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SFGAm Now Open at 25% Capacity, Bridge Phase May 14th

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby gottastrata33 on April 22nd, 2020, 1:58 am
I'm over this.
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Postby anewman35 on April 23rd, 2020, 3:07 pm
Official, Stay At Home order in Illinois until May 30th...
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Postby gottastrata33 on April 23rd, 2020, 5:28 pm
Like I said before...
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Postby DejaVu2001 on April 30th, 2020, 8:55 pm
Here's an article about what the parks will be like when they reopen

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/04/30/si ... aGgYmu28bE
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Postby UnclePennybags on May 1st, 2020, 2:15 am
DejaVu2001 wrote:Here's an article about what the parks will be like when they reopen
https://www.dailynews.com/2020/04/30/si ... aGgYmu28bE

1) Only 50% from the survey said they'd go to the park today if it were open? I'm surprised the number is that low.

2) Face masks are the new normal for just employees, or guests also? Article isn't clear. If I have to wear a face mask when it's 95 degrees in the park, I'll be with the other 50% from (1) above.

3) And what about the waterpark? I see some great satirical potential from a swimming pool full of people wearing face masks.

4) Also not clear on the temperature checks. Employees only, or guests also? Unless they're using infrared thermometers, I'd think the lines to get into the park would move pretty slowly.

5) Operating at 25% capacity is brutal. If I drive 100 miles to get to the park, I'd be disappointed if I couldn't get in.
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Postby CoasterNick3157 on May 1st, 2020, 4:16 am
So Capacity will be even worse on the rides if you gonna do 6ft distance in queue lines. Maxx Force Yikes

DejaVu2001 wrote:Here's an article about what the parks will be like when they reopen

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/04/30/si ... aGgYmu28bE
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Postby B&MGuy35 on May 1st, 2020, 8:55 am
CoasterNick3157 wrote:So Capacity will be even worse on the rides if you gonna do 6ft distance in queue lines. Maxx Force Yikes

DejaVu2001 wrote:Here's an article about what the parks will be like when they reopen

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/04/30/si ... aGgYmu28bE
Not necessarily
The article mentions virtual queue’s will be used for rides. Seems like Six Flags needs to up their technology game really fast!


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Postby anewman35 on May 1st, 2020, 10:56 am
UnclePennybags wrote:
DejaVu2001 wrote:Here's an article about what the parks will be like when they reopen
https://www.dailynews.com/2020/04/30/si ... aGgYmu28bE

1) Only 50% from the survey said they'd go to the park today if it were open? I'm surprised the number is that low.


I'm surprised it's that HIGH. Let's be honest, no matter what rules they put in place, people aren't really going to be wearing staying 6 feet away from each other and wearing facemasks all day (and there's no way Six Flags is going to fully enforcing that). If you're a person who's at all concerned about getting the virus, would you really want to deal with that just for some roller coasters?

And even if you don't care about the virus, does the above scenario sound fun to you? Masks, things closed, etc, is that really worth it to go on some rides, or is it better to just wait til 2021?

To want to go to the park, you have to:
1. Be willing to put up with a lot of annoyance (probably always true with Six Flags, but whatever)
2a. Not think Coronavirus is a big deal
OR
2b. Trust Six Flags (and the general public) to not be stupid and actually keep you safe.

I know for sure I don't fall into those categories.
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Postby DejaVu2001 on May 1st, 2020, 11:42 am
Here is the Q1 Earnings Conference Call. It's a long read with a bunch of financial mumbo jumbo.

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/six-fla ... zDwm1IM_vM

I will just quote and comment on one section that stood out to me. Certain sentences bold for emphasis.

Tim Conder -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. And then at this point, granted Cali seems to have a little bit more heavier restrictions and then you've got the Northeast, New York, New Jersey area that had a lot more of the impact, unfortunately. Would you anticipate areas in Chicago also would you anticipate areas, say, maybe Texas, Georgia, areas that could open first prior to some of those other regions that have been impacted more severely by COVID?

