Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[prozach626]

How were all of the other rides? I'm hoping Friday won't be too terrible, since school is right around the corner.

[GigaG]

Does V2 here have the long seatbelts like the new ones at SFDK, the super-long Possessed ones, the short old SFDK ones, or the "microscopic" Wicked Twister ones?

[DanM64]

Does V2 here have the long seatbelts like the new ones at SFDK, the super-long Possessed ones, the short old SFDK ones, or the "microscopic" Wicked Twister ones?

I've never ridden the SFDK one or Possessed, but they're MUCH longer than the ones on Wicked Twister. I'm going to say they're the same as SFDK, but that's just a guess.

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

The path to 2015 starts Monday! Stay tuned for #GreatAmerica2015

[mellowcotton]

Decided to head to the park yesterday since I'll be back at school anyway and there was an ERT event if you bought a Slurpee that my group was considering buying if the open rides were good (turns out they were Superman and Condor, so we passed) We got to the park at around 9:40 and queued up to enter the park right away. Once we were in the park, my group ran to the back to get in line for Goliath. Lucky for us, we were there soon enough to be almost directly outside the ride entrance, and the ride was essentially a walk-on after waiting for it to open. This was my first time riding Goliath and WOW. They ride ops were assigning seats and we got put in the very last row which was an amazing ride. While I agree that it almost feels like a truncated coaster, what we got was definitely worth waking up early and speeding on I-90 to experience (however, I will say that if I waited 1.5+ hrs for it I would probably be singing a different tune) Discouraged from trying to ride Goliath again after seeing the line extend out of the entrance with full turnstiles, we decided to head out for other rides and were able to walk on both X-Flight and Viper, so we started off pretty well!

 

As for the crowd report the rest of the day, lines were better IMO than previous visits I've had in August. We were able to squeeze in about 15-20 rides, as opposed to the usual 7-10. Both sides of AE were running and one rotation of trains was actually racing, which was a lot of fun. Of course, all the major coasters had their usual hour-hour and a half wait time, but single rider lines were open at Superman, Raging Bull, Goliath (and possibly Batman, no one in our group wanted to ride it, so I'm not sure) and we didn't have any problem with being turned away because we were a group. The system worked best on Goliath where the single rider queue leads you up to the station to be put on the ride as needed (ended up being ~30 minute wait for an otherwise hour+ line).

 

Everywhere else, I think some operator training/relocation of the single rider line needs to happen, as you are simply sent up alone to the station in random intervals along with the regular line. On Superman and early in the day on Raging Bull, our group bypassed the 2 hour line completely and were even sent up together(?) to the station by the line operator. Later on, we went for the single rider line again on Raging Bull, and we saw a lot of people abusing the system (waiting in the line on the stairs for their friends to get sent out of the single rider line). Even after being warned by the operator that doing so would result in ejection from the park, we saw two girls wait and then get escorted out of line by security. Yikes. Hopefully situations like this don't get the lines removed!

 

Overall though, I really enjoyed my experience at the park! Can't wait to come next year early in May to get some low wait-times on Goliath!

[Goooose]

The path to 2015 starts Monday! Stay tuned for #GreatAmerica2015

 

Something new already?? I have no clue but we shall see starting Monday.

[Sfgam_Bong66]

Does anybody know if there is some sort of connection between flying pigs or just pigs in general to the mardi gras celebration? If so we could see something taking the old Cajun spot. I always thought an El Loco would be pretty cool in that spot. I think it would fit and the station and que is there. But now with Goliath I don't think that would happen at this time. Although it would be a nice fun coaster for the younger crowd that may not feel ready for Goliath.

 

So now my second point, I think the selling point for the new attraction will be based on "people thought this would happen when pigs fly" so maybe a one of a kind 4D show now that SSA is gone. Or some sort of flat.

