Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[PKI Jizzman]

Had lots of fun at the park yesterday. Goliath was surprisingly gentle! It was a fun ride, very cool inversions. I rode in the very front seat, would have loved to have tried in the back but long long long lines prevented that. I'm weird and like Raging Bull the most, but Viper is also a great ride.

 

The log flume is one of my favorite flumes as well! And hey, check out Timothy OTooles across from the park.

[WallyWorldOrBust]

Sorry this is a bit off topic, but did anyone notice that the park re-themed the Cyber Cafe? I forgot the name but i was at the park yesterday and the building was painted mostly a green color and had a different name. They still have the same stuff that Cyber Cafe offered, but they re branded it.

 

I noticed this last Saturday when I was there. We didn't get anything to eat from the "Fresh Cafe" or whatever it's been renamed, but I noticed it.

[WallyWorldOrBust]

This is an unfortunate situation. The ride op was probably just trying to do his job right, but there should be some consistency between the rides. Don't know how 48" on one ride is not 48" on another. And then the crowd booing is terrible-unfortunately that's the type of crowd that Six Flags gets sometimes.

 

In other (maybe more lighthearted?) news, some guy is trying to sue SFGAm because he was stuck on Superman for 15 minutes:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/07/28/69871.htm

 

The excerpts from the claim that was filed are gold-"Superman: Ultimate Fight", "...became sick and disabled, and will continue to suffer great pain...". I was stuck on Superman for about 10-15 minutes last year in the brake run because of a protein spill ahead of us. It's not terribly uncomfortable, and we got exit passes for our troubles. I'd gladly trade 10-15 minutes suspended on Superman for an exit pass.

 

About Superman....a couple of times right before I've gotten on, the ride has lost power when the train comes in the loading station for about 15-20 minutes and the riders are still stuck in the horizontal position. What I've been told about when something like this happens is because of Vertical Velocity. An operator on Superman told us while we were waiting for the ride to resume was telling us Vertical Velocity is the ride that takes up the most power in the park because of the hydraulics needed to power the train up as quickly as it does. At a certain point during the day, because of Vertical Velocity using so much power, other rides in the park will start losing power. When it gets to Superman, then they know to shut Vertical Velocity down for an hour or so so the other rides can resume operation.

 

Which is why I say Great American could get rid of Vertical Velocity if this is a continuing problem.

[WallyWorldOrBust]

Wow. I didn't know that boarding passes had been going on THAT long. By the way, is line jumping THAT big of a problem that you need boarding passes at SFGAm and not other parks? And if you, for example, are just a little out of order, would they kick you out?

 

Oh yeah, line jumping IS a big problem at SFGAM. I can't tell you how many times over the last five or six years going there when I've seen really rude patrons pushing their way through on Raging Bull & Batman, and you knew darn well they weren't FlashPass holders. But they don't make a huge deal if they're a little out of order. They gave boarding passes on Goliath on Saturday, and gave my fiancee his before mine, but they took mine before his when we boarded.

[DanM64]

About Superman....a couple of times right before I've gotten on, the ride has lost power when the train comes in the loading station for about 15-20 minutes and the riders are still stuck in the horizontal position. What I've been told about when something like this happens is because of Vertical Velocity. An operator on Superman told us while we were waiting for the ride to resume was telling us Vertical Velocity is the ride that takes up the most power in the park because of the hydraulics needed to power the train up as quickly as it does. At a certain point during the day, because of Vertical Velocity using so much power, other rides in the park will start losing power. When it gets to Superman, then they know to shut Vertical Velocity down for an hour or so so the other rides can resume operation.

 

Which is why I say Great American could get rid of Vertical Velocity if this is a continuing problem.

Somebody fed you a line of Grade A crap!! V2 uses LIMSs anyway, not hydraulics. That's not how electricity works! One thing can't "suck power" away from everything else. Either it all works or it all blacks or browns out. If V2 really did effect Superman, they would BOTH go down. One can't just take electricity away from the other.

