Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[SFGAmFan1976]

^^The first drop has a bit of airtime, but after that it's more siesta than fiesta.

[VF15]

I don't think Raging Bull is braked "to death" because I got airtime on all of the hills when I rode it back in August, but I will admit that I wish they'd lighten up on the brakes to turn that airtime into great airtime. I personally found the slight B&M rattle more annoying than the brakes.

[RaceBoarder]

I don't understand the hate towards Raging Bull either... Is it a "Top Ten" overall coaster? Probably not... But it's an enjoyable experience....

[nicman]

Raging bull is an OK Hyper coaster, the only thing that I do not like like is the brakes. I wish all Hyper and Giga coasters were like Raging bull expect for the brakes. I love rides that have lots of airtime and intense turns. Does anyone know why Raging bull has so many brakes?

[VF15]

^

Not completly sure, but I think it's because it was B&M's first hyper-twister coaster, and they added the trims just to play things safe. I still think people exaggerate too much when they say it's trimmed to death. It has enough speed that I floated out of my seat on all of the hills, but it would still be great if Raging Bull started running trimless.

[Woodie Warrior]

Raging bull is an OK Hyper coaster, the only thing that I do not like like is the brakes. I wish all Hyper and Giga coasters were like Raging bull expect for the brakes. I love rides that have lots of airtime and intense turns. Does anyone know why Raging bull has so many brakes?

From the posts you made earlier, it appears you've never ridden Raging Bull, yet somehow you think you can say that it's "an OK hyper coaster". How would you know? Just wondering.

[nicman]

Raging bull is an OK Hyper coaster, the only thing that I do not like like is the brakes. I wish all Hyper and Giga coasters were like Raging bull expect for the brakes. I love rides that have lots of airtime and intense turns. Does anyone know why Raging bull has so many brakes?

From the posts you made earlier, it appears you've never ridden Raging Bull, yet somehow you think you can say that it's "an OK hyper coaster". How would you know? Just wondering.

 

Just from facts, discussions, pov's, after all I know a lot about roller coasters.

[Dom497]

POV's and riding the ride provide a completely different experience. Before riding Leviathan and when I only had the POV to watch, I actually thought it wouldn't be too different than Behemoth (how wrong was I....).

[Password121]

Raging bull is an OK Hyper coaster, the only thing that I do not like like is the brakes. I wish all Hyper and Giga coasters were like Raging bull expect for the brakes. I love rides that have lots of airtime and intense turns. Does anyone know why Raging bull has so many brakes?

From the posts you made earlier, it appears you've never ridden Raging Bull, yet somehow you think you can say that it's "an OK hyper coaster". How would you know? Just wondering.

 

Just from facts, discussions, pov's, after all I know a lot about roller coasters.

Just a page ago you asked the difference between a hyper and hyper twister. Then you asked what it means to be trimmed, then said Raging Bull is okay, but you want all hypers and gigas to be like Raging Bull,which is nonsensical within itself. I'm sensing conflicting information here...

[nicman]

Raging bull is an OK Hyper coaster, the only thing that I do not like like is the brakes. I wish all Hyper and Giga coasters were like Raging bull expect for the brakes. I love rides that have lots of airtime and intense turns. Does anyone know why Raging bull has so many brakes?

From the posts you made earlier, it appears you've never ridden Raging Bull, yet somehow you think you can say that it's "an OK hyper coaster". How would you know? Just wondering.

 

Just from facts, discussions, pov's, after all I know a lot about roller coasters.

Just a page ago you asked the difference between a hyper and hyper twister. Then you asked what it means to be trimmed, then said Raging Bull is okay, but you want all hypers and gigas to be like Raging Bull,which is nonsensical within itself. I'm sensing conflicting information here...

 

I was pretty sure already what does things meant, but just to be sure I asked.

[ernierocker]

^How about you stick to posting about rides you have ridden? Otherwise, we might think you are posting for posting sake. It's okay to ask questions, but you have continued to post about it and you clearly don't know enough about the ride to continue in this discussion.

Edited October 27, 2014 by ernierocker

[nicman]

^How about you stick to posting about rides you have ridden? Otherwise, we might think you are posting for posting sake. It's okay to ask questions, but you have continued to post about it and you clearly don't know enough about the ride to continue in this discussion.

 

I guess, I do know lots of facts but I have never ridden a roller coaster at Six flags Great America.

 

Now back to topic.

