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SFGAm rants

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby maxwellt on July 17th, 2016, 4:41 pm
What are some of the rants you have about great america? Its probably up there with being one of the best parks in the nation, but what are the things you hate about the park?

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Postby Re-Check 9 on July 17th, 2016, 7:32 pm
maxwellt wrote:What are some of the rants you have about great america? Its probably up there with being one of the best parks in the nation, but what are the things you hate about the park?

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In general, Six Flags is too focused on having cheap season passes. If they raised the season pass prices just a little bit, that would provide a lot more money for minor improvements and routine maintenance.
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Postby anewman35 on July 17th, 2016, 8:28 pm
So many of the employees just don't seem to CARE. Nothing's more frustrating than an entire ride waiting because one of the employees is having a conversation at the exit with a guest (which could be happening after the ride was dispatched). And don't get me started on the speed of the food service people...
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Postby anewman35 on July 17th, 2016, 8:29 pm
Re-Check 9 wrote:
maxwellt wrote:What are some of the rants you have about great america? Its probably up there with being one of the best parks in the nation, but what are the things you hate about the park?

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In general, Six Flags is too focused on having cheap season passes. If they raised the season pass prices just a little bit, that would provide a lot more money for minor improvements and routine maintenance.


I don't really buy that raising the season passes would get them more money, it's also very possible it would just mean they'd sell less season passes and make the same or less money. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I just don't think it's the easy revenue increase you think it would be.
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Postby SFGAM_Hog on July 17th, 2016, 8:33 pm
My huge complaint about the park is that the themed music has been replaced with pop music. I hear the same songs over and over again. At least bring the themed music back to Carousel Plaza!! :(
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Postby Jodon on July 17th, 2016, 9:09 pm
Oh, gosh...this is such a loaded question. I was fortunate enough to visit a bunch of theme parks last year and this year and I noticed many things those parks did better than Great America. While Great America has a really good collection of rides, the park just seems to cut so many corners and doesn't deliver the experience that it could/should.

First off, the operations at the park are terrible. Parks like Dollywood, Cedar Point, Holiday World, and Kneobels have awesome operations. Part of it is a cost thing with Great America where they don't want to pay for the staff to properly and efficiently operate a ride. I agree with the poster above that said the employees don't seem to care until it's closing time, then they want to clear the line as fast as possible. It's amazing how fast they turn out trains when it means they can go home faster. Parks like Cedar Point have specific crews on individual rides and the employees really take pride in their rides operations.

To make it worse, the food operations are even worse than the ride operations. Plus, the food isn't all that good or made in the park. I wish there would be more things like funnel cakes that are made from "scratch" in the park like fresh cut fries and have a signature food item in the park.

Great America also does a really poor job interacting with its guests on social media. Paula at Holiday World and Tony Clark at Cedar Point do so much awesome PR for their park that doesn't cost the park much if any money. The Tweetups at Cedar Point don't take much time or money, but I love seeing Tony's tweets and imagine being at Cedar Point getting that years coin or front of the line passes.

Even Great America's special ERT's they promote are run half a$$ed. Also, where is any semblance of interaction/event for coaster enthusiasts? I'm not saying it has to be anything fancy, but I've been to Holiwood Nights and it was one of the best theme park experiences I've had. I realize that it takes a lot of effort to put on an enthusiast event like HWN or Coastermania, but I feel that those events are fantastic opportunities to promote their parks to people who would give great word of mouth reports to their friends. For example, after attending HWN, I've recommended a ton of my friends visit Holiday World because of how much fun I had at the park and the type of experience the park offers its guests.

Similar to SFGAM_Hog's post, I'm annoyed that Great America doesn't seem to care about the themed lands anymore. To be honest, I don't care if Great America has themed lands/rides or not, but if you're going to have them, use them and don't put a DC themed ride in every part of the park.