 

Just my $0.02

[prozach626]

So I went to the park yesterday and had the worst single most customer service experience I've ever had at a park. It was possibly the worst customer service I've ever had anywhere. My friend and I went to buy a couple beers. I look young for 29, so I always have my ID out and I took my sunglasses off as a courtesy. I handed the girl at the counter my Illinois Driver's License and politely asked for two Miller Lites. (I am always polite to servers) She kept looking at my ID and looking at me. After several seconds passed, I kind of raised my eyebrows in question and she flat out rudely told me "This doesn't look like you." Keep in mind I have my hair the exact same length in my ID and the picture was taken last year. I said "Excuse me?" She said again, "I don't think this is you." I was pretty pissed off at this point and told her "Well it's been me for 29 years." I spouted off my birthday and my address and she still just looked at me like she was going to deny me beer. She was trying to make it obvious to her co worker that at this point she just wanted to tell me no. After that, she was trying to be spiteful and she was on an evident power trip. She went over to another server and overly convincingly tried to say "I don't think this is him." I could tell she really wanted the other girl to say it wasn't me so she could deny me a beer. At that point, I was prepared to make a scene. I told her if she didn't think that was me than she needed to call the police, since I used my credit card under that name to buy our tickets, our parking, and our flash pass, because as a police officer I know that Unlawful Use of a Debit Card is a felony. The other employee looked at me for two seconds and said "Yeah, that's him... same eyes." I was extremely pissed at this point as the the worst staff ever continued to be a smart ass throughout the rest of the transaction and she held a smart ass grin on her face. When we went back for a second beer... HOURS LATER MIND YOU... I even tried to be nice and joke with her. I went out of my way to apologize to her if I did anything to upset her. I joked with her and asked her if she was going to give me a hard time. She smiled and laughed and told me she just didn't want to get in trouble. In reality she just wanted to go on a power trip. I played it off like nothing ever happened, smiled, thanked her for the beers, and told her that I understood, despite the fact that she never once apologized. At that time I still didn't know they had anywhere else that sold beer, so a while later I reluctantly walked back to the beer lady for my third and final beer throughout the entire day. Again, I smiled, greeted her, and asked her for two more beers (one each...) for my friend and I. She grinned and with a huge smartass tone looked at me and said "Well..... I'm sorry... I've served you two beers already (within FOUR hours) and I don't think I should serve you anymore..." With two hours left at the park I was determined to not let it ruined my time, so I went to JB after discovering its existence for my third and final beer, where the bar tender greeted us with kindness and served our beer.

 

I'm tempted to call and complain, but I didn't get her name. I can describe her pretty well if that would help. Would it be worth it to complain or would it even go anywhere? I can see her giving some BS account of the story and make it out like I was being the asshole, but I played it over and over again in my head. My friend said I was being nothing but nice... I even apologized to her... for HER actions.

[robbalvey]

The path to 2015 starts Monday! Stay tuned for #GreatAmerica2015

Wishful thinking?

Edited August 9, 2014 by robbalvey

[mellowcotton]

Would it be worth it to complain or would it even go anywhere?

 

I don't really see the harm in calling to complain if you think the experience was bad enough. Worst case scenario, nothing changes. Best case, someone else doesn't have to deal with it in the future.

Edited August 10, 2014 by mellowcotton

[robbalvey]

So I went to the park yesterday and had the worst single most customer service experience I've ever had at a park.

 

Would it be worth it to complain or would it even go anywhere?

 

We also had one of the worst single customer service moments at the park as well. I honestly don't think they care. Between how we were treated by the president of the park, their group sales, and their guest relations office, and it seems our experiences are the norm not the exception, I really just don't think this park cares any more. Calling to complain I feel would just fall on deaf ears.

 

On one hand I'd like to say that it's Six Flags company-wide, as Great America is not the only park in the chain we've seen a recent decline in customer service, but we had an absolutely AMAZING visit to Great Adventure a few days later. I think it's pretty clear that some parks get it and some don't. Perhaps the team at Great Adventure should spend some time in Gurnee showing them how a park should be run.

Edited August 9, 2014 by robbalvey

[ilrider]

And I've attended this park for over 30 years regularly and never had any big customer service problem. Weird. Guess I went on good days.