[ariznglori]

Raging Bull is enjoyable, but looks more intense than it is (probably the fault of my own pumping it up in my head). Batman is the exact opposite for me. A wonderful surprise. My favorite ride in the park is definitely Whizzer, it's a great ride every time. Haven't been on Goliath yet, hoping to go next year though. Viper is surprisingly exciting as well.

 

Am looking forward to the park restoring its historical rides and maintaining its classic entrance plaza area.

 

I have a question: since the park is tightly packed and generally landlocked, this means any addition may require rides to be removed. But I was scoping out Google Maps and noticed that large pond-like area near Superman. Would it be possible for the park to build a hypercoaster along their access road that could use that pond space, or does it serve more as a buffer to keep park noise out of the nearby neighborhoods? Does the park have any claim to that land?

 

I would love to see something Intamin if there's any possibility, but I am probably dreaming.

 

Also, future water park expansions will probably eat up the parking lot, right? Any chance they may invest in a parking structure in the future?

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^

Not completly sure, but I think it's because it was B&M's first hyper-twister coaster, and they added the trims just to play things safe. I still think people exaggerate too much when they say it's trimmed to death. It has enough speed that I floated out of my seat on all of the hills, but it would still be great if Raging Bull started running trimless.

I just got to ride it over the summer. I did think that there was some good airtime, however, with all the trims, it did feel slow and kind of awkward at times. Still the 2nd best coaster at the park, IMO.

[thrillrider]

^I agree.

 

It's still a fun ride, but too many trims.

[batmanfan80]

I feel like I liked Whizzer better last year or in 2012, and I went on it a lot. But I never really feel used to most of the coasters unless I get a few good trips in. I always ride Whizzer in the very back, same with Demon. Eagle red is back up running, I think. Blue being trimmed to death this year is pretty lame. But it was a bit too violent last year without em. Most of the time when I've been on Whizzer the line has been maybe 2-4 rows deep underneath the station. Takes about 30-40 minutes. If it's gotten worse, I'd probably blame it on flash passers. I also remember the "visit another day" signs being posted in 2012 a couple times, even in August, I think. Should have noted it in my reports from back then.

 

There is such a ridiculous level of demand for this place now that they could keep drawing huge crowds as long as the weather stays above freezing and the park doesn't get hit by rain or snow. But a lot of that demand is "ohh, I haven't been there in over a decade, I need to see the shiny new record breaking ride". Then people go and see how horrible the park experience is and write lots of one and two star reviews on yelp

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/six-flags-great-america-gurnee?sort_by=date_desc

 

I've hated the trims on Bull at times when I've been on it a lot. It loses its luster some if you ride it a lot within a short period of time. This year it's felt more intense to me than in the past. It still gets a lot of speed and force with the trim and mid brake. The airtime is good. Float a lot. I wish the location of the trim was elsewhere, it kinda ruins the hill. My feelings on non-inverted and non-wing coasters change a lot either way.

 

I'd like to go this weekend, but, I'm afraid I'd be wasting hours of my time along with gas, tolls, and wear and tear. It'll probably be likely that I don't get season passes for next year if this is the new trend. Why bother spending on a place where you can't really enjoy anything? I've read that Montu only has 20-30 minute lines even during Busch Gardens's biggest crowds. I could get more rides in on Montu in one day, or maybe even one hour, than I could in a whole season of Batman here at this rate. People from this area could drive to Cedar Point in the time it takes to park, enter, and wait for Goliath. Maybe May and June will have reasonable crowds next year.

 

I've got the feeling that Six Flags is going for broke trying to raise as much revenue as possible. They havta know that this strategy of building expensive coasters and luring as many people as possible is not sound. It's not sustainable at all. To keep demand this high for the next 15 years we'd need RMC Eagle, Batman with 10 inversions, Demon 3000, Giant Drop extended to 400 feet with Falcon's Fury seats, Condor turned into a skyscreamer, Pretzelman replaced by Tatsu 2.0, and a coaster that zips through the parking lot. And that's assuming new technologies and inventions don't entice people away from theme parks.

 

We'll see how it goes next year. They're banking on the idea that they can ruin their brand with people today in hopes of luring higher numbers of new, fresh customers tomorrow.

[nicman]

Does X-flight have a problem with banking, like too little or too much? Also how are the dispatch times for X-flight?

