JaminOut wrote:For those who want to monitor queue lines throughout the day, queue-times.com and CoasterQueue both have up to date wait times for Great America.
JaminOut wrote:For those who want to monitor queue lines throughout the day, queue-times.com and CoasterQueue both have up to date wait times for Great America.
Vey cool. I wonder how accurate these sites are.
They use the servers the parks use to communicate through the app, so I'd say as accurate as the app.
AnneM wrote:We are heading there this Friday the 13th. Weather doesn't look super great, which I don't mind if it means lesser crowds. Driving in from Madison, WI so it's not just a short trip for us.
Good luck with the weather man. Funny, i live in Madison, WI as well haha
depotrat wrote:^^ Hate to see you get Wally Worlded! LOL I was surprised when you said Tuesday so early in the season. My home park is SFNE and they are not open midweek until after Memorial Day so I took a look at the calendar.
Yeah thanks a lot. I'm thinking me and my friends will be going next friday now, the 20th
Unless you have a crystal ball, you cannot predict crowds. It should be busy from now on with HH opening and schools out for the summer. I am going early June. My nephew has a Read to Succeed free ticket but those do not start till the 13th. We may just go again and use that ticket later in the season. He leaves for Europe on the 16th so no point in waiting till a few days before to go. He can just pay this time, then have the free ticket to use. We generally go at least twice a year anyway.
AnneM wrote:We are heading there this Friday the 13th. Weather doesn't look super great, which I don't mind if it means lesser crowds. Driving in from Madison, WI so it's not just a short trip for us.
Good luck with the weather man. Funny, i live in Madison, WI as well haha
depotrat wrote:^^ Hate to see you get Wally Worlded! LOL I was surprised when you said Tuesday so early in the season. My home park is SFNE and they are not open midweek until after Memorial Day so I took a look at the calendar.
Yeah thanks a lot. I'm thinking me and my friends will be going next friday now, the 20th
How did your May 20 trip go?
so sh*tty, i ended up getting appendicitis out of nowhere on the 13th and had to have surgery and did not feel up for rollercoasters only 1 week later lol now im pissed because i was planning on going this thursday the 2nd or possibly next week but just realized those are all the season pass bring a friend free days that the first guy who responded to this thread said to avoid. Just * great. I think im just gonna go this thursday anyways. Do you guys think that the bring a friend for free thing will affect the crowds that much?
Dan The Coaster Man wrote:I went to the park yesterday with my youth group. Crowds were busier than I expected and I was a little disappointed. But I've seen them worse.
Yeah Fright Fest and the 4th of July come to mind also Labor Day is pretty packed too!
Guy_With_A_Stick wrote:Weekdays in May, Early-mid June, September, and October are great times to go with no crowds.
I noticed that Guy With a Stick doesn't mention weekends in August. I bring this up because a friend and I are going on the 14th (which is next weekend for those like me who are too lazy). Is this a good idea? I'm guessing no.
I think the last days of the season won't be very crowded, since they're almost a week into November. I don't even think the GP knows the park is open after October.
Also, you guys are right about weekdays in May. After like 4:00, Goliath has like a 20 minute wait. Though the park closes pretty early on weekdays in early May (5:30 when I went on May 6th).
I agree that dates in November might be OK, I've been there times after Halloween and had it been fairly dead.
An amazingly dead time used to be weekends in September after Labor Day before Fright Fest. The problem is that they realized how dead those weekends were and now stay closed for some or all of them...
anewman35 wrote:I agree that dates in November might be OK, I've been there times after Halloween and had it been fairly dead.
An amazingly dead time used to be weekends in September after Labor Day before Fright Fest. The problem is that they realized how dead those weekends were and now stay closed for some or all of them...
I had fantastic luck last year for Fright Fest Sundays. I'd get into the park around 2 or 3pm. Ride everything all the coasters and not wait more than 30 minutes for anything (though this was also with taking advantage of SR lines for Superman and Goliath). It seemed like the latter half of the day families were leaving before "No Mercy" started with the scare-actors and the teens coming into the park were more about the haunted houses than coasters. Plus it's Sunday so work/school the next morning is a factor.
