Officially/Unofficially V2 is closed for the season to undergo a repaint and re-theme. It will be themed to The Flash, just not completely sure if it will be "Flash: Vertical Velocity"t like at DK or a more unique Flash themed name. As to why they decided to close it on Labor Day? I don't know why, as this could be done during the off-season. I theorize it is to utilize staffing elsewhere in the park, since it is very tight, especially with Scenic Railway remaining open (was supposed to close Labor Day). I would have preferred a general repaint of its original color scheme; but, you know Six Flags and its fetish for, and high amount of, DC themed rides. I have also heard rumors that Yankee Clipper will be re-themed to Aquaman. Not sure the validity of that one as the flumes have a dismal future, YC more than Loggers.
On the bright side, I hope this brings more light to the Yankee Harbor area. That used to be one of my favorite areas in the park back in the 90s-early 2010s, but has definitely lost its charm, especially with the addition of The Joker. Time will tell as to what happens with the area. I am surprised that the park did not announce V2s closure during the weekend, either online or signage in front of the ride.
Been to may theme parks, in many countries. However, SFGAm is my home park and I love it!
CoasterRiderSC wrote:Raging Bull is actually the ride that really needs a paint job. Would be nice to see that happen. Superman looks really nice after they painted it.
Anyone have an idea of how much a paint job costs for a medium coaster like Superman and a large coaster like Raging Bull?
I agree. Bull was repainted last in 2008! Long overdue. While I get the idea behind a re theme I still don't see why you'd close a popular ride like V2 now. With Hurricane Harbor now closed and the water rides. You want as much open as possible. Demon probably wouldn't be as big of a loss but V2...yikes.
Not sure if anyone noticed but starting in 2022, season passes are no longer valid at every Six Flags park. It’s only good at your home park (ours is good at both Hurricane Harbors and Great America).
Also, season pass holders no longer have friend benefits. And the Gold Pass has been eliminated.
coasterfanatic wrote:Not sure if anyone noticed but starting in 2022, season passes are no longer valid at every Six Flags park. It’s only good at your home park (ours is good at both Hurricane Harbors and Great America).
Also, season pass holders no longer have friend benefits. And the Gold Pass has been eliminated.
Membership benefits didn’t change.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Isn't there another way to get access to all the parks? Different from the regular membership. Which is why they got rid of this on the season pass. I can't recall the details but thought I read it somewhere.
coasterfanatic wrote:Not sure if anyone noticed but starting in 2022, season passes are no longer valid at every Six Flags park. It’s only good at your home park (ours is good at both Hurricane Harbors and Great America).
Also, season pass holders no longer have friend benefits. And the Gold Pass has been eliminated.
Membership benefits didn’t change.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Isn't there another way to get access to all the parks? Different from the regular membership. Which is why they got rid of this on the season pass. I can't recall the details but thought I read it somewhere.
2021 certain parks offered Season Membership including GAm, However the pricing was ridiculous compared to monthly memberships.
Regular Monthly memberships are $6.99($84/yr). $9.49($114/yr), $11.99($144/yr), $17.99($216/yr) Season Membership were $230, $275, $350. $490 So, for the same membership level you're paying about 2.4 to 2.7 times as much in a lump sum. It made no sense to buy it.
Last edited by Sven18 on September 12th, 2021, 2:09 pm, edited 3 times in total.
coasterfanatic wrote:Not sure if anyone noticed but starting in 2022, season passes are no longer valid at every Six Flags park. It’s only good at your home park (ours is good at both Hurricane Harbors and Great America).
Also, season pass holders no longer have friend benefits. And the Gold Pass has been eliminated.
Membership benefits didn’t change.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Isn't there another way to get access to all the parks? Different from the regular membership. Which is why they got rid of this on the season pass. I can't recall the details but thought I read it somewhere.
Not to my knowledge. Memberships are the only pass that offers access to all parks.
coasterfanatic wrote:Not sure if anyone noticed but starting in 2022, season passes are no longer valid at every Six Flags park. It’s only good at your home park (ours is good at both Hurricane Harbors and Great America).
Also, season pass holders no longer have friend benefits. And the Gold Pass has been eliminated.
Membership benefits didn’t change.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Isn't there another way to get access to all the parks? Different from the regular membership. Which is why they got rid of this on the season pass. I can't recall the details but thought I read it somewhere.
Not to my knowledge. Memberships are the only pass that offers access to all parks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I thought I read something else on screamscape recently. Not sure though.
I got roped into moving to Phoenix, albeit temporarily. I'm just deciding when to get back. A lot of my decision is based on how well Great America is doing. Recently, I watched a guy's video on youtube and aside from waiting in line an hour for his Flash Pass, he was able to get on rides quickly and his chicken strips took about 30 seconds via mobile ordering. Most reviews I read on Tripadvisor for Great America, Sea World SD or OR, and Busch Gardens Tampa paint a picture of theme parks being utter disasters at the moment.