Lastly for now, I wish the park would offer more shows or experiences that can entertain large groups of people at at time. I like the Peking Acrobats and Love at First Fright, but that is realistically the only shows that the park produces. I haven't seen the new percussion show next to X-Flight yet, but I'm hopeful that it's decent and worth the time to listen.

It's clear that Six Flags has focused on making it as cheap as possible to get you in the park, then try to up-charge you to death once you're in the park. The result of that is seeming like it is cutting all kinds of corners on the guest experience. Unfortunately for the guests, Great America is the only option in town and it's closest competition is Cedar Point 6 hours away, so Great America will still get ridiculous guest numbers regardless of guest experience.
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Postby Viper 88 on July 17th, 2016, 9:14 pm
Mine have to be:
Slow Food Lines.
Making food no one is ordering ie people ordering nachos and the people behind the counter are making funnel cakes no one has ordered.
"No Speak English" Line cutters when I just heard you blathering in English about some crap or another!
Selfies in line I mean really you are at an amusement park to have fun not be in a photo shoot
The constant FB Twitter and whatever other garbage updates you feel you need to do. NO ONE CARES!
Flash Pass This one is self explanatory
Parking in Robin 56
Hurricane Harbor this one is also self explanatory.
Horking Loogies in line nasty AF
Getting the names of the rides wrong when you have a damn map Racing Rapids was a waterpark in East Dundee Illinois not a ride at SFGAm.
Lack of indoor dining I say lack because the whole point is to be in the air conditioning for a little while when it never seems like the air conditioners are doing that much because all the doors are open.
Pitchy singers and loud sound system feedback.
Mosquitos.
People changing baby's diaper on pool deck not in bathroom.
Dirty bathrooms womens is apparently worse than the mens any women care to weigh in?
People not picking up after themselves after they eat in the parking lot
People stupid enough to feed Seagulls see above
Seagulls in parking lot divebombing tailgaters see above
Enough empty booze bottles in the parking lot to make any frat house proud
Never knowing the prices for haunted houses more than a week before the Fest begins
No proper packing materials for breakables in the gift shops ie box bubble wrap
Last edited by Viper 88 on March 10th, 2017, 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Dan The Coaster Man on July 17th, 2016, 10:42 pm
I've been to a couple parks and I don't think SFGAm is terrible or bad for any matter but I really can't think of one think it excels at. It's just passable I guess. My only major complain is food service at times but I think this year has been better.
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Postby RBullFan97 on July 17th, 2016, 10:49 pm
I absolutely hate the pop music and think it's terrible for this park. Great America used to play some of the most beautiful and pleasant music, especially in Carousel Plaza and Hometown Square. The themed music worked because it was all instrumental and easy listening and didn't overtake your conversations or thoughts. Music in a theme park should be there in the background: you can tune in if you want but ignore it if you wish. The pop music, though, is so loud and not to mention repetitive, that even the greatest admirer of modern music must admit that it's getting ridiculous. I know some might claim that the music is old and outdated, but so what, the music was old in 1976 when it was recorded, and that's the point: it is old and it's supposed to transport you to a different era. I just don't understand: they had been using the themed music for close to 40 years and there was nothing wrong with it. Why change it all of a sudden in 2016? At least they still play the Carousel Song, the Demon Soundtrack, and the Palm Leaf Rag on Scenic Railway.

Sorry for the long winded post on just one topic. I just had to get this one off my chest. To me the themed music is just as much a part of the fabric of Great America as the Whizzer and the Demon are.
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Postby RollingCoasting on July 19th, 2016, 3:00 pm
At least Metropolis Plaza has themed music. :P I actually did enjoy the themed music in County Fair. And the pop music is getting annoying as well, I sometimes hear the same song 3 times a day. At least each area had different music before.

On a side-note, how long has the park been playing that annoying pirate music by Buccaneer Battle? I didn't notice it until this year.
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Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on July 19th, 2016, 4:01 pm
^ 1) County Fair had themed music?
2) They started doing the Pirate music again?
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Postby RollingCoasting on July 19th, 2016, 4:53 pm
Yes, it probably had more themed music than any other area in the park besides Carousel Plaza.