[batmanfan80]

Not sure what a problem with banking would entail. I have no real complaints about the ride. Just wish it was twice as long, especially with the horrendous waits caused by hundreds of flash passers each time. The dispatch is similar to everything else there, but it can take longer because they measure people here more often than at other rides. Don't expect the train to get moving in under 3 minutes.

 

Just finished the Yelp reviews. There's this idea developing that Great America is a useless trip without a flash pass, and that "it's for the rich" or the "elite". The flash passers I see are hardly what I would picture as rich or elite. They look like regular people who are probably spending money that they shouldn't. SFGA must not be advertising the single rider lines at all, haven't seen one mention of them in these reviews. A few people with safety concerns since SFGA doesn't seem to have enough staff to manage any of this. People were waiting forever for food and drinks only to find out stuff was out.

 

I may try Thurs night instead of the weekend.

[Jodon]

I've thought for a while that the Chicago market could use another park to help disperse the crowds. Great America is seemingly never not busy during the summer and Fright Fest is packed in the fall and it has been that way for a while. The Chicago/Milwaukee market is big enough to support two parks and I'd love to see a Cedar Fair property open up in the south west or western suburbs. At this point, Great America's biggest competitor is Cedar Point which is 6 hours away. I would also think that having a close competitor would make Great America really look at their operations and would in turn make them a better park. Competition is frequently very good for the consumer and I think that another park in the Chicago area would be fantastic.

 

However, I can not imagine how much it would cost to build park able to compete with Great America would cost in this day and age. So, while I think that the market could support 2 parks and should help Great America have less lines and focus more on their operations and customer service, I realize that this is a pipe dream that will likely never come to fruition. It still doesn't stop me from thinking that this is a great solution to a lot of the issues at Great America.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^ Well, it may not seem like competition, but there is Santa's Village Azoosment Park. When we were there last summer, we talked to several guests who all had season passes there rather than Great America specifically because of the shorter lines and better customer service. Granted, this was very much a straw poll, considering it was just casual conversation while queuing or in picnic areas, and attendance was not very high (we went on a Friday). For families with small children, though, it's a great little park that gives you a lot for a relatively low price--and that's a big selling point. Maybe some of those who are writing bad reviews on Yelp should look into it. They might be as pleasantly surprised as we were at how fun it is.

[VF15]

I've thought for a while that the Chicago market could use another park to help disperse the crowds. Great America is seemingly never not busy during the summer and Fright Fest is packed in the fall and it has been that way for a while. The Chicago/Milwaukee market is big enough to support two parks and I'd love to see a Cedar Fair property open up in the south west or western suburbs. At this point, Great America's biggest competitor is Cedar Point which is 6 hours away. I would also think that having a close competitor would make Great America really look at their operations and would in turn make them a better park. Competition is frequently very good for the consumer and I think that another park in the Chicago area would be fantastic.

 

However, I can not imagine how much it would cost to build park able to compete with Great America would cost in this day and age. So, while I think that the market could support 2 parks and should help Great America have less lines and focus more on their operations and customer service, I realize that this is a pipe dream that will likely never come to fruition. It still doesn't stop me from thinking that this is a great solution to a lot of the issues at Great America.

I agree. I really think that Chicago could use another major park because of how overwhelmingly crowded SFGAm is. I went there on a Monday in mid-August this year, and every major coaster had at least an hour wait (Goliath never got below 2.5 hours), and if that's how Mondays are, then weekends and other peak days must be nighrmares. One park covering a metro area of ~10 million plus a lot of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin is too much if you ask me.

[RaceBoarder]

Does anyone know where SFGAm ranks among other Six Flags parks as far as total attendance goes? I'd be curious since it seems like they made significant cutbacks in hours for this season....

 

Also, I think alot of the attendance is because SFGAm seems to have a very good Group Sales department... Look on Craigslist Chicago during the Summer... There is a plethora of SFGAm tickets for sale that came from _______ Company Day that someone can't attend... Back in July Lettuce Entertain You (a major restaurant group in the Chicago area) brought several thousand people to the park for a day from their group alone... I ended up buying a pair of "Thrill Pass" vouchers off someone on Craigslist that day for $20 each... As a buyer, I had a tremendous advantage since there were several people trying to unload tickets for this single day event...

[RaceBoarder]

Also, I'm not sure how old many of you that are Chicago locals are, but the Chicago area has lost several parks in the last 20 years... The aforementioned Santa's Village closed and reopened several times... We lost KiddieLand in Maywood as well... I wouldn't hold out hope that something new is coming around anytime soon...

