Park Fights and Safety

[_FuryBull_330_]

Wait I have an idea. We could make a petition convincing everyone we know to make the park safer. The more people we convince the more it could damage the park and Six Flags in general. You all the rights to disagree with me just my idea.

[tribar]

Today in the park I saw a group of four on the Whizzer who were swearing in front of little kids. I told them to stop because they were a bad influence to the kids. I'd figured they stopped, but nooooo. They started swearing at me telling me I wasn't in charge of them (since I'm 13 but didn't say nothing). They told me that I keep talking and we're going to have a problem. I stopped for my own risk and headed the opposite direction they were going (toward Bull). They need to do something fast.

This, unfortunately, is how problems start. Someone decides to take it upon themselves to play the guy in charge and it just escalates from there. It's best to just leave things be, especially with something as minor as swearing. You made the right choice being the bigger man by leaving it be after the fact but it's just not worth it to get involved in the first place.

[batmanfan80]

This park is an expert at attracting hordes of trashy people. It's like they emptied out the Walmarts from Gurnee, Addison, Countryside, and Darien and they all landed at the park. The price is definitely the factor here. Plenty of people from Kenosha, Waukegan, North Chicago, and places within a half hour drive that don't mind waiting in lots of lines as long as stuff is free or really cheap. They can't stop the tailgating because the park doesn't have the facilities to handle the crowds. Food and drink lines are already insanely long and slow even with hundreds tailgating in the lot. This place was built for the world of the mid-70s, not for flooding it with endless trashy people 40 years later. Great America hasn't even been able to get the water above ice cold temps in years, what makes anyone think they have solutions for anything else?

The first thing they should do is start blacking out dates for local people. Hordes of people who live close to the park don't need to be using it as a daycare center or showing up several times a week for whatever reason. We can't even use our lunch passes because there's no way for us to know if the park will be flooded well past what it can handle before we get there. All we can do is check the queue sites after they update and hope the crowd size can be determined by the wait times. Those have been weird. I've been checking them and unless weather is keeping people away, it'll have half the rides at 60+ min and half walk-ups. Batman at 70 min and Raging and Demon at 10. I was shocked to see the Hangover drawing wait times of 80 and 110 min on different days.

We've been there dozens of times since 2011 and never really seen anything resembling a fight or rowdy behavior. It's surprising because so many of the people in the crowd look like they came from an episode of Gangland or MSNBC Lock Up. Seen some loud people and line cutters. A lot of those line cutters came across as very entitled and kinda carried themselves in a hostile manner. I wasn't about to make an issue.

There's more than price to consider I suppose. Walmart and Target draw completely different crowds even though the prices are basically the same. For whatever reason, the trashiest people are all drawn to Walmart. I'm not sure what it is about their marketing, but something seems to put them off about Target.

The park does seem to be focusing less and less on family stuff. It feels less and less like a theme park every year and more like a collection of slightly rough thrill rides with a few token flats thrown in. There's not a lot of theming, other activities, costumed characters, shows, etc. There's little focus on the experience. Everything is about enticing hordes of trashy people with thrill rides and cheap prices.

[SFGAMNUT9302]

This park is an expert at attracting hordes of trashy people. It's like they emptied out the Walmarts from Gurnee, Addison, Countryside, and Darien and they all landed at the park. The price is definitely the factor here. Plenty of people from Kenosha, Waukegan, North Chicago, and places within a half hour drive that don't mind waiting in lots of lines as long as stuff is free or really cheap. They can't stop the tailgating because the park doesn't have the facilities to handle the crowds. Food and drink lines are already insanely long and slow even with hundreds tailgating in the lot. This place was built for the world of the mid-70s, not for flooding it with endless trashy people 40 years later. Great America hasn't even been able to get the water above ice cold temps in years, what makes anyone think they have solutions for anything else?

The first thing they should do is start blacking out dates for local people. Hordes of people who live close to the park don't need to be using it as a daycare center or showing up several times a week for whatever reason. We can't even use our lunch passes because there's no way for us to know if the park will be flooded well past what it can handle before we get there. All we can do is check the queue sites after they update and hope the crowd size can be determined by the wait times. Those have been weird. I've been checking them and unless weather is keeping people away, it'll have half the rides at 60+ min and half walk-ups. Batman at 70 min and Raging and Demon at 10. I was shocked to see the Hangover drawing wait times of 80 and 110 min on different days.