You can hear one of the songs in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttq72h1uqGs
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Postby Guy_With_A_Stick on July 19th, 2016, 4:58 pm
Ah yes, I can hear it now. Seems quite fitting. At least they still play the Carousel Tune at close.

Also, that video just reminded me of the arcade and Cars/Boats that were there. I remember those. Good times.
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Postby RBullFan97 on July 19th, 2016, 7:09 pm
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:^ 1) County Fair had themed music?
2) They started doing the Pirate music again?

1) Yes. The themed music breakdown basically worked as follows:
Carousel Music in Carousel Plaza
Ragtime (Mainly Scott Joplin) and Big Band/Swing in Hometown Square
A Mixture of Old Western Tunes and Modern Country in Southwest Territory
I have a hard time pinpointing County Fair, probably just upbeat tunes from the early 1900s?
Bluegrass/Backwoods Music in Yukon Territory
Sailor Music and Sea Shanties in Yankee Harbor
Dixieland in Orleans Place and Mardi Gras

2) I can confirm that Buccaneer Battle still has the pirate music.

Again, it's not like the lack of the themed music has totally ruined the park experience for me. There's much bigger problems the park should be focused on, many of which you guys have mentioned. I just feel that it made the park overall a lot more pleasant and charming, and hope to see its return someday.
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Postby batmanfan80 on July 19th, 2016, 11:57 pm
At least this year someone made some positive changes finally. Batman and RB were the fastest lines I've seen since 4 years ago. Some rides have locking Cedar Point style bins for some riders. Demon is a bit smoother. Single rider lines that are marked. Food is better and the food lines have all been fast for me this year, even last Saturday.

That said, X-Flight's line was rarely moving over a 10 min period we spent hanging around the area on Saturday. That means flash passers clogging it up. There have been a few times where I counted between 150-300 flash passers passing me by on an individual X-Flight wait in '14 and '15. Great America still seems hell bent on cramming as many people into the park as possible, even if they only have adequate facilities to accomadate a number half that size.

Water is still cold in all the bathrooms except the one by Moosejaw.

Whoever was running the Superman line a couple Sundays ago around 9:30 wasn't bothering to group the single riders, so everyone behind us was cutting and going into the sr line. It was a de facto flash pass line then. They were only running one train which made it all the worse. We left, but I imagine the hundreds behind us didn't get through til way after 11 pm.

Goliath single rider line took my wife as long as the 60 min wait posted for the regular line. Justice League's single rider line was beautiful a couple weeks ago and wasn't outside the building last Saturday(we didn't wait in it though).

The park needs to do more so that people who aren't buying flash passes don't suffer ungodly waits from the 3rd weekend of July til the end of October.
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Postby maxwellt on July 20th, 2016, 6:59 am
batmanfan80 wrote:At least this year someone made some positive changes finally. Batman and RB were the fastest lines I've seen since 4 years ago. Some rides have locking Cedar Point style bins for some riders. Demon is a bit smoother. Single rider lines that are marked. Food is better and the food lines have all been fast for me this year, even last Saturday.

That said, X-Flight's line was rarely moving over a 10 min period we spent hanging around the area on Saturday. That means flash passers clogging it up. There have been a few times where I counted between 150-300 flash passers passing me by on an individual X-Flight wait in '14 and '15. Great America still seems hell bent on cramming as many people into the park as possible, even if they only have adequate facilities to accomadate a number half that size.

Water is still cold in all the bathrooms except the one by Moosejaw.

Whoever was running the Superman line a couple Sundays ago around 9:30 wasn't bothering to group the single riders, so everyone behind us was cutting and going into the sr line. It was a de facto flash pass line then. They were only running one train which made it all the worse. We left, but I imagine the hundreds behind us didn't get through til way after 11 pm.