 

Now my thoughts on the Viper incident. I've lived in Chicagoland all my life and gone to the park as long as I can remember. Those of you who can't see how much worse the operations, customer service, and clientele in the park have gotten over the last few years then you aren't looking hard enough. The ads drive me nuts. Half of the ride operators are lazy. There are more and more of the ghetto/YOLO crowd attending the park than ever before.

 

Robb, I'm sorry what you experienced on your visit, but it's pretty typical IMO. Six Flags is going downhill quickly. This used tk be one of the better Six Flags parks, but I don't think that's true any longer. Hasn't been for the past couple years. The booing sounds typical, too, unfortunately. The cheap season passes plus Six Flags marketing the teen YOLO crowd has brought in a lot more riff raff than there used to be. It's sad, really. I don't even enjoy going to the park that much anymore. I guess that's why despite being only an hour away I still have yet to ride Goliath. I just don't look forward to going anymore.

[coreyb]

I'm looking at going to ride Goliath and a few other new-to-me coasters at SFGAm next week. Will there be much difference in line time on Thursday versus Friday? I'll probably be using single rider lines when I can. Weather looks like it might be better Friday, but if the lines will be longer.... Any advice?

[WallyWorldOrBust]

About Superman....a couple of times right before I've gotten on, the ride has lost power when the train comes in the loading station for about 15-20 minutes and the riders are still stuck in the horizontal position. What I've been told about when something like this happens is because of Vertical Velocity. An operator on Superman told us while we were waiting for the ride to resume was telling us Vertical Velocity is the ride that takes up the most power in the park because of the hydraulics needed to power the train up as quickly as it does. At a certain point during the day, because of Vertical Velocity using so much power, other rides in the park will start losing power. When it gets to Superman, then they know to shut Vertical Velocity down for an hour or so so the other rides can resume operation.

 

Which is why I say Great American could get rid of Vertical Velocity if this is a continuing problem.

Somebody fed you a line of Grade A crap!! V2 uses LIMSs anyway, not hydraulics. That's not how electricity works! One thing can't "suck power" away from everything else. Either it all works or it all blacks or browns out. If V2 really did effect Superman, they would BOTH go down. One can't just take electricity away from the other.

 

 

Well, gee, thanks for yelling at me about it.

[coastercrazy216]

I don't think he was yelling at you. He was just trying to explain it all. To be completely honest, you cant trust most of what operators say. I was at SFOT last Thursday, at the operator at NTAG was saying that the drop was 60 degrees. The operators know about as much about what is going on in the park as the GP does in most cases.

[DJeXeL]

The operators know about as much about what is going on in the park as the GP does in most cases.

 

Sometimes less!

[glouthan]

I'm looking at going to ride Goliath and a few other new-to-me coasters at SFGAm next week. Will there be much difference in line time on Thursday versus Friday? I'll probably be using single rider lines when I can. Weather looks like it might be better Friday, but if the lines will be longer.... Any advice?

 

First of all, welcome to the forums! I don't really think there will be a difference in lines from Thursday and Friday. (I went this Tuesday, and the lines were as long as it would be on a Saturday! Yikes! - proves that the lines are consistent no matter what day it is.) The single ride line is open depending on if the ride operators want it open - it's their decision. Anyways, have a good time at the park and on Goliath! You're in for a treat!

[DanM64]

I don't think he was yelling at you. He was just trying to explain it all. To be completely honest, you cant trust most of what operators say. I was at SFOT last Thursday, at the operator at NTAG was saying that the drop was 60 degrees. The operators know about as much about what is going on in the park as the GP does in most cases.

Correct. Sorry if I came off as rude, that wasn't my intention. Ride operators are generally teenagers most of whom don't know any more than we do. Most of what they say is untrue, I'd take it worth a grain of salt, especially a rumor as far fetched as this one. Superman is 11 years old, V2 is 13. Do you really think they would leave the problem that long without doing upgrades to the park's electrical system if that rumor were true? Granted it is Six Flags, but even they wouldn't be that dumb!

