First time visitor?

[Asa]

So, i just learned i will be visiting Six Flags Great America the second weekend in July, a Saturday.

I was wondering what i should be expecting. I am a Six Flags St. Louis fan boy, so i am looking forward to this park.

Also, what are some crowds i could be expecting!?

I am looking forward to July!

Thanks, Asa

[FParker185]

Saturday in July? Wall to wall humanity, full queue 1hr+ for basically all non flat rides.

You may want to invest in a Q-bot, Although if you like SFStL, you should like SFGAm alot. Just as nice a park, I'd say a little heavier on the ride side, and a lot easier to navigate, unless of course you need to get from Demon to Batman which are literally about 300 feet apart, though with the layout of the park, it's just under a half mile walk. Park is a one mile long oval (slightly more though Southwest Territory)

Should be fun, and unless there's some sort of accident or unforseen circumstances, all rides plus the water park should be open.

[FRD714]

Seems like the past few years the crowds are unpredictable on saturdays. It definitely won't be dead, but you may get a pretty decent day. Make sure to hit all the major coasters. Get there at about 9:30 and go straight to SUF or TDK. Make your way towards the back of the park from there. Most of the rides, if not all on the left side of the park are dead in the morning. You shouldn't hit any major lines until the SWT area.

[sfgamguy]

all i can say is one thing and that is... get a FLASH PASS! you will need it for a saturday in july!

[neil]

If you wish to ride the Dark Knight, Ragin' Cajun, and Vertical Velocity, I would suggest getting on those three first. Due to their very low capacity and high popularity, in the middle of the day, those lines can get long. However, even on the most crowded days, it doesn't really get crowded for about an hour after opening.

[monsterfan99]

I would say start the day at Superman, head over to Ragin Cajun if you want to ride as a group (if not, head back for single rider in the middle of the day) then Vertical Velocity then head back to Batman - the Ride. At this point, it should be near 11 and you can hit Iron Wolf and both sides of American Eagle in an hour. From noon on, just expect lines and go from there.

[Ilovthevu']

I would expect lines for a lot of the roller coasters. Maybe, Demon might only be 30 minutes, but still there will be lines for everything. Superman might run you at a hour and a half line during the day.

What should you expect? SFStL has rougher wooden coasters, and one great one im opinion called the Screamin' Ealge. SFGAm wooden are pretty smooth compared to yours. I take Scremin' Eagle over SFGAm wood any day.

SFStL has Mr. Freeze. I wish SFGAm would have gotten Mr. Freeze instead of V2, or have both. V2 in my opinion is a great ride, but Mr. Freeze is a top 10 coaster for me (For me, I rank it number 5) while V2 is a little further down the list (not a lot further, but a little). I consider V2 maybe number 18, or 20 in my list.

For Batman the Ride, your going the wrong way at Six Flags St. Louis. Maybe, I'm just so used to going on it at SFGAm compared to SFStL, but in my opinion it's a much better ride at SFGAm. It just seems rougher (not in a good way) going the other way. That's why I think all of them do go the SFGAm way expect that way.

The Whizzer I consider our mine train even though mine train is rougher, and has that cool drop at the end. I still wish our park had a real mine train though, but oh well.

SFGAm isn't cool enough to get a Scooby-Doo dark ride.

Demon is less rougher than your Ninja Vekoma, but some might say it has less content also. It really depends on the roughness on that ride though. For younger kids, all I overhear from them is that they get banged around. The older people (teenagers, and adults) always say it's such a short ride. I think the ride is great though. I think if Six Flags listened to their customers, the Demon would be gone. Thank goodness, they don't listen!! They even have a phrase about the red train banging your head. Yeah, I'm serious.

The Dark Knight is a mouse coaster. A mouse coaster is Ragin Cajun, but on this ride, the cars DON'T spin. Also, it's indoors. This is basically what the Dark Knight does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcaIL92nXVY The only major difference is that the Dark Knight has a bunny hop instead of that one dip.

I think your waterpark really is small compared to SFGAm's. If you are only coming for a day, you probably won't have time for the waterpark though. I don't think SFGAm is a one day park, but that's my opinion even without the waterpark, you might not be able to get on everything in 2 days (I'm talking about the flats too.)

On a sidenote, what does your username mean. As soon as I saw ASA, I thought All Star Amusements!