Goliath single rider line took my wife as long as the 60 min wait posted for the regular line. Justice League's single rider line was beautiful a couple weeks ago and wasn't outside the building last Saturday(we didn't wait in it though).

The park needs to do more so that people who aren't buying flash passes don't suffer ungodly waits from the 3rd weekend of July til the end of October.

Yeah personally I like the single rider line to an extent. When ur at the park by yourself, it should benefit you. But when a group of 8 teenagers comes into the single rider line, hoping for a fast wait, that's not fun. I remember this group of 10 teens going into the single rider line, and me and my friend waiting in the other line, and we managed to beat them at Goliath. The worst part was that the emplyee knew they were a group and still let them in the sr line...that's what they need to change...
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Postby Jodon on July 20th, 2016, 11:41 am
I actually disagree. If the group knows that they won't sit together, I have zero problem with groups using the single rider line. The problem is that the ride ops frequently screw up the way they group the single rider line. I've had several situations where I've entered the single rider line and got placed on the next train like I was a Flash Pass user.
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Postby batmanfan80 on July 21st, 2016, 9:55 am
The Justice League single rider line worked great the one time the wife and I used it a couple weeks ago. People went up in groups and there'd only be one open spot per car and they'd break the group up and stick one of us in the car. Goliath's problem is that there often isn't open spots for single riders. They used to send out the B&Ms with tons of open seats in years past, but I haven't seen open seats at all this year. A single rider line for Batman, X-Flight, or Raging Trimbrake might not even help.

Someone from Six Flags Great America wrote me back after I sent them a comment about all the non-Moosejaw bathrooms only having cold water. They said they'd take it under special consideration. Maybe I should send Great America more comments if they're going to listen. The biggest thing they need to do is reduce demand. Given that crowds vary significantly based on weather, I think that on days when people are parking at other places on Grand Ave and walking, it's because they have season passes while living somewhat close and have the ability to go to Great America on a whim.

When I go to Florida, I never have to worry about horrible lines at Busch and Sea World. I've heard even in the busiest part of the season, Montu only ever has like a 20 min wait. When I've gone there's rarely an American to be found. It always seems to be tourists. My guess is that a lot of people don't go because they charge twice as much as for season passes as Six Flags does. And the native Floridians who do go are all going during the summer.

If we're spending $450 for season passes with dining, parking, and shopping, it's kinda a waste to have it for maybe 6 good weeks. It's probably a waste for a group of 4 who just buys the bare bones pass for $60 some a piece. A lot of April and May are kinda cold. From there, maybe most of the weekends in June and the first two in July might be good weather-wise. I may try another weekend this month or next, I just don't live close enough to where it makes sense for me to risk driving all the way there to find out 50,000 people showed up and every ride has an abominably long wait or that there's no parking left. It's not like there's all that much to the park aside from the rides.

One thing the park could do is give the attendance out on the phone. Or the wait times(which are often not what is posted). Something so people aren't driving just to find out the hordes have shown up. In the past SFGAM phone operators have given me some info, although it wasn't always accurate. On the last day of FF '12, the guy on the phone said we'd need a flash pass to get on anything. Someone's trip report said that wasn't the case. During our SFOT trip in May, the first day was worse than the worst FF crowd here. So I called the next day and the lady flat out refused to tell me anything and said it was policy or something. Luckily when we got there the lines were like a May day at Great America. Weather was again a factor. Day 1 with the hordes was sunny. Day 2 looked like it could rain, very overcast. Dark clouds seem to drop attendance by 75%.

Six Flags has nothing to gain by not giving the info out correctly. Them withholding info is just going to further damage their brand and add to the already huge pile of bad Yelp reviews. All these bad Yelp reviews over the years just tell me that they don't have the facilities or the staff to handle the hordes of people that show up from mid-July to November. If 50,000 people was the reported record crowd that I've seen at FF a few times, then they probably can't handle more than 25,000 in actuality.