We've been there dozens of times since 2011 and never really seen anything resembling a fight or rowdy behavior. It's surprising because so many of the people in the crowd look like they came from an episode of Gangland or MSNBC Lock Up. Seen some loud people and line cutters. A lot of those line cutters came across as very entitled and kinda carried themselves in a hostile manner. I wasn't about to make an issue.

There's more than price to consider I suppose. Walmart and Target draw completely different crowds even though the prices are basically the same. For whatever reason, the trashiest people are all drawn to Walmart. I'm not sure what it is about their marketing, but something seems to put them off about Target.

The park does seem to be focusing less and less on family stuff. It feels less and less like a theme park every year and more like a collection of slightly rough thrill rides with a few token flats thrown in. There's not a lot of theming, other activities, costumed characters, shows, etc. There's little focus on the experience. Everything is about enticing hordes of trashy people with thrill rides and cheap prices.

Agreed! Great America has become a nesting ground for every Cletus and Tyrone in the State of Illinois and Wisconsin!

When I went to Cedar Point last year, I was amazed at how much classier and well behaved the customers were! Does it cost more? Oh yeah! Is it worth the higher costs? Absolutely!

Cedar Point proves that you can be THE thrill park and also a super family friendly park too!

Great America has the same potential, in fact even more given our location. It just needs a solid long term plan to make it a destination park, instead of a redneck daycare center, lol

[ilrider]

You can’t tell locals they cannot come to the park on certain days. Give me a break. Most of the visitors to the park are local. Also, a huge majority of the park visitors cause no problems at the park, so why punish everyone else? I also do not agree with increasing prices just to try to keep undesirables out because again, that hurts everyone else’s wallet too. The park needs to increase the security presence in the park to start.

[anewman35]

You can’t tell locals they cannot come to the park on certain days. Give me a break. Most of the visitors to the park are local. Also, a huge majority of the park visitors cause no problems at the park, so why punish everyone else? I also do not agree with increasing prices just to try to keep undesirables out because again, that hurts everyone else’s wallet too. The park needs to increase the security presence in the park to start.

You can't tell local people not to come, but you could have blackout dates on passes (or certain levels of passes). Disney and Universal do it. That said, we're not Disney or Universal and I don't see that even happening. But it's not unheard of.

[Sven18]

Today in the park I saw a group of four on the Whizzer who were swearing in front of little kids. I told them to stop because they were a bad influence to the kids. I'd figured they stopped, but nooooo. They started swearing at me telling me I wasn't in charge of them (since I'm 13 but didn't say nothing). They told me that I keep talking and we're going to have a problem. I stopped for my own risk and headed the opposite direction they were going (toward Bull). They need to do something fast.

This, unfortunately, is how problems start. Someone decides to take it upon themselves to play the guy in charge and it just escalates from there. It's best to just leave things be, especially with something as minor as swearing. You made the right choice being the bigger man by leaving it be after the fact but it's just not worth it to get involved in the first place.

The groups behavior was a clear violation of park policy. Jst like line jumping is, etc...The thing is SF does not enforce policy and station enough people to do it. I have seen numerous times at Cedar Fair parks staff that are monitoring the entrance, Fast Lane+, etc... reprimand behavior that is a violation of park policy. I can't count, as it's too many the number of times staff have pulled line jumpers out of line at CP, KI, Wonderland, KD, etc...

Last week at KI and kid about 10 or 12 kept sitting on the rails, the staff told him not to several times. His trashy father had a fit yelling at employee about not telling him how to raise his kids with a barrage of swearing. The employee told him plain and frank without raising his voice if you don't want to follow the rules, don't come back. The guy starting yelling more and louder. The supervisor cam over and backed up the employee about him doing his job correctly. The trashy guy kept going and they called security, was there in like 2 minutes. Security told him if you verbal abuse employees and don't follow rules rules, than you're going to be thrown out today and that you shouldn't come back. Don't think I would see that at any SF park.

