Six Flags questions from a new Gold Pass family

I wasn't able to find a FAQ on here, so I thought I would ask you more experienced folks about this. Recently, I signed our family up for 2016 Gold Passes, plus the dining package. This is the first time we've had season passes since 2002, I believe. I'm in the Dayton, Ohio area. There used to be 2 Six Flags properties in Ohio, plus another down in Kentucky - now there are none nearby. However, the ones in St. Louis & Chicago are still close enough for a 3 day weekend getaway with the kids. Also, we might do a trip to New England or Texas/the southwest in the next year or so, & the gold passes would let us stop by one of the other parks.

My wife said that she found out that the "bring a friend free" days are only good at your home park, which I found surprising. Based on the advertising that they used to convince me to buy the Gold Passes, I thought that all of the benefits advertised were good at ALL of the other parks as well. Now I'm worried that they might only be good at our "home" park.

Anyway, the questions:

1) I picked St. Louis as our "home" park because it is a straight shot west on I-70 from here, & I thought it would be the closest park. However, now I realize that it is actually about two hours more driving round trip than Chicago would be from here. Can I pay the difference in cost and have them change our "home" park to Chicago?

2) I've heard rumors that the parking pass is only good at home park. Is this true? What other benefits of the Gold Pass are only good at a home park, if any? I'm really hoping that the dining plan and unlimited drinks are good at the other parks as well. Six Flags isn't clear on that when you sign up - they word everything so that the average person would assume that the benefits are good at all of their parks. Hopefully the water park access isn't only good for the St. Louis park.

I appreciate any of you who can spare a minute to tell me what you've found as far as gold pass benefits that you were able to use this year at more than 1 Six Flags Park. Thanks!

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/store/season-passes

It indicates there that with Gold Pass parking is included for all Six Flags parks.
As for the bring a friend, I gather that they are only good for the park where you bought your pass.

I have no idea whether you can switch home parks. My guess is no.

You can add on soft drink, dining, and shopping deals, but once again I'm not sure if that benefit transfers to other parks.

Hope this helps. I've always found the Six Flags Pass/Membership thing to be a little confusing to figure out.

OhioGuy said:

My wife said that she found out that the "bring a friend free" days are only good at your home park, which I found surprising. Based on the advertising that they used to convince me to buy the Gold Passes, I thought that all of the benefits advertised were good at ALL of the other parks as well. Now I'm worried that they might only be good at our "home" park.

Ask the park you bought your Gold Passes from. You can get a variety of opinions on Coasterbuzz, but the company you bought your passes from will have the actual facts.

Can I pay the difference in cost and have them change our "home" park to Chicago?

Ask the park you bought your passes from. The popular opinion on an Internet website probably doesn't represent the facts the park in question will have.

I've heard rumors that the parking pass is only good at home park. Is this true?

Ask the park you bought your passes from.

What other benefits of the Gold Pass are only good at a home park, if any?

You should ask the park you bought your passes from.

Six Flags isn't clear on that when you sign up - they word everything so that the average person would assume that the benefits are good at all of their parks. Hopefully the water park access isn't only good for the St. Louis park.

...why would you sign up for something when you weren't clear on the benefits?

Bring a friend free is only good at the park you purchased it at. A goldpass is good for admission, parking, and early entry at all SF parks. Last year the dining pass had 2 options, one that was only good at the park you bought it from and the national plan which was good at all SF parks, but idk if they changed it for 2016.

I can speak to this question with some knowledge as I have already gone twice on my 2016 gold pass. I bought my gold pass during the Labor Day weekend sale and added the gold dining upgrade as well. I haven't had a season pass for about 7 years so I made sure to double check everything before making the decision.

To answer your questions, my home park is St Louis (this made sense due to the price difference). I took my pass and activated it at the park and was scanned in to the parking lot and through the gate no problem. Once I went and got the pass processed they added the gold dining upgrade and I was able to use my meal plan right away. Be aware there is only one place near the entrance of the park (the ice cream parlor) to pick up your blue 2016 cup. I was able to use both meals and the snack that same day the pass was activated. One thing I ran into issues with at St Louis was them allowing me to use my 20% gold dining retail discount when I went and bought a sling bag. If they tell you there is a $15 min. purchase required, tell them to scan your pass anyway because this is something new that a lot of the employees are not informed about. Also make sure you have the pass activated by the end of october so you don't run into issues next year by missing the activation period.

This past weekend I went up to Great America (forgot how bad the tolls could be taking i-294), and was scanned into the parking lot with my pass from St Louis with no issues. I was also able to scan through the early entry gate without any problems and my dining plan worked fine as well. I also tested out the 20% retail discount and no issues there, but again I had to force them to scan my pass because they tried to impose the $15 min purchase.

As far as the bring a friend goes, log into the passholder site on sixflags.com and you will see what parks you can use your promotions at. I'm pretty sure when I checked that all of my bring a friend discounts were good only in St. Louis, however some of the other discounts were valid at other parks including Great America.

Hope this helps!

>Ask the park you bought your Gold Passes from. You can get a variety of opinions on Coasterbuzz, but the company you >bought your passes from will have the actual facts.

