Summer was coming to a close and I decided to go to Great America one last time with some friends. Got to the park at opening time and ran to Superman which luckily only had a 15 minute wait. It was my 4th ride on Superman this year and I really enjoyed the ride in the 4th row. After Superman we ran to Batman which had no wait. It was my first time on Batman since Raptor and I really think that Raptor is way better than Batman! It was about 10:30 now and we ran to V2 which had no wait too I sat in the 7th row and I think V2 is actually better than Wicked Twister. It was around 11 o clock by the time we got around American Eagle when I started noticing something weird. Iron Wolf had a 15 minute wait in the morning and American Eagle posted as no wait had what looked like a 30 minute wait! I was starting to get worried about the wait times and then we saw Demon was 30 minutes and Bull filled one queue house up. When I got to Viper I saw the line went all the way to the queue line entrance. This is a crazy long wait for Viper on a monday morning! After seeing this we decided that we'd go on the Orbit. I like this ride and the waits aren't that long, however my friends got on another ride as me because the crew working Orbit let too many people on I had to wait two cycles and my friends got on in one cycle. After the Orbit we decided to go to Burger King. Last time we went to burger king we had kids sitting next to us throwing french fries and toys at us. After our healthy lunch we headed back to the park to see if any rides died down a little bit. Sadily all the rides were too long and since Hurricane Harrbor was closed the park was packed. We decided to call it quits early in the day since we didn't buy the flash pass and the lines were too long for us. A sad end to the season before Fright Fest but I hope to get a flash pass during fright fest to end the season on a high note!
Here I was reading all the trip reports with folks saying 30 minute or less waits on all coasters, and was getting very excited about going this Thursday.
Now it sounds like the lines may be just as bad?
This is why I am not for a different gate for HH; it will cause crowds to be worse in the dry park.
^ There are bring a friend free coupons that expire 8-24-10, so hopefully Wednesday-Friday will be less crowded. As for Hurricane Harbor, it is weekends only through Labor Day, and has been scheduled weekends only after 8-22 since they first posted the schedule.
So it sounds like the best time to go to GAm is the last full week that HH is still open. I was betting on the best time being this week since there are even more schools in the Chicago area that start back today or tomorrow.
I'm sure the trip will still be better than it was when the wife & I went on the 5th of August. The park was completely crowded to capacity and every single line was completely full; Raging Bull had a 2.5 hour wait around noon, Superman was about 1.5 hours at 10:30 in the morning, even Demon was about 45 minutes.
Do you want to know the reason why it was so crowded. First off, in the season pass book, it says that the Hurricane Harbor is open daily June 5 - August 29th, and by cutting hours, they got rid of this. People thought they were going to go to the waterpark because they don't always check the Internet. Why check the Internet when you have a brochure telling you the hours they feel? Not only that, but as people have said, it's a Bring a Friend for Free people, and guess who looks at the season pass book (the people that are season pass holders)? On top of it, it's the very last days for some people going to school like BY me, they are going back the 24th which is today. Even a Gurnee Elementary School, they go have early release today, and start a full day tomorrow. And because of the park knowing about kids going back to school, they shortened hours starting Wednesday through Friday till 7pm compared to the book.
By the way, the Bring a Friend for Free is all week till the 27th.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Ilovthevu' wrote:Do you want to know the reason why it was so crowded. First off, in the season pass book, it says that the Hurricane Harbor is open daily June 5 - August 29th, and by cutting hours, they got rid of this. People thought they were going to go to the waterpark because they don't always check the Internet. Why check the Internet when you have a brochure telling you the hours they feel? Not only that, but as people have said, it's a Bring a Friend for Free people, and guess who looks at the season pass book (the people that are season pass holders)? On top of it, it's the very last days for some people going to school like BY me, they are going back the 24th which is today. Even a Gurnee Elementary School, they go have early release today, and start a full day tomorrow. And because of the park knowing about kids going back to school, they shortened hours starting Wednesday through Friday till 7pm compared to the book.
By the way, the Bring a Friend for Free is all week till the 27th.
I was waiting for someone to point out the fact that Hurricane Harbor was scheduled to open this week. I think Great America was understaffed this week because I saw lifeguards running some rides like Superman.
^The reason it isn't open is because either Shapiro or Webber shaved some hours off the beginning schedule, and it was cut. Before, I remember though the last week of August, it wasn't open either. I think what could have happened is that Shapiro wanted to extend the hours for this season as seen in the brochures and season pass booklet, but yet it seems like Al Webber didn't like that change, and thus changed everything back to how last year was.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
DejaVu2001 wrote:^ There are bring a friend free coupons that expire 8-24-10, so hopefully Wednesday-Friday will be less crowded. As for Hurricane Harbor, it is weekends only through Labor Day, and has been scheduled weekends only after 8-22 since they first posted the schedule.
especially this part:
scheduled weekends only after 8-22 since they first posted the schedule.