[tribar]

Today in the park I saw a group of four on the Whizzer who were swearing in front of little kids. I told them to stop because they were a bad influence to the kids. I'd figured they stopped, but nooooo. They started swearing at me telling me I wasn't in charge of them (since I'm 13 but didn't say nothing). They told me that I keep talking and we're going to have a problem. I stopped for my own risk and headed the opposite direction they were going (toward Bull). They need to do something fast.

This, unfortunately, is how problems start. Someone decides to take it upon themselves to play the guy in charge and it just escalates from there. It's best to just leave things be, especially with something as minor as swearing. You made the right choice being the bigger man by leaving it be after the fact but it's just not worth it to get involved in the first place.

The groups behavior was a clear violation of park policy. Jst like line jumping is, etc...The thing is SF does not enforce policy and station enough people to do it. I have seen numerous times at Cedar Fair parks staff that are monitoring the entrance, Fast Lane+, etc... reprimand behavior that is a violation of park policy. I can't count, as it's too many the number of times staff have pulled line jumpers out of line at CP, KI, Wonderland, KD, etc...

Last week at KI and kid about 10 or 12 kept sitting on the rails, the staff told him not to several times. His trashy father had a fit yelling at employee about not telling him how to raise his kids with a barrage of swearing. The employee told him plain and frank without raising his voice if you don't want to follow the rules, don't come back. The guy starting yelling more and louder. The supervisor cam over and backed up the employee about him doing his job correctly. The trashy guy kept going and they called security, was there in like 2 minutes. Security told him if you verbal abuse employees and don't follow rules rules, than you're going to be thrown out today and that you shouldn't come back. Don't think I would see that at any SF park.

It's also not his job to enforce Park rules. He really has no authority to give orders nor do those teenage punks have any obligation to abide by them. Again, for your own safety it's best to ignore them or if possible tell an employee. It's not worth potentially risking your life.

[Jodon]

A lot of the safety issues can be solved with more workers in the park. Most rides in the park are understaffed, so wait times get inflated. Most dining options in the park are severely understaffed so wait times get inflated. When wait times get inflated, guests get irritated. When guests get irritated, guests start creating issues. If SFGAm were to finally start adequately staff rides and dining locations, the park would be much better and safer, in my opinion.

[LordMagnus101]

Went this morning. The line to get in was long as usual, however, I only stayed for a few hours, I was shocked that the line was just as long if not longer then when the park opened. No doubt there is a large population of idiots in this park. For instance, some guy, his girlfriend, and son?, casually walked into line to get into the park like they had been there all along, cutting off at least 100 people. Anyhow, I'm sure the asinine lines that people have to go through don't help with tempers during the day. Almost all drink stations are staffed with a single person during the morning, and most restaurants do not open until noon it seems like. It's very frustrating and almost a chore to even go. I am considering whether to even get a season pass next year as now I have security concerns along with a worsening run park every year.

[batmanfan80]

That's right, other parks have blackout dates on the season passes. I don't see anything controversial about blacking out dates for people who go several times a week. My idea was just allow them a limited amount of dates, like one a week or one every two weeks. There's a lot of people there who are just taking up space. Making the park almost free to visit cheapens the brand too. They really should post wait times and crowd levels on their social media and website. It doesn't do them any good if I drive 55 miles there and just end up standing around all day due to lines being too long and slow. If those queue sites didn't exist, I don't even think I'd get a pass. Checked em again today, 60+ min lines for most things. Their greed and stupidity are creating a lot of angry customers. Yet everyone keeps coming back for more. That or it's all new people. Could take them a few more years before they've irritated enough millions of people in the area to put a dent in their attendance.

People have said the park had attendance problems over a decade ago. My guess is that social media is the big motivator. It would not surprise me if upwards of 75% of the people going there are mainly there just to take pictures for Facebook and Instagram. Even Brookfield Zoo gets the hordes so bad on an average Zoo Lights day that you can't even get a parking spot. None of these people cared about these places before social media reached some new peak 4 years ago.

As far as staffing, I've considered that it's understaffed. I think it's more than that. The buildings aren't big enough. The one time we were able to go this year when the record heat made riding terrible, I didn't really think there was much they could do so that the Demon ice cream would move faster. Didn't seem like there was anymore space for more employees. Plus these things all take prep time. The park would need to run every place like a Portillo's. Even that place can take some time to prepare stuff though. Eventually they'll be able to use robotics to do a lot of this work. I think the Flippy robot used at that CA burger chain was 60k, so, it might be a few more years before costs can come down enough for SF to use them.

