NO GOLIATH and WAIT WHAT?

Walking around SFGA, looked on as construction is still going on, lift hill isnt completed.

...

Turkey Leg!! .. I have the Meal Plan and a bothe that sells Turkey Legs had the symbol that you could use your Pass to get it, they rang up my card and tried to tell me I have to pay 2 more dollars, ahh your signage doesnt say that, so no, I'm not paying and extra $2, manager came out and said it was a signage problem, I said while you have a problem, you have to give me my turkey leg at posted price .. mananger gave in .. yummy!

The life hill is not complete until one passes away.

They added a lot of items like that to Great Adventure this year as well. Some places that weren't on the meal plan last year like Johnny Rockets are now available at an extra $1 for a single burger meal and $2 for a double burger meal. Some items that were included last year are an extra $1 like some sandwiches at Best of the West. It appears that for the most part anything that is $10.99 or less on the menu is not an extra charge, the items that are $11.49 - $13.99 are a $1 - $2 upcharge.

I always wonder why some parks just can't get a brand new ride up by opening day. I mean, it's not like they just decided to build the new coaster a few months ago. People visiting the park expect to ride the new coaster. Imagine their disappointment when they find that the lift hill isn't even built yet.

In Goliath's case, Chicago's very harsh winter mucked up the construction schedule. If we'd had a more typical winter it would have opened on schedule.

Thanks to our winter weather, 20-odd percent of Lake Michigan is still frozen over. I've read that the water temperature of Lake Michigan probably won't get much over 40 degrees all summer.

I don't buy the weather argument, One of two things happened. Either the contract was signed too late, or the manufacturer miscalculated the time needed (Which should include weather, and to calculate for the worst and hope for the best.)

Has B&M ever had a missed target? I don't think so. They've even built in some extra testing time to reduce upstart problems.

I always wonder about that as well, how weather and stuff affects the coaster/ride building timetable. It does seem to me that Six Flags in general does not have a good handle on realistic estimates on their ride completion times. Didn't the drop tower in Cali go over the estimated time by weeks or months? I would put money on Jumanji or whatever it's called not being done by Memorial Day as planned. However, Banshee got done right on schedule, and I don't know, but I'd imagine Ohio got rocked pretty good with snow as well. Is this a B&M thing, or is this a park issue? Weather? I'm curious as well!

I think it's done intentionally at least some of the time to get people visiting early in the season to return to the park and to encourage season pass sales. With Adventure Alley 2 years ago all 4 rides didn't open until right around Memorial Day weekend. I understand Sky Screamer not ready and the bumper cars had problems but Air Jumbo was already at the park in storage and a scrambler can be set up fast so there is no reason those 2 rides weren't ready for opening day. It's the same thing with Ragin Cajun at Six Flags America. They couldn't get a portable wild mouse ready for opening day either?

Wasn't the original design of the lift hill an all wood structure? Perhaps this change in design to a steel frame pushed the schedule.

They lost very few working days but with the amount of cold and snow productivity was down because the workers had to warm up so frequently.

Having been there on a construction tour on a cold, snowy January day I can't imagine working in those conditions. I don't think they would have had trouble meeting their target with an average winter. The Chicago area had the third snowiest and coldest winter on record.

I'm inclined to cut them a little slack.

YoshiFan said:

I think it's done intentionally at least some of the time to get people visiting early in the season to return to the park and to encourage season pass sales.

I just can't buy this. It sounds way too conspiracy theorist/"they artificially throttle capacity to increase q-bot sales."

If they were able to make a $20,000,000 operate and it benefited their bottom line not to, why wouldn't they randomly close it in the middle of the summer?

More than likely, it costs more to ensure a coaster is up and running for opening day. Six Flags doesn't want to pay that premium, for whatever reason.

Andy, your last statement touched on something I'd been noticing. Six Flags often seems to open their major new attractions well after the start of the season. I don't see that from other parks. It seems like it's been that way for years.

I don't think for one minute its intentional by the park or the contractor/mfg.

