What are your thoughts of the SF survey??

[monsterfan99]

^^I'm sure it would hurt business...

If the place is packed without bring a friend tickets, why let people in for free?

[onyxhotel08]

I know I was shocked to get my season pass booklet and see a 1/2 off admission during FF which is one of the biggest times of the year. Simply put, FF is a big event for everyone to want to go to and they offer so many back-to-back days when you can't really use them all anyway why not offer one free day in October? Nobody is dumb I pay almost $80 even though I can't go nearly as much as I want to and I don't even find myself able to tell my brother he should go with me in Oct. because he has a free ticket.

[Goku1910]

^^I'm sure it would hurt business...

If the place is packed without bring a friend tickets, why let people in for free?

Because some people like me, might not want to go to the park unless they have a friend there with them....Makes the trip more worth-while.

[BP317]

Theres no reason to have free days if the place is going to be packed without it. Sorry, but to be honest no one cares if you want to bring people in for free, everyone seems to agree that would be a disaster.

[onyxhotel08]

How, exactly would be that a disaster? By having the free friend people come in and spend money on food and useless and overpriced crap at shops? Or flash passes like we always get?

[DejaVu2001]

^ Because if they let people in free on days that are already always packed, they will hit capacity and have to turn away people who would have been paying $54.99 to get in (and probably would have spent additional money inside as well)

[onyxhotel08]

^^Call me back when the park hits capacity with free friend days in October. Oh, wait, youc an't cause they are too lazy they would rather offer you 1/2 off...so nice of them

[DejaVu2001]

^ It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the park would hit capacity if they had "bring a friend for free" coupons during Fright Fest. They already get close to capacity during FF as it is. Believe it or not, SFGAm actually has very good reasons for not having free coupons during FF, they're not just out to screw your friend.

[onyxhotel08]

To them, during FF, it doesn't make a big difference if you pay 1/2 or get in for free since people spend tons of money on everything else in the park that is 10-40% more expensive than should be. Not really the same thing but here it goes: I have a season pass almost every year. I still get tons of crap at the shops, flash passes & not to mention look forward to going back on skycoaster and I love those souvenir bottles.

[Ilovthevu']

I don't get how the blackened dates got associated with this survey. Sure, Disneyland at least has that system. Look at how much attendance they are getting compared to us. How many times a year has Six Flags Great American gotten over capacity?

For Fright Fest, it might not be as packed as you think it is. SFHH is closed. That's a huge section of space and people that is empty. There are some rides that aren't open like Sky Trek Tower, and water rides for obvious reasons. SFHH maximum capacity I think is 7500, and the water rides plus Sky Trek Tower has to be like 2,000. So, that's like -9,500 people based on capacity.

I'm not saying that Fright Fest doesn't get crowded, but when you have less stuff open; it's going to feel more crowded. Why is Fright Fest crowded besides the other things? It's the end of the season, it's a Halloween event (with Haunted Houses, scary stuff), another crowd comes to the park, it has different shows, some rides changed, and it's not open everyday of October like it is in summer.

Anyway, I feel the whole point of this survey and rewards program is for people with season passes to spend more money. The more times they come to the park, the more times they want you to spend more money. Think about it. They give you 20% off merchandise if you use your season pass. My guess is that they are going to give you some % off all food / games, and you have to use your pass. So, it's like a preferred card. The more times you go, they figure they will get more money from you through the rewards. Maybe, the reward is a free t-shirt, and they say you must spend $30 in the park to get that reward on anything (games, food, merchandise).

If people only go 2 times to the park, there is less chance of them getting a lot of money out of you compared if you go to the park 6 times. It's really about raising their per-cap.

[onyxhotel08]

^^ Good post--well thought-out. Money talks especially at Six Flags these days.

[FParker185]

Capacity is set by either the fire department or an emergency management agency in Gurnee. Once the park reaches that, they have to close the gates. The park has no say in it.

I'd say just about every Saturday during fright fest if the weather is decent, the park hits capacity. I've seen the park hit capacity on Saturdays during the season also.

I'd make no sense at all to let people in the park for free during fright fest except maybe on the first 1-2 fridays when it can be slow. I'm sure the park would rather have the park filled to capacity with paying guests rather than freeloaders. An added bonus is when the park hits capacity, while I'm not 100% sure how SFGAm handles it, but they would not necessarily be obligated to let you back in if you leave the park, hand stamp or not.

[UWW-10]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the majority of the "bring a friend for free days" usually during the start (April-May) and end (Aug-September) of the season with the "half-price" admissions scattered all about the season?

It always seems to be that way. Usually, the free friend days occur when the park is only open from 6-8pm at night anyhow. There's a reason you don't see those free days in the middle of July.

Anyhow, most "rewards" for any kind of incentive program usually have some kind of "attachments" to them, which don't have to be blackout dates. You have to realize that sometimes the programs they have can't please everyone who buys into the system. Take CAD for example...some people don't like the fact it's at night becasue they know they have to work the next morning. Some people want it to be in the morning prior to park opening but then another group of people complain they can't attend because of work. So either way, you don't please everyone....and that's life for you.

[onyxhotel08]

No, I had free friends days for May, June, August and September. Don't know why they skipped July... 1/2 off is pretty much used for Fright Fest I think. I don't have my coupon book anymore so only about 96% sure.

[UWW-10]

^ The same reasoning for not having free friend days in July is compareable to not having them during Fright Fest. The park knows that they can get decent crowds in July, not necessairly considered "to capacity", but the park itself is busy enough to not warrant "bring friends for free". Not to mention, the Read To Succeed crowds comes Mid-August and they certinaly have enough "free" admission there with children so I can bet the last thing on their mind then is, "Let's let season pass holders bring friends in for free".

