Two new coasters in the works at Six Flags in New Jersey

The nebulousness that SFGAdv is releasing information about upcoming projects is incredibly frustrating. I know parks don't want to drop too much information about the future for fear guests will put off trips, but they've followed their last 2 press releases with pleas to purchase tickets/passes and attending opening weekend next week (including an exclusive pass member preview on Friday) expecting people to spend money in good faith that what SF is doing will be worth the cost of tickets/passes.

I'm sorry, but SF has not earned the benefit of the doubt here, and there's very little reason for them to keep so much of this information secretive. Again, it makes sense to drag out the announcement of what everyone knows is "Phantom Spire" since it's not opening until 2027, but if they're adding new attractions to the Boardwalk this year, they should at the very least let people know what's coming. The only reason I can think of to explain why they wouldn't provide details is that they don't even know what they're doing, and just decided a couple of weeks ago to relocate SFA rides to New Jersey and don't have trademarks secured (not that they couldn't use existing ride names) and have no idea when they're going to be able to get these new Boardwalk attractions open. In other words, it's typical SF planning and execution, and I will not be surprised if the attractions relocated from SFA and other improvements to the Boardwalk are not ready until after July 4th. This situation just reeks of incompetence at all levels.

@Russell- Get out of my head.
I feel the same way. At this point, the lack of clarity has gone from frustrating to just plain off-putting. The company has left me confused, and honestly, it’s starting to kill my interest altogether. It’s hard to justify spending money when there’s so little transparency about what’s actually being delivered.

I also haven’t seen anything that even resembles a halfway point of completion for the Boardwalk additions. Based on what’s visible (and Six Flags’ track record) late summer seems far more realistic than anything earlier. That lines up with the pattern we’ve seen before, where timelines slip, and projects open well after originally implied targets.

Right now, it just feels like more of the same from legacy Six Flags: unclear communication, slow progress, and expectations that don’t match reality. At this rate, expectations seem to be moving faster than construction.

The rumor mill says it's going to be Flying Carousel, French Quarter Flyers, Ragin' Cajun, and SteamWhirler making their way to SFGAdv as parts from all four rides have apparently been sighted at the park. This is by no means a groundbreaking, must visit addition, but it should help to replace attraction capacity that was lost by all the closures made a couple years ago. Something else worth noting is that for a company that is deferring many major attractions across the chain, SFGAdv is not only getting this project on short notice this year, but is also getting major capital projects three years in a row, which new Six Flags has said is not at all their standard procedure for investments.

As for why things are being rolled out in this manner, Ryan Eldredge did a couple interviews on podcasts recently where he basically said the project wasn't finalized until a couple weeks ago and they were still nailing down the details on everything before making a formal announcement. The whole thing is a multi-year project, so the plan was to unveil the first phase of the project around opening day of the season, then announce the 2027 coaster as phase two when this year's attractions debut in late spring/early summer.

I made a lot of my thoughts known on this boardwalk renovation in the other topic, but based off of the information on AJ's post above I'll add some of my thoughts.

1. I fully support re-doing the Boardwalk. Its something I have said for multiple decades that should be their first priority with this park.

2. I fully support the 3 flat rides going on the Boardwalk, although I absolutely hate the idea of Ragin Cajun going to SFGAdv for various reasons I have already explained.

3. I don't even care what the opening timeline is. For me it doesn't matter when these rides open, what matters to me is that it's done right. This is the New York/New Jersey/Philly market, which is by far the biggest market in the country. When they make new additions they should be a well-planned, well thought out, look really good, have good capacity/crowd flow, etc. These are additions/renovations that are going to be around for many years, so it should be done right.

4. And that's where it appears this is whole situation appears to be an epic fail. It's not fair to judge the end result of the project since it hasn't even been built yet, so hold my final opinions on that until its done.

...but I will say it doesn't look promising when they randomly announce (in the spring) that they are building new stuff for 2026, but still haven't announced what it is LITERALLY A WEEK BEFORE THE PARK OPENS. Kingda Ka, Chang, and the Parachutes were permanently closed well over a year ago. You knew SFA was closing the moment the merger happened. This stuff should have been planned out in advance, not rushed at the last minute in the spring and trying to have it open in the summer. What is happening just reeks of desperation to say they are doing something for 2026 on a prayer to spur pass sales for the second half of the season, but whatever they are doing they are going to be stuck with. Russell is almost 100% correct, this is not only the old classic Six Flags style management, this is somehow even worse.

5. The lack of any kind of long term strategic plan is insane. In 2025 they opened a shuttle coaster, in 2026 they are opening a spinning coaster, and in 2027 they are opening a spinning shuttle coaster. All three of which are too low capacity for the park.

I agree AJ that adding attractions from SFA is better than nothing, but the way they're going about this is all kinds of wrong. First, SFA announced that it was going to close at the end of the 2025 season nearly a year ago, so the attractions at that park were "up for grabs" for months and months. Now, I can kind of understand SF perhaps wanting to optimize their return for this sale and maybe had some delusion that they could get more value from selling the rides on the open market than paying to move, renovate and reuse attractions at other parks in the chain, but even then that decision could have been made be the end of 2025 when nobody came forward to offer credible bids on the rides. It's one thing to get caught with your pants down amid sudden events or changes, it's another when you've had your pants down for almost a year letting everyone look at your willy and then finally decide to cover up.

Not only are they doing this haphazard, reactionary move in such a random, non-sensical way, but they're trying to market this to guests like they're stupid. That's what frustrates me more than anything, and I really feel for Ryan Eldridge (SFGAdv and Dorney Park PR manager) having to try to spin this in the most positive way with only being allowed to release vague details yet being mandated to attempt to generate revenue from additions that are likely to go over like a lead balloon for most visitors. SF has stated that they want to emphasize development and improve performance at their big market parks, yet they continue to fumble along and then wonder why nobody shows up. Their parks have lost any goodwill they may have gained through modest improvement because they continue to treat their customers like morons hoping to sell a few dozen season passes. If the SFA attractions were really just green-lit to move to SFGAdv a couple of weeks ago, why not announce those as 2027 improvement to accompany "Phantom Spire", and then surprise guests if they can get the smaller attractions open midway through 2026?