Mike Spanos -- President and Chief Executive Officer

So it's another good point, Tim. We're tracking the numbers closely. I mean, we look at all sorts of data, and we're talking to the local officials, and it's a moving target. But when you look at what's going on with the states, it would suggest that we should be staying close to Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri and Mexico. And look, we're really regionally diversified as well.

As you know, I think the other part of this is we talked all the state officials. Areas remember, not one of our parks represents even 10% of our company's EBITDA. So we're very diversified and I think that's a good Q for us. But those would seem to be the areas right now, whereas we're watching the state or the country dynamics that would suggest, ideally, we could open at some point, hopefully in the summer. But again, time will tell. There's a lot to be learned in the next few weeks as a lot of these states are opening, and they see how they're moving forward in terms of the broad state opening and what that means. But again, the good thing is we've got no park, that's more than 10% of the attendance base.


The second paragraph pretty much confirms what I've thought for the last few weeks about which parks are likely to reopen first.

The last paragraph, reading between the lines, makes it seem like Spanos is pretty pessimistic about parks outside of those states having ANY 2020 Season.
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Postby anewman35 on May 1st, 2020, 12:14 pm
This is going to be based a lot more on politics than actual medical reasons.

In southern states, they're going full steam ahead no matter what any data might say, and so it wouldn't be a shock of they were able to even get them open THIS MONTH.

In the California, Illinois, and the Northeast, it'll be lot longer. We would have to get through the current Stay at Home stuff AT LEAST (mid to late May depending on the place), and then I suspect in at least some places there's a period where they relax some rules but still have restrictions on 'non-essential' things like Theme Parks. If we start getting some bad reports out of the states that are reopening, it'll just push everything back further.
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Postby DejaVu2001 on May 4th, 2020, 12:36 pm
https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/p ... g-schedule

Temporary Park Closure: Six Flags Great America is temporarily closed. Following local and regional COVID-19 health directives, we will open as soon as it is safe to do so.

IMPORTANT: ALL VISITORS (INCLUDING PASS HOLDERS AND MEMBERS) MUST MAKE ADVANCE RESERVATIONS TO VISIT THE PARK. To meet state social distancing guidelines and ensure the health and safety of our guests, all visits to the park must be pre-scheduled using our online reservation system. Check back here for details.
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Postby UnclePennybags on May 4th, 2020, 1:42 pm
DejaVu2001 wrote:...IMPORTANT: ALL VISITORS (INCLUDING PASS HOLDERS AND MEMBERS) MUST MAKE ADVANCE RESERVATIONS TO VISIT THE PARK...

Wow. I saw this coming, but I'm still disappointed with how this is all panning out.
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Postby DeathbyDinn on May 4th, 2020, 1:58 pm
I think it's a good thing that the parks plan to implement advanced reservations, it would suck for people to drive to the park just to be turned away, especially for people who don't live right by the park.
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Postby Carlo on May 4th, 2020, 2:29 pm
It makes sense to do reservations system. You do not want to have lines of people trying to get in the park. Also they can then really control crowds. I would not be surprised if they open first with only 10% capacity and then slowly work there way up.

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Postby anewman35 on May 4th, 2020, 3:35 pm
Carlo wrote:It makes sense to do reservations system. You do not want to have lines of people trying to get in the park. Also they can then really control crowds. I would not be surprised if they open first with only 10% capacity and then slowly work there way up.


From the park's perspective, would there even be a point to that though? On some level it probably just looks bad to be closed and they want to open in any way they can, but how much financial sense does it make to staff the park for a very small crowd?
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Postby JackGlass on May 4th, 2020, 4:32 pm
anewman35 wrote:
Carlo wrote:It makes sense to do reservations system. You do not want to have lines of people trying to get in the park. Also they can then really control crowds. I would not be surprised if they open first with only 10% capacity and then slowly work there way up.


From the park's perspective, would there even be a point to that though? On some level it probably just looks bad to be closed and they want to open in any way they can, but how much financial sense does it make to staff the park for a very small crowd?


