, Chip and Dale, Thumper tee shirts. I was stopped dead in my tracks with this one. Not to mention Branches - a living bush and a living Statue garden. I know a former Disney employee (I do not know his name) is now COO of the Six Flags corp, but this was just too much for this DIS fan!

I cannot wait for my trip to WDW this November.

 

[The Sweetness]

I thought 6 flags used the Warner Bros characters??? (bugs bunny etc)

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

I gotta say, we go to Six Flags GA at least once every summer. After our trip to WDW in fall of '05, our trip last summer to NJ was a let down for me. DH wants to go Memorial Day weekend but I really don't. First off, $59 for adult tickets is highway robbery! Thank goodness for $32 tickets from AAA. AAA is worth it for that alone. Secondly, I don't like "death" coasters. The other rides that I do like are just missing the theme part of "theme park", IMHO. These parks are copying Walt's vision and it's just not the same. It's better than nothing if you can't get to WDW, but not by much. Am I becoming a DIS snob?!

To the OP - I thought the WB characters were Six Flags characters? I'm surprised they would let any other characters be seen in the parks. But then, nothing really surprises me anymore.

 

[domiii]

The Sweetness - They do!! There was plenty of merchandise with the Warner Bros characters, too. I forgot to mention the parade (pathetic as it was) with Super Heros and the Warner Bros characters, Bugs, Daffy, Tweety etc. I don't think they ever had parades before.

 

[kelleigh1]

Hubby and I went to Six Flags NJ last summer. I think the ticket price at the gate was $61. We have Buy 1, get 1 tickets or we wouldn't have gone.

We didn't see actual Disney character merchandise, but more like Disney Wanna-be characters. I don't think they can legally sell actual Disney merchandise, but they have some characters that you can certainly tell are meant to look like Disney.

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Hubby and I went to Six Flags NJ last summer. I think the ticket price at the gate was $61. We have Buy 1, get 1 tickets or we wouldn't have gone.

We didn't see actual Disney character merchandise, but more like Disney Wanna-be characters. I don't think they can legally sell actual Disney merchandise, but they have some characters that you can certainly tell are meant to look like Disney.

Why didn't you go to Six Flags over New England? Isn't that in MA? I've heard it's not as good as GA in NJ though. I remember going there when it was Riverside Park a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long time ago!

 

[mla1977]

I've not been to Six Flags New England yet, but grew up going to it when it was Riverside. I can't see how they could make it any good. There was no room to expand it at all.

 

[MrsPMC00]

Six Flags Great America in Chicago has a Wiggles area in the kids zone now....not sure what is happening!!!

 

[paintnolish]

Clean?!? I am shocked! The gurnee, IL one is always nasty. The last few times I went it was just too depressing. It made me miss the wonderfulness (not a real word) of WDW!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Maybe Disney is taking over Six Flags slowly? That would be cool - to have a Disney Park close enough for everyone to go to. Oh my. I better not go down that road....

 

[kelleigh1]

Why didn't you go to Six Flags over New England? Isn't that in MA? I've heard it's not as good as GA in NJ though. I remember going there when it was Riverside Park a waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long time ago!

Because we were on vacation in NJ. Hubby is originally from NJ and the IL's always rent a house "down the shore". We spent a week there last year and decided to head to Six Flags one day. Hubby used to go all the time as a kid and we've been to the one in MA a couple times, but we just don't really enjoy it all that much since we don't really do roller coasters anymore - ok, so I never really did them. But he used to.

 

[HallGirl]

Clean?!? I am shocked! The gurnee, IL one is always nasty. The last few times I went it was just too depressing. It made me miss the wonderfulness (not a real word) of WDW!

The one in Gurnee has been going downhill. They used to have really good shows. I never really paid attention to cleanliness, though, so I can't comment on that. The last time I went it was depressing. Part of it could be my going to Disney so often, but like I said before, it's going downhill. As far as the Disney-like merchandise, very interesting.

