UPDATE May 6th, 2021 Pritzker has announced the Bridge Phase which allows 60% capacity at amusement parks will begin Friday, May 14th. Additionally, if the numbers hold, Phase 5 could begin as soon as June 11th.
UPDATE March 18th, 2021 The State of Illinois has allowed amusement parks to reopen in Phase 4 with 25% capacity. Capacity will increase to 60% when the state enters the "Bridge Phase"
Visitors from outside the state or country should receive a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their visit to the park
Ensure at least 6-ft between seats on rides occupied by park guests that are not members of the same household or party
Amusement park rides should be sanitized every hour
Original post and earlier updates below: Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 virus, Six Flags Great America will be delaying park opening for the 2020 season. All dates are subject to change. Additional Updates will be posted here as they become available
UPDATE May 13th All Six Flags parks will require reservations when they reopen.
Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Gurnee has received approval to open. An opening date will be announced soon. There is no news on Great America at this time.
UPDATE July 9th
Six Flags Great America has announced Hurricane Harbor Chicago will open for Season Passholders and Members July 20th - July 26th and everyone else starting July 27th. Operating hours will be 11:00am - 6:00pm. Reservations are required for all guests and can be made at http://www.sixflags.com/reserve
NOTE that all attractions in Riptide Bay (Surf Rider, Monsoon Lagoon, Wipeout, Mega Wedgie, and Dive Bomber) will NOT open in 2020 due to construction.
"Park Entrance Update: ALL guests will now enter through the Six Flags Great America main gate to get to Hurricane Harbor Chicago, for health screening purposes." This means even though the rides will remain closed for now, guests will walk through Carousel Plaza, Hometown Square, and Southwest Territory to reach the Hurricane Harbor entrance.
UPDATE September 7th Hurricane Harbor is now closed for the season. Great America still has not received approval to open the theme park, but they are still trying to get approval to open.
UPDATE October 15th
Six Flags Great America plans to open for a modified Holiday In The Park select dates November 27th - December 30th. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no rides open and no indoor shows. Reservations will be required.
Reservations will open at 8:00am TODAY. For anyone that does not have an active Season Pass or Membership, one day tickets will be available for $19.99
UPDATE February 3rd
Six Flags Great America has posted on their website that they plan to open for the 2021 Season on Saturday May 1st. This date is still subject to approval from the state.
The May 1st date is no longer on the website. At ACE Virtual No Coaster Con, Park reps did not give an opening date.
UPDATE February 19th
A Six Flags corporate press release reveals opening day to be April 24
Six Flags Great America, the Thrill Capital of the Midwest, is preparing to open to the public on April 24. Hurricane Harbor Chicago will open on May 29 and the world-record breaking water coaster, Tsunami Surge will make its debut this summer. Towering an incredible 86 feet in height, this innovative water coaster will be the tallest-of-its-kind in the world. Riders will reach a top speed of 28 miles-per-hour over 950 feet of enclosed tunnels and open-air slides with three gravity-defying blasts and five breathtaking drops. Tsunami Surge will also feature AquaLucent technology, giving riders the sensation of traveling at the speed of light as brilliant colors and dreamlike imagery heighten the ride experience.
Six Flags as an entire company is in significant trouble over this Coronavirus outbreak. They are already in a huge amount of debt from the 2019 season performing so poorly and by closing parks and delaying openings will only make their situation much worse. Trying to have high hopes for the company, but I am not very optimist about the company’s performance this year. It’ll be interesting to see how many budget cuts the parks make when the parks eventually open up.
While the Coronavirus can pack a wicked punch, it doesn't spread any faster or slower than any of the other influenza viruses that float around each year. This can be seen as a positive that no one is currently talking about. Whether we've thought about it or not, we all know that getting a summer flu is rare. We're much more likely to contract an influenza virus in the winter months. I expect the number of Coronavirus cases to drop off sharply in the summer, then pick up again in the fall, increasing rapidly next winter.
In 2020, the park will open and I'm going to visit several times. I wouldn't be surprised if from the perspective of park guests, operations at Great America appear to be similar to any other year. The attendance will drop off, but the crowd levels will probably feel the same. I'm looking forward to this upcoming season.
UnclePennybags wrote:While the Coronavirus can pack a wicked punch, it doesn't spread any faster or slower than any of the other influenza viruses that float around each year. This can be seen as a positive that no one is currently talking about. Whether we've thought about it or not, we all know that getting a summer flu is rare. We're much more likely to contract an influenza virus in the winter months. I expect the number of Coronavirus cases to drop off sharply in the summer, then pick up again in the fall, increasing rapidly next winter.
So there's probably no good that can come from debating this, but I will say that much of what you say above is at best highly debated and is far from a fact, and unless you're an infectious disease expert, what 'you expect' is totally meaningless and could just serve to spread misinformation.
Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but none of us know what's going to happen with this and downplaying the seriousness can be dangerous to people.
Just to update, the CDC is now recommending no gatherings of over 50 people for 8 weeks. That already gets is past May 1st, it's not extended (big if). When you factor training time, etc, I certainly wouldn't plan on an early May opening happening.
CoasterRiderSC wrote:...I wish the media would give coverage on the multitudes of people that have SURVIVED corona. I also think the media has created the hoarding and panic that is present.
Just my thoughts.
Firstly, I do not practice medicine, nor do I provide medical advice. I am a numbers person and make my living troubleshooting enterprise-level compute systems, looking for patterns wherever I can find them to snuff out any big problems that need snuffing. If you don't like what I have to say, disregard and move on.
