Now, even though these rides are all terrific, in order to understand just how much we wanted to ride them, you must know the sacrifices involved in getting to Great America. First of all, I-94 was torn up so badly with construction work and 4th of July weekend is notoriously one of the two most busy weekends for the park that, these two factors combined, our traditionally 20-25-minute drive to the park took 2 hours. Part of those two hours was spent on Six Flags roads, simply waiting in the mass (mind you, definitely NOT a queue) to pay for parking. We paid about $10 less than some simply by being willing to walk an extra 300 yards or so to the park's front gate. By the time we got in the park, it was almost noon, but at least we'd made it in! My dad can't handle the "brain scrambler" rides, so we instead scrambled to find a rollercoaster to suit our fancy.
Unfortunately, because it was one of the busiest weekends of the season, every rollercoaster had lines boasting wait times of 60-120 minutes (which we soon found out were in fact much longer). In order to avoid the worst of these wait times, we skipped Superman and headed to another new ride, The Dark Knight, where the wait time was only 60 minutes. We eventually found out that the ride had little to do with its movie namesake and was a short, boring waste-of-time.
But the more important, more interesting thing we found out along the way was the reason our wait-time was ultimately closer to 2 hours: Six Flags's new invention, the Flash Pass.
If the Flash Pass sounds familiar, you may be recalling Disney's Fast Pass. The Disney version allows every park guest "fast" access to popular park rides. Here's how it works: guests use their admission tickets when they visit Fast Pass booths associated with the rides, and they receive a designated hour to return to the ride for fast access. For example, a Fast Pass ticket might say, "Between 4:05 and 5:05 p.m., you may return to Space Mountain to use your Fast Pass." When you return to the ride, you bypass much of the regular line and skip to the front to get on the ride quickly. This service works because: 1) Guests don't get angry because they all have free access to the service, 2) A limited number of guests are asked to return each hour, and 3) Guests may only be in possession of one Fast Pass at a time, i.e. they must first use one up before gaining another. Basically, it is a great service Disney provides that allows guests to enjoy some rides (and stand in the regular rides) while knowing they will return shortly to their Fast Pass ride of choice. It's a big time saver, and makes the Disney experience even better than it already is.
Not so at Great America (nor, I assume, the other Six Flags parks). The Flash Pass is in stark contrast to Disney's system: the daily Flash Pass is only obtained by paying a hefty fee -- almost $50 for two people at the regular rate, and $92 for two people at the premium rate. While the Flash Pass issues too many passes per hour per ride already, those who pay the higher fee are allowed to ride even more rides, closer together, and while simultaneously holding Flash Pass "reservations" for other rides. Basically, those with the Flash Pass end up overrunning all of the popular rides (and there are many), leaving all of the regular riders in the dust.
On any day a 60-minute wait time would be frustrating, but because so many people puchased the Flash Pass (in order for which they also had to wait in line) on July 3rd due to the overcrowded park, regular riders were forced to double their wait times on even the less-than-exciting rides such as The Dark Knight. This basically meant riders (my dad and me included) stood in a queue for ten minutes at a time before moving approximately ten feet and then waiting again. You can imagine the anger regular riders directed toward the ride attendants who were simply doing their job by letting on those who had paid money for the Flash Pass.
Here's why the Flash Pass made me angry: People save up for holidays, for the days off work when they can have some fun with family. Walking around Great America, it is very obvious that most of the people at the park are average Americans, not made of a lot of money, and more than likely struggling through this economic crisis. They scrimp and save to pay the $50something park entrance fee for each of their family members, only to get inside to find that they hadn't saved enough to make their day at the park really enjoyable. Because they can't afford either Flash Pass -- and especially the better one -- the average American must wait in line for 90-150 minutes per ride on the holiday weekend. They are worn down, exhausted, and bored, and only have time to go on 3-5 rides. Each of those rides, though fun, is tainted by the new memory of long waits in line.
Indeed, the Flash Pass is Great America's great UNequalizer. While Disney's system allows every park guest who pays the initial entrance fee the same access to all of its rides, Great America grants opportunity to the wealthy and marginalizes the financially-struggling (and those who refuse to cave to the system). After my visit to Great America last month, I was really disappointed in Six Flags.
...That is, except for one thing. My dad and I had spent two hours traveling and getting into the park, and then another two hours waiting in line for the not-so-thrilling Dark Knight ride, and then another 30 minutes refueling on park pizza, when we finally wandered over to the Raging Bull, hoping to be cut a break. Well, the lucky minute we stepped to the back of the "60 minute"-wait line was the exact minute a Six Flags VIP Tours representative was assigned to approach the end party and offer back-entry to the front of the ride's line. Cut a break we were! My dad and I were ecstatic, of course, and even more so when our tour guide Mike offered to also take us to the front of the Superman ride, where we lay on our stomachs and soared through the air on the craziest ride of our lives. We grabbed some complimentary Cokes, said goodbye to Mike, and then squeezed in Batman (65 minutes) and American Eagle (40 minutes) before we had to leave the park for the evening (not without, of course, trying to ride the Viper, whose line we left after it didn't budge an entire hour!).
All in all, it was an interesting day. Thanks to VIP Tour Guide Mike, our day was partially salvaged, but I am still extremely disappointed in Six Flags Great America's Flash Pass strategy to pull the park out of bankruptcy and put it back in the black. For me, it is just a blatantly obvious way this corporation maintains - even widens - the great rift between haves and have-nots in America.
My dad, Mike, and I riding the front row of Superman.
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