Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[cfc]

^How about "a classic of its kind"?

[Jojo19799]

^Works for me. I do think its a classic, but I'll discuss that in another thread.

 

Here is an article about Little Dipper in case anyone was interested.

 

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/2326112,5_1_WA28_DIPPER_S1-100528.article

[rcg19]

Deleted by user

Edited December 29, 2010 by rcg19

[deathbydinn]

A PTR from Little Dipper media day can be found here.

The ride looks great and I love all the info and the signs about in the rides past in the queue.

[monsterfan99]

As of 6 PM today, the Little Dipper is open to the public. The queue line is impressive (with awesome batman photo ops) and shaded. They were having problem with row 7 now working right and it was closed off when I rode around 6:20ish. If you do want to ride, ride early as the queue for the ride was massive by time I rode and easily over an hour.

[Airtime&Gravity]

Update for May 30, 2010

 

Notes:

-Even though it was crowded, most people were in Hurricane Harbor, the rides in the ride park had waits of 30 minutes max

-It was hot

-A new Wii area has opened in Southwest Territory to replace the one taken over by Magiquest

-It was really hot

-The red side of American Eagle was finally running

-They were allowing people to skip the pre-show in Dark Knight

-I think it was due to me not feeling so well because of the heat, but Dark Knight was pretty unpleasant. The two main drops, while usually abrupt and rough, were really bad today.

-Did I mention it was around 90*?

-Viper was running great with lots of airtime, and it's great to see it back at its potential after a pretty mediocre 2009 season.

-American Eagle, both sides, was running great. The ride, with the exception of the second half of the helix and the second helix, is pretty smooth, and there is a lot of airtime. In my opinion, American Eagle is the second best coaster in the park after Viper

 

Little Dipper:

-Little Dipper looks great, Six Flags did a great job rebuilding it, and it looks just like it did at Kiddieland

-Little Dipper had a lot of mechanical problems with the breaks. Nearly every time I went by it, it was closed, or I heard the "Little Dipper is having technical difficulties" announcement

-When Little Dipper broke down, ride operators and mechanics were quick to get it back up, often doing so in just a few minutes

-Little Dipper looks like a huge hit with both families and surprisingly teens.

Welcome to another SFGAM update

Do you see the TPR members?

Little Dipper's sign

Inside the queue, there are some signs like this, just like you'll find on Tony Hawk's Big Spin and Evel Knievel

Another sign

Another sign

Another sign in the queue

A map Six Flags' parks

A sign showing off other historic rides at Six Flags parks

Little Dipper looks almost just like it did at Kiddieland

Little Dipper stuck on the brake run...again

Little Dipper

Little Dipper again

Another view of the station. I had to wait a little bit to get this shot due to Little Dipper breaking down.

You can get some new views of B:TR from Little Dipper's queue

Another new shot

B:TR

More B:TR

Jo phone home

Nathan is a cannibal

For some reason, Jo doesn't seem to be enjoying this

This will eventually become a new ropes course

Viper is running great this season

The new Wii area

Signature shot

King Chaos always attracts a crowd of spectators

Daffy and Sylvester during the dance-off in Hometown Square

This was probably a bad idea...

Luckily, I just avoided getting soaked

[monsterfan99]

I think it was due to me not feeling so well because of the heat, but Dark Knight was pretty unpleasant. The two main drops, while usually abrupt and rough, were really bad today.

The brakes used during the ride has been tweaked this season. They no longer use any on the first set of zig-zags (from before you see batman the first time until the police station) and use a whole lot less before the big drop.

[Jojo19799]

For some reason, Jo doesn't seem to be enjoying this

 

No, not one bit. In fact, I was tortured all day by those two.

[kumba830]

^It's not rape if you liked it...

 

But anyways. Thanks a ton for driving us JO, it was an awesome day!

[traincrossin]

For some reason, Jo doesn't seem to be enjoying this

 

No, not one bit. In fact, I was tortured all day by those two.

I feel so sorry for you Jo. Next time I can drive and try to keep things under control

[deathbydinn]

^ We shouldn't feel sorry for Jo. We should shove more flowers in her mouth!

And that yummy brick by Demon.

[Jojo19799]

^It's not rape if you liked it...

 

But anyways. Thanks a ton for driving us JO, it was an awesome day!

 

Nathan, No means NO.

 

Today was an awesome day. I was impressed with Little Dipper, although they're still working out a few kinks (which isn't a big deal). Like Matt said, they were working quickly to get all problems resolved.

 

I was really impressed with the Glow in the Dark parade. I think it could have used some more floats and characters. Maybe that's something they're working on for the future, after all, it was only the opening weekend of this parade.

[kumba830]

So I went to SFGAm on May 30th. Just in the morning and came back later that night.

 

We chose to watch the new Glow in The Park parade, and I took some footage of the parade.