One good thing I can say is that the rides haven't broken for more than a few minutes when I've been there this year. Although I think there was one time when one of the coasters had been down a while and people left the line and we got up to the front. Batman I think it was. It came back on right after we got there. In the past, multiple rides have broken frequently, especially during FF. Usually they'd be back up and running quick.

Justice League is a step in the right direction as far as varying up the park experience. There are times when I would prefer to go on stuff like that over being thrown around on some of these coasters. Given what I've heard about the Marriot era, it seems like it used to be more balanced. The faint memories I have of the 80s and early 90s when I didn't ride coasters suggest to me there was more variation then too.
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Postby jmanporty7 on July 21st, 2016, 4:08 pm
Non of these go against the park, but this year really sucks compared to last year. Last year I had a blast getting season passes for my first time. I thought it was going to be the same this year. But nope. So far this year I've been rained out, my cousin fainted in the line for Superman (it was really hot that day), both Superman and Goliath has broken down a lot, and I got my phone stolen.

Now here's my complaints about the park.
- Loss of theme music, especially Carousel Plaza.
- Ads every freaking where.
- Slow food lines.
- Bad dispatch times on most rides.
- Ride appearance, REPAINT!
- Employees not giving a dang care about customers.
- VRaging Bull, whenever that happens.
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Postby Goku1910 on July 23rd, 2016, 2:16 pm
*Overall park appearance. Blacktop/asphalt is UGLY.
*The Blue "No Smoking" line needs to be pushed back since they separated the metal detectors from the entrance gate. Nothing like waiting in line next to a chain smoker who literally reeks of death.
*Single Rider lines need better implementation/enforcement.
*Food lines too slow, restaurants need more capacity....2 floors? Please?
*Rename Kidzopolis to something Looney Tunes.
*Repaint County Fair Games to it's original colors.

*Get rid of the damn mainstream music :evil:
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Postby RollingCoasting on July 31st, 2016, 2:16 pm
I found a site that has all of the themed music :):

https://rcktman.com/marriotts-great-america-soundtrack/
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Postby maxwellt on July 31st, 2016, 2:27 pm
Youre a god lol. I want to see these soundtracks come back

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Postby anewman35 on July 31st, 2016, 3:06 pm
Not a rant exactly, but something above reminded me of it: the current recording played in the park says something like "Six Flags Great America is a smoke-free environment. Smoking is only allowed in designated areas." But if smoking is allowed in some areas, then it's not true to say that the park is a smoke-free environment. Minor thing, but it annoys me every time
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Postby RollingCoasting on August 19th, 2016, 3:21 pm
Here's another rant: Our park's dining options.

I know it's been mentioned before, but I want to elaborate on it.

I think our park seems to have the worst options out of all the parks (Yes, even Great Escape). Maybe we're better than Discovery Kingdom, though even they have a few options we don't have.

This is what I mean: (List of highlights from a few parks)

Magic Mountain: Garlic fries, Tri-Tip Sandwich, Roast-Beef Sandwich, Western Cheeseburger, Toasted Sandiches, Dole Whips, Cinnamon Rolls, etc.
Over Georgia: Bacon sirloin cheeseburgers, hand rolled pretzel-dog basket, footlong corndogs, chicken cheddar ranch fries
Discovery Kingdom: Chicken and pork burritos, chicken supreme nachos

I feel like our park just has generic options compared to other parks. We don't even have brisket anymore.
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Postby Jackluver18 on August 20th, 2016, 9:19 pm
anewman35 wrote:Not a rant exactly, but something above reminded me of it: the current recording played in the park says something like "Six Flags Great America is a smoke-free environment. Smoking is only allowed in designated areas." But if smoking is allowed in some areas, then it's not true to say that the park is a smoke-free environment. Minor thing, but it annoys me every time



I saw several people with E-cigs last Tuesday when I went and were just walking around the park not caring if they blew the "smoke" in people's faces.
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