[Jodon]

^ I'm local and live not too far from Santa's Village. While I realize that there are several parks that closed recently, those parks catered to kids more than all age groups. I truly believe that a second full fledged theme park could be supported and welcomed in the Chicago market, but the significant cost to build a park will likely prevent such a park from being built.

[batmanfan80]

I've looked at threads for other parks, namely Magic Mountain and BG Tampa, don't really see the same issues there. Someone I know flew to Magic Mountain last year during Fright Fest and had no issue with lines and overcrowding. I've read that Great Adventure has crowd issues. Another person I knew who went to Cedar in July said MF had a 2.5 hour wait while Gatekeeper's line was short. My July and Sept 2012 CP trip reports are on here. Lines could be bad, but, nothing like SFGA. I guess BG does not get huge lines bc it rains here and there most days in Tampa, people must not show in the first place bc I never saw anyone leave. They shut down Montu for an hour my second day there due to lightning(apparently it and FF had gotten hit recently). Rain seems to drive away SFGA customers who are already at the park, even if it's early in the day.

 

The market here could support a second park, but it would take 100 million or more to build I'd imagine. They wouldn't need to build 300 and 400 footers to draw, but they probably would because that's what the general public wants most for some reason. When I've talked about star attractions here, I'm mainly referring to what the public perceives. Right now Goliath is the only star attraction at SFGA. Previously, as we all know, SFGA was the leader in coasters anywhere up until maybe 94. Unless RB was as big a deal as Shockwave, Iron Wolf, and Batman when it opened, Goliath is their biggest draw since Batman. But it took 3-4 weeks of being open to become a game changer. It made it so there were literally no open to the public days where SFGA didn't have atrocious crowds.

 

I'd love to know SFGA's demographics. I bet a good portion, if not a majority of their customers come from areas within 20 miles of the park. I know I've read that 30-40% of the total attendees on average are season pass holders. As a business move, I'm not sure why they'd cater to people who live within 10-20 miles, buy passes, and then end up tailgating in the lot. People who aren't bringing in revenue beyond the initial pass purchase. Disney started restricting pass holders in CA to weekdays due to crowds, I think. I'm not necessarily in favor of that particular measure for all pass holders, but I'd be in favor of passes being more restrictive for people who live within a certain radius.

 

I doubt my wife and myself are that profitable. We have to make a sizeable investment of time and some money to drive there, but outside of spending like $450 or whatever it was on passes with dining and one with parking, we don't spend a lot beyond a few drink refills each time. Every so often we'll get a shirt or some other souvenir thing. But we don't buy a lot because Six Flags refuses to put in locking bins ala Cedar Point. None of the employees cares to watch the non-locking sliding door bins they put in last year. Are locking bins really that big an expense, Six Flags? Maybe $200 per park? Even if it's $500 per park, that's chump change. Yes, I could pay for l*ckers, but why should we be forced into that when CP has shown a better alternative.

 

They could be shooting themselves in the foot with this Goliath surge. Yeah it's drawing back people who haven't been there probably since 1999 or earlier, but, how many will be returning next season? There were long lines for Shockwave and Batman in their early years, but back then SFGA was an overall better experience from what I hear, and they also had a lot more leverage being that hardly anywhere else on the planet had an inverted coaster.

 

Anyone know how profitable Cedar Fair is? Six Flags had one profitable year since 1998 and I'd be surprised if they have many more before they go out of business for good. A lot of people avoid SFA and some of the other parks due to the unruly clientele. Are smaller rides cheaper to build and maintain? Maybe a second park could have improved versions of Nemesis and Maverick. Throw in some non-coaster rides similar to Harry Potter or Transformers and some leisurely things like GA Raceway and they could have a winning formula. A new park could end up overcrowded too, just by taking disenchanted SF customers.

 

Location-wise, I haven't a clue. There's still a lot of open land in Bolingbrook south of where most of the residents live. The mayor there seems to love adding things. Their jubilee has a stage and sound system that I like better than at places like House of Blues. The promenade was a game changer.A second park would fit with the branding of the town, and I don't think it'd suffer the same fate as Old Chicago. There's plenty of towns with open land and in need of jobs.

 

Santa's Village isn't even up to par with Kiddieland. I don't think it's even on the same piece of land. As it is, it feels like someone salvaged some of the original rides and tossed them in a random place. It's an alternative for kids under 10 and that's about it.