I choose to see positives where I can find them. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, we in the U.S are fortunate that this thing was brewing in China for several weeks before it made its way here. The Chinese are ahead of us on the outbreak curve and they have provided some numbers that are of great value, especially since no one else appears to be providing the same with as much detail.
From these numbers, we see that the mortality rate (deaths/infections) for people aged 39 and younger is about 0.2%. That's double the average mortality rate of a seasonal flu (0.1% averaged across all ages). Mortality rates for ages 40-49 are double (0.4%), then jump up to 1.3% for those 50-59, 3.6% for those 60-69, 8.0% for those 70-79, and 14.8% for those 80 or over. These numbers *do* include people with comorbid conditions such as hypertension or diabetes, but on the face of it, they are still brutal if you're just looking at the effects on the elderly. Extrapolating these numbers out across the entire U.S. population, we're talking about a couple million elderly Americans getting whacked if this virus infected just 50% of the U.S. population.
Unlike a typical seasonal flu, virtually no one has immunity to COVID-19 because almost no one has had previous exposure to the virus or similar viruses. As stated above, the young have shown to be resilient and can be asymptomatic to the effects of COVID-19, whereas the old are vulnerable. Put this all together and you get a virus that stands to be highly contagious in a population full of young people that don't see what the problem is. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, they were already infected on some beach in Texas during spring break, they come home, infect granny, and now they have to go to a funeral.
I think this is why the media is so heavily focused on the 20% that could go wrong versus the other 80%. Young people tend to go through life unafraid. If you can't do what the Chinese did and force everyone to stay in their homes for two weeks, you have to scare them to do so. I'm not a big fan of the media hitting the panic button, but in this case, it might help get the young people in line so we can get this virus under control.
Last edited by UnclePennybags on March 20th, 2020, 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This likely means several things relating to SFGAm's 2020 season. First of all, any maintenance work that was occurring is now on hold. Opening Day is likely to be pushed further back. And Tsunami Surge . . . 2020? 2021?
Has anyone heard how the school years are being affected by this outbreak? If the kids are out of school right now, I'd expect they'll be in school though the early summer. Has anyone heard about this?
UnclePennybags wrote:Has anyone heard how the school years are being affected by this outbreak? If the kids are out of school right now, I'd expect they'll be in school though the early summer. Has anyone heard about this?
Schools are not going to be affected as most schools have launched an e-learning platform so kids can have school at home.
UnclePennybags wrote:Has anyone heard how the school years are being affected by this outbreak? If the kids are out of school right now, I'd expect they'll be in school though the early summer. Has anyone heard about this?
The Illinois State Board of Education has declared the school shutdowns to be Act of God Days. These are not required to be made up at the end of the year.
CoasterRiderSC wrote:Others are talking about schools, e-Learning, the Shelter-In-Place, etc. That has nothing to do with the park either. This thread is about Corona 2019 virus.
Schools and shelter in place do have an impact on the ability to staff and prepare the park for opening, and therefore are absolutely relevant to this topic.
DejaVu2001 wrote:^Schools and shelter in place do have an impact on the ability to staff and prepare the park for opening, and therefore are absolutely relevant to this topic.
Exactly. I was concerned that once the businesses opened up again, there'd still be one less month of summer for the kids, meaning fewer people available for the seasonal work force, and fewer people attending the park in the same period of time. That'd be a double hit against Great America on top of the delay in opening we already know is coming.
Even after the lockdown is over. A lot of people might be scared and not come to the park. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't predict that theme parks will do well this year.
JackGlass wrote:Even after the lockdown is over. A lot of people might be scared and not come to the park. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't predict that theme parks will do well this year.
For sure. Add to that people who can't afford it because they've lost their jobs, etc, and attendance is going to be way down everywhere.
DejaVu2001 wrote:^Schools and shelter in place do have an impact on the ability to staff and prepare the park for opening, and therefore are absolutely relevant to this topic.
UnclePennyBags was listing some positives that might come out of this panic-demic with his post from March 19th, 2020, 6:43 pm. None of that post was related to the parks. And I listed some other potential positive results.
I responded to you, but I wasn't necessarily only talking to you (and I'm not a mod or anything, it was just a request). Don't take this so personally
I'm just thinking, for everybody's sanity, that we probably should try to avoid talking about religion and who's to blame and all that, because I suspect I have some really different opinions than you and while I'd be happy to have the debate, this is not the proper forum for it.
Looks like some of those college students who defied orders and had their beach party have tested positive for the Virus.
As much as it sucks to see theme parks close. I completely understand their reasoning. This virus can spread fast! If there was an outbreak at Great America, the negative press would do serious damage to the brand name.
We'll have to settle for watching POV's on youtube for the time being
With respect to one of my previous posts, in that I was trying to provide context for Six Flags' decision to delay the opening day for Great America. I was also providing my opinions for why the media might not be covering the outbreak in a more positive light.
At this time, COVID-19 is highly contagious amongst the U.S. population. Most people under 39 without underlying health issues appear to be able to slough off the effects of this virus. Some don't even know they were infected. For those over the age of 70 or with underlying health issues, almost 1 in 10 can die if infected.
To slow the transmission rate of COVID-19, containment policies have been put into effect for many places that host crowds of people. Great America is one of those places. Hence, a delay in the 2020 operating season.