[coreyb]

I'm looking at going to ride Goliath and a few other new-to-me coasters at SFGAm next week. Will there be much difference in line time on Thursday versus Friday? I'll probably be using single rider lines when I can. Weather looks like it might be better Friday, but if the lines will be longer.... Any advice?

 

First of all, welcome to the forums! I don't really think there will be a difference in lines from Thursday and Friday. (I went this Tuesday, and the lines were as long as it would be on a Saturday! Yikes! - proves that the lines are consistent no matter what day it is.) The single ride line is open depending on if the ride operators want it open - it's their decision. Anyways, have a good time at the park and on Goliath! You're in for a treat!

 

I've been reading and lurking for a bit - finally had something that might be interesting to ask.

 

Thanks for the insights! I guess I'll be flexible and not worry about the day of the week.

I haven't been to SFGAm since 1997 - my parents planned trips around parks and coasters, but my wife is scared of most them. My daughter finally is starting to come around after visiting Disney last winter, so we're enjoying the videos. But she's still too small for most of them, so I'm stuck soloing for a while. First new ride next week will be my 50th credit - Goliath would be a great one for that, eh?

[glouthan]

^Goliath will definitely be a great coaster for your 50th. Definitely try both the back and the front rows if you have time, because the both offer completely different experiences. Also, a night ride of Goliath in the front row is very fun!

[beenagins87]

I'm looking at going to ride Goliath and a few other new-to-me coasters at SFGAm next week. Will there be much difference in line time on Thursday versus Friday? I'll probably be using single rider lines when I can. Weather looks like it might be better Friday, but if the lines will be longer.... Any advice?

 

If you can afford it Platinum Flash Pass is the best $110 you'll ever spend, You get 2 rides on Goliath, and pretty much walk up to the station on all others. We went on a Monday two weeks ago, there was pretty much hour wait on everything except Goliath [2 Hours] and we got almost 60 rides in all day. The only downside is American Eagle isn't on Flash Pass for some reason, we didn't ride it that day, but we rode it the day before at about 7 & 8 and only waited about 20 minutes both time.

[GayCoasterGuy]

I've lived in Chicagoland all my life and gone to the park as long as I can remember. Those of you who can't see how much worse the operations, customer service, and clientele in the park have gotten over the last few years then you aren't looking hard enough.

 

Unfortunately, that's my experience as well. I have a vivid memory of a ride operator helping my mom find change she lost on the Industrial Revolution (an uncovered himalaya ride that sat directly next to Demon's lift. It was white with red padding ) in 1980. She was going out of her way to be helpful and friendly. What I experienced at Great America in 1980 I can still enjoy if I go to places like Holiday World, Knoebels, even Cedar Point still has a stellar operation.

 

I see so much stuff at the park now where my jaw just drops. After working 3 summers at Cedar Point in the early 90s and one summer at SFOT as an intern... well, it's just hard to believe. The issue is not only with the clientele and employees - I think it goes much deeper than that. There is a very low level of expectation; a whole lot of customer service and general operation/organization *stuff* is completely missing. It's gone; not a part of training or anything. I'll occasionally see an employee do something that requires thought, or make an attempt to do a good job - or go out of his/her way. It must be frustrating trying so hard to do a good job with all that around you.

 

When I see an employee doing a great job or going "above and beyond," I always stop in guest relations to fill out a compliment.

 

There are more and more of the ghetto/YOLO crowd attending the park than ever before.

 

That seemed to get heavy after Batman came in. Did I publicly act-out that annoyingly when I was a kid/teen/20-something? I sure hope not. I was nuts and wild, but I still had respect for other people. A couple years ago, we saw a kid nodded out on dope in the Raging Bull test seat; his friends thought it was funny to leave him there. A few weeks ago a friend and I saw this loud ghetto mom swearing obscenities in the Raging Bull station. Some guy apparently touched her 11 year old inappropriately; the kid was now in tears. You could tell she was crying out of fear after her mom started screaming obscenities and demanding security. Could it get better? Yup. The accused guy (probably teen/early 20s) had a friend with him that kept slapping him in the face, telling him to "shut the f*ck up!" We couldn't get out of there fast enough.