And that schedule was posted when? February? The hours were not "shaved", the schedule is just like that.
"I've been told that some part of every wish will be heard but lately I lost sight of the truth in those words."
From screamscape: (This is why Hurricane Harbor is open less), and this happened JUNE 24th, not at the beginning of the season! That's why the books and brochures are different than what the Internet says.
"(6/24/10) The latest buzz about the cutbacks being made at the parks all stems from Weber it seems. The new management team coming on-board wants to make sure they make a good impression with Wall Street at the end of the 2010 season, so they’ve asked each park to cut a significant amount from their budgets to ensure they all hit their new target figures.
(6/23/10) More changes are rumored to be rolling out those the Six Flags chain this week, with a new focus on small operational tweaks being made to the parks on an individual basis. We’ve heard stories of the closing times being trimmed on weeknights at certain parks, operational days for water parks being trimmed, and various entertainment related productions also getting scaled back. Again… this is all apparently on a park by park basis, so changes made to one park may not happen to others."
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
^ And I'm still pretty sure that all the ticket stubs, season pass booklets, and even on the back of your season pass (if anyone actually ever reads the fine print material these days) does state something along the lines of "Six Flags reserves the right to change the hours of operation without notice"....
Yes, it might suck and people may have been planning to hit the waterpark for a few hours or so, but at this point in the season, it's really something you should either check-up on or even call about before visiting. I'm not even sure that GR would even give anything other than potentially some free drink vouchers....and even that is something that they don't technically have to do since they are legally covered by the "small print".
By the way, don't always trust those signs out in front for roller coasters especially with newbies lifeguards in front of some of the lines. Batman the Ride said no wait, but yet the line was out of the entrance. It was a 15 minute line about. It has no back and forth lines open, but you think the lifeguard would have done something to change No Wait to a Wait of something. Demon said 60 minutes, but it was only 15 minutes! Dark Knight I didn't go fully through the whole line, but it had all the lines open, and it said 30 minutes. That just can't be 30 minutes. I went in a line before with all the lines open, and it was a hour something. Iron Wolf said 30 minutes, and it was 20. Sometimes, you are better off checking the line just to make sure. For something like Demon, you can't tell just by looking if all those lines that go back and forth are open unless you go on the other side to see.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
It may not have been exactly 2.5 hours - but it was definitely close to it. The line was backed out onto the midway and they were giving Deju Vu boarding passes out to folks.
Also have to remember all of those flash pass people that can go back several times as well. They don't stand in line but cut in near the front - which adds substantial wait.
And remember that the people that have the funactics one ride pass, what do you think they are going to use it on for the most part? I wasn't there so I can't claim your 2.5 hour time limit, but I'm just saying what could be happening. Also, you are right with the platinum pass. What ride do you think people would want to ride over and over again? It would be Raging Bull.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
When we got up to the point where they let the Flash Pass people in line, there was even quite the line for them too! It seemed to be a constant 10+ people waiting to "cut" in line.
Just brings on more irritating ways that Six Flags makes money and craps on their general public. I guess it is the cheap side of me not wanting to purchase things like Flash Pass - but it does completely make it unfair for those folks that wait 2.5 hours for one ride when those with a flash pass can get in within 90 minutes like the sign indicates.
I sat in the 7th row and I think V2 is actually better than Wicked Twister. It was around 11 o clock by the time we got around American Eagle when I started noticing something weird. Iron Wolf had a 15 minute wait in the morning and American Eagle posted as no wait had what looked like a 30 minute wait! I was starting to get worried about the wait times and then we saw Demon was 30 minutes and Bull filled one queue house up. When I got to Viper I saw the line went all the way to the queue line entrance. This is a crazy long wait for Viper on a monday morning! After seeing this we decided that we'd go on the Orbit. I like this ride and the waits aren't that long, however my friends got on another ride as me because the crew working Orbit let too many people on 
I had to wait two cycles and my friends got on in one cycle. After the Orbit we decided to go to Burger King. Last time we went to burger king we had kids sitting next to us throwing french fries and toys at us. 
After our healthy lunch we headed back to the park to see if any rides died down a little bit. Sadily all the rides were too long and since Hurricane Harrbor was closed the park was packed. We decided to call it quits early in the day since we didn't buy the flash pass and the lines were too long for us. A sad end to the season before Fright Fest but I hope to get a flash pass during fright fest to end the season on a high note! 
