On busy days, is it normal to take almost 2 hours just to enter the park? Later in the day I also spent over an hour waiting for food in the food court. Does Six Flags even have management positions doing actual daily management???
I was there yesterday also. We came around noon thinking the opening crowds would have cleared out. Nope! Bring a Friend Free = PACKED! I saw the 2 1/2 mile sign and then noticed everyone was stopped. It took about 1/2 hour but the overflow lot was almost full! I guess this is normal since Bring a Friend for Free is very popular in July I guess.
It took me a half hour to re-enter the park yesterday after lunch because there's no separate entrance anymore for guests with handstamps. The disorganization of the main gate was inexcusable, honestly. No rhyme, no reason, no lines, nothing. They just started bringing people in through the metal detectors and not checking them to ease the crunch. There was a huge line for Guest Services, too.
And the line to add HH passes to your tickets that's now set up across from Viper? What a colossal mess. Where on Earth is the Operations department? Anyone who can look at a map and plan this out a little better? It was an unmitigated nightmare on Monday.
This is why I never go to the park on the fourth of July weekend.... but after seeing the fireworks from McDonalds parking lot I think thats gonna change. I kind of thought that biometric business was going to be a huge pain in the a$$ looks like I was right. This is also why I never buy my tickets at the park. They really should have the handstamp to leave on the side by flags and the re entry by guest relations.
Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
"Everyone, listen to me! These jerks killed Superboy. They've tried to kill us. Now they say they're going to tear this city apart. I say... like hell."
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
And Demon will be 3 minutes
And the longest line of the day The line to enter the park!!! But to get food is a very close second
Superman wrote:[quote="CoasterForce99"]Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
And Demon will be 3 minutes
And the longest line of the day The line to enter the park!!! But to get food is a very close second[/quote]
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
And Demon will be 3 minutes
You forgot one. Aren't you concerned about knowing how long the wait for Dark Knight will be?
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just coasters)
You forgot one. Aren't you concerned about knowing how long the wait for Dark Knight will be?
tribar wrote:They need an 5 or so express lines for those who don't bring everything they own into the park.
I know what you mean. Why do people need to bring so much stuff into the park? I understand those that will be entering the waterpark or families with small children and babies but what about these other people with backpacks and other nonsense. It just slows down the line at the metal detector so much. Another annoying thing is some of these same morons who try to bring their bags, purses, etc on the rides that have it written and announced everywhere that they are not allowed on the ride. It just slows down the ride ops. One woman tried to sneak her purse on to Demon and the ride op had to collect it from her while she was already seated and with the OTSR down. She said something to the effect of "I always bring this on the rides". It annoyed me because you know she's lying and I have to deal with liars like that in my job all the time. Why do these customers and guests outright lie as if they're going to get away with it? I absolutely hate people like that.
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
It seems like the other side always wins on American Eagle Also, I've ridden Goliath 23 times in one day. HBU? (Sorry in advance for unnecessary commas and parenthesis every where)
I'd like to say "give the park a chance to work out the kinks" but they already went to the new entry checkpoint system last year.
My guess is the park thought that with the new biometric process, things would speed up and people would get through faster but this hasn't been the case. The simple solution would be to start letting people in through the gates earlier than 10:15 (or whatever time it is now) so you don't have mass chaos spilling out into the first rows of parked cars.....but I am willing to bet that the bigger streamline of the entrance plaza area coincided with the 10:30am openings and saving $$$ at the bottom line so I wouldn't expect a whole lot of change in efficiency.
I don't know why when they replaced the ticket booths with the security checkpoint they didn't extend it outward more so they could fit more security checkpoints. One of the big problems is that security. A faster biometric system would also be nice. I've never had any biometric experience in the past, but I was shocked at how long I had to hold my finger on that scanner. I figured it was just a first time thing, but it is still longer than I thought it would be. I also think having people scan their own pass was a mistake. The people at the turnstiles were very fast at scanning last year. They know the system best and are able to scan tickets or passes very quickly. Guests trying to get the pass under the laser takes time too. I've had to wiggle my pass a bit to get it to scan each time (not sure if this is just me though since my pass is from last fall and kinda dirty/worn.)
untalented893 wrote:I don't know why when they replaced the ticket booths with the security checkpoint they didn't extend it outward more so they could fit more security checkpoints. One of the big problems is that security. A faster biometric system would also be nice. I've never had any biometric experience in the past, but I was shocked at how long I had to hold my finger on that scanner. I figured it was just a first time thing, but it is still longer than I thought it would be. I also think having people scan their own pass was a mistake. The people at the turnstiles were very fast at scanning last year. They know the system best and are able to scan tickets or passes very quickly. Guests trying to get the pass under the laser takes time too. I've had to wiggle my pass a bit to get it to scan each time (not sure if this is just me though since my pass is from last fall and kinda dirty/worn.)
