Anyone else notice large amount of firework shells on 4/29?

[Aaron084]

Did anybody else notice the huge amount of firework shell garbage laying mostly around S:UF but also a bit near the entrance? The ground was littered with pieces, as was the floor of the S:UF break section just before the station. This is obviously from them testing a show on a previous night, but the amout of debris looked like a regular show would be pretty dangerous from their original launching spot.

[rb1]

I never notice it but its sound really dangerous putting fireworks near the ride it could explode and hurt someone even a guess.

[mallclerks]

Oddly enough I did notice it but had no idea what it was, but now that you mention it that makes sense. Lots of peices of brown cardboard looking stuff all around, and indeed on supermans brake run, As we were going into the station I was trying to think of how someone could have spread bits of cardboard all over the run, lol.

[Aero737]

Firework shows are so expensive, I doubt they would just "practice them". It might have been from a buyout. The only fireworks I've seen in Six Flags have been small and have been shot off near the train station.

[Aaron084]

Yeah, I've seen those small fireworks too, but Great America has announced the newly revamped "nightly parade and fireworks extravaganza to celebrate 45 years of family fun". I'm thinking the fireworks will be quite bigger than in years past. Expensive or not, shows still need to be practiced to make sure timing and everything is right and maybe find problems, like the fact that broken shells will rain down on park guests. This of course is all just guesses, but either way, I'd love to see a bigger show every night!

[Trailblazer Tony]

^Have they started the parade or fireworks yet or are they waiting until the end of may?

[zjohn1988]

Parade was supposed to start today, but should be running from now on.

[diggerg56]

I was trying to figure out myself where they could safely shoot fireworks from if they are in fact doing something bigger than "Class C" fireworks. The stuff they've shot from the train station in the past is Class C.

Professional Fireworks have some definite safety margins that must be used. You have to have a mininum of 70 feet "fallout zone" for every inch of shell diameter that you are shooting. So, for even a 3" shell you must shoot a minimum of 210 feet from the crowd. The bigger display shells- 6 inch (420 feet) and up require substantailly more space if you do the math.

For those of you from the area, where were they shooting from when they tried the 4th of July show with Gurnee there a few years ago?

[Galvan]

^ Ladies and Gentelmen, SFGamWorld.com's offical fireworks expert.

[Trailblazer Tony]

One good idea would be to maybe shoot them over Hurricane Harbor since it is closed by 7:00, but that would be a pain to clean every morning, but don't they clean that anyways? Just an idea, maybe over the retention pond by Superman, if they own that land. That's about all that i can figure out.

[FParker185]

I could see all that fallout posing an issue for the pumps in the waterpark if the fallout made it into the plumbing, not to mention all that debris that would be floating in the water.

[rb1]

How about the paking lot. No thats a bad idea it could hit people walking to their car.

[da rcman2001]

they were testing the firework show a couple nights in a row last week, and it was an actual firework show. I live about 4 miles away and I could hear the shells for a long time. My friend lives in a house off of the street right in front of the park (the one that you have to turn into great america and make a right at the stop sign before the yellow gate to get to) and he saw them as well. All that debris sounds dangerous, and I am sure they are not being shot off near hurricane harbor because that would put a lot of chemicals in the pools. For the best views within the park and from the Columbia, they would shoot them off from the maintenance corridor that runs throught the park, but it is too close to the park. If they shot them off in the main parking lot that would be rediculously cheap, while extremely expensive at the same time so I am guessing that they are being launched off in the employee parking lot. I guess we wont know until I (or anybody else) gets a better view of the fireworks, or until this summer.

[Trailblazer Tony]

^I never thought of the employee parking lot. That's a pretty good idea, not sure about the views though.

[rich12_16]

Well,

According to the Village Website in the Board Meeting Section,
Six Flags hasnt even gotten approval yet.

7. Approval of Six Flags’ Fireworks Permit in conjunction with their Nightly Parade from May 27 through September 3, 2006.

That will be on the 15th, so,
Im assuming the fireworks wont start untill may 27th.

[LAFFfan4lyfe]

the night parade doesn't start until memorial day weekend, then it skips a week, then it will be every day until the end of august, and that's from someone who works in the entertainment dept.