Something no one expected???

[Timmy179]

Im sure I wasnt the only one to be suprised when we found out that Hurricane Harbor was free with normal paid admission.

It made me think why Six Flags would make such a thing free? And the more i looked into it, the more interested I Became.

Heres my thought...
I am predicting right now that Hurricane Harbor will NOT be free next year, or the year after, or ever.

Why do I say this, well for one, It cost's alot of money to run something like this, along with the fact that they most likely will add more attractions every once and awhile.

So im listening to the Radio and i hear a Hurrican Harbor commercial in which i quote.. "Free this year" and I think to myself hmm... maybe i heard wrong.

But then I heard it on the Television commercial also.

The infrastructure is there to easily convert HH to a pay-extra attraction.


Don't be suprised if your paying extra next year.




If this is the case... pretty good marketing on SF' part.

[CoasterDude12-2]

The trick,

the reason the entrance to HH is so long, in my opinion, is to accomidate ticket booths,etc. Once the people get hooked into it, they'll certianly pay for it, and "free this year", which i've also heard, sweetens the deal depending upon how you look at it.

[sixflagsguy5]

One of the reasons they have it is so that guests can relax if they don't want to ride coasters or thrill rides all day. That whole idea will be ruined if they're making people pay $20.00 extra to go to a waterpark.

[Jamesb58]

The only way that they would make people pay for HH is to add a second
enterance from the Parking Lot. I would be pretty ticked if I had to pay
$45.00 just to get into Great America then have to pay like $20.00 to
get into HH. (Which I don't have to worry about since I have a season
pass and will get one every year)

This would be a bad marketing idea for Great America and they will lose
money. As for the Free Waterpark promotion. I think they are pushing
it to get more people to come. I do think that the park will be free
next year and the following years.

If it was my way, I would have made HH seperate Admission in the
first place, but not have the main enterance going through Great America.
The Main enterance would have been from the Parking Lot.

But there would also be a connection between Great America and HH.
So that people in the park could go over to HH if they want to, but they
would have to pay to get in, unless you have a Season Pass.

[coasterfreak4701]

I highly doubt that they will charge extra for HH in the future. The HH at St. Louis has been there for a few years now and still is free. And I believe the waterparks at other six flags are free too.

[danieln84]

YA NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!! The reason its free is because they KNOW that attendance of the OVERALL park will go up. there will be Thousands of new CUSTOMERS that will pay 45.00 to get into SF and only spend time in the water park or both.

Once you make something free, its hard to start charging, because in that case, HH attendance would DROP dramatically.

Hurricane Harbor would become, Deserted Tropics if they charged seperate admission PLUS SF admission.

P.S. ive never heard of commercial like that, they all say "AND NEW THIS YEAR - Hurricane Harbor FREE with park admission. there not saying just this year, there saying that THE WATER PARK is NEW THIS YEAR. not free admission.

But to be on yourside, i overheard an employee say that they are looking into changing some infostructure for next year, let me explain.....

Right now, lines for HH rides are long, they want to SPLIT the line, so that people that RENT the BLUE tubes go through one line (faster ride time) and people who use the YELLOW Tubes go into another, to try to get people to rent BLUE tubes, if they know they will get on the slides faster.

Also they wanna try something called SLIDES IN THE MORNING, were HH will open at 9am for Season pass holders.

**REMEMBER, THIS IS JUST WHAT I OVERHEARD....not saying its gonna happen**

[ihauntu2]

HH will more than likely remain free with the general park admission. SFI is working on making the parks more of a destination spot, instead of a one day trip.

I know that doesn't mean much to folks who live near the park because there is no need for a hotel for you.

I live 4hrs from the park, and up until this season I had not considered more than a 1 day stay. Now that they have added the waterpark, I am looking for a hotel room to make it a 2-3 day vacation with my daughter. Six Flags often partners with hotels to make travel package deals with the hotel paying a sizeable amount to Six Flags in order to offer discounted prices and deals.

According to this article at http://biz.yahoo.com/fool/050526/111711201202.html?.v=1
SFI is also looking at getting into the hotel game themselves. Yet another reason to keep HH free and attempt to build up a destination spot.

Although the HH at SFgadv is extra, how long do you think it will be before they offer a discounted combined ticket to get "both parks at one great price"?

As for the language of "free this year". It is doing exactly what is was meant to do. People think that it might cost extra next year, so they rush to the park this year instead of putting the trip off (Yes GP can be like that). They enjoy themselves so much that they end up coming back next year, or even more times this year.

Just my $.02, could be wrong, its has been known to happen on occasion.

[rct2wizard360]

As everyone else said, this would require the construction of gates to Hurricane Harbor from the parking lot.

If they were to do this, I sure know that not alot of my friends are Season Pass Holders, and this wouldn't be such a dandy surpise for them.

I CAN picture this happening, but I really don't think it will.

(Besides, they already have a deal on Two-Day tickets, they are racking up the money there)

[Aero737]

Well, The way me and Dave heard the commercial, it made us both think. Either they are using weird wording or are serious about this.

[Danhockey04]

It is a very good possibilty, but I dont think it is going to happen since they made a few parks have free water park entry.

Also, it can be true since they did say "Free for this year," which does rise the question like all of you have been saying. Splitting it up may be smart since they could make more money off of that, but I just say wait till next year.

[playerplex]

I think if they charge for next year, they won't charge the next because of the lack of people paying to go to the waterpark. I don't think the waterpark is that special to get people to pay separate fees to get into.

