So, went to Six Flags New England Friday and were price gouged to death

[Jennicut]

$15 for parking! $9.99 for chicken strips and fries! $4.00 for a soda! $1 per locker to shove my purse in every time I wanted to ride a roller coaster. Yeah, the roller coasters rocked but it almost was not worth it. We did have some luck when a nice man offered us two tickets for $20 each because two people in his group had not shown up (they are usually $40 plus). Still, makes me rethink going there again. My husband could not believe it. Next time we will just stay in CT and go to Lake Compounce. At least the parking is a more reasonable $7.00, the food is cheaper and the drinks are free.

[Sugarcoated]

1. We did Six Flags in New Jersey

a birthday party for our son and three of his friends and my older daughter. The parking situation annoyed the hell out of me . . . for some bigger fee you could park in the close lot, so we had to hike a-ways because I wouldn't pay it. Then they made us dump all our waters. It was a very hot day so we hit the big gift shop conveniently located right when you walk in, and after purchasing a couple of sodas and waters, no lie, we spent close to $20! I don't do rides (makes me nauseous) so I end up doing a lot of waiting and sitting, well, guess what, almost no place to sit. I swore off the place and now I hear the one in Jersey's going under. Good riddance.

[PassingFair]

3. This water issue bugs the shit out of me.

My kids attended the "Warped Tour" concert
yesterday.

This year, they were allowed to bring "a" water
bottle, last year, our water was confiscated at
the gate.

The concert lasts from 10:00 to 8:00 and takes
place in a HOT parking lot. 25 or so bands, big
crowds...

My kids spent almost $30 JUST FOR WATER.

I think it should be illegal for these venues,
especially those created mainly for CHILDREN, to
charge outrageous amount of money for WATER.

Those kids could become really ill without it.

[JVS]

12. Are there drinking fountains?

I never needed to take water into the amusement park. They had big drinking fountains with 8 spouts placed throughout the park.

[PassingFair]

25. No.

Get this, my husband DONATED BLOOD, so that they
could get free water "privileges" , but the
"free water" was only in ONE SPOT of the HUGE
venue, and 4 people had to share the ration.

No fountains.

I think it's criminal.

Especially considering the crowd is
almost entirely tweens and teens.

[Jennicut]

5. All the Six Flags are all having problems because the main company over expanded.

I mean the rides were incredible. I love roller coasters even at 33. It was a lot of fun but it was crazy what they charge. It probably turns more people off and you lose more business that way. We hiked the distance because no way would we spend over $15 on parking.
The park also was so crassly inundated with major brands. No normal ice cream stands...had to be the more expensive Cold Stone Creamery. No regular pizza, Papa John's. No burger and fries places, had to be Jonny Rockets. And the lockers made us laugh. Wish I had left my purse back in the car. Luckily it was a bit rainy and cloudy and less people so no waits in line. Best part of the day if you are willing to put up with a bit of rain.

[MadBadger]

8. Coasters are damn good at Great Adventure

I think that definitely hurts your opinion of it that you dont do rides. Everything else that you described is the norm for most parks/sporting events, so it shouldnt come as a surprise.

[Odin2005]

2. The price of food and drink at the Fargo Street Fair is outrageous

I think I spent something like $14 for lunch; a gyro ($8), chips ($2), and pop ($4). Insane, but at least the gyro was really good!

[WCGreen]

4. There is nothing fair about those Fairs...

[Alexander]

6. I remember back when that Six Flags was called Riverside.

It was a lot more fun then, and cheaper. I also lived on the CT side.

And I'm not that old.

[Jennicut]

9. I remember when it was Riverside too. It changed when I got out of college

I think. It was great then too...we were always trying to get the courage up to ride the Cyclone. Now it looks small in comparison.

[Joe the Liberal]

7. Wow I just realized....

I've never been to Six Flags, but I went though something similar 2 weeks ago.

Except instead of Six Flags we went to the aquarium. Food was expensive, same with admission, parking was $7 (not too bad but still). Most of all though it just wasn't that great, it was way too short, they have the same animals and set up at the zoo. The only difference is that they have that tunnel you can walk through with some sharks swimming overhead. Not to mention that the place was way overcrowded, you could barely get a good look at any of the fish.

I normally wouldn't go to places like that though, there is always way too many people and you just can't enjoy it. The only place I actually enjoy going to is the zoo because I've loved that place since I was 5.

[alphafemale]

16. Is that the Atlanta Aquarium?

That's one of the places my bf and I are planning to visit on our week-long jaunt this fall.