[NOTE: the whole thing is a spoiler]

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

A full PTR should be up soonish in my SFGAm thread!

[adavis]

Any guesses on how busy tomorrow will be?

[WildStangAlex]

today wasn't bad...20 mins for bull, batman, american eagle, viper. 30-45 for superman and v2.

[adavis]

today wasn't bad...20 mins for bull, batman, american eagle, viper. 30-45 for superman and v2.

 

Similar waits today. I got five re-rides on Raging Bull, thanks to empty seats, but even if I hadn't they were running three trains and the line was averaging 15 minutes or less, usually about ten. Batman and Superman both had mechanical issues, Superman kept breaking and Batman didn't open until about five. When Superman was open, lines varied between a half hour and an hour, Batman went from an hour wait to pretty much no wait with a half hour or so left. Iron Wolf was a walk on, and horrible. V2 had short lines that ran slow, as usual. Dark Knight and Viper were walk ons, American Eagle was 45 minutes!

 

A funny aside on Superman. I walked over to the que, and saw the kid working telling a group of highschoolers what had to be bad news, when I got closer I saw the chain that meant Superman had gotten too close to kryptonite. I said, "any idea how long?", and got the predictable, "no clue." Then the phone rang and he said, "it's open."

 

All in all, a good day.

[deguy123]

Wow they really restored this ride and I think it's great they saved this ride. More parks should remember in some cases bigger isn't always better.

[Aeater333]

They are almost done with the ropes coarse. They had workers on it tweaking things all day today

[traincrossin]

I went to the park on Tuesday and took pics of Little Dipper, the future location of Chang, and the new ropes course. I'll upload the entire trip report next week. Also, at the next village board meeting on June 7th, Six Flags Great America is asking for approval of a fireworks permit for a 4th of July event.

This view will be completely different next year

Looking into the lot

So long go-karts!

Just imagine a giant coaster right there

Little Dipper

Little Dipper

The on-ride photo booth for Ragin Cajun is gone

The ropes course is coming along

Hopefully it will be a better upcharge attraction than Magiquest

And now a closer view of the, um, lot.

DIRT!!!

Funstruction

Overview of the lot/future home of Chang

It seemed like this area of the parking lot was blocked off, but i'm not sure.

I came back later in the day and they had gotten a lot of work done!

See? Progress.

More ropes

[deathbydinn]

The rock wall is really coming along fast. I'll try to get lots of pictures of it on Saturday.

[traincrossin]

The ropes course that replaced the rock wall that no one cared about is really coming along fast. I'll try to get lots of pictures of it on Saturday.

Fixed

[coasterdude5]

The ropes course looks interesting! Anybody know if it will be themed at all?

 

Also, I am considering the possibility of working at Six Flags Great America next summer (or possibly the next). I have family that lives about 5 minutes from the park that would be willing to allow me to live with them for the summer while I worked. While I'd love to be a ride attendant at one of the larger attractions at the park, I'd be happy to have just about any job at the park.

 

However, since I live in Memphis, I was curious what my chances are of getting a job. If my chances are decent, when would I need to apply? I will be at the park for a few days next month-is there anyone at the park that I should talk face-to-face with? Is it common for out of town college students to work at the park?

 

I would greatly appreciate feedback, especially from those who have worked at the park before!

[CoasterPrince]

I'm sorry but a 150ft. coaster that close to the front is just going to look awful. Superman is ok because it's layout is beautiful and it's only 100ft. With Chang you have a mess of (coughgreencough) steel just ruining the skyline. Then again Gasm is 173 ft. and our skyline is drop dead gorgeous.

[Jojo19799]

The rope course looks exactly like the one at MoA. That didn't impress me and honestly, neither is this one. I'm sorry to all the rope course lovers out there.

[Airtime&Gravity]

The ropes course looks interesting! Anybody know if it will be themed at all?

 

Also, I am considering the possibility of working at Six Flags Great America next summer (or possibly the next). I have family that lives about 5 minutes from the park that would be willing to allow me to live with them for the summer while I worked. While I'd love to be a ride attendant at one of the larger attractions at the park, I'd be happy to have just about any job at the park.

 

However, since I live in Memphis, I was curious what my chances are of getting a job. If my chances are decent, when would I need to apply? I will be at the park for a few days next month-is there anyone at the park that I should talk face-to-face with? Is it common for out of town college students to work at the park?

 

I would greatly appreciate feedback, especially from those who have worked at the park before!

 

 

You'll need to apply online sometime in the winter, I believe in February. In your case, I'd write my address as the one you'll stay at, and if you get a call(for you, I'd list your cell number) for an interview, mention what your living conditions will be. Lately, it seems like a lot of older adults and less college students/teenagers have been hired due to the economy.

 

Sadly, I forgot to do that, so I didn't get hired at the park.