 

Six Flags has asked for this. They have found how to turn a very quick profit at the cost of integrity and service. I was at the park a couple weeks ago and I saw crews moving very quickly - at 9pm at night. The Goliath crew was especially hustling; there were 4 ops checking restraints. I dunno if there is some sort of operational improvement initiative or what, but I hope it lasts. I *love* my home park, but it's hard to go sometimes. It's such a relief to go to places like Holiday World where you are treated with respect and also a respect for your time/money.

[glouthan]

^The Goliath crew was probably only hustling, because that means they get to go home earlier. I saw that same thing happen a few weeks ago, and in the morning/afternoon they were moving at a snail's pace, but when it depended on them getting home earlier, they moved faster. I also hope the park can really turn around, as my last few visits were just obnoxious. Sometimes the people in line can be really annoying! And all of the adds . . . those just really get to me as well - especially when the park only chooses the most annoying of adds like these:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkCJf7AOhtw

 

*sigh*

[Woodie Warrior]

Yeah, that Pistachio commercial got pretty annoying. However, that M&M commercial is amazing. I'm not gonna lie.

[glouthan]

I don't know, I still find them both annoying and cheesy.

[batmanfan80]

Well I went over there today figuring the crowds might be an improvement over the weekend. Nope. This was insanity. A lot less riff raff than usual, maybe due to a lack of buses(15 instead of 50), but it was just a zoo with kids running wild everywhere. But the bigger issue is the flash pass. I have never seen so many platinum pass wrist bands on people in my life, even just walking around. X Flight had about 60 or so flash passers by the time we got inside. Then the flash pass worker decided to let an avalanche of about 40 more flash passers climb the right side stairs(this is a new thing, flash passers never got to go past everyone on the stairs before). This in effect more than doubled my wait time. The line was initially back to the last part of the queue. Without flash passers it's about a 35 min wait. So we get to the top of the stairs...finally. Then guess what, platinum flash passers re-riding. And not just one group. No, we end up with two groups of plat flash passers in front of us in row 4.

 

Same thing happens on Bull, only we end up waiting close to 90 min(and the line was way overflowed after 9:15ish pm). We entered maybe 7:45. It's like they dumped every middle school, high school, and college kid here and had their parents buy 25% of them flash passes. When we used to buy flash passes, I'd see a wall of IDs, but I'd never see other flash passers. When we didn't get flash passes two years ago, we'd still rarely see a flash passer. We go to cedar point and the only time we get ambushed by flash passers is when all the rides but corkscrew closed due to wind a couple years ago.

 

Viper seems to be running better operations wise, I didn't observe the bad behavior mentioned here. So maybe Mr Alvey is having a positive effect. Something is off with this place if a lot of us are fed up. I don't care to go back if now I have to have my wait times increased 40-70% because Six Flags feels a need to sell way too many flash passes. Skipping the line and re-riding should cost a lot more than $110. I'll go the first weekend of Fright Fest and anything else will be touch and go. I don't need to drive 50 some miles to experience the lowest common denominator business model. If there's a unifying theme to Great America, that's it. They could just call the whole park "Lowest common denominator land" and do away with the themed area names.

 

Never heard the term YOLO before, but from what I'm looking up now, a lot of the crowd there do act in a way that seems consistent with YOLO lifestyle. There was just a lot less of those types today.

 

Eagle red was closed around 9. Blue has been trimmed to death. 3x plus some kinda midcourse break thing that make the ride kinda tame after the side to side smashing helix. It reminds me of the anticlimactic feeling on pretzelman With the red side closed this turned a walk up into like a half hour wait. Blue side was plenty comfortable now aside from a little brain scrambling in the helix. Red has more to it and is more exciting without being much more violent.

