Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[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.

[glouthan]

^Surprisingly, they actually race the rides together this year.

[Jojo19799]

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.

 

I am going to have to disagree with you about re-rides screwing up everything. When I was there on Tuesday (using a gold flash pass), whatever ride I was at, the employees would let the rest of the guests waiting know about the platinum pass re-ride policy (if there was a plat pass group riding). I saw a lot of groups with plat pass too. With the employees letting people know of the re-rides, that would give you ample time to rearrange your group if needed. I just think of the re-rides as an added bonus.

 

My friend and I purchased a gold qbot on Tuesday since I had an add a friend for free coupon. I'm glad we did! The park was busy and it made our day much more enjoyable. I didn't hear anyone make a complain when walking through the flash pass line, and really I don't care if they were upset or not. I've waited in line before while loads of people with qbots have walked passed me. Yes, SF is expensive, but so is Sea World, Universal, Disney and Cedar Fair. If a family is there on vacation then there's a good chance they will spring for a skip the line pass. If you're a local, you typically don't unless it's a busy day and you have a friend or two in town and would like to enjoy your day (like I did). It's all what you make out of the situation.

[anewman35]

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..

 

If you buy a flash pass, you're buying shorter lines, you're nnot buying acceptance from the general public. I get why the park loves it (money!), but Flash Passes are the worst thing that's ever happened, and I basically hate every single person I ever see using one. I know some people might save up and do it once in a lifetime, but way too many appear to just be kids who's parents have too much money and have no idea how other people live. Basically, if you want to buy one it's your right - but it's my right to hate you (and I do).

[tooooobbe]

If you buy a flash pass, you're buying shorter lines, you're nnot buying acceptance from the general public. I get why the park loves it (money!), but Flash Passes are the worst thing that's ever happened, and I basically hate every single person I ever see using one. I know some people might save up and do it once in a lifetime, but way too many appear to just be kids who's parents have too much money and have no idea how other people live. Basically, if you want to buy one it's your right - but it's my right to hate you (and I do).

 

 

Do you hate on people driving a nicer car?

 

Do you hate on people who upgrade their flight tickets?

 

Remember that flashpass is an great income for the park that probaly keep the ticket price lower. Some people might never afford to go to a theme park if it would't be for flashpass.

 

How is it even possible to hate someone for that little... gosh.

[WallyWorldOrBust]

I just flat-out refuse to ride American Eagle anymore. I hate having to make the hike up through the old queuing steps just for not even a ten-minute wait, and to go up the first track on either red or blue and feel it BUCK. And if we were allowed to take our phones on the ride and snap pictures of how bad it looks going up the first hill....oh good lord. It's rickety, and I'm getting jostled around even more terribly than I was on ShockWave when it was still there, and I'm squeezed in really tightly next to me fiancee where it's just uncomfortable.

 

I almost wish American Eagle had gotten that rumored iron horse overhaul instead of SFGAm getting Goliath. Goliath is pretty awesome, but American Eagle has seen better days. It's depressing.

[anewman35]

Do you hate on people driving a nicer car?

 

Do you hate on people who upgrade their flight tickets?

 

Remember that flashpass is an great income for the park that probaly keep the ticket price lower. Some people might never afford to go to a theme park if it would't be for flashpass.

 

How is it even possible to hate someone for that little... gosh.

 

I don't care if people have a nice car or a first class seat, because that doesn't effect me. People with flash pass directly impact my experience at the park. I miss the days when everybody at the park would have the potential for an equal experience, rather than being able to pay more for a better one. I'm usually not a person who would confront anyone (and I never would in person), but when I see a post that strikes as so out-of-touch with the reality of how much money a flash pass is to some people I can't help myself. Keep your flash pass, just don't expect me to be happy for you.

 

Also,'m aware the park makes a lot of money on flashpass, but I think the idea that they charge less for other tickets because of they utterly ridiculous. They charge as much as they can for everything they can (and I'm fine with that, they're a business). I promise you everything in the park is vastly more expensive than before flash pass (and at a higher rate than the rate of inflation).

[WallyWorldOrBust]

I'm going to make the argument FOR a FlashPass here. While I have never invested in one before, I think of the future when my fiancee and I get around to having kids. Okay, our kids aren't going to be big enough to go on rollercoasters for a while. If we take a visit to an amusement park with other family members, say we hand off our kids on Grandma or Grandpa or a friend we're with to ride a rollercoaster. We don't want them to be waiting around 2 hours so we can go on Raging Bull. Hey! We have a FlashPass so they don't have to worry about that!

 

Seriously, I don't judge the people who want to pay the money for a FlashPass. That's your money that you want to spend, so it's not my business.

[beenagins87]

Do you hate on people driving a nicer car?

 

Do you hate on people who upgrade their flight tickets?

 

Remember that flashpass is an great income for the park that probaly keep the ticket price lower. Some people might never afford to go to a theme park if it would't be for flashpass.

 

How is it even possible to hate someone for that little... gosh.