 

[Chuck65]

At Six Flags over Georgia last year, I saw some Disney merchandise for sell. I thought it was very odd to be selling Disney gear when the majority of the stuff you see is Warner Bros.

 

[disneyjunebug]

I'm taking a school group to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom on Wednesday. I'll let you know what they have from there.

 

[ransom]

We went the last two Saturdays to Six Flags Gurnee, IL. Although we live only a few minutes away, we haven't gone more than half a dozen times in the previous fifteen years. But this year, we decided to get season passes and use the park as training for walking around WDW.

So we went the last two Saturdays, and I have to say that versus last August, there is evidence that they're trying to be better than just a teen hangout/thrill park. The aforementioned Wiggles area for little kids, for instance. And they're slowly rolling out decent landscaping (although most of it looks burned out and half-dead right now).

Even with good landscaping and a more family-friendly atmosphere (if they ever really achieve that - the place is 90% teenagers, both customers and employees), they'll never be able to hold a candle to Disney because they have no sense of style.

We rode a dozen rides on Saturday, and by the last one, we were bored out of our minds. They have spinning rides and they have coasters, and not much else for adults. By the umpteenth of either, they all start seeming exactly the same. Partly that's due to the lack of variety, and partly it's because the theming is simplistic at best. There's just nothing to distinguish one ride from another, really.

I will give the Superman and Batman coasters a pass, though. Although Superman has minimal theming, riding a coaster in a lying-on-your-stomach position is novel enough to carry the ride for a while. Batman has slightly more than the bare level of theming, plus the track is decent.

But the rest are just a blur of sameness, for the most part.

And don't even get me started on the fact that not a single cast member smiled at me the whole day - even when I smiled at them and said "please" and "thank you." All I got was grunts in return.

I do hope Six Flags gets it together and transforms all their parks into more family-friendly, clean places. But they'll never be Disney. To do that, you need serious cash, and Six Flags just doesn't have it.

 

[mcraft17]

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom has Disney Merchandise as well. In fact they have a whole little stand/shop full of all disney things. My husband and I were joking about it. What was funny though when we went through the turnstiles I had a Mickey hat on and one of the workers said "You know it is illegal to wear Mickey here" then to see later on all this disney stuff made me laugh. This is our second year here and this year we bought season passes but the park isn't that great, we got it mostly for the water park. After living in Florida and having passes to Disney it is definitly diffrent!! But it gives us something to do.

 

[DreaminDisney]

I haven't been to Six Flags in Gurnee, IL since last July but I don't remember seeing any Disney merchandise. I agree with PP that it's unfortunately going downhill and the CM's don't seem happy at all My kids earn their free tickets through school (reading) and DH and I get 20.00 off each of our tickets by bringing the coke cans so our tickets are 35.00 each.

 

[thptrek]

Six Flags here in Houston is looking real good. It was torn down last year and the land is going to be developed into hotel/shopping.

In the last 10 years we only went there a couple of times. It just did not hold any thrill for us.

 

[domiii]

DH and DD have season passes. MIL gets them for Christmas. They LOVE coasters. I stopped getting an AP because I don't go on any of the rides. Seemed a waste for me to have a season pass to just sit and hold everyone's stuff.

I agree it will take a lot of $$ to get GA even remotely close to my beloved Disney. However, they are trying for that family atmosphere. If you are caught smoking outside of the designated areas, you are escorted out! DH witnessed it.

Don't get me started on the employees - 45 minutes on line for a lousy chicken sandwich! The service was awful.

Even with all the changes, I still don't do the rides, so it has no appeal to me. You just can't beat the whole Disney experience.

 

[Evil Princess]

Uh, I have never,ever seen Disney Merch at Great adventure, but I haven't been there yet this year.

Six Flags Great Adventure has always been one of my favorite Six Flags parks. It wasn't built as a SF, and it always seemed much cleaner and nicer to me than the other SF parks.

That being said, it is NOWHERE near up to Disney calibur, but for an amusement park, it is nice. I'm a coaster junkie, and thats where SF comes in.