Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

I know dissing on six flags is the "cool thing to do", but in all honesty they are right there with other parks as far as employees hustle goes.

 

Not giving a free pass here, as you can probably objectively say operations are in the 6 to 8 out of 10 range. But enthusiasts make it seem like it's a 2 or 3

 

Trend seems to be especially noteworthy for this park. A local SFGAm message board is always bitching about any little nitpick

Yes, they're literally like, "at Cedar Point they ask you how was your ride after every cycle, and that makes a huge difference, the ops at Six Flags are too lazy to do that".

#1 stop comparing Great America and Six Flags operations policy in general to Cedar Point's

and #2 little flairs like that are personal choices for ride operators (at least at Great America), if you get a shy/new operator, you probably won't get a friendly spiel on your return. That's just the luck of the draw; come back in a couple hours and you'll probably get a different experience.

Just visited the park today, got in at opening and left around 4. Had a great day! Maxx Force lives up to the hype. Will likely elaborate later.

I'm back at my hotel so I can make a mini report now. I'm basically just going to combine all my miscellaneous thoughts:

General notes:

• -Very hot and humid. Temperature hovered in the mid 90s and humidity was 60-70%-ish. Desperately needed a shower afterward
  -Crowds were very manageable, few significant waits, quite a few walk ons
  -Maxx Force didn't open until the mid-afternoon
  -Good ride operations overall, most trains were sent out full or with few empty seats. Goliath and Maxx Force were assigning rows. Most coasters were well staffed.
  -Train is still down, but pretty much every other ride I noticed was operating
  -Bathrooms were clean, and (most importantly) well air conditioned!
  -The member lounge (in addition to an overpriced concession stand, nice seating, and air conditioning), has coke freestyle machines! If I understand correctly from what I saw in there and what I heard from the staff member I spoke to, members can fill up any cup they want with those machines, even the plastic water cups!

Ride notes:

• -I didn't ride all the coasters since I got to everything but the 2 kiddie coasters last year, so if a ride isn't mentioned it's probably because I skipped it.
  -Whizzer was some good plain ol' fun. Very good family coaster, glad the park's taking care of it. Got on the first train of the day.
  -Viper is actually really fun. Strong lats and solid air. Came out of my seat plenty of times, especially towards the front. Definitely make sure to ride this if you visit
  -Raging Bull: trims definitely take away from the ride, but I actually enjoyed this one significantly more than last year. Riding exclusively in the back row (or maybe back two rows), all the drops were fun, and many gave decent air. The first drop is awesome! I also think the twister section at the end is somewhat underrated. Not spectacular, but fun.
  -Giant drop: Very good drop tower. It's not larson/arm, but it's forceful, and gives a nice long drop. I also appreciate the rockwork in the queue.
  -Ricochet: Never seen this type of ride before. Fun, interesting going from the fast movement when you're raise in the air to slow movement when you're near the ground. Look for offride footage of this ride to see what I mean. Fun, but not worth more than a one cycle wait.
  -Lobster: It's a shame this ride is increasingly rare, because I actually thoroughly enjoyed this. The spinning is good, and your actually get some mild air when your arm raises up. Glad I rode it.
  -Justice League: Running well, except all the screens were weirdly dark. Not sure what was up with that. Luckily all the effects were working as well as the shooting mechanism, so it was still good. Also air conditioning was very welcome. Single rider line made this a walk-on.
  -Demon: had to ride this defensively to avoid the restrain coming down too far and making the whole ride painful, but it was worth it imo for the intense loops and (most importantly) the wonderful bizarre airtime on the drop in the back row. Also I love how they kept all the cheesy effects from when the ride opened, it makes the experience just that much more fun.
  -Goliath: Just as awesome as ever. The drop gives strong ejector, the first overbank gives some funky sideways hangtime, the airtime hill and jump into brakes give more ejector. The dive loop is quite whippy, and the stall is a ton of fun. This is an excellent ride, and I can't wait to ride more RMC's (hoping to get to KD later this year for TT).
  -Batman: Took a back row ride this time and was impressed at just how intense and whippy that ride was. The loops even made my stomach drop on the way down, and all the inversions were very well executed. This ride is great!
  -Superman: Running one train, but the line was short enough and dispatches quick enough that it was manageable. The pretzel loop is awesome, and is the most intense individual element in the park (well it was, but we'll get to that ride later). The rest of the ride is fun, but nothing to write home about.
  -Dark knight: No trims! Or at least almost no trims. This thing ran super fast. I love the 'surprise' drop, and all the turns were taken at full speed. Also nice to know that the cars have zippered pouches for loose articles in addition to bins. Funny note: the screen that is supposed to replace riders' faces with the creepy mask things was broken, and was instead displaying a windows XP or vista desktop screen with what looked like an error message.
  -Maxx Force: Hooooly crap, that launch is insane. Had me screaming every time. It's like if you took that initial kick of a hydraulic launch, but instead of that initial kick wavering off, it is maintained the entire time. I was assigned to row 7 for both of my rides, so I didn't get to experience the front, but Maxx Force is now my favorite ride at the park. The little bump didn't give any air where I sat, but the rest of the ride certainly delivered. The two double inversions provide funky sideways hangtime; the first one is a bit more intense while the second one is more sustained hanging. The barrel roll provides what almost feels like a pop of upside-down airtime, and is rather whippy. There's no single rider line, but both times I rode they asked for single riders roughly around the final bend before the ramp, allowing me to skip the last 3-7 min of waiting. Flash pass seemed to be open for this ride, but idk what the restrictions are since I don't have it. Also worth noting that the large set of switchbacks look nearly finished, but were still not open. In fact, they didn't use any of the switchbacks at all, so despite the line nearly reaching the entrance gate, I only actually waited about 25 min each time (however it looked like the line grew after my second ride). Trains were generally sent out every 110-ish seconds, 30-40ish of which are spent waiting for the first train to leave the station and the seconds to arrive in its place. If six flags builds more rides like this I'd be 110% behind that. This ride is a winner!

I would upload pictures but the process of getting the pictures from my phone to TPR is rather annoying; however, if anyone really wants to see pictures of the glitched out Dark Knight screen or the almost complete Maxx Force switchbacks, let me know and I'll upload them.

Glad you enjoyed your visit! I'm sure the heat today scared many people away from coming to the park (at least the dry side of it).

Maxx Force really is spectacular

Funny note: the screen that is supposed to replace riders' faces with the creepy mask things was broken, and was instead displaying a windows XP or vista desktop screen with what looked like an error message.

Ah yes, this screen:

Teaser #1:

Teaser #2:

^ 86, 3, and 23 keep reappearing in those teasers, and they mentioned record breaking in the 2nd one...

Obviously that means it's 3 feet tall, has 23 launches and has 86 inversions.

Z-Force was 86 ft high, operated for parts of 3 seasons at GAm, and Michael Jordan wore #23. I'm with Andrew/ytterbiumanalyst on this one.

I hate myself for watching those videos.

“Summer is FLYING by...” clearly it’s going to be a flying coaster.

So there's some fresh wood next to Eagle's brake run on the red side, and it gave me an idea.

What if, for 2020, Great America gave Eagle a refurbishment similar to that of Revolution at SFMM? New name, new trains, and some fresh new wood and track.

So, uh, is there a way to change your home park on your Six Flags membership? My friends and I bought our memberships at Great America, but that isn't our local Six Flags - St. Louis is our nearest. I've logged into my membership account and there doesn't seem to be a way to change which park is listed as my home park.... So now I'm getting e-mails about Bring A Friend, but it's for GA and I don't live anywhere near Chicago (friends and I are in Missouri).

Do we have to go to the park to change it? If we go to SF STL, can we change it to our home park there?

