Minor Updates, Rumors, and Happenings

[CoasterRiderSC]

Is the train running?

From what I’ve seen, yes.


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I was there 5/19 and no train running

[sfgamnthemoon]

Is the train running?

From what I’ve seen, yes.


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I was there 5/19 and no train running

Everything started opening on Saturday: Aquaman, Sky Trek (which is only till 2pm daily), train (for some part of the day), some Hurricane Harbor slides, etc.


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[Goku1910]

Looks like just the usual early Summer Staffing problems. I wouldn't be overly concerned.

[Coaster Justin]

Did DC Super Villains Swing get a new big sign?

[sfgamnthemoon]

Did DC Super Villains Swing get a new big sign?

Nope, that was Aquaman. Super villains has the same sign as last season


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[Coaster Justin]

Korean Corn Dogs have been added to the Dining Pass

[Goku1910]

I'm sure everyone already knows but Buccaneer Battle is officially walled-off.

Moose Burger's dining area as well.

Hometown Bathrooms near lobster and Strutters is open again with some small renovations inside.

[CoasterRiderSC]

Just learned that our park is offering Bring A Friend for 19.99 for both Great America and Hurricane Harbor for the rest of June! The sales must be hurting for them to offer that.

I found out by logging into the portal because a family member was asking me about it.


I also see an offer for bring friend for 34.99 for ANY day. Including FF! Wow!!

P.S. Hopefully the $19.99 doesn't bring out all the bad actors and trouble makers.....

[HCF]

Looks like the park is setting up an Esports gaming setup in the former Gotham city arcade, looks like this is our new addition to the park this year, according to the website, the gaming event starts in July. Very interesting, seems like the whole chain is following the Fiesta Texas example.

[Coaster Justin]

I saw Giant Drop either testing or operating today.

[CoasterRiderSC]

I saw Giant Drop either testing or operating today.

Thanks for the update, Justin! It's about time that ride opens! (Condor too)

[Coaster Justin]

I saw Giant Drop either testing or operating today.

Thanks for the update, Justin! It's about time that ride opens! (Condor too)

And Roaring Rapids and Loggers Run

Course Six Flags can't build a Vekoma Kids coaster at SFStL, So I shouldn't expect much

[coasterfanatic]

I believe Condor is not open because they are waiting on a part…

Rapids has been testing and training the last few days so it’s got to be getting close.


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[batmanfan80]

Is the park as bad as they say on the news this year? All this talk about 5 minute dispatches with one train operation causing 60-90 min lines when no one is there. Ride closures with some not open yet. Add the cold and smoke and it's hard for me to justify driving 50 some miles. Six Flags based their whole business on insanely low prices and constant new attractions. While destroying their brand with hundreds of thousands of visitors every year by giving them a miserable experience. It was inevitable that they'd run out of space or cash to put new stuff in. There's not much they can do with Great America. Ship Raging Trimbrake to a small park where it'd make a splash and put in some record-breaking monster in its place? RMC The Eagle? Move Pretzelman? Replace Demon? Doing what they did with Iron Wolf seems to be the only real logical choice here.

Now we have this huge maintenance oversight with Carowinds. Makes people wonder how bad Six Flags must be about checking things. Guess there was some pepper spray incident and some other nonsense in the lot this year too? Not a lot of good press. Hopefully I can get to the park this week.

[coasterfanatic]

The news has certain overdone it. Every coaster at Great America is running 2 trains. Some rides were closed because they were waiting for parts. Others are closed at times for staffing issues.

The security issues haven’t really been all that much. Be careful what you heard on the news. They tend to overblown things. It’s also wrong to jump to conclusions about the Carowinds incident. It’s not like every support of every ride is checked daily. And B&M is already there doing a thorough inspection.


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[briphotoguy]

Haven’t been to the park since my one ride on Max Force a couple years back but I still have my membership. On the app I noticed a few rides were down. Demon for one, condor (I heard waiting for a part), the newer Larson looper (on the app this says it’s never open), giant drop was down extended time it seems. Has the park been having a hard time with staffing this year? Seems like a lot of key rides down. Whizzer today but probably due to rain. Regardless, seems like they continue to have staffing issues [emoji51] haven’t been in about 2 years myself. Anyone have any other insight if not staffing?


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[coasterfanatic]

Staffing continues to be an issue but it’s certainly not as bad as it was the last few years. I think a lot has to do with the company’s focus and Salim. Salims a big cost saving guy. And I can’t imagine attendance has recovered that much given how empty the park has been and the endless Season Pass sales they keep running.