[GigaG]

At SFDK, we had to get a faulty on-ride photo flash drive replaced. We got it replaced with our photos and also got photos emailed to us. However, at SFMM, it took forever for them to validate our SFOG pass for early entry (they said they can let us in, but the automated scanner doesn't work on other passes.) Yeah, parks are different.

[prozach626]

Calling to complain I feel would just fall on deaf ears.

 

You're probably right. I completely forgot about your experience until you just brought it up. It really is making me not want to go to Six Flags parks, anymore. We just had bad experiences with customer service throughout the day. Every single flash pass attendant was incredibly rude. Out of our 20 or so rides we were greeted ONE time. You would think after paying $110 for a premium flash pass they could at least greet you. One kid even halfway yelled at me "Turn it on!" when he went to scan my pass. Not to be ignorant, but I had a split second temptation to take him to the ground.

 

As a police officer, I literally receive more respect from most crack heads, drug dealers, prostitutes, and every day low life criminals than how the staff treated us yesterday. The staff members who put forward a minimal effort to be friendly were few and far between. The difference between my day at King's Island and my day at Great America were absolutely night and day. Cedar fair felt like it was being operated by a staff of young adults. Great America was being operated by a group of punk kids. I'm embarrassed that it was my friend's first experience to a park outside of Six Flags St. Louis and I tried to explain to him how much better the customer service is with Cedar Fair and most other parks. Overall, we spent approximately $350 at the park to be treated like crap. I'm honestly disgusted.

[anewman35]

I'm another person who's been going to the park for years with no major complaints at all. Do they constantly bend over backwards to be superfriendly? Not really. But they generally do their jobs fine without causing any problems.

[TheDarkNiTe]

Heading to the park for the first time on Tuesday August 19th and was wondering if anybody had any ideas for a one day park plan?

 

I've only got the one day, and I was hoping to avoid the expense of buying Flash Pass. Was hoping to hit the main rides like Goliath, Raging Bull, Batman, etc. Any park tips would be helpful as for a strategy and good places to eat!

[anewman35]

With both the Viper height thing and this beer thing, without being there, it just sounds to me like the employees were basically just doing their job. Maybe they erred a bit on the side of being overly cautious, but they're probably trained to do that (because its better to annoy a customer than break the law). Now, again, I wasn't there, maybe this employee was on a power trip and wanted to screw somebody over for no reason. I kinda doubt it, though.

[mellowcotton]

Heading to the park for the first time on Tuesday August 19th and was wondering if anybody had any ideas for a one day park plan?

 

Get to the park @ 9:30 when the gates to the parking lot open, and once the park opens run to get in line for Goliath. If you're there right when the park opens you should only have ~5-15 minute wait. Once you get off the ride, you'll probably be able to walk on X-Flight/Batman, or head over to Raging Bull and get in a relatively short line. The rest of the day, if the weather is good, lines might be 45 minutes-2 hours for most of the rides, but if you use the single rider line you can definitely fit in all the major coasters.

[Woodie Warrior]

That whole beer incident sounds completely ridiculous.

 

I also had a pretty bad experience, not as bad as yours or Robb's. We had an experience with a worker at Goliath who refused to let our group of three join the single rider line because we were a "group". We told him we knew how the single rider line worked and that we knew we wouldn't be riding together, but he still didn't let us join, so we moved on. Meanwhile, every train I saw had at least one empty seat on it.

 

And this isn't really related to customer service, but since we had a group of three, I had to ride alone anyway. The teenage girl I ended up sitting with decided to pull out her cell phone on the lift hill and take a selfie. At first I was tempted to slap it out of her hands, but I chose not to since that would probably cause even more of a scene. On the brake run I was debating on whether or not I would tell an employee she had her phone out, but I decided not to. Looking back, I probably should have. I would have loved to see her escorted out of the park.

[adavis]

I have yet to hear any horror stories about Goliath restraints, anyone not able to ride due to size? For what it's worth, I'm able to ride everything else I've ever gotten on, but this will be my first RMC.