 

I don't care if people have a nice car or a first class seat, because that doesn't effect me. People with flash pass directly impact my experience at the park. I miss the days when everybody at the park would have the potential for an equal experience, rather than being able to pay more for a better one. I'm usually not a person who would confront anyone (and I never would in person), but when I see a post that strikes as so out-of-touch with the reality of how much money a flash pass is to some people I can't help myself. Keep your flash pass, just don't expect me to be happy for you.

 

Also,'m aware the park makes a lot of money on flashpass, but I think the idea that they charge less for other tickets because of they utterly ridiculous. They charge as much as they can for everything they can (and I'm fine with that, they're a business). I promise you everything in the park is vastly more expensive than before flash pass (and at a higher rate than the rate of inflation).

 

 

How was my post out of touch?? Some people have money to spend on things such as flash pass, some don't.I don't have tons of extra income laying around, I just so happened to know I was only going to have a day and a half at the park, so I splurged a little since I saved on admission and parking with my season pass from Georgia. If you choose to spend hours in a hot miserable line, that's your choice, you shouldn't "hate" me or other people and let it affect your day. I visited Magic Mountain on a busy Saturday in April of 2007, it was my last full day in Ca, and I didn't know when I would go back, I didn't have the money for a flash pass, so I sucked it up and waited in line and got on everything I wanted at least once including X, and I had a blast, sure flash pass people got more rides in than me that day, but I made the best of what I had.

[Atter]

I think getting mad over someone using a flashpass is pointless really. It's their choice and the people who buy it aren't doing it to rub it in that they get to get on faster or have more money, they do it to enjoy there day at the park. Its unfair to a person when they get rude comments from someone just for having a flashpass and are trying to enjoy their day. I got a platinum pass a couple weeks ago at this park and I had an amazing day.I was able to accomplish all the rides I needed to ride on a saturday in July! Having the flashpass available was a great opportunity. I live no where near this park,so this was my only chance to be at this park for a long time. I just wanted to say my thoughts on the flashpass thing.

[anewman35]

I'm going to make the argument FOR a FlashPass here. While I have never invested in one before, I think of the future when my fiancee and I get around to having kids. Okay, our kids aren't going to be big enough to go on rollercoasters for a while. If we take a visit to an amusement park with other family members, say we hand off our kids on Grandma or Grandpa or a friend we're with to ride a rollercoaster. We don't want them to be waiting around 2 hours so we can go on Raging Bull. Hey! We have a FlashPass so they don't have to worry about that!

 

Seriously, I don't judge the people who want to pay the money for a FlashPass. That's your money that you want to spend, so it's not my business.

 

Sure, I get that, I'm sure using a flash pass is great. Who wants to wait in lines, especially with kids? The thing is, because you have more money than me (or you're less concerned with saving it), you get to go ahead of me. It's a zero-sum game for everybody who benefits from flash pass, somebody gets hurt. If you choose not to care, that's on you, I just get a little bitter at being (increasingly) a second (or, really, fourth) class citizen at a place that used to be so much more equal.

[anewman35]

This is America. People have the right to get flash passes. People also have the right to hate anybody who has a flash pass. I'm going to leave it there.

[Atter]

^This is also Six Flags, so I don't expect anything to be perfect with the flashpass system. Someone is is going to find something to hate about it.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Atter

[RCjunkie]

This is America. People have the right to get flash passes. People also have the right to hate anybody who has a flash pass. I'm going to leave it there.

 

Exactly. And we who buy Flash Passes have the right to hate you right back for your pettiness and/or jealousy. It goes both ways. To each his own, enjoy!

[coasterrich]

Here is a thought. What would those who are anti Flash Pass think if Flash Passes' disappeared and the season pass price rose to $180/$200? (still cheaper than a Merlin pass in the UK).

 

I visited SFGAm a couple of weekends ago. It was my first visit to the park as I was over from the UK on business and was able to fit in a trip. To me, it appears that the single day visitor is the one most disadvantaged by Flash Passes. Season Passes are great value, you can visit the park multiple times a year and deal with the lines, but I looked at the cost of a single day and realised I wouldn't even get round the parks roller coaster collection once unless I bought a Flash Pass. So, I stumped up for a Platinum Flash Pass because I wasn't sure when i'd be back and wanted to ride everything on offer.

 

Cheap season passes also drive up attendance, which in turn drives up the length of the lines. So, as a day visitor who had to stump up $$$ to get round the park, should I "hate" all season pass holders for clogging up the lines? Of course not....

 

I looked at all the options before hand and made my choice, the fact that it cost me $160 for one day and 20 rides was acceptable to me ($8 a ride and I didn't use the re-ride option on anything but Raging Bull). I suspect there are plenty of Season pass holders racking up way more than 100 rides in a season for just $70. I guess the price of 70 cent rides is waiting in long lines....

 

PS. You guys have some great rides there - Batman, Whizzer, Goliath and Raging Bull all top class for different reasons....