Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[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! 

 

[thepoint4life23]

Do they still have like 3 levels of skip the line passes? 

[thepoint4life23]

Anyone know when schools go back in the city's around Chicago? Wondering if a late August trip would be good or if the kids don't go  back till after Labor day like most states? 

[ilrider]

On 2/17/2023 at 3:26 PM, thepoint4life23 said:

Anyone know when schools go back in the city's around Chicago? Wondering if a late August trip would be good or if the kids don't go  back till after Labor day like most states? 

They return before Labor Day in the suburbs, by late August. I think Chicago Public Schools started in August this year too for the first time. Go the last week in August if possible. Wisconsin schools do not start until after LD though, some of those families might be there. 

[Bob325]

Well, this is disappointing if true...

It's the only ride on their website showing "closed for season".

[Shavethewhales2]

Oof. Hope they are planning a refurbishment. They can rebrand it like Twister II/III if that helps their economic logic. That is legitimately one of my favorite rides and was a massive surprise for me on my 2019 trip up there. 

[Airtime&Gravity]

I’m ok with this if this means the park gets a Twisted/Wicked Cyclone.  I haven’t been to the park since 2015, but Viper seemed to have less airtime/been running significantly slower post 2010-ish compared to how it ran in previous years.

[thrillseeker4552]

Bummer if this is true (since I'm always skeptical of Six Flags' website). I'm visiting for the first time this August and I've heard good things about Viper.

[JT325]

Looking for input on crowds for tomorrow, Sunday May 28th.  I know some holiday weekends are crammed, but there were always some that were dead.  I can never keep track, and have had SFE (Six Flags Exhuastion) for years.  I just want to know NOT when to go.  Is tomorrow one of them? 

 

[The username]

Planning to hit the park for the first time this July 2nd/3rd (Sunday/Monday) What should I expect crowd-wise? Hopefully 2 days should be enough to hit everything!

[JT325]

^Probably on the crowded side.  Unless you like long lines for drinks and food, pack your trunk if you can.  Hope you like the park, I always say it's the best in the chain ;)

[tndank]

35 minutes ago, JT325 said:

^Probably on the crowded side.  Unless you like long lines for drinks and food, pack your trunk if you can.  Hope you like the park, I always say it's the best in the chain

Lots of quick serve places nearby.  We hit up Cane's and the mall the days we visited recently.  Quick break, AC, and decent food. Easy to get back in the lot/park.

 

[The username]

That sounds like the move, my home park is Over Georgia and I stopped eating there after waiting an hour and a half for chicken fingers