momlovescoasters wrote:Just went on Yelp and several people have already posted one star reviews who were at the park last night. I agree with the others in regards to raising ticket prices. Between the horrendous lines and kids/gangs it’s getting completely out of hand.
I'm an older adult and because of my work schedule I hadn't been able to make a Coasters after Dark event for several years although I do visit during the daytime quite often as a season pass member.
I was stunned at the difference in behaviour from just a few years ago. Large groups line jumping, fighting, pushing, language (I'm not a prude but it was ridiculous), etc. I had my member sports bottle stolen at Raging Bull. I said something to the male who took it and he and his friends flashed what I would presume to be a gang sign and then did a fingers to the head (like a gun) sign. I tried to follow them hoping I would encounter security but no luck. (A side gripe.....I wish Six Flags would go the Cedar Fair route with their drinks and offer a plan that allows you to use cups instead like Cedar Fair's drink plan.Then you don't have to tote the bottle around)
I complained at guest services and through the contact us portal on the website. Guest Services said " sorry about my bad experience" and I could buy a new bottle for $29 since it was a member bottle . I haven't got a response otherwise. I expect I'll write a letter to Hank Salemi just to make myself feel better.
I don't have any magic answers but something needs to happen.
After this amount of time, I'm convinced the park really doesn't care about or even want to acknowledge this behavior. I took the time to write a very polite but direct letter to Hank Salemi regarding what happened to me personally during Coasters After Dark. Never even got the courtesy of a reply. Looks like less trips to Six Flags and more trips to Cedar Point next year.
Jodon wrote:Random question: It's been a while since I've been to park open this year. Where are all the masses going to this season at rope drop? Is there a mad dash to any rides?
Yep Superman, Goliath, MGH, Joker, and Raging Bull from what I know.
^Yeah, those are the main rides people rush too (although I would imagine Joker and MGH for not much longer). Demon, Viper, X-Flight, V2, and Batman among a few others are all marathonable at the start of the day.
After this amount of time, I'm convinced the park really doesn't care about or even want to acknowledge this behavior. I took the time to write a very polite but direct letter to Hank Salemi regarding what happened to me personally during Coasters After Dark. Never even got the courtesy of a reply. Looks like less trips to Six Flags and more trips to Cedar Point next year.
That's exactly what my family is doing this year!! Back in June we did a amusement park vacation with most of the parks being Cedar Fair parks. Every CF park we went to, I did not see the amount of bad behavior that I have seen at SFGA. The service from the CF employees was so much better too. We were so impressed with the rides, behavior, and the service from their employees, that we are going back to Cedar Point for 3 days in Aug with a trip planned for Kings Island over labor day and Carrowinds (Fury 325!!) over thanksgiving. I would rather spend 6 1/2 hrs driving and several hundred dollars for a hotel to go to one of the best amusement parks in the world than drive 90 minutes and spend one day at Great America.
After this amount of time, I'm convinced the park really doesn't care about or even want to acknowledge this behavior. I took the time to write a very polite but direct letter to Hank Salemi regarding what happened to me personally during Coasters After Dark. Never even got the courtesy of a reply. Looks like less trips to Six Flags and more trips to Cedar Point next year.
That's exactly what my family is doing this year!! Back in June we did a amusement park vacation with most of the parks being Cedar Fair parks. Every CF park we went to, I did not see the amount of bad behavior that I have seen at SFGA. The service from the CF employees was so much better too. We were so impressed with the rides, behavior, and the service from their employees, that we are going back to Cedar Point for 3 days in Aug with a trip planned for Kings Island over labor day and Carrowinds (Fury 325!!) over thanksgiving. I would rather spend 6 1/2 hrs driving and several hundred dollars for a hotel to go to one of the best amusement parks in the world than drive 90 minutes and spend one day at Great America.
Six flags needs to update their stations and everything. Renovations everywhere. They should also start enforcing code of conduct. What the park looks like is how people are going to start acting like. But tbh, the people who come to the park is not the park's fault. I have personally seen no bad behvior. Not even after dark. Probably because I look serious all the time so nobody messes with me.
After this amount of time, I'm convinced the park really doesn't care about or even want to acknowledge this behavior. I took the time to write a very polite but direct letter to Hank Salemi regarding what happened to me personally during Coasters After Dark. Never even got the courtesy of a reply. Looks like less trips to Six Flags and more trips to Cedar Point next year.