Slithernoggin, I appreciate your point of view. However, my actual experience at Six Flags St. Louis convinced me that Six Flags employees are the LEAST informed about park policy, and would probably be the WORST people to ask about details. For example, we got our blue 2016 season "all you can drink" pop cups at the entrance, and employees kept trying to charge us when we went to use them, giving us a hard time, as if they weren't familiar with them. I also kept asking various employees when the park closed that night, and kept getting different answers. It would be nice if they simply had a FAQ with the details posted on the website, but evidently they expect me to set up yet another username and password to access the info. No thanks - especially since that would probably just get me more targeted advertising. If I'm going to set up another username and password, I figured I might as well just do it here, on coasterbuzz, and meet lots of helpful, informed people instead.

Bullsnike, thank you for the fantasically informative post. That is what I was looking for - actual, useful feedback from someone else who had recently gotten and used the Gold Passes at different parks. Given the confusion from Six Flags employees even over the park's closing time, actual feedback from customers is the only thing I would trust at this point.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Six Flags St. Louis looks a little "worn out"? Lots of things need painted, and old, rotting wood is everywhere. Is this the way that most of their parks look?

As you can see from the lack of major responses confirming anything here, though, you're asking in the wrong place. Only answers you'll likely find are pov answers. Instead of asking low level employees, all of your questions could have been handled by emailing the park directly, or asking to speak with someone at the park that has the answers.

You don't ask the fry cook at McDonald's how the 401k plan works...

So long as you're not trying to figure out the registration requirements for PPP this year. In which case no park employees/web pages/Facebook posts will give the same answer twice. ;) I only slightly exaggerate...

Oppositely, sometimes parks are good enough to take customer feedback and clarify their website info. A few years ago, Waldameer's calendar only listed when the park opened, but not when it closed. I emailed asking about closing times, and a few days later the calendar graphic had been updated.

Meanwhile, my efforts to get Cedar Point to offer a park map on their website with actual labels on it (i.e. the same artwork they already use for the printed version, which I can almost guarantee already exists in PDF form on some designer's computer) have proven unsuccessful.

OhioGuy said:

If I'm going to set up another username and password, I figured I might as well just do it here, on coasterbuzz, and meet lots of helpful, informed people instead.

I guess I don't understand why you'd prefer consensus to certainty. Your questions were specific: can you have your home park changed and what are the exact limitations on parking, "bring a friend" etc.

I'd rather send the park an email (click on "contact us" to send an email, no log in or username needed) a short email with my questions than travel for hours to a park expecting to use a dining plan because several people on the Internet said it would work, only to learn once in the park it wouldn't be honored.

An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, as they say.

OhioGuy said:

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Six Flags St. Louis looks a little "worn out"? Lots of things need painted, and old, rotting wood is everywhere. Is this the way that most of their parks look?

I visited Great Adventure in NJ last year, and yes. Worn out is the perfect wording for what I saw. It didn't seem as if they spent time of effort keeping the place fresh and new. The park was busy, but neglected. It was still fun, but not as fun as any other big park I have visited.

On my nearly three hour long trip to Great America this summer (thank you, Six Flags, for giving free tickets to your parks to ACE members), I noticed a lot of things that needed attention. "Worn out" is a good description, OhioGuy.

I can understand wanting to get a consensus from people who have first-hand experience before contacting a company for clarification. To bring up the PPP confusion again, my friend called Knoebels and was given wrong information (and this was after the first person didn't know the answer). If it hadn't been for the various Facebook discussions, she would've had no reason to believe that information was wrong.

So OhioGuy, now that you have Bullsnike's clarification, I'd recommend emailing the park so you can get it directly from them in writing, just in case an uninformed employee gives you a hassle later. And who knows, if enough people ask them the same question, maybe they'll make it more clear on their website. (At least, that's always my hope, and that's why at 35 I'm already turning into That Old Man Who Always Emails Us With A Bunch Of Questions And Comments.)

^^Yes, I always like to get things in writing. A low level employee can argue with me about what I say I was told. It's harder for them to argue with what I have, in print, in my hand, from their company.

I don't know what I know about PPP because I've heard so many different things. I'll just go and have fun and whatever happens, happens.

birdhombre said:

So long as you're not trying to figure out the registration requirements for PPP this year. In which case no park employees/web pages/Facebook posts will give the same answer twice. ;) I only slightly exaggerate...

I love that park more than I love frozen sweet tea.

That being said, you didn't exaggerate even one iota....can't Dick set the PPP policy and have everyone read from the same script?

I got into SFFT and parked there with a SFoT pass. I asked at a food service place if they honored the season pass discount from SFoT and they couldn't ring it up normally but a manager came over and knocked something like 20% off the cost.

"For example, we got our blue 2016 season "all you can drink" pop cups at the entrance, and employees kept trying to charge us when we went to use them, giving us a hard time, as if they weren't familiar with them."

https://www.sixflags.com/stlouis/store/online-meal-deals

Those are not the "all you can drink" cups for the season, the green cups are. The red ones are .99 refill cups, which is probably why they gave you a hard time since it was blue and not red or green. For the record the cups are good at all of the parks, which is why I'm bringing a green one with me when I go to Six Flags New England on Saturday. And on the topic of worn out parts of six flags, has anyone looked at the Georgia Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia this season? I thought it was going to collapse on me when I rode it.

I know most people won't bother with this, but we always just get 1 free refill bottle and a few empty containers. Fill up the free bottle, pour it into empty container, repeat.

You're so thrifty, Andy.

If you haven't processed your Six Flags season pass, you could contact guest relations and see if they can switch home parks for you.

The Gold Pass Parking and Gold Dining Pass are good at all Six Flags Parks in 2016.

According to the coupons on the Six Flags app Bring a Friend Free coupon's are only valid at the park you buy the pass from.