Brief SFGAm CBCon event TR.

I see no-one else has jumped on adding a TR yet, so I will take honors. :)

Arrived at the park at 8:15 am to some heavy rainfall and anticipating the worst. Get to the tollgates and the attendant said to me the whole event was cancelled. I looked at him with a blank stare for a second, and said I still wanted to go through.

Turns out, it was only the ERT that was cancelled. Due to that cancellation, the park accomadated with 2 fastlane cards per person for 8 rides. Considering 2 of these cards cost $30 total, that was a good deal. They also provided 2 free drink coupons and a gift bag during the luncheon.

Besides no ERT, the day was a blast. Getting some serious rides on RB, Batman, Giant Drop, and Superman with the Fastlane cards worked out great. We also hopped on the Mardi Gras Trolley for CB participants and enjoyed throwing beads at people.

Got to meet a few CBuzzers that I never met before and especially the webmaster himself, Jeff. Dude, finally after 4 years of online mayhem, we finally meet face to face. Hope you enjoyed Chicago and Medieval Times if you did infact go.

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves that attended and I hope that who-ever went and was never at SFGAm before, you found this park to be the exception to the rule in the SF family.

Thanks for reading. *** Edited 5/24/2004 5:14:43 AM UTC by Chitown***

I'll back the fact that this was a great time. My only qualm was no Fast-Lane on Viper, but there wasn't much of a wait for it anyway. The food was excellent, the magic show was better than I had expected it to be, and it was just a great time. Here's hoping for another CBuzz-Con at Great America next year! :)

We had a pretty good time as well. That's no good about the people at tolls. I was there with their ops manager when they decided to call the ERT, and I can assure you that the message to tolls was not that the entire event was cancelled.

I'll post a TR tomorrow I hope.

Even without the ERT I still had a wonderful time. Met some wonderful people and made some new friends. I really think thats what these events are about more than the ERT.

The blown ERT, at no fault whatsoever to the park, just the weather, was still comped by the park and way above what was necessary. Goes to show you how much the people at SFGAm totally rock.

I'll try to make a brief TR of my trip:

Friday, went sightseeing in Chicago, including a trip to Sears Tower skydeck during the thunderstorm: I didn't get to my hotel in Gurnee until around 12:30 am Central, thanks to the storms and such.

Saturday, arrived at the tolls, told event was cancelled: I'm guessing the attendant meant that the ERT was cancelled. So I parked and went to the sales windows: we still had goodies after all, as well as the bonuses in place of the canceled ERT.

The day got off to a slow start. Stuff seemed really crowded in the first couple of hours, as well as one of Raging Bull's trains still in storage, and Deja Vu having some problems.

Also, I tried V2 with my FastLane, and could not ride because the seat belt could not buckle, and the ride op told me he could not assist with closing the OTSR bar - so there's one credit I still have to wait longer to add.

Despite the disappointments and problems, there were many more pleasures this park delivered. Besides the FastLane passes, drink coupons, and the bag of goodies, the picnic was great.

One thing I definitely enjoyed about SFGAm is their IMAX theater, which was showing Top Speed, hosted by Home Improvement's Tim Allen. It's an experience that I would still do even if it were an upcharge, IMO.

I also should add that the Mardi Gras area was a lot of fun too, with the parade and the live entertainment all around. I do need to come back, and try Ragin' Cajun - never been on a spinning mouse.

Overall, the park got better, and the crowds lessened, as the day went on. Might have been due to the tornado watch in the area. The FastLane passes really helped, especially on Batman and Superman in the middle of the day.

I found the coasters to be of good quality. While Raging Bull and Viper are at top in my list at SFGAm, I found American Eagle to be a good coaster for its size: not much roughness, and some air here and there. Whizzer is also a unique machine: great speed, turns, and hills, all with minimal restraints.

I second some of the previous posts here: I'd like to come back next year for another CoasterBuzz Con - hopefully with some guests next time.

Wish the weather would have been better for you guys/gals and hope to have a off day for one of these events so i can attend.
While it does sound likew SGFAM did make attempts to make up for the srubbed ERT that wasnt there fault, why couldnt they have changed it to night-time instead??? It may have cost them a little bit of money but it would hardly break the bank for a company that is hundreds of mnillions in debt anyway. And the fastlane passes dont cost them anything anyway.