That's exactly what my family is doing this year!! Back in June we did a amusement park vacation with most of the parks being Cedar Fair parks. Every CF park we went to, I did not see the amount of bad behavior that I have seen at SFGA. The service from the CF employees was so much better too. We were so impressed with the rides, behavior, and the service from their employees, that we are going back to Cedar Point for 3 days in Aug with a trip planned for Kings Island over labor day and Carrowinds (Fury 325!!) over thanksgiving. I would rather spend 6 1/2 hrs driving and several hundred dollars for a hotel to go to one of the best amusement parks in the world than drive 90 minutes and spend one day at Great America.
Six flags needs to update their stations and everything. Renovations everywhere. They should also start enforcing code of conduct. What the park looks like is how people are going to start acting like. But tbh, the people who come to the park is not the park's fault. I have personally seen no bad behvior. Not even after dark. Probably because I look serious all the time so nobody messes with me.
I have seen tons of bad behavior and it's not just SFGAm. Across the chain I have witnessed bad behavior at SF parks that I never see at Cedar Fair parks. I have gone to 5 CF parks, 5 SF parks, BGW, Dollywood and some family owned parks. All the bad behavior witnessed have been at SF parks. CF parks are just far more enjoyable in atmosphere, from the behavior of patrons, to the employees friendliness and initiative to do their jobs in food services to ride operations., etc... Parks like BG and Dollywood take things up to slightly higher level than CF.
Do we have any closing dates for rides or entertainment in the coming month or so? Often by mid August to Labor day we have closings of non essential rides/ entertainment as the labor pool shrinks with employees heading off to college.
I'm planning to take my in laws Aug 20th and curious about the train and Grand Music Hall show in particular.
JaminOut wrote:*Bumping my question* What happened to the eighth row on Superman? I haven’t seen it in operation since early June...
I'm guessing it has something to do with the weight thing. Countless times I've seen them have the people in Rows 7 and 8 switch spots. I'm not sure the exact reasoning behind why they do this but maybe this is a fix for the problem?
Just read this trip report from 8 years ago, https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201007/2030/, and I noticed how they mention how timely the ride ops were, how helpful and friendly the employees were, and how they really enforced a strict code of conduct. It really made me realize how much things have declined over such a short period of time (except the ride ops are still pretty average when I have been in the park).
They say there isn't a spot in the park where rusting metal or peeling paint is at least 15 feet away from you.
JT2002 wrote:Just read this trip report from 8 years ago, https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201007/2030/, and I noticed how they mention how timely the ride ops were, how helpful and friendly the employees were, and how they really enforced a strict code of conduct. It really made me realize how much things have declined over such a short period of time (except the ride ops are still pretty average when I have been in the park).
Yeah it's amazing how quickly things fell off. It started around 2013 or so. Before that operations were decent, you could get food in front of you within 10 minutes, it didn't take an hour to get into the park. The employees were nicer and less incompetent and there weren't as many thugs roaming around. It's sad what's happened to the park.
Haven't been to the park in a few weeks (might go tomorrow), but I just noticed the passholder benefits in the app now talking about the Self-Service Refill Station in Southwest Territory, just for Members or Season Pass holders. Has this opened yet?
anewman35 wrote:Haven't been to the park in a few weeks (might go tomorrow), but I just noticed the passholder benefits in the app now talking about the Self-Service Refill Station in Southwest Territory, just for Members or Season Pass holders. Has this opened yet?
We went Saturday and I'm guessing around the 10th of last month. Didn't really have a problem with lines or getting into the park. Saturday there were a lot of 12 year old looking girls spitting over the railings on half the rides. Must be a new trend. A couple times groups used the "we need to get to our ___ family member" to skip ahead of 20 people or more. One group looked like MSNBC Lock-up cast members and gave off the kinda vibe that they would cause an incident if you stopped them. The other were some little kids who either really did have to find parents or were told by their parents to use that as a way to skip ahead on the lines. The lines kept moving for everything we went on. Clipper, Roaring, Eagle, Batman, and Raging. Even the funnel cake line near Goliath went pretty smoothly. The only thing that took long was the Clipper. We woulda rode more but we stopped at Big Ed's before. To us, that's the best bbq of any place we've been in the country. Just 2.9 miles away from the park, so at least I won't feel as bad if we drive out there and it's such a mess that we can't go. Also stopped by Burger King for some frostie type thing. Don't think we got to the park til around 3:30. Left right after the fireworks.
There were a ton of parking spaces blocked off that no one was using. Guess those must be the premier spots. They were all taken up on the 10th.
The ride quality on Eagle, Roaring, and Raging was much better than usual Saturday. Eagle gave me the first thing resembling a dopamine rush I've experienced since I last rode Kumba. Lot of people with flash passes walking around, though the lines weren't stalling. These were all kids who looked like they were 18 or 20, and none who looked rich or polished. The heat definitely ate into our stamina a lot too. Couldn't tell you much about the other lines other than what the queue sites said. Pretzelman had a line pretty far back when we got there. Whizzer reportedly had a 55 min line. Goliath I think was at 70. But when we walked by Goliath, it didn't look anywhere near that long of a line. Eagle was also reporting a 10 min line, but the queue sites lag by an hour or more I think. It took more like 15-20 because the blue side was closed.