[GigaG]

I have yet to hear any horror stories about Goliath restraints, anyone not able to ride due to size? For what it's worth, I'm able to ride everything else I've ever gotten on, but this will be my first RMC.

 

I'd like to know this too. I've heard more forgiving than Toro, is this true?

[coasterdude5]

Working in Gurnee this summer, I've visited the park easily 50 times and have neither experienced nor have I witnessed any outrageously poor customer service exchanges. If anything, I've seen more guests with poor people skills. Customer service goes both ways. But I could list several instances of employees going above and beyond to assist guests.

 

The park is nowhere near perfect. But I don't think these few unfortunate -- and inexcusable -- isolated incidents represent an average day at SFGAm.

 

Or maybe I'm just lucky.

 

And this isn't really related to customer service, but since we had a group of three, I had to ride alone anyway. The teenage girl I ended up sitting with decided to pull out her cell phone on the lift hill and take a selfie. At first I was tempted to slap it out of her hands, but I chose not to since that would probably cause even more of a scene. On the brake run I was debating on whether or not I would tell an employee she had her phone out, but I decided not to. Looking back, I probably should have. I would have loved to see her escorted out of the park.

A few weeks ago, some moron riding in the front row had his phone out for the entire duration of the ride...not subtly in the slightest. I was impressed to see a supervisor in the station waiting for him to address the amateur videographer's lapse in judgment.

Edited August 10, 2014 by coasterdude5

[RandallDuell]

So I went to the park yesterday and had the worst single most customer service experience I've ever had at a park.

 

Would it be worth it to complain or would it even go anywhere?

 

We also had one of the worst single customer service moments at the park as well. I honestly don't think they care. Between how we were treated by the president of the park, their group sales, and their guest relations office, and it seems our experiences are the norm not the exception, I really just don't think this park cares any more. Calling to complain I feel would just fall on deaf ears.

 

On one hand I'd like to say that it's Six Flags company-wide, as Great America is not the only park in the chain we've seen a recent decline in customer service, but we had an absolutely AMAZING visit to Great Adventure a few days later. I think it's pretty clear that some parks get it and some don't. Perhaps the team at Great Adventure should spend some time in Gurnee showing them how a park should be run.

 

Do you care to expand on this - or maybe you have somewhere else, already, that you could point me to? I understand it was something about your daughter's height - and even after you got a height wristband, she was given a hard time by the ride attendant? I'm sorry if this is posted in detail somewhere else, I've only seen references to it here and there.

 

I'm curious, as I've been to this park every year since it opened - and while it's quite a bit of distance (in every aspect) from the Marriott days, I'm with most others here when I say that I've never come close to anything other than a minor inconvenience...and have multiple "wow, that was really nice/thoughtful" type stories from the park (both things I've observed and things I've experienced).

 

The situation with the beer sounds pretty ridiculous, but having read prozach's attitude, in general, over several years in the SFSTL thread - it doesn't surprise me, and I'm certain that any amount of real fault on the employee's part was at least matched by the customer.

 

Anyway, sorry for the long post - it, as it did others, just strikes me as odd that this park is suddenly getting a bad rep (at least here).

[turkeyinspiration]

I'm with most others here when I say that I've never come close to anything other than a minor inconvenience...and have multiple "wow, that was really nice/thoughtful" type stories from the park

 

Same, haven't had a real problem with the employees. It sounds like the beer problem and the child not being able to ride were situations resulting from employees doing their job resulting in disagreements that grew contentious.

[coasterdude5]

For instance, just a few days ago, a woman with her two children got to the Viper station (after a 45-minute wait) only to find out that her youngest wasn't tall enough to ride. The op was very apologetic, and even arranged for the three to head to Whizzer to ride without waiting. This arrangement was made quietly near the station exit. I just happened to be standing within earshot.

 

Perhaps that happened as a result of what happened a week or two ago. Maybe the ride op was just being overly considerate - she certainly didn't have to do that by any means, and the mother didn't seem to be demanding anything. It was simply an act of kindness.

 

But as with anything, your results may vary.