I can remember riding Mean Streak with workers still climbing through it as there was some serious fines per day if it was late to open. It opened on time. Probably why the whole darn things been gone over and over and over.

Just seems there is better leeway given by some companies than others. Diamondback had several footers poured prior to the season prior to its opening. TTD had its tower base poured a year prior. Banshee they closed and removed the go karts prior to the season and were grading by June. Just stuff like that.

Charles Nungester said:

I don't buy the weather argument...

I invite you to hop into your nearest time machine and go live through this past winter in Chicago.

In Chicago proper, pot holes became such a problem that there a number of stretches of city streets where it turns out to more efficient and economical to simply repave the street than repair the numerous potholes.

Frozen ground has an impact on how quickly construction can proceed. In this case, it caused delays in how fast construction on Goliath could proceed.

As for what Andy comment about SF not wanting to pay for a coaster to be open by opening day, I see it. However, one would have to ask why? Why can't the budget support more people building the ride to get it open by the start of the season?

I think back to a few weeks ago when I was at Kings Island on opening day. It was a madhouse. I've never seen s many people. Why wouldn't Six Flags want something like that? I got six ride in that day, counting the Eiffel Tower, and stood in line for an hour to buy some Pizza. The park made out bigtime on me that day. No early rides for me either, which is why I have a season pass in the first place.

Why wouldn't SF want a busy day like that? Lots of people mean lots of money being spent on food, games, and souvenirs. The rides are going to give the same amount of cycles no matter how many people (with exception to very low crowds.) Why wouldn't SF want that? Seems more profitable to me to have it ready opening day.

I won't say the conspiracy theory that the park wants people to visit again to be able ride the new ride is true or not, but I will say what I sometimes do in situations like this. It seems as if it could be true to some people, and that is just as bad. Many people will come up with this theory on there own, and to them it is true. And just because someone on CoasterBuzz says it can't be true doesn't mean that it's not anyways. ;)

Businesses do all kinds of things and make all kinds of decisions in secret that are designed to make them more money. Just because it isn't well-known does not mean that it is not true.

I skeptical about many theories, but I don't discount them right off the bat.

Oh, I'm sorry. Was I ranting again. :D

^^ Oh, absolutely. The winter here in Ohio was especially heinous and I can't imagine what it might've been like halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee.
B&M monsters seem to go up in a month's time because they kind of pop together with a large crane and 3 or 4 brave guys. Goliath presents its own unique challenges, I'm sure. The design is unique, it's mostly wood, there was below grade construction, there were changes, etc. Add to that the harsh weather, and I'm not the least bit surprised they're gonna be a little late.

Mike Gallagher said:

The life hill is not complete until one passes away.

While I appreciate the vote-ups on this post, its effectiveness is reduced by the OP's edit of the original "life hill."

However, my sentiment is not changed :)

I don't buy the weather argument as well. Being Chicago, they should know exactly what to expect. Cedar Point was able to get Gatekeeper done on time, and the weather is not exactly peachy on the lake here either. Same with Banshee this year at KI... Done on time and ready to go.

You expect the worst and plan for it. They should have started earlier and did more prep work a month or two sooner. Trackwork should have been DONE months ago, seriously.

I'm in agreement with SteveWoA as to what the park should or should not have done. What I should have done was get the name of the customer service op at Six Flags Great America who told me that Goliath would definitely open on Memorial Day weekend, so that I would have some leverage in trying to recover the $332 I paid to US Airways in order to ride Goliath. Instead I'll have to arrange to get sick - at least I did have the foresight to purchase travel insurance - so that can I change the trip to when Goliath is up and running without paying a change fee plus the difference in fares. (Fare from Philly to Chicago has gone up to $358.) At least I was able to recover the points on a credit card that I used to book a hotel room in Gurnee, IL; cancelled that reservation and used the points for a free room in Toronto. That was a no-risk proposition, as barring catastrophic mechanical failure, I can rest assured that Leviathan and Behemoth will be operating.

You know what's worse than a whiney enthusiast? A whiney enthusiast with poor planning.

I have no sympathy for you.