We went there a lot in 2012 and 2013 and I think some stuff has gotten better even though it got worse between 2014-2016. There were a ton of empty seats going out in 2012. The only real thing I would say was better then was that you could always count on walk-ups in the last hour or two. But there were a lot of times where the Batman and X-Flight lines were completely full. Fright Fest was still doable in '12 and '13. Meaning the first week had light crowds and the 2nd pretty moderate. And even in the later weeks, you could at least get in and have decent ride times late at night. Now we got 4 extra rides dispersing the crowds more evenly, so maybe it's a lot harder for huge lines to accumulate. I still can't believe people wait 80+ min for the Hangover when it's almost the same exact thing as at festivals.
We'll probably try to go again in a couple weeks. So far the biggest problem for us has been the heat.
Triple Play received a new mirror that is for the workers to see the back half of the ride. I know, no one really cares, but this is more for a Six Flags head up person (if they read this). This mirror (in my opinion is too close to the ride). It only takes 1 person to hit that mirror (because it is that close to the ride), and get a bloody hand from that mirror. In my opinion, they should keep the mirror because it's for the good, ( but remove some shrubbery), and move the mirror back so that the chances of a bloody hand (broken mirror) does not happen. I looked at the mirror even, and see scratches on it. The ride almost hits it (alone).
"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:Triple Play received a new mirror that is for the workers to see the back half of the ride. I know, no one really cares, but this is more for a Six Flags head up person .
Yikes. Best to call them directly or go to guest services.
What a day! What a place! What a smile on your face!
SaveTheWAVE wrote:Thanks, all! Everyone at Bull was very nice and assured me that I was doing the right thing. Security personnel were equally nice and helpful.
You DEFINITELY did the right thing!! Great job!!
Single Day Ride Count Record
50 rides 8/17/2018 (Without Flash Pass - Coasters After Dark)
The Hurricane Harbor entrance now has fingerprint scanners. They were even asking everyone what their name was. I guess they caught on to my family sneaking extra dining passes in
^You mean the outside one? You don't mean the inside one. If you get your fingerprint scanning when you come into the park, and than go waterpark later, why would you need to fingerprint twice in one day?
"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"
Jiggdyndg says the last day of the train is today - Sunday Aug 12th.
In regards to that money that they are getting to "fix things", one thing they should do is to add LOTS of shaded areas (like the blue "tarp" that Superman has). Vertical Velocity has nothing. Roaring Rapids barely has anything. Ricochet has nothing for protection. Hometown Fun Machine, same thing. Revolution, etc. More shade = less people sick (from dehydration of overheating their bodies) = less people throwing up on rides = less operation downtime. Vertical Velocity having nothing (except the station, of course), is probably the most puzzling..
I know you probably don't care about what I'm going to say, but I will discuss for a minute. The park plays this advertisement. Advertising is fine to me. It just doesn't make sense. It's an electric company. The lady says what is is that you are you wondering about. The guy goes I'm in my car wondering how many traffic stop lights I'm going to get it. The lady goes that's not electricity. The first part (sort of is wrong / could be right) is that his car could be an electric car. The traffic light is also electric. So, that deals with electricity. One of the other ones that bugs me is that the guy says I'm binge watching something for 2 hours eating lots of popcorn. Making popcorn COULD require electricity. You have microwave popcorn, and you have popcorn seeds you cook. Both are electricity. Maybe if they would have said store bought popcorn in a bag, I would give them a break. Doesn't the park even make their own popcorn (in those buckets)? If you go AMC, they aren't giving you store bought bagged popcorn. If you put a tv on, that's electricity. She goes your date night might be electrifying (or something like that), but it's not electricity. It's such a bad ad.
She should say something like having a picnic playing a Scrabble board game. Well, that's not electricity... Basically, we (Americans) are obsessed with electricity! So much of our lives is electricity. Radio / tv / amusement rides / power to water stuff (like the wavepool) / video games / bowling alleys / movies / now electric cars.
Last edited by Ilovthevu' on August 14th, 2018, 6:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"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"
1.) Steel Vengeance 2.) Maverick 3.) Goliath (SFGAM) 4.) Top Thrill Dragster 5.) Mystic Timbers Ragin Cajun and Iron Wolf went from Six Flags Great America to Six Flags America. I guess they weren't GREAT anymore.