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How busy do you think it will be...

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby viperchick85 on September 26th, 2018, 8:56 am
The last week of October that it's open? M-W the park is open 6-11 and I plan on going there with the family including a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Do you think it will be too scary for them? Obviously we won't stay long if the weather is crappy, but we need to go to get our passes. Thanks.
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Postby momlovescoasters on September 26th, 2018, 9:14 am
I would get a sitter. It’ll be busy and in my opinion, way too scary for young children. I wouldn’t even bring that age after 6:00 pm during the summer with the issues they’ve been having.
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Postby viperchick85 on September 26th, 2018, 9:26 am
momlovescoasters wrote:I would get a sitter. It’ll be busy and in my opinion, way too scary for young children. I wouldn’t even bring that age after 6:00 pm during the summer with the issues they’ve been having.


What kind of issues? I haven't been there since 2012.
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Postby momlovescoasters on September 26th, 2018, 10:57 am
It can be a rough crowd at night....teens running wild, fighting, etc. They’ve had several major issues where police were involved. I go at night but I would never allow my 15 year old daughter to go and I would never bring small children. Just my opinion.
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Postby momlovescoasters on September 26th, 2018, 10:58 am
Check out “coaster after dark fight” thread for more info.
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Postby viperchick85 on September 26th, 2018, 11:13 am
momlovescoasters wrote:Check out “coaster after dark fight” thread for more info.


Ok, I will. Thanks. We live 1.5 hours away and were basically planning to get our passes and leave if need be, just so we can get them redeemed by the date. I haven't been to a FF since 2006, lol, and that was wayyyy before I had kids so I don't really remember how scary it could be for little ones. I appreciate your input.
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Postby hook13 on September 26th, 2018, 2:13 pm
It will definitely be busy, but kid rides shouldn't be too bad of a line (if you want to do whizzer or little dipper, head there right at opening and get a ride or 2 in)....go for lunch early (11:15-11:30) if you have dining plan, get snacks early, and be in line for dinner early (4:15)...if you have a plan it's manageable. Plan to be be on the other side of the carousel by 5:30PM or on the other side of the park (by orleans) as going through the square on the way out is packed for the show at 5:45, head out of the park before the scare actors come out at 6pm. Our 2-3 year olds liked love at first fright show, ringmaster show might be a bit too scary- kids will be fine at FF, at least until after 6pm, really until dark if you want to chance it, but we head out before the parade/5:45pm turnover-
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Postby SFGAM_Hog on September 26th, 2018, 5:48 pm
I went the first weekend on Sunday and it wasn't that packed. The lines were actually not bad at all and we got on a lot. The longest line was for sure Terror Twister. I say Sundays aren't as bad as Saturdays.
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Postby MrsTaxi on September 26th, 2018, 5:54 pm
viperchick85 wrote:The last week of October that it's open? M-W the park is open 6-11 and I plan on going there with the family including a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Do you think it will be too scary for them? Obviously we won't stay long if the weather is crappy, but we need to go to get our passes. Thanks.


The weekday nights should be pretty dead crowd wise. Probably way too scary for toddlers.
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Postby _FuryBull_330_ on September 26th, 2018, 5:58 pm
Yeah, definitely do not bring your kids after 6. They will get scared really fast. But I don't think they would scare a 1 year old child. I went with my cousins to Fright By Night once (never again) and they brought their 2 year old child and when there was a scare actor about to creep on us he saw the child and left us alone.
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Postby viperchick85 on September 27th, 2018, 9:35 am
MrsTaxi wrote:
viperchick85 wrote:The last week of October that it's open? M-W the park is open 6-11 and I plan on going there with the family including a 3 year old and a 1 year old. Do you think it will be too scary for them? Obviously we won't stay long if the weather is crappy, but we need to go to get our passes. Thanks.


The weekday nights should be pretty dead crowd wise. Probably way too scary for toddlers.


