It’s been awhile since we’ve delivered a park update up here at the wonderful Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. There’s been a lot of change taking place at the park to kick off the summer season, and in addition, The Joker has been opened… but not without technical issues. We’ve sure got an opinion on that so let’s get right into it.
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First off, the park has received two new buses, with pictures of both animals and attractions to reflect the parks duality. Always good to see additions to the fleet, as it can be a long walk to the parking lot on a hot day.
Some new flowers have been planted around the fountain and they look lovely. Also it’s nice with water in it, as it’s kept dry during the off season.
Also in the entrance plaza a portable stage is being set up, along with a few others around the park, for Grad Nite of course.
The stairs leading up to the back end of the park have been repainted with the same M&M pattern that was there previously.
In said back area of the park, Voodoo is closed again. No surprise there, this is becoming the Riptide of the north. Maybe it really is cursed with bad operations.
Thrilla Gorilla will be leaving the park. In all honestly ridership for this attraction is very low so no surprise there.
The ride was closed although it doesn’t appear any major work has been done. It will be replaced by a Seasonal Event Facility, as the park map states. Which could be anything from a Fright Fest maze to a picnic pavilion. We will have to see. 
While enjoying the company of the these beautiful Tigers, I was hearing a lot of guests going on about how unhappy these animals looked and how mistreated they were. Seriously, there are two Tigers in this massive habitat with terrain, water, shade, and grass just taking a nap on a hot day, I don’t really get it. It’s not ideal to have animals in captivity sure, but people forget that all animals at the park are either rescued or born in captivity, neither of which can be released into the wild, they wouldn’t survive. The employees at the park love these animals, we’ve seen it ourselves.The insane degradation of environment means there aren’t a lot of places left for gorgeous animals like this to go, and the park giving them that home to animals who need it is what makes Discovery Kingdom so special. In addition to which the park’s animal shows are mostly incredibly educational. 
The brand new JB’s Barbecue opened up to my delight, so I had to check it out. The food was quite good and boy oh boy, is the indoor seating appreciated or what? With this and Pacific Rim, the park is really making strides in that AC and shade department.
Unfortunately getting the food was a bit of a mission. Service was pretty poor, and it took a very long time for us to even being able to order the food. This however is to be expected for a new restaurant, and I’m sure things will improve with time.
Back over by The Joker (don’t worry we’ll get to that), a Street Fighter tent has been put up in classic Six Flags fashion.Oh well, there are worse things.
V2 is still closed, with the train off the track and being refurbished. Hopefully it will return peak crowds start arriving.
Tsunami Soaker has been rethemed to The Penguin! It’s cool to see such a underutilized DC character get his own ride. The ride received a new sign, a picture of the penguin, and the boats have been repainted, but otherwise not much other theming has been changed. The hope is that we will see more soon, such as the replacement of the seagulls with umbrellas.
At the same plaza, across from The Penguin, a new Toyota op has been created, a Toyota on Joker track that is!
Now, The Joker. This was my first time riding it, and before I get into some negatives, the coaster itself is breathtaking, a sentiment already echoed by Sean. Every element is not only intense and forceful but perfectly placed. It truly is another RMC masterpiece. That being said…
I was very disappointed with how this ride was being operated considering how much anticipation surrounds it. It was supposed to open to the public on the Sunday, but it never did. It opened briefly on Monday. While waiting for my first ride, they were running two trains with horrid dispatch times. I’m not exaggerating when I say trains were probably being dispatched every seven minutes. Yeah, not good. There weren’t enough attendants checking restraints, guest often put down there lap bars despite being instructed not to, and trains often had to be double checked. It eventually broke down for about half an hour and none of the guests in line were informed. Also not good. After about an hour and twenty minutes of waiting I enjoyed my first ride.
The Joker broke down and was closed for about two hours in the afternoon. As it happens they were having a lot of issues with the purple train which was subsequently put to rest on the transfer track. This meant one train operations for the rest of the day. Now dispatches were still very slow but honestly they probably did a little better with the one green train than both. Overall, my point in this is that the ride certainly still has some kinks to work out in its operations, don’t go to the park expecting a flawless experience.
Regardless, it’s a great coaster, get out there and ride it. Below are a bunch of links to our Joker related reviews and articles!
Thank you for checking out this Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Update! Make sure to also check out our Knott’s Berry Farm Update from the same day! As CCK’s Sean was on the first GhostRider train with guests!
AWESOMENESS: We went live with a bunch of cool The Joker articles, as the newest coaster in California has now opened to the public! Read our following detailed works:
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Check out the awesome Pulsar report on our European Coaster Kings site! 
What?! Thrilla Gorilla is leaving??? Damn, I actually like that ride. It’s such a cute theme and I would honestly prefer them remove Monkey Business instead as this one actually provides some good airtime and a shit ton of laterals. That said it was showing its age for a few months before it closed. I just wished they would have told us that it was closing so we could come get some rides on it, but given that it was probably decided mid maintenance that it wasn’t feasible or financially smart to keep around, I understand. However it will be missed and will always have a place in my heart for the best kiddy flat ride that still delivered a fun upsy downy spins aroundsy teen operated thrill ride for even an adult like myself. (It also wasn’t entirely popular so lines were never an issue)
Rest In Peace
Thrills Gorilla
1998-2016
Thrilla Gorilla is not leaving for sure there going to keep it open. you will se it will re open in the end of the summer or beginning of the fall.