TR: SF Great America 08/15/22

(The day after the shooting)

It'd been almost 20 years since my last visit, so I had planned this day in advance as a side trip while visiting my parents for a few days and was shocked when my dad showed me the headline around 10pm the night before. I decided I needed to keep an eye on the website in case things changed, and indeed, when I woke up and checked, they were now closing an hour earlier than the calendar said the day before.

I showed up 30 minutes after opening to a long line of cars. And at least 2 news vans. They were still opening parking booths as I waited, short staffed. While moving slowly I observed that many of the big coasters were not running, despite having been open for a while now. Not a good sign, but kinda typical SF.

The line to go through the metal detectors was also extremely long but moved quickly. (Side note, I'm convinced these are mostly for show or set to the absolute lowest sensitivity because nobody ever even beeps. Like, ever. Ever ever ever. This coming from an airline worker who deals with these things quite often.)

Anyways, Maxx Force was closed, and never opened all day. This was a huge letdown to me as it and Goliath were the real reason I was here. Goliath also wasn't running when I saw it from the lot. I went to the Flash Pass office and was informed that they were not selling them today and was told "We're short staffed, a lot of people didn't show up today." I said, "yeah, I've noticed."

X-Flight just opened as I walked by so I got 1 ride. It was pretty fun, but Wings just aren't my favorite. This was my 3rd and I'd rank it between Wild Eagle (best) and Gatekeeper (worst) I liked the control tower flythrough and the slow roll at the end. I also realized that the left side was the wrong side, as the right side seemed to have all the cool ground hugging moments. While waiting to board, I noticed Goliath testing, so that was good news. When I got off, the line was noticeably longer but I was now making a beeline to Goliath.

Goliath has been a must-ride for me since it was announced. I grabbed 2 rides in a row, about 25 and then 35 minute waits. Single rider line was closed. (for now) Goliath was everything I had hoped it would be. It had the older style RMC overbanks, ala NTG, and new elements like the diving loop. I loved the inverted stall, as I knew I would. That was what had fascinated me when the ride was announced. Most complain that the ride is too short but I didn't feel that way. It packs enough of a punch that it was just right for me. But I'm getting noticeably less tolerant of rides the past few years. Later in the day the line was much longer, I'd guess an hour, but the single rider line was open and I snagged a ride with only 1 train wait!

As far as new credits, I also got Little Dipper (Meh) and Dark Night (Meh, but better than I thought it would be.) Skipped on the Joker credit because the line looked pretty long, but mostly because Fv(k those things! Seriously.

Grabbed 3 consecutive rides on Whizzer, as this will always be a favorite. It had about a 10 minute breakdown at one point.

Notable coasters that never opened: Maxx Force, Viper, American Eagle. I was looking forward to Eagle because I'd always loved it as a kid, it has gotten very rough in the past, but I've been hearing it's running better recently. Oh well. And as I mentioned, I was extremely disappointed in Maxx Force not opening, as I was really looking forward to experiencing it. Perhaps something was wrong with it, but since it's the newest, shiniest thing there, it's my opinion they should have closed something else instead.

I wasn't there to spend all day or go hard, so I skipped a lot of rides too. Notably Raging Bull because of the line and Demon just because I didn't really feel like it. Wouldn't have ridden B:TR or S:UE anyways. They were running, but I'm not a fan.

Overall I had a nice time. I wish I could have bought a Flash Pass even though it wasn't really necessary. I prefer to do shorter visits when solo and would have done more rides if I had one.

As far as the shooting... the biggest thing I noticed was the 2 news vans parked along the entrance doing "on the scene reporting" like the vultures that they are. Inside the park, I overheard a few guests mentioning it amongst themselves, but there wasn't any sort of "air" about it hanging over the park. Guests seemed pretty well behaved and leaned more towards families than "roving gangs of rowdy teens." I didn't notice a huge security presence but there were 2 security vehicles parked in front of the main entrance and 1 visible police officer stationed just outside the metal detector entrance.

Great America has generally been very good about having rides open and staffed on my visits over the last few years. The notable exception has been Maxx Force. Both times I've had to wait longer than a walk-on it's had a breakdown. I wouldn't be surprised if some workers stayed away from the park based on the events of the night before.

News agencies covering a newsworthy event does not make them vultures.

Six Flags typically provide such a crappy overall customer experience currently.

I hope they are truly dedicated to turning that around as recent statements have suggested.

Last time I was there there were weeds growing throughout the park. The only area that the landscaping was being maintained was Carrousel Plaza reflecting pool. The Sky Trek Tower queue even was in the weeds. The operations were awful and the place looked pretty run down. Has the look of the place improved any?!