Thanks, yeah, the plan will probably be to get in and get our passes and maybe do the carousel and punch anyone in the balls that tries to scare my kids (kidding) and head over to Gurnee Mills or something.
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Postby viperchick85 on September 27th, 2018, 9:36 am
_FuryBull_330_ wrote:Yeah, definitely do not bring your kids after 6. They will get scared really fast. But I don't think they would scare a 1 year old child. I went with my cousins to Fright By Night once (never again) and they brought their 2 year old child and when there was a scare actor about to creep on us he saw the child and left us alone.


That's what I'm banking on. And if not, you can bet Mama Bear will come out and play lol.
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Postby UnclePennybags on September 27th, 2018, 8:59 pm
I was there Saturday, September 15. The park was the busiest I've ever seen. If you want to maximize your time at the park *not* standing in lines, I recommend the following:

1) Get to the park 30 to 45 minutes before the park opens. When I went, the official open was at 11:00 AM, but they started letting people in between 10:30 and 10:45. It'll take some time to get from your car to the gate, so by the time you get there, it may be just opening.

2) If you haven't done so yet, get a Club Goodwill REwards card. This will cost you nothing, but if you have one, you can use an express line to get into the park in 10 minutes instead of 30 (or more). The Goodwill line is on the far right of the entry gates. For more info, look here:

https://www.amazinggoodwill.com/events- ... -six-flags

3) After you get through Security, you'll continue on to the gate that accepts passes. I assume you have printed vouchers that you'll be bringing with you. The people at the gate will take your vouchers and create your 2019 season passes on the spot. At this point, your passes are activated and you can just turn around and go home, but because you've gotten into the park before most other people, the *first* location you visit in the park will likely have a short to nonexistent line.

4) If you have also purchased dining passes, these will be added to your season passes when you enter the park. However, you'll want to pick up your 2019 sports bottles at Trolley Treats so you can start making use of your unlimited refills as soon as possible. There may be a small line there, but if you wait until later, you'll have to contend with longer and longer lines as the day progresses.

5) If you have vouchers for anything other than the season and dining passes, these will have to be activated at the Pass Services Center (PSC). This line gets long *fast*. I was one of the first in the park at 10:45 AM, but by 11:00 AM, I was looking at a 30 to 60 minute wait if I wanted to activate my photo pass. If there are two adults, one adult should take the kids to get the bottles while the other makes a beeline for the PSC. If you're early enough, both adults might be able to complete their tasks in less than 15 minutes after entering the park.

Ideally, you want to minimize your time in your first lines of the day. Any rides that accept kids will probably have shorter lines at this point, but the Trolley Treats and PSC lines get long in a hurry. If you have to go to these locations, you want to get there as early as possible so you don't spend the first 60 to 90 minutes of the day standing in lines. It's not a good way to start out, especially with kids. If you don't need bottles and don't need to go to the PSC, you could probably get to the park later and still have a good time with the family. In any case, I still recommend the Goodwill card.

With respect to having kids in the park after 6:00 PM, I don't recommend it. During my last visit, I was surprised to see so many preteens walking around after 8:00 PM. I didn't see them having any issues. However, two years ago, I remember seeing a woman at Guest Services who was livid because her kid was so scared. This was at about 6:30 PM. I have to side with the park on this one: don't take your kids to something called "Fright Fest" if you think they might be traumatized by it. The scare actors have zero effect on me, but I could see a five year old having issues.
Last edited by UnclePennybags on September 29th, 2018, 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby CoasterRiderSC on September 28th, 2018, 1:25 pm
Usually the scare actors seem to leave very small kids alone. Their primary (and very easy) target seems to be teen girls! Especially ones sitting on a bench or distracted on their phones.

I've taken my girl to FF when she was 6 and 7. She did OK after 6pm , however she really didn't like the annoying clowns with the horns that run up behind you in front of X-Flight. She also didn't like the guy who runs and slides on his knees creating sparks. SHe wasn't traumatized but she wasn't really liking some of the stuff either. We did see Nox and she wasn't scared of him.

