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Thank you Bert for the invite!! This will be the first time I have gone to a theme park since my son was born without him, lol. However, he's an adult now and will have to deal with it. We were with Bert the only other time he was at the park and not only did we get rained out, we also went on a day open to school groups and had to deal with about a million middle and high schoolers that vastly outnumbered the adults in the park. Nobody wants that. Good reminder why I retired from my middle school teaching job as soon as I was eligible and now just work a couple days a week with elementary kids.

^ apparently it's super limited. I asked the Park Rep that was present at the auction what capacity is for the event, and was pretty surprised by the number (it's way less than you think - but not posting as not sure it's supposed to be shared). so I dunno how there's any way to do it without upsetting folks who don't get to purchase tix. It seems to me they are taking "exclusive" event at it's working, and meaning it.

They went on sale at 10am central. If you refreshed and submitted in the first 10-20 seconds, you got a code. Otherwise, you were informed it was sold out. Not sure there's any real solution to the demand. They already have it priced at $150. If they did a second weekend, I really don't think it would be any better. They've done waiting rooms and a lottery previously. Now it's just quickest and luckiest to get in, autocomplete the form, and submit. Plus, you didn't even have to buy them at this time, this year. You got a month or two (?) to actually log in and buy them. So anyone even thinking about it could have participated without risking any $$.

I've always enjoyed April visits though the weather can throw some curve balls. While not as bad as early April, I've seen some cold days in late April.

I visited on a Friday in late April 2023 and had great luck with crowds. I had purchased the TimeSaver anyway since it was my first visit and I wanted to ensure I could ride as much as possible, but in the end it wasn't super necessary. Of course LRod was closed and Big Bear was a couple weeks away from opening but I thought it was a wonderful time to visit. The weather was perfect too. Considering going in April again this year.

I'm no expert for Great America, only saying what I've witnessed the past two years. 2023 I was able to bang out a good chunk of rides but still missed Maxx Force, Viper, American Eagle, Demon, Batman, Flash, Superman, Dark Knight, etc. I skipped most of those, though, because they were carrying a 45+ minute wait all day and they're rides I've done plenty of times at other Six Flags parks, so no big deal. 2024 was more or less the same, but I prioritized Maxx Force, Viper, and American Eagle as they're unique to the park and I hadn't ridden them. I'm 2.5-3 hours south of the park. Even with a season pass both years I only went once each year. For context, I went to Great Adventure multiple times both years (we visit family in Jersey 3-5 times annually) and was able to make those shorter, half-day or less visits and I was still able to bang out nearly the entire park each time, including MULTIPLE laps on star attractions like Toro, Jersey Devil, and Ka. Great America I've spent the entire day at the park and hardly made a dent both times. Great America has potential and has a great lineup of coasters and flats, but operations have soured me to the park. I'd much rather drive the 2-ish hours to Six Flags St Louis and go buckwild there all day like I did last year. Mr. Freeze and The Boss are more than worth the trip alone and, hot take, are better rides than 90% of what Great America offers. Yeah, I said it. Goliath and, to a lesser extent, Maxx Force, are the only truly standout attractions at Great America. The other rides are plenty fun but kinda boilerplate since they have so many clones.

A lot of spring breaks are taking place April 7-11, so that will be the busiest week in April. Also, the Rod Run in Pigeon Forge is the 10th-12th, so that week is going to be extra-packed in town. The 2 weeks after that will be much lighter. You can check the Dollywood Crowd Calendar to get an idea of the best/worst days to visit. Looks like April 21, 23, or 25th would be your best days in April.

I hope it is open in late June when I visit. Alpen Fury looks awesome and is the perfect addition to this wonderful park! Also The Mighty Canadian Minebuster is being retracked and reprofiled by The Gravity Group with their new innovative track system. And on top of that a rumor is going around about Wild Beast (in the near future) being RMCed or bulldozed and a new RMC coaster would be built from the ground up!!!

I'm so excited! I'll be attending my very first Holliwood Nights this year (and my first proper trip to the park, since the only time prior I've gotten to go, the day got rained out and only got on two coasters and two flats). it had sold out in ~30 seconds, but was able to score a pair of tickets at a charity auction raising $$ for the National Roller Coaster Museum. looking forwards to it! edit: and since it was a pair of tix, I immediately invited Teacher Kim to come with. we're gonna have a blast, and I'll (of course) have a trip report up after.

All said and done, they're clearing out a truly incredible amount of land with these removals, most of which are around the Boardwalk section. Considering they've teased something huge for 2026 it makes me think they have something truly special coming that's going to be massive and sprawling. Or we'll just get the CGA scraps. That's probably it. Either way, I'm not crying over any of these removals. Green Lantern - Trash. Twister - Only ever runs on the trash program. The only time this ride was worth a look was when I ran it 22 years ago and changed the program to something that was, you know, thrilling. Instead it was just used as a weird ferris wheel with brakes. Dare Devil Dive - Upcharge trash. Cyborg - Trash squared. Kingda Ka - Always has been a one-trick pony, but recent years have seen it become an inhospitable one-trick pony that would love to give you Shaken Baby Syndrome as an adult. Bye, Felicia. Zumanjaro - Nice for a quiet stroll through the trees, the actual ride was shockingly ineffective as a drop tower, though. If you were lucky enough to be at height when Ka launched it got funky but honestly I'd take literally any other drop tower over this one. Any. Skyway - This has been unreliable for so long I actually forgot it existed between visits. No loss. Parachutes - The only removal I'm feeling a modicum of sadness about, and that's only because it's been there since before I was born and it was the first tall ride I ever had the chutzpah to go on. Now bring on whatever the future holds and hopefully we can dethrone Saudi Arabia.

Shellraiser has been closed for an entire year now. Let's charge 4X what Great Adventure charges for a pass.