Six Flags Discovery Kingdom — Attraction in Vallejo

--- TL: DR --- Save your money. The biggest issue with this park is operations. There were multiple issues throughout the night, but the flash pass upset me the most.

I paid $160 for two flash passes only to be able to use them on two rides with different experiences. One of those experiences was utterly unfair, not to mention at least four attractions where I saw other people enjoying them, but my guest and I could not.

How could I ever justify returning to the park or repurchasing this pass? If I were ever to consider returning to the park, Six Flags could start by offering me a refund for those passes.

On one positive note, the four attractions I enjoyed were fun, especially Medusa and Wonder Woman. 5 stars for both!

Visit: 10/29/2022 Event: Fright Fest Park Entrance: 4:26 pm Park Exit: 10:30 pm

--- Purchased --- 2 Fright Fest Tickets: $180.00 Parking: $40.00 2 Flash Passes Regular: $160.00 Food: $20.00 (not a big theme park diner)

--- Rides Taken --- before purchasing the Flash Pass SkyScreamer (50 min wait) Medusa (1hr 40 min wait)

--- Rides Taken --- with Flash Pass, purchased 5 hours before park closure Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth Boomerang Coast-to-Coast

--- Rides Closed Entire Day --- Batman The Ride The Flash Vertical Velocity Only one mentioned on the website Cobra

--- Rides Opened/Closed Multiple Times --- Joker Kong Superman

--- Flash Pass Review --- Unlikely that I will ever use this service again. As a Texan who’s had great experiences at the flagship park in Arlington, Texas, I expected better.

After purchasing the passes on my phone, a message at the top of the mobile page said I could use the pass until 11 pm. Not true. In practice, I would only get to use the pass for Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth and Boomerang Coast-to-Coast since I could not reserve for any others.

My reservation for the Joker was denied when we arrived at the line, as the attendant said the ride had just closed. This was after waiting the requisite 45 mins, showing the QR code, and more than 2 hours before the park closed.

To make matters worse, people were still in line and getting to ride! My guest and I were so disappointed, and this was my guest’s first time at any Six Flags park.

Superman Ultimate Flight kept opening and closing, but we were never able to use the pass on that coaster, even though I saw people riding it throughout the day! This was also true for Kong!

Do you know how infuriating it is to pay for something, not be able to use it fully, and see other people enjoying the attractions?

Sidewinder Safari was “Open” the entire time I was at the park, but every time I went to reserve the ride for me and my guest, I saw a grayed-out button that said, “Queue full” or something to that effect.

Batman The Ride was closed, The Flash Vertical Velocity, and Cobra the entire day, so those weren’t even options. With these three fully closed the whole day, it would have been nice to actually use the pass on the other attractions as advertised.

Also, there was inconsistency and favoritism when checking passes. At Boomerang, my pass was scanned and checked meticulously, but the same was not the case for all the other patrons in the line for that ride. At Wonder Woman, it wasn’t checked or scanned at all, and we were told we could cancel it once the attendant looked at my phone.

Full-on disappointment.

--- Fright Fest Review --- First and only, and never again.

Failure Fest is what they should call it. Do more, do better, or advertise it differently. Little kids, tweens, and teens were screaming and carrying on the most. That’s who it’s for.

I’m 33 and was not the least bit scared as I thought I would be. People following you around or lurking to jump out from behind a trash can or through fake fog/smoke is not fright. It’s a potential accident waiting to happen.

To put it bluntly, it wasn’t scary. When the park closed, my partner and I returned home and watched Barbarian (2022) on HBO Max. We were more scared by that. Excellent movie btw if...

Last time I visited this park (before this weekend) was like 2011, maybe 2013. So around 8th grade, maybe high school. Main notes:

1. Park looks very run down. Rides and decorations look weathered and worn. Multiple rides seemed to not be operating while we were there, and one had a huge line but wasn't running and someone informed us they were "looking for a bolt that fell off." I personally did not ride anymore rides after that. Actually only rode one, Sidewinder Safari, and the 45 minute line was not worth it. Cars are insanely cramped.

2. Food is overpriced, but that's obvious. But also, pretty much no options for people with allergens. I personally cannot have any egg or milk products, so I basically couldn't have anything except maybe french fries. Actually a family member with Celiac disease elected not to come with us, as there is absolutely nothing they could eat in the park, and Six Flags makes you jump through hoops to bring in what basically amounts to a snack.

