Six Flags theme parks re-theme rides for 2011

by Leigh Caldwell on

While theme parks around the world add more rides, more shows and more dining options for guests in 2011, there’s one thing you will find less of at Six Flags parks next year: character.

Six Flags plans to re-theme many of its rides in a cost-cutting measure.

Evel Knievel, Tony Hawk, Thomas the Tank Engine and The Wiggles are among the losers in the deal as Six Flags unravels some licensing agreements.

As the Los Angeles Times reports:

  • The Tony Hawk Big Spin ride at Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Six Flags Over Texas will be rethemed as the Big Spin, without the famous skateboarder’s name or likeness.
  • At Six Flags St. Louis, a wooden coaster named the Evil Knievel will renamed American Thunder.
  • Thomas the Tank Engine will disappear from Thomas Town kiddie lands at Six Flags America (which just opened its Thomas Town this June), Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Six Flags New England and Six Flags Over Georgia.
  • The Wiggles will no longer sing at the Wiggles World children’s areas at Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Great America, Great Escape, Six Flags New England and Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where five rides have already been stripped of the kid’s band theming.

Despite the re-themed rides, characters from the Looney Tunes, DC Comics and Hanna-Barbera will remain at the parks.

[Image credit: Flickr user bravo!]

Six Flags Great Escape to hold two-hour Sasquatch Ride-a-Thon

by Leigh Caldwell on

How strong is your stomach? That’s the question the folks at Six Flags The Great Escape seem to be asking with their special event this weekend, the Sasquatch “Beat the Beast” Ride-a-Thon.

The theme park in Lake George, New York, is promising a PlayStation 3 to the person who rides Sasquatch the most between 9 and 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 22.

You can register for the Sasquatch Ride-a-Thon on The Great Escape’s Facebook page or at the park’s main entrance on Saturday morning.

If more than a dozen people take the challenge, a lottery will determine the event’s 12 contestants.

The Great Escape says that those not chosen for the contest will still be granted early ride time on Sasquatch before the park opens for the day. And early risers will get a discount on admission Saturday, as well: Passes to the park will be sold for $19.99 until 9 a.m.

Sasquatch is a drop ride that shoots you up twin 19-story towers in 3 seconds, then drops you down the tower in a series of bounces. The ride debuted at The Great Escape in May 2009, after being relocated from the now-defunct Six Flags New Orleans.