When they reopen, it might be like Holiday in the park. Lots of rides and shops closed, minimal staff, etc. I wonder if they will even open Hurricane Harbor this year
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Postby CoasterNick3157 on May 4th, 2020, 7:08 pm
You can't wear a mask in the water so whats the point to open HH then.
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Postby ilrider on May 4th, 2020, 10:00 pm
Just saw Hank Salemi responding to someone’s post on the Lake County Scanner page on FB on a thread about Pritzker possibly starting to reopen the state soon, so I told him I hoped the park is open this summer and we miss it. Was hoping for an optimistic reply. Instead, he deleted his original comment to the other person and disappeared. Is that a bad sign? lol
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Postby gottastrata33 on May 5th, 2020, 1:57 am
I really don't think the park is gonna open in May, but June.
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Postby UnclePennybags on May 5th, 2020, 2:50 am
gottastrata33 wrote:I really don't think the park is gonna open in May, but June.

June would be awesome. I'd love to see this happen. I look forward to going out to the park on a sunny day, watching people and riding some coasters. If it's hot, I may just jump into one of the pools or Castaway Creek. Fact is, right now I'm the poster child for pent up demand.

I can't wait to see how this year unfolds. What will be open, or maybe closed for the season? Will Hurricane Harbor open? How will Fright Fest work? In our area, no one really knows what the weather will be like three days hence, so will people make reservations three days in a row with the hope that one of those days will be worth going to the park? And if they make reservations and are no-shows, will there be any repercussions? Will we all be limited in the number of reservations we can make, kinda like being limited in the amount of toilet paper we can purchase? Lots of questions, all predicated on the idea that the park will open in 2020.

Can't wait.
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Postby anewman35 on May 5th, 2020, 1:13 pm
gottastrata33 wrote:I really don't think the park is gonna open in May, but June.


I don't think there's ANY chance our park is open in May. For one, Stay At Home is through end of May. And while it's possible that could change, you have to assume it will be at least a few weeks after it's lifted before they could possibly open (just to get employees in place, training, etc).

The other big thing is that just based on how the states are working (and Six Flags agreed in the call), it's going to be some of the Southern parks that open first. So until we get some dates for those and see how it goes, there's no way we're gonna be opening.
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Postby Dan The Coaster Man on May 5th, 2020, 2:03 pm
UnclePennybags wrote:In our area, no one really knows what the weather will be like three days hence, so will people make reservations three days in a row with the hope that one of those days will be worth going to the park? And if they make reservations and are no-shows, will there be any repercussions? Will we all be limited in the number of reservations we can make, kinda like being limited in the amount of toilet paper we can purchase?


I thought about this too. I do not plan my trips to the park far in advance. Many times I plan on going the day before or even the day of. Would this be possible with the reservation system? What if virtually every day is fully "booked", or even every day for the next week or two? Time will give us the answers...
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Postby anewman35 on May 5th, 2020, 4:32 pm
Illinois just have gave a lot of reopening guidelines. There's 5 phases (we're in 2 now). Phase 4 only allows gatherings of up to 50 people. Phase 5 (which specifically says 'What's allowed: Conventions, festivals and large events are permitted, and all businesses, schools, and places of recreation can open', and I think the park falls into that) won't happen until there's a vaccine, a treatment, or no cases for a sustained time. And that's probably not happening this year. So...
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Postby Carousel on May 5th, 2020, 5:12 pm
The App is currently showing the reopen date as July 1st.
Rides on Columbia so far this year: :?: :lol:
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Postby FParker185 on May 5th, 2020, 6:48 pm
Like anewman35 said and I heard, park wont open til phase 5. It's medically impossible to come up with a vaccine by the end of the year, most vaccines take 12-18 months to develop and with how rapidly and drastically covid is mutating, that one isnt going to happen anytime soon. Unless the governor has a change of heart or his heart stops beating, I wouldn't expect any Amusement park in IL to open this year
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