Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[JT325]

^The Joker queue is just another cherry on top.  This is all decades of poor design, sometimes on purpose; from my one summer as a Six Flags intern "it's good to make them work for it.  Then they will work up an appetite and thirst.  We have a captive audience." 

I always go back to what Will Koch used to say (paraphrasing): 'If you treat your guests and their time with respect, they will come back.  They are the best advertising and they will want to spend money at your park because the product is good.' 

Speaking of Joker, I was there Sunday and a friend and I decided to jump on the ride through the single queue.  We stood there for 5 minutes.. on one train I saw 3 empty single seats (in an 8 person train).  They kept holding the singles and letting one go in each opposite queue every few minutues (making the single rider line longer than the regular line).  He had my friend go right, I was asked to go left.  They didn't make sense.  Sometimes they paired friends who were obviously friends, sometimes not.  Pairing single riders is the job of the loader, not someone standing far from the loading area (and can't see who needs to go where.).  After that, I Just kept walking and waited for my friend.  The level of stupidity is tough to stomach sometimes. 

[prozach626]

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to use the standby queue and experience the ride with your friend instead of strangers. It's a thing.

[tinaalsgirl]

Is there some kind of special price fluctuation for Six Flags tickets? 'Cause I coulda sworn just a day or two ago the one-day tickets for GAm were only $34.99, but now they're $49.99? I'm looking through the calendar on their website, and it seems like the prices fluctuate on a day-to-day basis. Are they pricing based on estimated attendance?

[tndank]

They usually charge more for weekends.  They also started a daily ticket promotion today (B2G1) so it wouldn't surprise me if they raised prices a bit while implementing this new sale.  If you have access to Tickets At Work or Tmobile rewards or similar, you can get weekdays for $36+fees or weekends for $49+fees.

 

 

[Dan the Coaster Man]

Went to the park two weeks ago and single rider line fort Maxx was a savior. Would highly recommend to anyone. I got 3 rides in the first 30 minutes of park open, and they were running one train.

[ilrider]

Multiple people were shot at the park tonight just before close.  Over 5 ambulances requested so far. Waiting on more details. We heard sirens near our house probably headed that way around that time (we live 15 minutes from the park). This place is going downhill fast! Guess this is why they are raising prices. 
 

[Comeagain?]

It was in the parking lot.

[prozach626]

On 8/14/2022 at 7:55 PM, ilrider said:

This place is going downhill fast!
 

Chicago, and Illinois, is going down fast.

After a lengthy investigation involving the majority of the involved parties being uncooperative, the shooters will probably get 3 hard months of juvenile detention center time, where they watch movies and attend counseling sessions. They may even get a couple months of probation after that, before this gets expunged from their record. That's really not even a joke...

[Natalie2560]

I've noticed at some Six Flags parks that some rides have a sort of "Queue Attendant" or "Line Coordinator" that tells everybody which row and seat to wait for.  Is this true at Six Flags Great America, and if so, specifically does Whizzer have a queue attendant, or do they just allow the crowd inside the waiting area to pick whichever lanes/seats we want?  Thanks!

[AmyUD06]

50 minutes ago, Natalie2560 said:

I've noticed at some Six Flags parks that some rides have a sort of "Queue Attendant" or "Line Coordinator" that tells everybody which row and seat to wait for.  Is this true at Six Flags Great America, and if so, specifically does Whizzer have a queue attendant, or do they just allow the crowd inside the waiting area to pick whichever lanes/seats we want?  Thanks!

Been a while since you've been to a SF park, huh?  I haven't seen a grouper at one since COVID times.

Sorry, I can't remember if they had groupers at SFGAm from my trip in 2017.  I don't think so...?

[Natalie2560]

19 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:

Been a while since you've been to a SF park, huh?  I haven't seen a grouper at one since COVID times.

Sorry, I can't remember if they had groupers at SFGAm from my trip in 2017.  I don't think so...?

I've seen groupers countless times in 2022 at Six Flags parks, and considering you live in Delaware and haven't been to SFGA since 2017, perhaps you aren't the best person to answer this question?

[AmyUD06]

8 hours ago, Natalie2560 said:

I've seen groupers countless times in 2022 at Six Flags parks, and considering you live in New Jersey and haven't been to SFGA since 2017, perhaps you aren't the best person to answer this question?

I admitted as much as that I didn't know.  And I haven't lived in NJ for almost 20 years.