It would be neat to see a RMC Conversion on one half of American Eagle. One side RMC IBOX and the other side original American Eagle.

So, uh, is there a way to change your home park on your Six Flags membership? My friends and I bought our memberships at Great America, but that isn't our local Six Flags - St. Louis is our nearest. I've logged into my membership account and there doesn't seem to be a way to change which park is listed as my home park.... So now I'm getting e-mails about Bring A Friend, but it's for GA and I don't live anywhere near Chicago (friends and I are in Missouri).

 

Do we have to go to the park to change it? If we go to SF STL, can we change it to our home park there?

I don't think you can change your park because each park sets their own price. You would probably have to cancel your current membership and purchase a SFStL one.

Well, it's not a base-tier GA-only membership - it's a Platinum that gets us in to all the parks; is the price for that different, too, based on which park you get it at?

Yes, Six Flags prices all their memberships differently depending on which park you buy it from. It's different from Cedar Fair, which (for now) prices all Platinum passes the same. CF is moving to a membership model like SF has, so that may change next year.

The good news is your St. Louis Platinum membership will probably be cheaper than your Chicago Platinum membership.

Yes, Six Flags prices all their memberships differently depending on which park you buy it from. It's different from Cedar Fair, which (for now) prices all Platinum passes the same. CF is moving to a membership model like SF has, so that may change next year.

 

The good news is your St. Louis Platinum membership will probably be cheaper than your Chicago Platinum membership.

For the record, there is nothing to indicate that CP is changing to a membership model. All they said was that existing auto-renewals will not auto-renew for 2020. This could be caused by something as simple as a deletion of a word in the terms of service.

So there's some fresh wood next to Eagle's brake run on the red side, and it gave me an idea.

 

What if, for 2020, Great America gave Eagle a refurbishment similar to that of Revolution at SFMM? New name, new trains, and some fresh new wood and track.

Wooden coasters are a constant work in progress. Bad wood and parts of the track get replaced on a regular basis. The wood you saw is nothing out of the norm. A lot of work is done every off season. Re-branding this classic coaster won't do anything but take away some of its nostalgia. One of the reasons behind the name change of Revolution is that they added VR to it.

Yes, Six Flags prices all their memberships differently depending on which park you buy it from. It's different from Cedar Fair, which (for now) prices all Platinum passes the same. CF is moving to a membership model like SF has, so that may change next year.

 

The good news is your St. Louis Platinum membership will probably be cheaper than your Chicago Platinum membership.

 

For the record, there is nothing to indicate that CP is changing to a membership model. All they said was that existing auto-renewals will not auto-renew for 2020. This could be caused by something as simple as a deletion of a word in the terms of service.

Thanks for the clarification. What I had read made it sound more certain than it apparently is.

Well, it's not a base-tier GA-only membership - it's a Platinum that gets us in to all the parks

Just FYI, I believe that every Six Flags season pass/membership gets you into all their parks (at least all the dry parks). I do not believe there are single park season passes at all.

Apparently their are survey markings on stairs at the Tornado slide in the water park. Water Coaster?

Thanks for all the info, y'all! I'll have to talk to my friends about it and see if they want to go through the hassle of switching; I don't know if we'd even use any of the home-park based features.

Quick Maxx Force update:

I went to Six Flags yesterday for a few hours and MF was consistently launching in the neighborhood of 110 seconds. Although they were not being used for the most part, all of the new queue line addition is finished AND 4 out of six overhead sun shelter screens have been installed as well as a second large misting fan.

Also, yesterday was exactly 40 years to the day that I first set foot in (what was then) Marriott's Great America. The new attraction for '79 was Fort Fun, the large children's playhouse where the Go Kart track is now. Tidal Wave was only a year old and it was the last year for Turn Of The Century before it was converted to The Demon for 1980 season.

RIP Fort Fun, If that's the big ball shooting room, I would spend hours in there as a kid.