The whole biometric thing is crazy. Even places like disney who were one of the first ones. It finally became quicker. Then with the magic band switch. It is longer again. Seriously. Can't anyone figure it out
What Disney does is they do not always have you do Bio-metrics. In the morning when the gate is very busy most of the time Disney shuts off the Bio-metrics scanners to speed up the line.
i did notice 3 weeks ago when I went to Great America they were not letting people use the Bio-metrics scanners. I do not know if they were just broken or they were doing this to speed up entering the park.
I like to use the Discover Card special entrance. The security guard working the metal detector is painfully slow but it's still faster than the regular lines.
The biometrics....... I've had a season pass for Great America and/or Great Adventure every year since 1992. There have been many changes to the pass in those years, but you've always had to visit a building somewhere in the park and get your picture taken on the first day you visit. You would think that when such a huge requirement is dropped, the park employees letting you the park would say something. But the worker at the front gate during my 1st visit this year simply handed me a generic season pass without a word, and then asked me to put my finger in a little contraption, again without a word about why or what it's for or anything like that. He even had a label on his ID saying that he has worked at SFGAm for 11 years! Guess he didn't learn much customer service in all those years.
When I went back with a big group of a family a couple weeks ago, they all decided to buy passes online the night before, so we were armed with our printed out barcodes. Somehow, we forgot one for my smallest nephew. Everybody in the family was dying to get on line for Goliath ASAP, so I raced back out of the park to the ticket windows, which were of course mobbed. I then just bought the ticket on my phone and walked right through the Discover entrance and we were on our way.
However.....all seven of my family members were not asked for a finger biometric or whatever it's called. We waited in a rough line at the season pass building because we were nervous something was done wrong at the front gate. It was quite chaotic in that building with people walking in the wrong entrances, getting on the wrong lines, and people somehow and/or intentionally ignoring the lines and just walking right up.
We asked about the biometrics and the employees all furrowed their brows and said they did not know anything about the finger-checking. So, seven people have season passes that are just a random plastic card, and they could pretty much give them to anybody to use anytime, as far as I can tell. I'm sure one of the reasons they switched was because the pictures on the old passes were of such bad quality that everybody pretty much looked the same, and you could easily use someone else's pass.
I guess this will be the year to work out the kinks with finger scan and next possibly, it could be ready to go.
Oh and you could tell that Hurricane Harbor's entrance was built so that eventually it could become a completely separate park with a completely separate entrance fee, just like at Great Adventure. In a year or two, the entrance next to Viper will be closed, and a new big entrance will go up in front of the Tornado.
One thing I'm confused about is the biometric system. I've only been there twice this season so far. The first time was the grand opening of Goliath and this last Thursday. Both times we entered the park right at 10am ahead of the 10:30 opening. Neither time did they have me scan my finger despite having the pass with no picture and having my finger registered last season during Fright Fest. My friend actually got a pass with his photo even though we all went in on the gold pass special offered last year but we redeemed them on different days. I know they did screw up mine and my girlfriend's pass and had them registered as just regular season passes but got that fixed. So my girlfriend and I have passes with no photo on it but yet haven't been required to scan our fingers so far this year.
It seems kind of silly because like someone said, I could give my pass to anyone to use. I wouldn't do it because obviously I wouldn't want to take the risk and also believe in supporting businesses because it only hurts them financially to cheat them and lessens their ability at park improvement. However, not everyone feels the same and I'm sure if they don't get this fixed, it will lead to all sorts of abuse if it hasn't already started.
CoasterForce99 wrote:Hey, just a question about ride lines at Great America. On Tuesday, the 15th, about how long will the lines be for the coasters? Will I be able to ride all the major rides? (Just Coasters)
Superman will be 62 minutes. Batman will be 39 minutes. American Eagle will be 23 minutes. Goliath will be 125 minutes. X-Flight will be 46 minutes. Raging Bull will be 93 minutes. Whizzer will be 42 minutes.
We really need a Facebook like button for posts like this.