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SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA
& White Water Atlanta
Six Flags Theme Parks
Atlanta, Georgia
 Park News - (7/25/2024) Cedar Fair management’s over the newly merged Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is showing some clear signs of change already. In addition to the dropping of the controversial purchase surcharge at the legacy Six Flags parks ($1.30 for every transaction) that angered so many Six Flags guests this year, the chain is now rolling out their first Cedar Fair style Chaperone Policies to two Six Flags parks: Six Flags America and Six Flags over Georgia.
The new policy goes into effect at these parks tomorrow, July 26th, 2024, where all guests age 15 and under must be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old in order to be admitted into and remain inside the park after 4:00pm. For larger groups, one Chaperone may accompany only 10 under-age guests and must remain with the party during entry, remain inside the park during the entire visit and be reachable by phone at all times. Anyone 15 and under found in the park without a designated chaperone will be ejected from the park.
After putting this program into effect at these two parks, I suspect that we will see it launched chain wide to all the legacy Six Flags parks between now between August and the start of Fright Fest season.
(7/1/2024) Six Flags over Georgia will host special fireworks displays on July 3 through 6th this year, with main viewing taking place at dusk in front of the Superman: Ultimate Flight roller coaster. If you’re looking for a more VIP experience, “grab a swimsuit and experience 4th of July as a VIP with a VIP Fireworks Party. Enjoy after-hours access to Hurricane Harbor Atlanta, an All-American buffet with classic summertime favorites, premium fireworks viewing, and a new fireworks spectacular featuring a special appearance from the Looney Tunes, the Funtime Drumline, live singing and dancing with the cast of Surfin’ USA followed up by the dazzling fireworks finale. ” You can find information about how to purchase this VIP experience at the official website.
(6/4/2024) I’ve got a quick correction regarding the status of Kid Flash at Six Flags over Georgia. Previously it was reported that the dueling coasters closed a few hours after the park opened, with many believing that it was down again long term. This is not true however, as it was confirmed to me that Kid Flash did reopen that same afternoon and we haven’t heard any further stories about issues since.
(6/2/2024) Time to play a little good news / bad news about Six Flags over Georgia’s Kid Flash racing coasters. The good news is that the park had reinstalled the lift motors and was seen to be testing both trains at once on Saturday. Even better news, I’ve also heard it was seen up and running for guests this morning (Sunday, June 2nd).
Bad News time… apparently it only ran for an hour or two before something broke again with the rebuilt lift hill, leaving one of the trains stuck on the lift and possibly closed for the rest of the day, if not longer.
And now the pause of the almost audible “Sigh” heard across the internet. 2024 has just not been a great year to open new roller coasters so far.
While I’m talking about opening new rides… new construction photos sent my way from the park for the Georgia Surfer ride show that the first big orange support columns for the new ride have now been installed. So officially vertical construction has begun at last. Now to see just how fast they will be in installing all the rest of the supports and track.
(4/22/2024) Screamscape sources tell us that Six Flags over Georgia brought on Greg Fuller to serve as the new General Manager for the park. Fuller’s last role in the industry was as the General Manager of the Anakeesta attraction in Gatlinburg, TN for the previous year, but before that he was also the GM of Six Flags White Water for 4.5 years and before that Director of Operations along with other roles at SFOG for much of his career between the the 1990’s and 2018, so he is well versed not only with the local market, but the park itself.
From what I can see David Zellner is still listed as the Park President of both Six Flags over Georgia and the White Water Atlanta water park on LinkedIn.
(3/3/2024) For whatever reason, SFOG has kicked off their 2024 with another rough start yesterday, on the park’s opening day of the 2024 season. You may recall that back in 2023 there were numerous reports about a series of fights breaking out all across the park on opening day, and as one fight was broken up, more would break out elsewhere in the park, sometimes involving some of the same people. While it is worth noting that similar events too place at several parks as they opened across the nation last year, apparently Six Flags over Georgia failed to make better preparations for it this season, and things took a turn for the worse.
According to the local news reports, things turned violent by the evening with a heavy police presence arriving on site, including a helicopter flying overhead. Once again fights within the park was the overall source of the problem, with a reported 500-600 people on site reported to be “running and fighting”. As the police presence in the park pushed the crowds out into the streets outside of the park, gunfire erupted. Atlanta’s FOX 5 reports that “an unknown number of suspects fired shots at the officers” on South Service Road, a public street outside of the park. A police officer returned fire, hitting one of the suspects who was taken in for medical treatment.
A statement from Six Flags over Georgia shows that they are obviously dismayed by the events that took place. “It is incredibly disappointing that our community is disrupted at public events throughout the region by groups of underaged youth. Just like other venues in the area, we are committed to keeping this type of trouble outside our park and off our property. There was police activity involving gunshots; we want to confirm there was no shooting at our property or parking lot. This took place on South Service Road that is not owned or operated by Six Flags. However, we join our community and the Atlanta region in our commitment to safety and security. We won’t put up with that type of activity here.”