Nighttime was no guarentee for no rain for one thing. Another would be to find staff to come in on a moments notice. As much as I would have loved ERT, the Fastpass' & drink coupons were awesome.

Changing it to night-time ERT would have caused it to get rained out again since it started raining again about 20 minutes after closing.

I think the fastlane passes were more then enough to make up for the missed ERT, since even if we had the ERT we would have had to wait hours for the other rides once the park opened. Instead I was able to get on everything with minimal waiting, and the goodie bags and free drink coupons made the deal even greater.

I had a great time at the event, thanks to Jeff and SFGAm for holding the event!

I think the 2 complimentary Fastpasses in lieu of ERT actually worked out better in a way. It was very generous of Six Flags to provide us with the fast passes and goodie bags (I was secretly hoping to see Shockwave on those old "World Greatest Roller Coasters" mugs they gave us... that would have been a hoot!)

I'll post a trip report and a few snapshots sometime in the next day or so.

Thanks again to Jeff, Stephanie, & the management/staff at Six Flags Great America for another amazing event. I'll definitely be back next year!

There's no way they could put together the staff for nighttime ERT at the last minute. Can you imagine going to work a 12 hour day then being told "sorry, we need you to stay two more hours for CoasterBuzz ERT?"

I think Six Flags was rather generous with what they provided when they didn't have to do anything for us at all.

Yes, The event was a blast! GAm management was great in giving us all the fastpasses and drink coupons!

Weather was a bummer, though, but for the first time at a CBuzzCon, "We didn't get wet!" - Right Lumpy and Chris? ;) I'd ask Liz, but she ditched me for a younger guy. Geez, she gets a boy-toy and I am forgotten.. ;) LOL

Jeff and Stephanie. I'm a little upset here.

When my daughter and I arrived at the park at 8:15am we were told the whole event was cancelled. I asked if the event was being rescheduled and we were told "Yes, absolutely. The organizer will contact you with a rescheduled date".

So, we left!

Now you're telling me the event still went on?
Had I known this I wouldn't have left.

So, now what? We were really looking forward to this and now it seems we've missed the whole thing. This s-cks.

I sent you an e-mail. I can assure you that cancellation was not the message that the tolls were supposed to get.

Jeff and Stephanie,

Thanks for all your work in getting this together. I'm glad you had a great turn-out to make it worth-while.

I also want to thank Bob (Kick the Sky) Danny (+Danny) and Kristen (Kristen something-or-other) for letting me hang out with them...

If anybody sees Danny, make sure he's OK. Last I saw he was having a private moment with a very, very happy farmer.

---

B&M Guy said:
Jeff and Stephanie,

If anybody sees Danny, make sure he's OK. Last I saw he was having a private moment with a very, very happy farmer.

---

Not to mention Foghorn Leghorn...

LOL Troy and Bob!! I got more action than I planned for. :)

Thanks for such a great day guys. I had a blast! This was one of the best times I've ever had at any park (not to mention the post-park-ing events were outrageously interesting ;)). I'll probably be commenting more on things as more TRs are written. I can't even imagine all of the crazy things on Kristin's video. ;)

Thanks Jeff and Steph for organizing the event and everything you guys did and for SFGAm for hosting CBC. I can't say a negative thing about it and I was beyond impressed and pleased with the FastLane passes, gift bags, and all the entertainment. I'll be returning every year for it if you can continue doing it.

Nice TR Scott. What was up with the "Please move back. I can't have people standing on the S" at Superman? That was really strange.

+Danny, "This is not an invitation"

....in best Dr. Evil voice....

"Perhaps they thought that we were stealing Superman's mojo" (puts pinky to lower lip);)

Later,
EV

DEK said:

When my daughter and I arrived at the park at 8:15am we were told the whole event was cancelled. I asked if the event was being rescheduled and we were told "Yes, absolutely. The organizer will contact you with a rescheduled date"

We were also told this as well but we saw cars in the parking lot and the security guard told us to go ahead and go up to guest relations. We also had a blast and kudos to Jeff and SFGam for hooking us up.