 

From the train I saw that Demon's line was almost totally full around 5. Eagle's line was not even using the last staircase before you enter the fencing. Whizzer's line was overflowing. Bull's line was overflowing basically the whole time we were there aside from when we entered at 8. They were giving out ride tickets too. It was almost full at 8. Some people I talked to, moms with kids mainly, avoided Goliath due to the line. And these people were not happy about the flash passers either. Eventually everyone clogged the stairs so the flash passers were stuck in the middle. I imagine people will revolt in other ways too. Then the plat passers would upset the regular passers when they'd re-ride.

 

Roaring Rapids looked to have a healthy line from the railway. Bull was running 3 trains. They need to fix that bathroom in JB's. It's basically on par with the SAW bathroom. But at least it has hot water, unlike every other bathroom there. Is that a health violation? One of the Thai workers there almost ran me over he was running around so fast. The majority of these foreign workers have been pretty cool so far aside from that. Last year I don't recall seeing any plat flash passers at all, unless I forgot one or two. Two years ago I saw one guy on Pretzelman during Fright Fest.

 

Guess the new Great America business plan is to attract as many trashy people as possible, hire the cheapest labor from both here and abroad without training them adequately, and sell hundreds, if not thousands of flash passes. I'd gladly take ads everywhere if it would mean less flash passers and increased quality of operations. If this is gonna be the new norm, I'll just save the $400 something we spent on all the season passes and the hundreds spent on tolls, gas, refills, etc, and use it so spend a week in Tampa or Valencia.

[beenagins87]

Well I went over there today figuring the crowds might be an improvement over the weekend. Nope. This was insanity. A lot less riff raff than usual, maybe due to a lack of buses(15 instead of 50), but it was just a zoo with kids running wild everywhere. But the bigger issue is the flash pass. I have never seen so many platinum pass wrist bands on people in my life, even just walking around. X Flight had about 60 or so flash passers by the time we got inside. Then the flash pass worker decided to let an avalanche of about 40 more flash passers climb the right side stairs(this is a new thing, flash passers never got to go past everyone on the stairs before). This in effect more than doubled my wait time. The line was initially back to the last part of the queue. Without flash passers it's about a 35 min wait. So we get to the top of the stairs...finally. Then guess what, platinum flash passers re-riding. And not just one group. No, we end up with two groups of plat flash passers in front of us in row 4.

 

Same thing happens on Bull, only we end up waiting close to 90 min(and the line was way overflowed after 9:15ish pm). We entered maybe 7:45. It's like they dumped every middle school, high school, and college kid here and had their parents buy 25% of them flash passes. When we used to buy flash passes, I'd see a wall of IDs, but I'd never see other flash passers. When we didn't get flash passes two years ago, we'd still rarely see a flash passer. We go to cedar point and the only time we get ambushed by flash passers is when all the rides but corkscrew closed due to wind a couple years ago.

 

Viper seems to be running better operations wise, I didn't observe the bad behavior mentioned here. So maybe Mr Alvey is having a positive effect. Something is off with this place if a lot of us are fed up. I don't care to go back if now I have to have my wait times increased 40-70% because Six Flags feels a need to sell way too many flash passes. Skipping the line and re-riding should cost a lot more than $110. I'll go the first weekend of Fright Fest and anything else will be touch and go. I don't need to drive 50 some miles to experience the lowest common denominator business model. If there's a unifying theme to Great America, that's it. They could just call the whole park "Lowest common denominator land" and do away with the themed area names.

 

Never heard the term YOLO before, but from what I'm looking up now, a lot of the crowd there do act in a way that seems consistent with YOLO lifestyle. There was just a lot less of those types today.

 

Eagle red was closed around 9. Blue has been trimmed to death. 3x plus some kinda midcourse break thing that make the ride kinda tame after the side to side smashing helix. It reminds me of the anticlimactic feeling on pretzelman With the red side closed this turned a walk up into like a half hour wait. Blue side was plenty comfortable now aside from a little brain scrambling in the helix. Red has more to it and is more exciting without being much more violent.

