SFGAm FrightFest 10-25 - Packed!

Someone remind me NEVER to go to FrightFest on a Saturday at Great America. The place was an absolute zoo!

Anyhoo, I tried my normal strategy. Arrive early before anyone else, hit Superman, hit Batman, and hit V2 before the park gets busy. If you play your cards right, the first serious line you hit is for Viper after hitting most of the park. Well, it didnt go as planned. Not even close.

Got the Superman all right. Batman was a short 15 minute wait for the front seat right after that but then that is where the luck ran out. I decided to hit Deja Vu since it was open. I was kind of tailing a fellow enthusiast, CoasterArtGuy and his family, as I went and this was pretty much his plan too. Got a 45 minute wait for Vu with no breakdowns and walked out into an absolutely packed Midway.

Went over to Bull to find the line spilled out into the midway and all the way over to Viper. Viper meanwhile was spilled out under the bridge and almost over to Orbit. They were running two trains on Bull so I decided to pass.Did a casual walk around the park to see if there were any quick rides and after finding none just left in disgust.

American Eagle was actually using almost all of the switchbacks under the circus tent, something I havent seen since 1982. Demon's line was spilled into the midway as was Whizzer. Iron Wolf had a full queue, not that I was going to ride it anyways. V2 was closed for the day. A later trip by Batman showed that they were using the alternate entrance in Orleans place and that all the outside switchbacks were being used.

The other odd thing I noticed was that none of the haunted houses were open and none of the spooks were out. Do they not start this until night time? They could have opened some of those houses up to reduce the lines elsewhere.

Absolutely crazy. Never again. Never never again. Don't even know if I would risk a Sunday at this point.

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 25 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

Think Friday nights, Friday nights.

That is the best time to visit the park. I have gone twice on Friday evenings and was pretty much power riding everything. Most people dont want to pay admission for only 6 hours of operation but if you are a season passholder, it is well worth the visit.

Saturday is evil. :)

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

Bob, we went the 1st Saturday this year and the place was insane! The houses and spooks don't come out till after 1 pm as we found out later in the day. The Mausoleum was great this year by the way. Two years ago, my fiance and I went to Fright Fest the first Saturday and there was no crowds at all do to the weather being cold and a little wet, but the good news was that we rode everything then and it was the next day on Sunday when we went back and got the first general public ride on Deja Vu or shall we say "Deja, Voodoo" as it was then. We won't be going back to Fright Fest on A Saturday for a long time to come as this year we only got three rides in the whole day. I was pretty mad, and really dissapointed to say the least. The management at Great America were really trying to pack the park like a wet can of sardines to try to make some final green backs for the season.

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Nolimits Rocks!
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stoogemanmoe

Miss coastergames.net? Here is a good site.

*** This post was edited by stoogemanmoe 10/28/2003 8:47:08 PM ***

I've had good luck on Sunday's, and Columbus Day's in October. In fact, I've only visited Fright Fest this year on Columbus Day. I learned from my mistake several years ago. Saturday's are to be avoided both during the regular season, and in Fright Fest. I'll be there Friday hoping for a dead park, and Sunday to say goodbye to the season.

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Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.

I would also second Chi-town and visit on Fridays during Fright Fest. The friday i went two weeks ago the longest wait was maybe 30/45 minutes for Superman and it was great. Also the decortions look much better at night than during the daytime IMHO.
Now i hope its still slow this friday!!!!!!!

Yes, Fridays are definatly the best day . . .or night, to go. And i have note about the "Spooks" (Acutally called the Creature Crew). The puppets in carousel plaza are there all morning, and they don't come out on fridays. The others mostly come out at 12. and then at 2 the Evil Clownd and Buffy Vampires come out. (It was just bothering me. Sorry if that sounded nitpicky)

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The haunting has begun! Fright Fest the 13th begins October 11th!

Actually, I have a comment about the whole "Friday" thing too.

The past two years (2001, 2002) I have gone 2 or 3 Fridays and the place was basically dead. Basically five minute waits for most of the coasters, including V2. (DV was probably in the half hour range last year). Friday nights were really the solidifying decision for me in getting my season pass, as I often travel solo to the park because I don't have any buddies with season passes now, no girlfriend/wife, and no kids.

Well, this Friday I got to the park around 7:45, and it was pouring like crazy, and had been for at least a half an hour. I was licking my chops -- I couldn't wait to hop onto virtually every ride, knowing that POURING rain would drive most people away. But the park was pretty crowded! I headed over to bull and the line extended back to the queue houses! I imagine it would have been much worse had the weather been nice.

The bottom line, I think, is that this half price ticket promotion has been very successful in getting people to the park. But...for me...its been decided...no pass next year. It would be really nice to have a day for the season passholder where the park would be guaranteed not to be busy -- this used to be Friday nights during fright fest. But, since that looks like its not gonna happen anymore..forget it.

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Buy "Stereotype Be" from Kevin Max at Amazon.com

I was there Friday and the most we waited all night was maybe 15 minutes for Raging Bull. Seriously, if you're whining about wait times like that, then it's time to frequent a smaller, less-busy park.

-Nate

I was there the past 2 fridays. I left around 8pm on this latest jaunt. At that time, there were no walk-on rides but the lines were not long at all. Raging Bull had a single-file line to the entrance (approx 20 minutes), Deja-Vu kept breaking down due to the weather so when the rain would stop, the line would grow. Batman's line started 1/2 up the stairs, Eagle was running only red and started in the station. V2 has yet to be open on a Friday (and from the TR, sounds like at all). And Superman had a single-file line. Granted, these lines (except for S:UF) were longer than the previous Friday, but lines where you could still get some good amounts of rides in for the night!