So, how are you all liking the theme parks this year? I'm hoping it'd be worth coming back for Great America in May of next year.
batmanfan80 wrote:...So, how are you all liking the theme parks this year? I'm hoping it'd be worth coming back for Great America in May of next year.
I saw a lot of problems with staffing this year. Just not enough employees to run the park properly. For example, they never were able to hire enough lifeguards in Hurricane Harbor, so Castaway Creek was closed from late June until Hurricane Harbor closed for the year.
I think next year will be better. They should be able to hire a full complement of international employees, and hopefully the locals will still want to work for Great America.
I agree, it will depend how the staffing situation evolves to know if next May would be a good time to visit. This probably will be true for every park, so maybe keep an eye on Scream Scape for industry news. I hope it works out for you.
Did the park up their wages at all or are they still trying to offer $11/hour?
That is going to be the biggest factor going forward. People have realized that they were being exploited for crap wages/no benefits and aren't putting up with it any longer.
RaceBoarder wrote:Did the park up their wages at all or are they still trying to offer $11/hour?
That is going to be the biggest factor going forward. People have realized that they were being exploited for crap wages/no benefits and aren't putting up with it any longer.
The CEOs of Bank of America and Kroger both announced $20 and $21 minimum wages respectively. I wonder if Six Flags could do the same. With those type of wages I would gladly leave AZ tomorrow. People can get $15 a lot of places. You can get that pushing carts.
SFGAm posted starting wages: while they say many positions now at $15 Games team $11 Park Services Team $11.50 Ride Ops $12.50 Guest Services $12.50 Food & Bev $13
SFGAm doesn't seem to have to go really high like some parks. Also, the fact is SF parksin general always ran things short staffed pre pandemic. so they need less workers.
Yes, Bank of America is raising min wage to $20 & going to $25 by 2025. They are also going to reduce their actual workforce, which has been a trend in banking for years. Banks are having less branch locations as more & more people do almost everything online.
Does anyone know why the park is open Tomorrow (Monday 10-11-21)? I saw there are special events, anyone have a crowd prediction? I heard the park reached capacity yesterday, what a mess.
CoasterDemon wrote:Does anyone know why the park is open Tomorrow (Monday 10-11-21)? I saw there are special events, anyone have a crowd prediction? I heard the park reached capacity yesterday, what a mess.
The park is open Becuase it’s Columbus Day and most people don’t have school!
CoasterDemon wrote:Does anyone know why the park is open Tomorrow (Monday 10-11-21)? I saw there are special events, anyone have a crowd prediction? I heard the park reached capacity yesterday, what a mess.
Tomorrow could be a prime day to hit it hard IF the weather threatens storms but the storms don't actually show up! I'm planning on going with a friend. Hoping to get 15+ rides in.
Single Day Ride Count Record
50 rides 8/17/2018 (Without Flash Pass - Coasters After Dark)
^Hmmm... and with that, I think I'll head into the projected rain and go up to the park for a few. Some of the best days ever where on rainy or supposed rainy days
I was at the park Saturday. No surprise, a busy day since weather was so nice but here’s some minor things:
-As others have said, V2 is almost done being painted. The sign is still up but red and yellow colors of The Flash is new scheme
-Yankee Clipper sign is down and there’s “pardon our dust” signs everywhere around the entrance but doesn’t look like much has been done yet. Maybe a retheme for that?
-The train was open from 11am-5pm for one way trips. Coaches have been completely refurbished.
-Roaring Rapids is being worked on. You can see concrete being replaced and other crains/construction vehicles in the ride area. This is visible from the train.
-Re-Entry is back to hand stamp.
-Staffing is still an issue and I heard that they actually had to turn away guests on Saturday. (Definitely didn’t hit any sort of record attendance but with staffing issues, they wouldn’t have been able to handle any more people)
-Front lot was full in first 45 minutes. Back lot filled up, but Haunted House lines weren’t long and park thinned by 8pm.
-Ride cemetery is in front of Buccaneer Battle
-Reflection Pond was drained and they are doing work on that as well. No front of park Lightmosphere show. I assume the same for Holiday in the Park
-Ad on highway sign says Holiday in the Park starts November 26.
-Revolution is closed for the season.
-A few other flats were closed for staffing (River Rocker, Drop, StupidLoop, Condor)
-Tiny is back in the grass area by X Flight.
-No Larry on Sky Trek.
Overall, you can tell staffing wasn’t as bad as the summer, but when you have a day as busy as Saturday (and likelySunday), It still hurts operations. Operations were great at Bull, Eagle, and Viper. Absolutely sucked at X Flight. Bull was hitting intervals with three trains which is nice to see.
-Foods still a mess as always.
-Also saw the security booths in the parking lot staffed for the first time in ages.
Either way, Mike Spanos talked about giving money to parks for infrastructure and to fix things up and it seems to be true based on things like the pond getting fixed up.
Service road by Eagle and Washington street entrance also got repaved. So that’s good to see.