[Asa]

Its my name! lol!

hey, aren't you a member on sfstl.net?

[Ilovthevu']

Yep.

[Jerrykoala2112]

The middle of July is the worst time to go but trust me, I would still go.

Whizzer is probably going to be first coaster you would ride if you ride one. It will probably have a 20 minute wait. It is a family coaster and will be atleast 20 min. Although, it could get up to 40 minutes.

Viper is a must ride. It is a fast moving line. The line is always different from walk on to 40 minutes ten to like 20 minutes to 30 minutes to walk on all in the same day. It depends what part of the day. The lunch time is the worst time to ride this ride, evening is probably best.

Raging Bull has been popular this year, so I would say an hour and a half to about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I always see the queue full but very close to over flowing. But in the summer, they will run 3 carts but they still only run 2. The line goes really fast.

Giant Drop will probably be 10-20 minutes. Worth it in my opinion. Superman Tower of Power at SFSTL is always 45 minutes but you can see Chicago from the top of Giant Drop.

Demon is always a great ride. Same thing applies here as Viper. Always walk on to 20 minutes to 40 to walk on. All in same day. But this ride is best probably in morning to noon.

American Eagle is also a must ride. They will have hopefully both sides going. This ride is incredibly popular this year. I have seen it overflowing before. It has been an hour wait when both sides are going to about an hour and half depending how fast they load. Although if one side is going, it will take 2 hours. But the line is always different and gets longer in the evening afternoon time because that is the time the crowds get the that end of the park.

Iron Wolf would definately be less then 30 minutes. 20 minutes - about 10 minutes. It is shakey but ride it just to get the credit. I always ride it just to ride it.

If you want to ride the kiddie coaster Sprocket Rocket, always 3 minute wait. Hahahaa

Verticle Velocity has been busy this year, it will get about hour and half on average. front will be an extra 30 minutes.

Batman will probably get busy. Bust has good capacity. It will get 1 hour 15 minutes to about 1 hour 45 minutes. Its a popular ride and not bad at all. I prefer the one at SFSTL because I am use to the SFGAM version but you will probably like ours since you aren't use to ours.

Raging Cajun is a fun little coaster. Always the same length, about 45 minutes to hour 10 minutes. Ride single riders line to get in less then 10 minutes (probably like 3 minutes)

The Dark Knight is a good ride. Probably an hour wait to hour 20 minutes. 45 minutes if you get lucky. Line moves really fast and you might re ride if people dont get to the station on time after the preshow. It happened to me 3 times already this year.

Superman Ultimate Flight is the last coaster in the park. 2nd longest line in the park. Always more then 45 minutes! I have seen it already to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Prbably get to a little less then 2 hours.

Flash Pass is highly recommended.

[Viper 88]

Skip the waterpark it fills up too fast and lines get ridiculous. Get to the park at about 9 am 9 30 is too late to get a spot in the front of the chain they have to officially open the park. the dark knight super man v2 and ragin cajun as well as the water rides fill up very fast. seriously consider a flash pass. Premuim parking will put u closer to the main gate. hope this helps

[vprlvr456]

Since you sound like a coaster fan, I can give you a few rides to go on and some suggestions.

- First, when you visit in July AND on a Saturday, ALWAYS go from opening to close.

- Go on packed rides that pay off first, I would suggest Ragin' Bull to go on first. I've not been on it yet, but everyone who has agrees it's very good.

- ALWAYS stay close to the same area when going from ride to ride. EX. Don't walk from Ragin' Bull to batman, insteAD go to RB to viper, HUGE timesaver.

- Whizzer, though it is small and has a long line, IS Always a classic and must be ridden.

[onyxhotel08]

Premium parking is unnecessary save $10 for something more lasting...or a flash pass! If not, remember the three rules to going to Six Flags in the busy time period of summer:

Rule #1 Big boy rides start or end of day when lines are short and move fast away from blazing sun rays

Rule #2 Water rides are best at open or after 6. Roaring Rapids is unbelievable after 12 PM.

Rule #3 Don't go from one area of the park to the other. Tires you out and wastes time. Use the park map is you don't realize that rides aren't as close to each other as it appears.

Suggestion: Drink more water than sugary soda to avoid dehydration and decrease bathroom trips. Plus water fountains are FREE! Sports bottles should be bought right when you are about to leave. They do NOT sell out!