2024 - Georgia Surfer / Intamin Ultra Surf - (7/11/2024) For everyone wanting to know the status of the Georgia Surfer, a construction video shot on June 30th was posted to YouTube this week. As we can see the track install is all complete, but only the basic framework is up the ride’s computer room, and the basic ground forms have been poured for the station area, but everywhere else, it looks like there is still a lot of landscaping to do along with the queue.
So really… the question is, are they going to have this thing ready to open before the “Summer” or daily operations start? Unfortunately, since the park stops daily operations on July 29th, before moving to a weekend only schedule, they’ve only got 2 and a half weeks to go. Given that they haven’t even put the train on for testing yet… I’m still guessing that it may be Fright Fest before Georgia Surfer is ready to open.
Keep in mind that when Aquaman construction ran late at Six Flags over Texas, they delayed the opening until the Spring the following year, so it is possible for that to happen again. The good news is that now that Six Flags has merged with Cedar Fair, this scenario may be less likely to happen.
On a side note, during a trip a couple of weeks ago I found myself at the Mall of America, home to Nickelodeon Universe, which is home to a first generation Intamin SurfRider called Avatar Airbender. The small shuttle coaster uses the same style train and spinning seat units that will be used on the Georgia Surfer, but in a smaller half-pipe configuration. While the ride looks small and simple, the ride experience is actually very thrilling, forceful, offering both fun and freaky moments during the ride cycle. In short, I loved it! Since the Georgia Surfer is sort of an expansion of the concept, featuring a bigger layout, I’m hoping that it will prove to be a popular hit with the park’s guests once they open it.
(6/14/2024) The construction pace at Six Flags over Georgia just picked up, as the majority of the track and supports for the new Georgia Surfer coaster have now been installed. As I mentioned before, there is a lot of work left to do, including testing and they still have to build the queue and station and support structures for the attractions, but things are looking up for the ride to potentially open before the end of Summer. You can see pictures posted to FB if you join the Unofficial Six Flags over Georgia Discussion Group page. (Unfortunately, the group is listed as private, and I’m unable to share the images directly here.)
(6/5/2024) Some pictures have been posted by the park of the Georgia Surfer install that you can see below. Since these were taken, supports for one of the end spikes have also gone up from what I’m told. While finally some rapid progress is great, there is still a lot left to do. So far there isn’t really any sign of pathways, a ride entrance, a queue, nor a station structure. Plus I haven’t see any photos of any kind of electronics shed building that would house the ride’s control computers as well as the equipment to power all the LSMs.
So like I said… still a long ways to go, but lets hope things can still try to come together quickly so we don’t have another new ride not open until Fright Fest or later.
(5/7/2024) So how are things going with the Georgia Surfer? Based on the video footage posted here, things are moving very slow. They have made some significant progress since the last time I saw footage of the site, as things are now only all cleared out, b ut lots of concrete has been poured for footers and the splash pool.
So the question is… will it be ready this summer? I have serious doubts. I mean, I can see it possibly being ready by August, and if was another Six Flags park, that might be good enough but the school season starts insanely early in Georgia. How early you ask? We’re talking August 1st! So while it will still be hot as hades in the ATL in August, staffing suddenly becomes an issue as attendance levels from the local market dive on the weekdays. So just as we saw with Aquaman at Six Flags over Texas, when the park realized they couldn’t open the ride before August, they opted to push it back to the next season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if SFOG opts to do the same at some point.
If the pace of construction picks up and a July opening looks possible, then you never know, but this is an Intamin prototype, so there will be testing… lots of testing.
(4/22/2024) For those wondering, the latest pictures of the Georgia Surfer construction site over at the Unofficial SFOG Facebook page still show a site that is almost entirely dirt, with a few holes here and there where it looks like concrete has been poured. Unfortunately sharing isn’t allowed if you aren’t in the group, so you’ll have to request to join to see the images posted here if you have not joined yet.
(3/11/2024) These pictures are actually from last weekend, send in by a reader who went to SFOG on opening day, but from the look of things, don’t count on seeing the new Georgia Surfer ride open anytime soon. Work crews are still just working on clearing out the site itself at this point. I don’t see any serious signs of actual installation or early install prep work at all on the site, which has been fairly accurately described as just being a ‘mud hole’ right now.
Unfortunately, I think we are likely looking at another late summer project, unless they can install it is something that can go up very quickly. Despite the concept art showing off an attraction set on a fairly level site, the actual construction site is anything but and there is going to be quite a bit of work to do here as they bring up the lower section of the site which will be where the splash-pool is.
(2/2/2024) Six Flags over Georgia has finally announced the name for their new 2024 ride, the Intamin Ultra Surf. As many suspected, the park went with the name, Georgia Surfer for the new first-of-its-kind ride from Intamin.
(10/11/2023) Six Flags over Georgia has narrowed their choices down to three possible names for their new 2024 Ultra Surf Coaster attraction. As submitted by guests, the top three final names to choose from are: “Aquaphobia”, “Georgia Surfer” and “Iron Splash: The Surf Coaster”.