Drop opened late because they replaced the cables. I think the StupidLoops are starting to be phased out across the chain as Georgia took there’s out and I think one of the Texas parks just teased the removal of there’s as well.

Salim has done a lot of damage and now he’s trying to clean it up.


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[Goku1910]

I think the StupidLoops are starting to be phased out across the chain as Georgia took there’s out and I think one of the Texas parks just teased the removal of there’s as well.

Has Mardi Gras even opened this year at all? I have not seen it run once in my 4 visits this year. I miss King Chaos.....

[Tardis1972]

So according to SC we shouldn’t expect any major coasters for a while now. The rumor is the next 2-3 years the park wants to focus more on adding family rides and overall park improvements. This is coming from SC after all so take with a grain of salt.

[Goku1910]

So according to SC we shouldn’t expect any major coasters for a while now. The rumor is the next 2-3 years the park wants to focus more on adding family rides and overall park improvements. This is coming from SC after all so take with a grain of salt.

I'm all for park improvements because the park is dirty. People need to admit this but when my standards are so low that I find the Bird-crap covered Cedar Point to be better than SFGAm, there's a problem.

As for the Family-focus....I find this hilarious. Not only have they been trying to mix in Family Rides in between Coasters but they've also failed to make their Kids areas better. The family Rides they've been choosing have also been misses, like the Larson Loop that's never open. When they removed Bugs Bunny National Park, they could have used some of the theme, signs, etc at Wiggles World when it was turned into Kidzopolis but they didn't. They've also allowed Camp Cartoon and Kidzopolis to deteriorate into an abysmal state.

I've been calling for Kidz to be turned into a Bugs Bunny Boom Town with the buildings and tent removed to expand closer to the railroad for years. Plant a few trees in the mid-sections of the midway and you have a little shade and a larger area to mess with.

This would require Eagle's Queue to be re-routed again but if Dare Devil Dive is actually on it's way out then that can be accomplished.

[Revi]

Six Flags Great America is a THRILL park... look at the lineup. This new CEO is horrible... Cedar Point is going to eat this one up. So will Kings Island. Giving one of the top 3 parks nothing for thrills is a bad idea for doing so for a long time. UNLESS they are saving up for something massive (no way i know)

[Tardis1972]

It’s simple. They want less thrill seeking teens and more families visiting the park.
A overall to Camp Cartoon seems to be up first. After that it’s between the spots where BB and the go karts are for the next two projects. Again this is coming SC so who knows if it’s true.

[Coaster Justin]

It’s simple. They want less thrill seeking teens and more families visiting the park.
A overall to Camp Cartoon seems to be up first. After that it’s between the spots where BB and the go karts are for the next two projects. Again this is coming SC so who knows if it’s true.

True but you can't just invest in families for a park like Six Flags, You need something for all 3 groups (Kids, Families, Adults) and just installing family stuff might not work.

Look how good adding... Well nothing the last 2 years has done. We've gotten rowdy groups. I agree a major overhaul of whatever the kids area is called is needed (Especially to Looney Tunes) but we also need to replace what we've lost with Buccaneer Battle and DDD and 1/2 Eagle.

[CoasterRiderSC]

They need to enforce behavior rules, enforce a dress code, etc.

I was at Busch Gardens and Sea World last week and I didn't see anyone acting up at all. I closed both parks.

I don't think having thrill rides necessarily brings out all the trouble makers: Cedar Point and Kings Island both have thrill rides and when I visited there I didn't see any of the riff-raff that our park has.

I think the relatively cheap passes plus the bring a friend free (in the past) or cheap is what brings out the riff raff. I think if a person is ejected from the park for fighting they forfeit their season pass. PERIOD.

And they're not allowed to buy another one!

[SFGAmFan12]

Camp Cartoon has needed an overhaul for at least five years, if not longer. Kidzopolis isn’t great either, and I think is even worse for families now that it is missing tent structure that provided shade—it was a great idea to utilize it for families but they let it go. The Hometown Square rides were cool as a homage to the early days of the park, and that it’s three kid rides in an area that didn’t have any.

Bugs Bunny National Forest should have stayed—it was well themed, used IP the park has had access to for decades, and was sort of timeless versus the remains of Camp Cartoon and Wiggles World/Kidzopolis.

I think the coming year will be around kids and families with a small single rail coaster in the mix like St Louis got and a couple other parks. Then, I think, they will find out (again) that catering to families isn’t going to solve their crime problems, it’s raising ticket prices and offering a better overall product. Every CEO they have had has taken the family approach, learns after a couple years, readjusts, and then the cycle repeats after a decade or so.