Again, you stated what I said (but I should better clarify) the "free days" are toward the beginning of the season until about the second week of June (it's been until about Father's Day..I think that was a Free Day) and then towards the end of the Season (last Monday-Thursday of August through September). As somone else mentioned, the half-price days usually were in-line with the CAD events so the people who came in for half-price would get an upgrade to enjoy the event, especially when they went to GR to ask because most people didn't realize they actually needed their own season pass to participate...obviously, they hooked a lot of people this way.

As far as the season pass holder night, it went over about as well as the Dream Night thing they had a few years back. While the Dream Night thing was 1 person winning and 100 friends (or something like that)...the turnout for the season passholder event was no different. I remember working the Season Pass Holder Event, and I think Eagle maxed out at 20pph. It's great from a guest view to get lots of rides in, but when you look at it from the perspective of the park, it really wasn't worth it.

[BrianPlencner]

But, there are always people out there that throw off the curve. I am one of them, when it comes to visits to the park and money spent in the park.

Last year, I visited the park 31 times (30 to SFGAm, and 1 visit to SFSTL). Now, I did not keep an record of days spent at SFGAm and the amount of money I spent each day, but I can tell you that most days I did not spend anything at all. Some days I was there a few hours, others I was there all day. Sure, I may have picked up a few 89 cent shot glasses near the end of the season, but I know that I did not spent $100's of dollars at the park just because I went over 20 times in the season.

I'm all for a program that rewards you with going a lot of times in the season. I drive by the park every day going to /from work, so I could stop every day in the summer, and really rack up my visits! Even if the park was busy, I could stop in, walk around the park a few times (good exercise) and then go home and have dinner.

I figured they had ways to keep track of a lot of this stuff, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

--Brian

[monsterfan99]

But, there are always people out there that throw off the curve. I am one of them, when it comes to visits to the park and money spent in the park.

Last year, I visited the park 31 times (30 to SFGAm, and 1 visit to SFSTL). Now, I did not keep an record of days spent at SFGAm and the amount of money I spent each day, but I can tell you that most days I did not spend anything at all. Some days I was there a few hours, others I was there all day. Sure, I may have picked up a few 89 cent shot glasses near the end of the season, but I know that I did not spent $100's of dollars at the park just because I went over 20 times in the season.

I'm all for a program that rewards you with going a lot of times in the season. I drive by the park every day going to /from work, so I could stop every day in the summer, and really rack up my visits! Even if the park was busy, I could stop in, walk around the park a few times (good exercise) and then go home and have dinner.

I figured they had ways to keep track of a lot of this stuff, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

--Brian

Almost the same stats for me too. Around 20 visits to Great America and 2 to St. Louis. My total spending in park (besides tickets to get in) was 14 on food (corn dog and some candy at the end of the season), whatever the cost of a Bull key chain, and around 10 bucks in the arcades. I did not spend dollar one at St. Louis during my two days there. This year, I plan to hit Great America around 30 times or more, SF New England, SF America, SF New Jersey and The Great Escape. I suspect I'll more of park merchandise, but not much.

I just fear if they include the amount you spend on stuff as part of the rewards, they will see people like myself. I have to wonder many people there are like (and this is not counting teens) that go to the parks.

[CoasterDude12-2]

Quite frankly I don't want the park keeping tabs on how often I go there and spend money. I figure they tally every time I go to the park, but I don't want to be watched by big brother just for a free hat.


I guess they're gonna restrict passes to the weekdays next year? They'd be in PR hell if they did it this year to everyone who already bought a pass (myself included).

[SixFlagsGuy76]

^They are NOT restricting weekday or weekend season pass access this season. It was merely mentioned that season pass access is able to be controlled.

[Ilovthevu']

^^^ & ^^^^

That was my point. They want people that have season passes to spend more, or even spend at all. If you give season pass holders even a buy one get one free item and they use it, than they are spending money in the park even though it's at a discount price. They already know how many times you are going to SFGAm, or any other park. It's not because of that.

My problem with the merchandise is that the shirts aren't that good. In my opinion, they have some poor designs, and not enough colors. Plus, they are selling stuff that's not even stuff from Six Flags like the Simpsons and other stuff (especially in that one shop that's near the Great American Raceway).

[monsterfan99]

^^^ & ^^^^

That was my point. They want people that have season passes to spend more, or even spend at all. If you give season pass holders even a buy one get one free item and they use it, than they are spending money in the park even though it's at a discount price. They already know how many times you are going to SFGAm, or any other park. It's not because of that.

My problem with the merchandise is that the shirts aren't that good. In my opinion, they have some poor designs, and not enough colors. Plus, they are selling stuff that's not even stuff from Six Flags like the Simpsons and other stuff (especially in that one shop that's near the Great American Raceway).

This is why I don't buy stuff. Would it be that hard to have postcards or pins. What stuff they do have is expensive (5 bucks for a Raging Bull keychain) or, like you said, stuff that has nothing to do with the park. I remember going to the main gate as seeing monster truck models. If they park put in postcards, I would buy every single one.

[onyxhotel08]

Not everything is overpriced. Some are good deals but the real issue I had with closing day 2008 prices was $36.99 for a regular Six Flags sweatshirt...closing day I'd rather freeze. So wait, they don't have postcards?

[DejaVuGurl1203]

Any details on this "Funatics" thing? I got an e-mail.

[onyxhotel08]

Kinda lacking any info heh? It' like they don't know themselves...

[monsterfan99]

Not everything is overpriced. Some are good deals but the real issue I had with closing day 2008 prices was $36.99 for a regular Six Flags sweatshirt...closing day I'd rather freeze. So wait, they don't have postcards?

Not a single one in the park. None at St. Louis either. Kinda confused me as they had them in the past.