Follow this link to cast your vote.
(8/20/2023) The guesses to the clues on that shipping crate were right on the money as Six Flags over Georgia announced to the fans at Coaster Fest that they were indeed adding an Intamin Ultra Surf coaster to the park on the location of the former Splash Water Falls. They haven’t released a theme or a name yet, but they did share all the technical details and seems to hint that they might be accepting suggestions to help them name it in the near future. While anything is possible of course, this is Six Flags, so I’m still thinking they might give it an Aquaman theme.
The experience is a mix between the old Intamin Half-Pipe style ride, featuring two sets of seats that spin on the giant board shaped shuttle vehicle, mixed with a layout very similar (just smaller is scale) to Mack’s Power Splash.
(8/9/2023) A new theory is going around online about the Six Flags over Georgia announcement. This one may sound like a bit of a stretch at first, but the concept does sound possible, especially given the rumored location where the former Splash Water Falls used to be.
While many have focused on the return address on the teaser crate being from Amusement Drive (which ironically is a road in the parking lot of Canada’s Wonderland) another person focused instead of the address… “44180”, which does not exist in Canada by the way.
So what might 44180 stand for? Maybe it is just a strange coincidence, but Intamin’s new Ultra Surf Coaster concept is actually 180 meters long, and 44 meters high. So what is the Ultra Surf and why should we care? Intamin’s Ultra Surf is actually their answer to Mack’s PowerSplash, which Six Flags just opened at Six Flags over Texas as Aquaman: Power Wave.
Screamscape had privately heard whispers that Six Flags had taken some issues regarding some downtime issues with Aquaman in Texas, and add in that the bigger PowerSplash is too large for the footprint of the former Splash Water Falls ride, but Intamin’s Ultra Surf may fit perfectly.
While this just may be an example of “rumoring gone wild”, the various stickers on the crate all represent the counties where Intamin currently has offices: USA, Germany, China, Japan and Switzerland. Give the official promo video below from Intamin that shows off the Surf Riders 2.0 and then ends with a look at the Ultra Surf to see it in action. Given the location between the DC Comics themed kiddie area that bridges over to the bigger Metropolis area with Justice League and Superman, another Aquaman theme could be very appropriate for the Ultra Surf if put here.
(8/6/2023) Just for clarification, the Six Flags over Georgia team has confirmed that the “big announcement” taking place during the park’s new Coaster Fest event will be to reveal “Something Big” that is coming to the park for next season. Those in attendance will be among the first to discovery what is in store for the 2024 season.
Other fun parts of the new Coaster Fest event will include Behind the Scenes Tours, Lift Hill Walks (additional fee), Exclusive Ride Times on Goliath, Batman, and Superman, as well as the chance to buy a Roller Coaster 5K booklet and ride 16,404ft of coaster track during the event for an exclusive prize. Visit the official website for all the details.
(8/5/2023) Six Flags over Georgia previously teased that the park would make some kind of announcement on August 19 and now we have a new hint. A large “Priority Mail” package has arrived near the entrance of the park’s Crystol Pistol theater, along with the message “Do Not Open Until August 19”, which will also be the day the park hosts the CoasterFest event.
The markings on the box are a little odd however, and there appear to be more on the sides that we can not see in the photo. What we can see is a strange emblem claiming a May 5, 2019 arrival from the USA, and another one claiming it departed from Tokyo, Japan on December 1st, 2022.
I don’t emblems are legit hints, or just chosen at random, as I can’t make any sense of them.
(7/1/2023) Six Flags over Georgia fans will notice some new construction taking place in the park. While the Splashwater Falls (aka: big splash boat ride) was removed from Six Flags over Georgia in 2018, the concrete splash-down pool and flume has remained in place for the past five years. While this was likely due to the costs involved the removal of the concrete, the arrival of the pandemic and the fact that some of the supports for the Dahlonega Mine Train are also embedded into this same concrete structure only served to complicate matters.
Posts to social media last week however show that demolition work to break up and remove this large blue concrete eyesore has now begun. Rumor has it that the park will have an announcement to make in the near future about a possible new-for-2024 project, and this could very well be the future location. The site is also interesting as it connects to the parks current Metropolis themed superhero area (home to the Superman coaster and Justice League dark ride) on the one side, and then connects to the kiddie-themed DC hero area on the other side of the footprint next to the Joker Funhouse Coaster.
Based on much older rumors that suggested that SFOG may have been planning to add a single-rail RMC roller coaster to the park, it is worth remember that the chain’s original version, Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas was designed to replace exactly this same style ride and fit into that sized footprint. Plus the Woman Woman theme has been working well at Six Flags’s Fiesta Texas and Magic Mountain theme parks for this style ride to date. With that in mind, it is quite possible we could be looking at another such project in the works.
2027 - Six Flags Entertainment will have the Option to purchase 100% Ownership of the Six Flags over Georgia property. For more details, click here.
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