Welcome to the forums, newbie.  You're off to a rocking start.

[A.J.]

I'm going to have to give this warning in every thread, aren't I? Please be respectful to each other.

[ilrider]

15 hours ago, Natalie2560 said:

I've noticed at some Six Flags parks that some rides have a sort of "Queue Attendant" or "Line Coordinator" that tells everybody which row and seat to wait for.  Is this true at Six Flags Great America, and if so, specifically does Whizzer have a queue attendant, or do they just allow the crowd inside the waiting area to pick whichever lanes/seats we want?  Thanks!

I think the only ride that has ever happened to us on was Goliath when it first opened.  I don't remember it ever happening on Whizzer.  Not a normal thing at SFGAM.  It is my home park, and we are there quite a bit.

[Natalie2560]

4 hours ago, ilrider said:

I think the only ride that has ever happened to us on was Goliath when it first opened.  I don't remember it ever happening on Whizzer.  Not a normal thing at SFGAM.  It is my home park, and we are there quite a bit.

Thank you very much.  I saw countless rides at other Six Flags parks using this "queue attendant" system, so I must have incorrectly assumed it was prevalent at all Six Flags parks.

[ilrider]

16 hours ago, Natalie2560 said:

Thank you very much.  I saw countless rides at other Six Flags parks using this "queue attendant" system, so I must have incorrectly assumed it was prevalent at all Six Flags parks.

They don't even have the staff to place a queue attendant on most rides honestly.

[teacherkim]

Any reports on how FF is going here? We will be there Sunday and Monday of next weekend. Taking advantage of the later hours on Sunday and  Monday open due to Columbus day and swinging by after a Fri/Sat visit to KI to catch FF and complete some ride lists since our other visit was a stormy summer day a few years ago that impacted how much we could get on. 

[teacherkim]

Well since no one ever answered me, I'll answer myself, in case anyone else wants to know.  We were at the park from about 3:30 to close on Sunday and open until about 3:30 on Monday. Monday was a bonus day since it was Columbus Day which IL schools still celebrate, but there were no haunts or FF activities at all that day, since they were only open until 7. Still fairly respectable sized crowd for that sort of day though but nothing too ridiculous as far as lines. 

Sun night they were open later than normal since Monday was the holiday, until 10. Typical Six Flags FF as far as scare zones and atmosphere, I thought Gates of Hell was by far the best maze, although I would advise not doing it until it is full dark since there are some outdoor portions. We did it when there was still a little light left and I think that detracted from it a bit. But it's a long haunt with an appetizer, main dish, and dessert portion to the whole thing. Best scares I saw all night were the people coming off of the far side of Joker and the scare zone actor in the covered bridge next to the exit was getting them as they came off the ride and were completely not expecting it since they were in the exit queue.

Had never been on Am Eagle and all I can say is what a weird layout. The helix might have been interesting if it was dueling but alas only the blue side was running on Sun and it was closed all day Mon. 

Maxx Force, personally I thought it was more interesting than TTD. The launch was less uncomfortable even though faster because it was so much shorter and something actually interesting happened after that.

One beef- I made a reservation for preferred parking for Sunday which we get with our membership, knowing we wouldn't be there until later in the day and it would be busy. Get there only to be told it was full, too bad. I explained that a reservation meant that a spot was being held for me (which the fine print says it will be until a couple hours before close), toll booth employee looked at me blankly clearly not understanding what a reservation meant and I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode. Anyway checked the next day at guest relations and was told yeah it is simply first come, first serve. To be fair the employees there were sympathetic and apologized. Ok, fine. Not that big a deal. I know we showed up about 4 hours after opening. BUT then why bother to let people make reservations online which is kind of a pain in the butt? That kind of stuff drives me crazy.

[Dan the Coaster Man]

Went to the park yesterday, and I have to say, the park was in pretty good shape. I'd say that was the best Fright Fest I have seen there, but there was one part of the event that was disappointing.

The good:

one of the biggest improvements, food. Love or hate him, Selim is overhauling food and my eye test is extremely impressed. Years past, on a slammed Saturday fright fest, I would wait 60-90 minutes for food. For dinner yesterday I waited in one of the longest lines, and it was still only ~25 mins. Fries were hot and crispy. Most locations were open too.

Bathrooms were in the best shape I've seen them. They have always been relatively clean, but in years past the water has always been freezing. I was able to find warmer water more often than not.