3. Policies are unclear. Website made it sound like bags and purses are considered loose articles and not allowed into queue or on rides but waist packs were ok, save for a couple rides. So I bought a waist pack. Then we get there and basically, everyone was asked to take off their waist packs and put them in cubbies on the loading dock. Which is funny, because on their website the policy states you are not allowed to leave any personal items on the loading dock. So we were very surprised to be instructed to leave our bags in cubbies where anyone leaving the ride before us could grab them. Maybe I'm spoiled by Disney, but there every ride you are able to hold onto your bag, put it at your feet, or place it in a net on the seat in front of you. They also state on the website that attendants are not responsible for lost or stolen items. So they tell you before you come you can wear it on the ride, then you get there and they make you take it off, and if it gets stolen oh well, they don't care.

4. Appreciated that they have smoking areas. We mainly just ended up using the one near Monkey Business. Had benches but could definitely use more shade.

5. Not a lot of family rides. Again with Disney, but the thing I like there is that everyone can go on pretty much everything. However at Six Flags, it felt like everything was either a tiny baby ride, or a massive terrifying roller coaster. I think I went on Sidewinder Safari and Monkey Business and that was it.

6. The parking situation sucks. Paid for preferred parking, so we were a little closer, but still about a 0.63 mile walk just to get to the park. Like crossing active roadways.

7. Animals were great to see and I loved the butterfly habitat. But the fish area was seriously lacking from what I remember, there was almost no marine life. Just a couple sharks and small fish. The seal thing is empty now, penguins are empty.....there are a bunch of empty and closed storefronts and restaurants.....

All in all, $45/ticket x 3 tickets + $45 for parking = $180 just to walk in the door. I personally don't feel like it was worth it. And don't get me started on FastPass. I'm sure that's what was slowing down the ride lines, but that's insanely expensive too. And tiered, so unless you pay over $100/day per person to be at the top tier, what's the point? You're still not gonna be first in line.

Then you factor in the overpriced food costs, the cost of souvenirs.....

It's just not worth it considering how abandoned and dying the park feels. Things are run down or literally abandoned, it's not that clean.....

I don't know what (other than Disney) I would recommend, because there aren't that many theme parks in the general area, but this felt like a bit of a waste of money. I feel bad saying that because I still had a great time being with my family, but I absolutely would never return here.

Only reason it's not one star is because of the animals. I loved the butterflies, cheetahs, lions, and the fish that were there. Oh, and there was a bat and a...

In anticipation, I downloaded the Six Flags app, to check that our kids were tall enough for most of the rides. They were, just not the very fastest (such as The Joker).

Six Flags was avidly promoting special Spring Break entertainment. It was Easter break for our kids, and I checked that students in that area also had school break at that time. Supposedly many of them did, so we felt reassured that the park would be open on the day we wanted. (I spent alot of time calling numerous telephone numbers on their website, but could never reach a live person.)

On the way in, we noticed that many rides were not operating. The entrance was a chaotic mess of people haplessly milling around trying to figure out which line to be in.

We wanted general admission tickets, but we could see no such sign -- only something like "group" or "member". We stood in what we hoped would turn out to be the appropriate line. Finally approaching a table which appeared to be selling tickets, we attempted to first ask which rides weren't available. No one knew as they were supposedly not given that information.

Nevertheless, as we had come all that way and already paid $30 to park, we didn't want to disappoint the kids. As advertised, we used our specially-bought "classic" coke cans to get a $15 discount on the General Admission price of $70.99 (subsequently finding out that ANY COKE SUBSIDIARY DRINK PRODUCT is accepted).

We entered and started trying to figure out how to proceed. We wanted to make a plan as to which rides to try first. EXCEPT THAT THE MAJORITY OF RIDES WERE SHUT DOWN! We were running around bewildered, dashing here and there, not understanding what was going on. Of course ALL the shops, concession stands, and eateries were open, but none of the staff working were able to tell us.

As we were looking for someone who might actually have some information, a guy nicely dressed in a suit-and-tie came up to us, asking if we wanted to purchase tickets to Disneyland as part of some promotional deal that Six Flags was running. He helpfully told us that there was a board listing which rides were running, and gave us instructions to find it. We did, and took a pic of it (see attached) with our smartphones so we could refer to it as we attempted to figure out where to go.

But it turned out that list was unreliable and inaccurate! Rides listed as open, were not -- and rides not listed on it, were!! And of those, they were mainly for the tallest, leaving only a few allowable to our kids (and hardly any for the smallest children, as I heard a complaining father trying to explain to his group of youngsters).

We were subsequently informed that there were not enough workers -- mainly high school students! -- to staff the rides as they were all in school now -- and therefore that it was better to come on a weekend, and best in the summer. (Except the temperature is often in the 90s and there is little shade, especially standing in those long lines.)

Now we understand why we had not heard any of our friends mentioning this Six Flags, and why everyone took trips to SoCal...