2014 Halloween and November was good because the weather wasn't too warm. 2015 November was the biggest disaster I've ever seen. Weather was very warm. Lot was completely full, people parking on Grand and walking. We went to Gurnee Mills and there was like one parking spot left and the mall was empty. My guess is it was serving as a second lot for Six Flags. I don't recall any attempted visit for FF last year working out. Every time we tried to go the lot was completely full or close to it. If we made it in, the lines were abysmally long.
Thanks for posting the coaster queue sites. Never heard of those before. It's very true that wait times are usually way off. When we used to get flash passes 4 years ago, I never noticed Gold ones saving us any time over a regular one. A lot of times something has been a walk up and the sign still says 30 minutes. Other times I've seen X-Flight with a full queue plus tons of flash passers with a 60 min wait when it's actually more like 120.
The park has been busy the last 4 Junes have been busy but lines are almost always a walk up. 4th of July is the same way. The lines only get bad the 3rd weekend of July. The last two years I think we got one good day after making multiple attempts at going after that weekend. Probably just the last two days of Nov 14. '12 and '13 had a few good days after the 3rd weekend of July. First week of FF was especially good then.
First, I want to thank everyone in this forum. I've enjoyed reading it through the spring and summer. I LOVE SFGA....it's my happy place. Unfortunately it's hard for me to go as both my kids (13 and 15) hate coasters. I've gotten my daughter on TDK and Whizzer but that is it.
OK, on topic. I'm dragging my husband to the park next week. Do you guys think Monday or Tuesday would be better? He hates lines so I may have to do a flash pass depending on your feedback. We will get there before park opens and probably head out around 3:00. Thanks in advance for advice!
Also planning on an early FF visit. What do you think about the first weekend, Sept 24 and 25th?
First, I want to thank everyone in this forum. I've enjoyed reading it through the spring and summer. I LOVE SFGA....it's my happy place. Unfortunately it's hard for me to go as both my kids (13 and 15) hate coasters. I've gotten my daughter on TDK and Whizzer but that is it.
OK, on topic. I'm dragging my husband to the park next week. Do you guys think Monday or Tuesday would be better? He hates lines so I may have to do a flash pass depending on your feedback. We will get there before park opens and probably head out around 3:00. Thanks in advance for advice!
Also planning on an early FF visit. What do you think about the first weekend, Sept 24 and 25th?
I was there the Sunday of FF opening weekend and it was dead. Mostly because it wasn't full Fright Fest yet (decorations were up but scare-actors and haunted houses weren't). Most rides were just walk ons.
Pertaining to your question about next week, it's bring a friend free days. The park will be packed and lines will be long. I suggest going Monday because that is the first day of school for Illinois (certain areas). Arrive around 9:30. Once the park opens, run to Goliath. After that I would gage the crowds to see if a regular (100% wait) or gold (50% wait) flash pass is necessary. Enjoy!
First, I want to thank everyone in this forum. I've enjoyed reading it through the spring and summer. I LOVE SFGA....it's my happy place. Unfortunately it's hard for me to go as both my kids (13 and 15) hate coasters. I've gotten my daughter on TDK and Whizzer but that is it.
OK, on topic. I'm dragging my husband to the park next week. Do you guys think Monday or Tuesday would be better? He hates lines so I may have to do a flash pass depending on your feedback. We will get there before park opens and probably head out around 3:00. Thanks in advance for advice!
Also planning on an early FF visit. What do you think about the first weekend, Sept 24 and 25th?
Next week would be a good time (at least for me) most schools in the area are going back to school, but for me, I don't go back until the following week. I've been there last year at this time, and the longest wait was Goliath, about 15 minutes. So try to go on like the 24th or any weekday at that time, if you can