Fright Fest decorations were great. The most I have actually seen, actually. More lights, more fog, I thought the park looked great.

The not so good:

Scareactor distribution. Draw a line through the park, from front entrance to X-Flight. I only saw 2 scareactors on the west half (Southwest Territory, Demon). I was absolutely shocked. There has always been at least one, if not multiple, scareactors lurking by the overpass for the train in between Viper and the small games straight. This has always been one of my favorite places to walk and there was nobody there. The walk between JLBFM and BB is always a great one too, and when we walked through there, there were no scareactors. We finished walking through, and there was one scareactor talking to security. One scareactor for that stretch?? Extremely disappointing. Meanwhile, the east half of the park was appropriately staffed and felt normal. But then at 10:30 we were walking by carousel and all the scareactors were heading back (wherever they go). The last half hour had no scareactors, at least when we walked from carousel to Goliath. That's really upsetting too.

Also, what's the point of a dueling coaster if you can't have both sides open on a fright fest Saturday? Red is surely done for the year, there's one train transferred off and the other train is missing. There's decorations in the red side operating booth. If one side can only be open, can it at least be red instead of blue?

 

[grsupercity]

  

[teacherkim]

1 hour ago, grsupercity said:

  

Exactly!! Glad someone got my reference, lol.

[teacherkim]

12 hours ago, Dan the Coaster Man said:

Went to the park yesterday, and I have to say, the park was in pretty good shape. I'd say that was the best Fright Fest I have seen there, but there was one part of the event that was disappointing.

The good:

one of the biggest improvements, food. Love or hate him, Selim is overhauling food and my eye test is extremely impressed. Years past, on a slammed Saturday fright fest, I would wait 60-90 minutes for food. For dinner yesterday I waited in one of the longest lines, and it was still only ~25 mins. Fries were hot and crispy. Most locations were open too.

Bathrooms were in the best shape I've seen them. They have always been relatively clean, but in years past the water has always been freezing. I was able to find warmer water more often than not.

Fright Fest decorations were great. The most I have actually seen, actually. More lights, more fog, I thought the park looked great.

The not so good:

Scareactor distribution. Draw a line through the park, from front entrance to X-Flight. I only saw 2 scareactors on the west half (Southwest Territory, Demon). I was absolutely shocked. There has always been at least one, if not multiple, scareactors lurking by the overpass for the train in between Viper and the small games straight. This has always been one of my favorite places to walk and there was nobody there. The walk between JLBFM and BB is always a great one too, and when we walked through there, there were no scareactors. We finished walking through, and there was one scareactor talking to security. One scareactor for that stretch?? Extremely disappointing. Meanwhile, the east half of the park was appropriately staffed and felt normal. But then at 10:30 we were walking by carousel and all the scareactors were heading back (wherever they go). The last half hour had no scareactors, at least when we walked from carousel to Goliath. That's really upsetting too.

Also, what's the point of a dueling coaster if you can't have both sides open on a fright fest Saturday? Red is surely done for the year, there's one train transferred off and the other train is missing. There's decorations in the red side operating booth. If one side can only be open, can it at least be red instead of blue?

 

I will agree we didn't have to wait to long for food. However, they did start closing a lot of venues kind of early. JR and Mooseburger for instance closed a couple hours before the park did, so we had some limited options starting around 7 or 8 with a 10 pm close. It was a Sunday night and not Sat so that probably factored in but the park was very crowded until close since the next day was a holiday.

[JJLehto]

So I am finally getting out here for the first time. 
No idea when, looks like the park hasn't released a schedule yet, and I'd like to aim for early May or Sept. BUT decent chance it may have to be July. 
 

Anyway, any general tips to keep in mind? Ya know, how the fast pass system works (no I've not used it at any SF park so if its the same, dont know) general patten to hit the rides, any get particularly bad crowds all the usual stuff to know for a first time visit

[tndank]

Opening day is April 22. April and May are visible when buying group tickets.  Looks like daily ops may start May 23rd.  Fast pass uses the app.  Reserve a ride, use a special line when it's your time.  Not the best but not terrible most days.

[JJLehto]

2 hours ago, tndank said:

Opening day is April 22. April and May are visible when buying group tickets.  Looks like daily ops may start May 23rd.  Fast pass uses the app.  Reserve a ride, use a special line when it's your time.  Not the best but not terrible most days.

Wow, best answer I've ever seen on the internet. Thanks!