Crowds may drop off some next month and in August. Before last year, the hordes didn't show up until mid-July. It's possible that the crowds may not drop off at all for the rest of the year aside from rainy days.

[CoasterRiderSC]

I think the park used to care way more about bad language, but they don't seem to care anymore like they used to, so that problem is all on the park. I remember the times when they used to say if they hear someone constantly saying bad language, they would actually get security, and kick them out of the park. Gone are those days. Remember, the garbage cans all used to say family friendly. Now they play songs where the singer says lets get our freaky on - in carousel plaza. "I was born to get wild That's my style If you didn't know that.... We gon' rock it to the top Until the roof come burnin' down Yeah, it's hot in here The temperature Has got these ladies Gettin' freakier We ain't messin' with no maggots Dirty bit Dirty bit (shortened swear rides right there) Light a fire, make it hot I don't wanna take no pictures I just wanna take some shots "

I totally agree with your comments about the music! And I witnessed people in their 20's playing nasty rap music with F word, B word, etc, as my 3 yo and I walked from the car to the front gate! And not to mention all the young males who seemingly buy pants that don't stay up, the young girls who expose pretty much everything, the rude teens, etc.

I'm all for raising the prices to keep the riff raff out. They also need to enforce rules about attire.

This park is quickly becoming NOT family friendly. I also think what we're seeing at the park is also true of our larger society in general.

Very sad...........

[_FuryBull_330_]

Can we file a complaint to the park. If we can than we have to make one document and we all sign our names on it so the pArk would hear us and get more people joining in.

[Ilovthevu']

This is older - 10 days ago, but this person should get banned for life from the park. This kid / teenager throws a slim jim at a Roaring Rapids boat (with people on it), and he's in a video doing it. You don't have to watch the rest of the video.

https://youtu.be/kMAJSEr7bi4?t=33s

I have a feeling they do this all the time because it's in the way he says it.

[Necropolis]

This is one of the reasons I don't go as often as I used to. I remember a few years ago, I was in line for Viper and a teen was holding a spot for his group. All of a sudden you see a group of 6 or 7 teens walk up to where their friend was at because he was their line spot holder. Someone mentioned that there's no cutting and they responded rudely of course. The person who talked to them claimed to have mentioned it to a staff member but then nothing was done. The teens were able to stay in their spot in line. I don't know if the park was short staffed or security was too busy but that was unacceptable.

The sad reality is (and I don't want to start another rant/go off topic) but the mainstream is full of this crap that makes youth think it's alright to act in a rude manner. It's the peer pressure, the way people believe they are perceived so they feel they need to act inappropriately in front of their friends. I am glad my dad would give me an @$$ whoopin' if I ever misbehaved at home or in public which is what a lot of kids today need.

My brother went to the park last year with his wife and son and he was not happy with the vulgar vocabulary that was going on in the park and just the inappropriate things he was seeing. I am not sure if it's a matter of free speech but inappropriate behavior like that should not be tolerated and be taken seriously. It's becoming less of a family park and not worth the time, drive, and cost for a family to get a bad experience.

Another part of me says that because the park has mostly seasonal jobs, maybe some of these younger employees just don't care because in a few months or so, they'll be gone to college or high school or somewhere else and just want to make some quick money. But again, if raising the prices means we get less of this crap then the park can thrive and be more successful. Someone here on this forum said it best, "I'd gladly pay a flat $150 for a season pass that includes parking, if it means keeping this garbage out of the park and increasing park quality and security. Good paying customers will be chased away if this trend continues."

[American Eagle 1981]

This is older - 10 days ago, but this person should get banned for life from the park. This kid / teenager throws a slim jim at a Roaring Rapids boat (with people on it), and he's in a video doing it. You don't have to watch the rest of the video.

https://youtu.be/kMAJSEr7bi4?t=33s

I have a feeling they do this all the time because it's in the way he says it.