[Timmy179]

I Beg to differ, I think people would be willing to pay to go into the waterpark.



I'm glad to see I wasnt the only one who thought this.

[danieln84]

and i BEG TO DIFFER. i would PASS up that water park like it was invisble.

Also, why would they make 3 other water parks free. along with ours? the only reason the others charge more is becuase there is NO OTHER WATERPARK competition around so they know people will pay versus TRAVELING FAR....

Our Hurricane Harbor is FREE, becuase the nearest waterpark is Wisconsin Dells (as far as i know) and i sure as hell will go to the free water park rather then drive far away and have to pay. If you have a season pass its always free.. but why TRAVEL to wisconsin dells to have to pay NOAH'S ARK FEE and say Theme park fee at another park, when you can pay 1 Low FEE and get THEME PARK/WATER PARK combined.

Which would you chose, Gas money to Wisconsin Dells/Hotel/Theme PArk Fee/Seperate WaterPark with FEE/ adn all that stuff

Or 1 Low Fee of 44.95/Cheap Hotel/ and get both Theme/Water park in 1..

I choose combined park with 1 fee (Six Flags Great America/Hurricane Harbor)

Plus with the RISE in attendance and there 2 day pass. they will make up for the cost of the waterpark, and then once the cost is made up, it will all be just extra revenue and cost to keep it running.

Ill bet it will be free for along time....

[SFGAmfan]

I know for myself, if HH started charging admission, I would MUCH rather pay to go to Noah's Ark or some other waterpark in the Dells. Yes, HH would be more convinent, but if I would have to pay money to go to a waterpark, the Dells is a much better option.

[danieln84]

That is exactly why its free, because SFI knows NOAH'S ark is BIGGER and HAS MORE TO OFFER, so thats why they make it free...So that people from south of chicago or southern wisconsin will travel to SF rather then NOAH's ARK because they will get Theme/Water park at 1 low price

[sxflgshh14]

If Six Flags chooses to charge people to go to Hurricane Harbor, many people will probly still pay to go. I mean think about it, Disney World charges around 80 bucks to go to one park, and some people still go to all of them which is around 500 dollars. Another reason people would probly still go because its like a mini vacation destination. A theme park, a water park, gurnee mills, i mean come on. So basicly what im saying is, no matter what happens, many people will still flock to Six Flags Gam and HH and pay whatever they ask for. So go ahead and let them charge to get into hurricane harbor, ill still go to BOTH.

[danieln84]

No, because if i have to PAY EXTRA i might as well spend a hell of a lot and go to a Bigger waterpark. and go to the dells. thats what im trying say. six flags has to find a way to MAKE MONEY but not make people go away.

Alot of people will say "well since we have to pay extra we might as well just go to the dells for a couple days"

P.S. there is something we can all agree on....WEAR SUNSCREEN...im burnt from chest up

[Timmy179]

I dont think they will, and while you say you wouldnt you dont have to make everyone else who has different oppinion sound wrong.


From what I've seen, Hurrican Harbor basically has about everything I'd think anyone would ever want in a days trip to a Waterpark. And with Further Improvements coming, I have to belive that HH by itself could begin to challenge Noahs ark.

Dells has nothing that could match SFgam.

If they Begin charging, I know that people that live closer to Dells may not come, but Chicagoans will be more than willing to just go to SF instread of driving al lthe way to Dells.


Or maybe they will just buy a season pass (assuming that it will have a HH deal attatched to it), And in that case Thats a good strategy to sell more seaon passes.

[Ilovthevu']

I think you have to look at the other side of the matter. SFGAm is getting people to go to the waterpark. Look at the admission they are charging for both parks. Its about $45.00. People can spend the whole day in there if they wanted to. Many people might get pooped from the waterpark, and just leave without even riding rides in the regular park. So, Noah's Ark is about $30.00, but SFGAm is $45.00??? They are making there money through a trick.

If they were to make it separate, people might just go to the waterpark one day instead of getting into the regular park. So, they might be paying about $20.00 for one day. They might come back, and pay the other price of $45.00. I don't know how they would do the twicket thing.

[w00dland]

Maybe they aren't sure yet and they put that in the commercial to make sure they aren't lying about anything. Remember that the park was going to be seperate admission until this winter...

[Aero737]

Yes, but they tore up an awful lot of land, and made some pretty expensive additions to the park to get people from the main park to the water park. And I can't see them funneling 10,000 people through that enterance in the morning to get into the waterpark and take their tickets/sell them admission.

I think they will just keep saying it will cost money in the upcoming years, but never follow through. Remember, season passes were supposed to get more expensive about 10 times now. That never happened.

[SfGaMownz]

Well they can't funnel 10,000 people into HH taking tickets anyways considering the maximum occupancy is 7,000 something at the moment .

I also doubt this will happen it would be to wierd if it did, and it most likely would mean a drop in attendance to the water park, but then again no matter how much it drops they still will be making money unless the drop is insane.

[Aero737]

No they wont. It costs upwards of 10,000 dollars to heat all the water. Plus the cost of staff, maintenence, landscaping, upkeep, etc.

[sixflagsguy5]

Noah's Arc is horrible. All they have are a bunch of waterslides and two wave pools. They have no theming, and most of their slides are boring or too short.

[CoasterFreak57]

Something makes me feel that we will have to pay 4 2 season passes next year ,but the waterpark is awesome!