[RubyDuby in GA]

19. ooohhh. Coming up to the A-T-L in the fall? Give us a heads up before your come

and we'll try to schedule a little get together for when you're here. :hi:

[alphafemale]

23. We'll probably be there Oct 1st maybe through part of the 2nd

Or we may hit ATL on the trip back. In which case we'll probably be there on Oct 6th

We live near the Hilton Head SC/Savannah GA area so ATL is not all that far away. The only thing we have hardwired on the schedule so far is a tour of Mammoth Cave. We signed up for a tour where you shimmy through spaces as low as 9" high and crawl up walls. I am really looking forward to that. That is on Sat the third and we have to be there for that at 10AM.

We are also thinking about maybe doing Stone Mountain. I think that's a damned cool place in spite of the way it was defaced with that carving.

Can you believe they want $40 bucks a night for tent camping...yes tent camping at Stone Mountain park? With just a little poking around I found a place that charges just $4 per person/night which is much more realistic. 40 bucks to sleep on some dirt?

I can go down the road and sleep indoors in a hotel and watch HBO all night for $40.

As an aside, what's somewhat funny as I'm planning out this trip is the number of campgrounds that advertise that they have Wi-Fi. Even at primitive sites.

You may have to haul your own drinking water...but you can check your email!

[Joe the Liberal]

24. No this is the one in Denver....

if you ever come here to Colorado I'd go to the zoo instead of the aquarium, more animals, same fish except for sharks and it's cheaper as well. It's bigger and they don't charge for parking, at least I'm pretty sure they don't, I haven't been there in a long time so things might have changed.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. We've done that one and the one in NY. As long as we think of it as the

North's DisneyWorld, the prices don't shock us much. (The Lake George one we stayed in the adjacent fancy schmancy hotel and had a terrific time. Cut costs by bringing our own food and eating in the room instead of going out. Got our money's worth at the indoor water park alone. The kids and I practically lived in there.)

[datasuspect]

11. well, you don't go to one of those places assuming yer gonna get off cheap

i remember when astroworld was open (and this was 10 or so years ago) a team of four of us went in and probably spent at least $350 between us.

this included post-operation stop at joes crabshack-esque restaurant in the area and lots of booze.

[Wapsie B]

13. Going to amusement parks like this makes me truly wish for

the unfettered free-market economy the righties talk about. There'd be true competition to these over-priced food vendors and the water would be free.

[musette_sf]

14. Lake Compounce!

my very first amusement park!


(too bad my parents weren't into Maynard Ferguson...)

[Jennicut]

17. LOL. Been going to it since the late 80's when I was a kid.

Good memories...its much bigger now. I live about 20 minutes away from it.

[musette_sf]

18. my first "big" roller coaster too

i was hooked



this is about my era

also used to go to Lake Quassapaug:

[Jennicut]

20. Been to Lake Quassy too, good for little ones.

Was it the Wildcat you rode? Its bumpy but fun.

[musette_sf]

21. if they haven't changed the name since 1960 or so

then that would be correct. it does sound familiar :-)

then i moved to Brooklyn and worked my way up from the Tornado to the Thunderbolt... but never got the guts to ride the Cyclone.

(interestingly enough, Coney Island roller coaster history indicates that the Thunderbolt was quite a wild ride... but my friends thought it to be inferior to the Cyclone.)

eventually rode the Texas Cyclone, which was the mirror image of the Coney Island Cyclone, at Astroworld. pretty cool.

[Jennicut]

26. It was built in 1927 so its probably the same one.

Astroworld was torn down in 2005 (because Six Flags could not afford to keep it open anymore :( )

Never been to Coney Island but it would not be far to go there. The Cyclone still runs.

[Deja Q]

15. Is that place ran by baseball players?

Those fees are exorbitant!

It's almost cheaper going to a baseball game...

[sasquatch]

22. That's what happens when you let Texans run something

[MajorChode]

29. When Texans ran Six Flags it was cheap and profitable

It hasn't been owned or operated by Texans in decades.

Edit:
The current CEO was born, raised, and lives about 250 miles away from where you live.

[sasquatch]

31. Which is still their fault for not running it anymore

[latebloomer]

27. Yup, my daughter recently went to the NJ Six Flags

Ordered her ticket on line and it was about $47, plus some 10 or 15 buck "convenience fee"- uh-huh. They did somehow smuggle in food and drink so that saved a bundle. What a ripoff.

[MajorChode]

28. The state fair was worse the last time I went

For 2 adults and 2 kids, $48 for admission, $10 for parking. The food is at least as expensive as Six Flags, if not more. You pay for each and every ride. It's $10 per head to ride the ferris wheel. So I was already in for well over $100 by the time we had ridden only one ride and before we had gotten anything to eat.

[jmm]

30. My job has it's company picnic there every year.

If it wasn't for that I wouldn't go any more. I was lucky that it rained the last couple of times I went because I didn't have to deal with any lines longer than 15 minutes. I love amusement parks but there is no way I'd pay full price so I can spend most of my day in line and spend $4 for water and $15 for Panda Express.