Wow! I hadn’t seen that video yet. That’s exactly what I’m talking about, it’s just disgusting behavior by unsupervised morons. Maybe kids under a certain age shouldn’t be allowed unsupervised.

[LordMagnus101]

When I grew up, my mom would drop me and some others off at Hershey Park for a day unsupervised, and we never did any stupid crap like this. It's the type of people in the local area, not the problem of locals in general.

[CoasterDemon]

They have cut more hours for the summer, again. No more 10pm closings on work/school nights. Sucks for me, my favorite time at the park was 8-10. I'm sure some will use the excuse "well, with all the bad behavior..."

I love my home park... but Six Flags brings all this upon themselves. Time and time again.

[Sven18]

They have cut more hours for the summer, again. No more 10pm closings on work/school nights. Sucks for me, my favorite time at the park was 8-10. I'm sure some will use the excuse "well, with all the bad behavior..."

I love my home park... but Six Flags brings all this upon themselves. Time and time again.

Cutting hours is about profits and margins. The last hour while good for people who stay late, is not as busy for the park usually. Cutting 1 hour saves 1 hr in labor coast for 100's of employees in the park. There is also the issue of parks having problems finding people. Parks are scheduling current employees more, which may be forcing overtime. The cut may be cutting down on OT payments too. Amusement chains have been talking about increased labor costs quite a bit the the last year with increased min wage in some areas and the tighter labor market. I know CF has always had a lot of foreign workers and have had dorms, they are building 2 or 3 new dorms at parks that didn't have them. Local kids don't seem to want to work at parks that much anymore. In some cases the population base doesn't exist for adequate young labor force for parks. FYI, most SF parks have 9pm close and not 10pm. GAdv and SFGAM were the last 2 with 10pm weekday close and now it's just GAdv

[CoasterDemon]

^Reasons are good, but it still sucks. Great America stayed open daily until 10 all through July and August years ago... they even had 11 and 12 closings in the summer. Times have changed... cheap season passes.

[Sven18]

^Reasons are good, but it still sucks. Great America stayed open daily until 10 all through July and August years ago... they even had 11 and 12 closings in the summer. Times have changed... cheap season passes.

Not that SF would likely do it, but they could in the future seasons go to 10am opening, like many other chains.

[IssaCoaster]

I think the park used to care way more about bad language, but they don't seem to care anymore like they used to, so that problem is all on the park. I remember the times when they used to say if they hear someone constantly saying bad language, they would actually get security, and kick them out of the park. Gone are those days. Remember, the garbage cans all used to say family friendly. Now they play songs where the singer says lets get our freaky on - in carousel plaza. "I was born to get wild That's my style If you didn't know that.... We gon' rock it to the top Until the roof come burnin' down Yeah, it's hot in here The temperature Has got these ladies Gettin' freakier We ain't messin' with no maggots Dirty bit Dirty bit (shortened swear rides right there) Light a fire, make it hot I don't wanna take no pictures I just wanna take some shots "

I totally agree with your comments about the music! And I witnessed people in their 20's playing nasty rap music with F word, B word, etc, as my 3 yo and I walked from the car to the front gate! And not to mention all the young males who seemingly buy pants that don't stay up, the young girls who expose pretty much everything, the rude teens, etc.

I'm all for raising the prices to keep the riff raff out. They also need to enforce rules about attire.

This park is quickly becoming NOT family friendly. I also think what we're seeing at the park is also true of our larger society in general.

Very sad...........

I would be looking at the parents also about this subject. It's them that let them do this XD. In all honesty, I play that nasty rap too but I usually am aware of the people around so I turn it some nice Reggae or something. I also never swear. It was just how I was brought up. And most of these kids have grown desensitized to swearing and crap because of social media, music, and their parents. I don't what the park can do about it though. But I thought they had some rule about it. In all honesty, I have never experienced these things at the park. I should probably go more often.

[_FuryBull_330_]

^ Right it's also the parents who play a factor. I come from a super religious family where we are not allowed to swear or play offensive songs. Which is why I came to the habit of country music in the first place. Parents need to cut encouraging their kids to swear because it's sad what this world has turned into.

[Viper 88]

What a horses ass, that slim jim throwing fool! Why? Why is it "funny"? It's just dumb! Just proves that ghetto trash comes in ALL colors!