 

From the train I saw that Demon's line was almost totally full around 5. Eagle's line was not even using the last staircase before you enter the fencing. Whizzer's line was overflowing. Bull's line was overflowing basically the whole time we were there aside from when we entered at 8. They were giving out ride tickets too. It was almost full at 8. Some people I talked to, moms with kids mainly, avoided Goliath due to the line. And these people were not happy about the flash passers either. Eventually everyone clogged the stairs so the flash passers were stuck in the middle. I imagine people will revolt in other ways too. Then the plat passers would upset the regular passers when they'd re-ride.

 

Roaring Rapids looked to have a healthy line from the railway. Bull was running 3 trains. They need to fix that bathroom in JB's. It's basically on par with the SAW bathroom. But at least it has hot water, unlike every other bathroom there. Is that a health violation? One of the Thai workers there almost ran me over he was running around so fast. The majority of these foreign workers have been pretty cool so far aside from that. Last year I don't recall seeing any plat flash passers at all, unless I forgot one or two. Two years ago I saw one guy on Pretzelman during Fright Fest.

 

Guess the new Great America business plan is to attract as many trashy people as possible, hire the cheapest labor from both here and abroad without training them adequately, and sell hundreds, if not thousands of flash passes. I'd gladly take ads everywhere if it would mean less flash passers and increased quality of operations. If this is gonna be the new norm, I'll just save the $400 something we spent on all the season passes and the hundreds spent on tolls, gas, refills, etc, and use it so spend a week in Tampa or Valencia.

 

 

I got a Platinum Flash Pass a couple of weeks ago, it was $220 for me and my sister, and we got some of the rudest looks, and people we were bypassing in line saying stuff like " They suck" " That's not fair" etc.. If you choose not to spend the money, and wait in the regular line, how is that not fair to the people who opt to spend extra money?? I never get a Flash Pass at my home park of SFOG, of course I never go when it's busy, but if I do decide to go and have to wait in line because of flash pass users, that's my choice, I'm not going to get mad at people who choose not to wait in line.

 

Also I'm sure the spike in Platinum is just because of Goliath, I had a gold one on the Sunday I went, and then got a Platinum on Monday just because of Goliath, had it not been the only one Goliath was included on I would have just gotten the gold, sure you don't get re-rides, but I got plenty done with the Gold.

[coasterkid124]

Well you have to feel for some of the people who are angry. If they have a family of 4 and can barely afford tickets to the park, they find it unfair that others can spend more to have more benefits. I always thought that there should be a Flash Pass option for season pass holders because they are the biggest supporters of parks. But there is no reason to shout rude comments or any of that. It's just plain immature.

[beenagins87]

I do feel for little kids that probably don't understand why people are getting to go in front of them.

[coasterbill]

I love skip-the line systems including Gold Regular Flash Pass but Platinum Flash Passes are pretty terrible and I totally understand why people react the way they do.

 

I like Flash Pass and i'm always happy to have that option when I'm visiting a park I haven't been to but the idea of letting people re-ride screws everything up. Most people go to parks in groups of more than 2, and when people re-ride in one of the rows a group is lining up for it either leads to a mad scramble to find 2 people who want to go ahead of them or in most cases rows going out empty and it kills capacity. This effect is amplified if a group of 2 is trying to ride with another group of 2 and let people go ahead of them to even it up (which happens all the time) and now the next few trains are equally screwed up. We got the Platinum Flash Pass once at Magic Mountain and on most rides we felt like complete jerks for screwing everyone up. Re-rides really shouldn't be allowed. As far as I know Six Flags is the only park that offers them.

 

Eagle red was closed around 9.

 

Is this another instance of Six Flags trying to cut costs? I've noticed they've started closing rides early at Great Adventure now too (the log flume and rapids usually which never happened before). They've also reduced capacity on the parachutes by not opening all of them and the skyride by only running half of it even when the other side has a 30 minute wait on a Saturday in the summer.

[WallyWorldOrBust]

I don't think Eagle Red closing early has anything to do with costs. More like that ride has track issues that seriously need to be taken care of.

[coasterbill]

Okay, I'm glad to hear that then. I had to ask though since they've been doing that kind of crap chain-wide this year.