I don’t think the new CEO is really interested in turning the parks around. It seems that he wants to gouge as much money as possible out of each customer without providing a better experience. They are laying off employees and closing sections of parks. There is no way this is going to end up being a better experience

Great America has had a really rough year this year, probably one of the worst I have witnessed in my 30+ years of going. It's pretty clear Six Flags doesn't have their priorities in the right spots at this moment.

For years Great America was always one of the better run Six Flags parks, that seemed immune to most of the problems other Six Flags parks experienced through the years. The place was almost always clean, neatly landscaped, and operations were usually pretty good with coasters rarely ever running 1 train.

This year though things have taken a major turn for the worse. The park looked like a disaster for awhile, with weeds and very little landscaping, most coaster's operated only 1 train the first few months of the season and the staff seemed very poorly trained.

It's unfortunate since last season the park seemed to be running well and looking good after being closed the year before for Covid.

^I have to admit, after 40+ years, it's strange to see the Demon running one train. It never happened before this year, I could swear it. Saw that twice this year.

I heard they are cutting costs wherever they can; I guess running one less train might cut a bit.

I'm beginning to think that my one trip was an anomaly. My only complaint was that the chicken fingers I had for lunch were trash.

Schwarzkopf76:

I heard they are cutting costs wherever they can; I guess running one less train might cut a bit.

One train ops saves on both wear and tear as well as staffing, because you can often drop a platform position (or two) when you don't run multiple trains.

But as has been said here and other places, you can't decide to suddenly start pricing yourself as a premium product while also taking your already less-than-premium product down an extra notch or two at the same time.

This goes for more than just amusement parks:

If the people who make these decisions could just step out of the office and into the world of their product, they could see the effects. Unfortunately, most never do. But when they do, the local managers pull out all the stops to show what a great job they're doing and how great everything is. Net result is that the higher ups still never see the real operations.

Not filing a whole trip report, but hijacking onto this one. Spent yesterday at SF Great America. Crowds were virtually non-existant, I mean, we managed 25+ rides in the time the park was open... (4 on Raging Bull, 2 on Goliath, 4 on X-Flight, etc.) While I loved the fact the there were basically no crowds, I was honestly surprised to see the park this light given that to the best of my knowledge, schools in IL do not start until Monday and in Wisconsin until a week from Thursday (i.e. September 1). Would have thought the park would be quite crowded with end of the season visits.

With the exception of Max Force, everything was running two trains, and overall, ride ops were pretty enthusiastic. My kids commented that Ragin Bull was not stacking at all at the end of the evening, which was the first time they had generally seen that occurring. Same could not be said for Superman though... Only the blue train of Eagle was running, and only one train looked to be on the track for the red side that I think was the side we rode earlier in the season. Viper seemed to have a nasty jolt in the middle I do not remember from previous rides. Both coasters need some TLC. Justice League is OK without the 3D, but honestly, not great

I understand they are really tightly staffed. You know that is the case when 2 drink stands are fully staffed with "management personel" (or at least that's what was on their shirts). But then again, even short staffed, the lines kept moving. (That may have had something to do with so few Flash Passes - though it looks like they were being sold, just instead of the flash pass queue being opened, a row or two of the rides were blocked off for flash passes on the coasters.)

It also was disappointing to see so many rides not running at all. Aquaman, Buccaneer Battle, Giant Drop (much of the day, though not all), Mardi Gras Hangover, Revolution (I honestly do not know if I've ever seen this run), Roaring Rapids, the train, Sky Trek Tower (OK, not a huge loss here overall), the Lobster. We didn't end up eating at the park at all. That would have been a challenge, as many of the food places aside from drink stands seemed to be closed as well. I can't say exactly how the rest of the season has been aside from what the financial figures were a few weeks ago. But, honestly, this is not a healthy sign for the park overall from a financial standpoint.

I'm also not sure how ready the park truly is for Fright Fest, which is always very packed. Raging Bull was running two trains - but there was absolutely no sign of the third. Max Force only was running one, but the other might have been in the garage.

There is no mandated start date for schools in Illinois. While CPS is starting tomorrow, a very large number of school districts started up last week. A good rule of thumb in Illinois is that school usually starts up a week after the IHSA football season starts. CPS is the largest exception, in so many ways.

Walt S:

Only the blue train of Eagle was running, and only one train looked to be on the track for the red side that I think was the side we rode earlier in the season.

Raging Bull was running two trains - but there was absolutely no sign of the third. Max Force only was running one, but the other might have been in the garage.

Eagle Red hasn't opened all year as far as I know, and it's really weird to see Raging Bull with only 2 trains mid-summer. This is the first time I have ever seen that, usually it will open with 2 but have 3 trains by Memorial Day. Not this year. Also Maxx Force has only been running one train all year.