So it depends on your kid. I still wish they could do all the FF and haunted houses ONLY in Hurricane Harbor!
I"m one of the rare people who don't like Halloween at all and I only go there for the rides. The scare actors are just blocking my way and creating traffic jams for me !
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Postby viperchick85 on October 30th, 2018, 4:03 pm
CoasterRiderSC wrote:Usually the scare actors seem to leave very small kids alone. Their primary (and very easy) target seems to be teen girls! Especially ones sitting on a bench or distracted on their phones.

I've taken my girl to FF when she was 6 and 7. She did OK after 6pm , however she really didn't like the annoying clowns with the horns that run up behind you in front of X-Flight. She also didn't like the guy who runs and slides on his knees creating sparks. SHe wasn't traumatized but she wasn't really liking some of the stuff either. We did see Nox and she wasn't scared of him.

So it depends on your kid. I still wish they could do all the FF and haunted houses ONLY in Hurricane Harbor!
I"m one of the rare people who don't like Halloween at all and I only go there for the rides. The scare actors are just blocking my way and creating traffic jams for me !


Little update: we made it all just fine and got our passes, even walked around a bit. The only one scared by the scare actors was myself...lol. Most of them ignored us, thank goodness. A few tried to interact with them by high fiving and stuff, and that was nice. I'm not a huge fan of halloween stuff but surprisingly the kids didn't bat an eye. I'm really glad we went even though no one rode anything and we just walked around. It was great to be back even if was just an hour or so! Thanks everyone for the tips and the heads up.
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Postby Ilovthevu' on October 30th, 2018, 4:59 pm
Someone went yesterday (Monday / Oct 29th), and said that Batman at the end of the night was a 30 minute line. When I actually went on Oct 31st (maybe 2 years in a row), their was hardly anyone there. Think about it. If you can go trick or treating, why would you go to Great America? Trick or treating is ONE day. Great America, you had a whole month & 1/2 of it. Also, people have parties on that day. I'm going with the ride status thing on this website /sfgamworld. They don't just get anybody to do this ride status thing. I have a feeling it's the main moderator that is still around. I trust him. Maybe, when that person went on Sunday, the rides were temporarily closed EARLY on due to wind, and than later on opened up. I have a feeling that's what happened about the Sunday ride status report.

Anyway, if you look at yesterday and today's, you will see a bunch of rides closed which I would think is why Batman is so long at 30 minutes, plus you don't have the Grand Music Hall shows anymore. So, yes it probably is less packed than on a Saturday, but remember no Grand Music Hall shows, and much less rides open than Saturday had which means the rides that are open, you will have more lines.

Also, realize that people will not leave because it's only 5 hours, and I would think a lot of food places would be closed. If so many rides aren't open, than why would all the food places be open.

The big chance or rain right now / tonight is probably also the reason people went Monday (Oct 29th), and probably not a ton of people tonight, in my opinion (Oct 30th).

What I want to tell people is that rain, and the worse weather is your friend if you want emptier days. The problem is though is that IF hardly anyone comes tonight because of rain, they are going to just close the park earlier. It happened to me on Oct 31st of one of these years. They had the park open for about 4 hours when it was supposed to be open 6 hours because of low attendance.

It's always about low attendance. If the park had 40,000 people, and was miserable weather they would NEVER close that park. It's about those numbers, and not really about the weather though the weather sways people from not coming to the park. Last year, during the November time, they had a day where it was raining a lot during the day, and than 3 hours later the rain stopped. It was sunny, and you had no more rain for the rest of the night. They closed the park earlier because of low attendance, but blamed it on the weather; because you can't blame it on low attendance - if you are the park.

Most of the month, this event is open for 3 days (Friday / Saturday / Sunday). If Friday night is very, very cold, and Sunday has a chance for rain / thunderstorms, so many people are going to pack in the park on Saturday. It's not like the same crowd levels on are each day: Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Some of those mobs and mobs of people on this past Saturday where probably thinking of going to the park on Friday or Sunday, but because of the weather went on Saturday.
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