How Six Flags Ruined a Theme Park

Great America used to have a little bit of a reputation for having too much litter. In 2009, the park president Hank Salemi (who just recently passed away) launched a huge campaign to fix that. He actually started referring to Great America as the cleanest theme park in the world, even though that was entirely a self promotion and not a title that was given to our park by anybody else outside of it. it was part of a mentality that he was setting forth among the staff. He also had had a phrase that everybody had to learn in orientation: every position is park services. There's a specific division of seasonal labor referred to as park services that is just a fancy way of saying the people who go around and pick up trash. He installed a standard that no matter what your position whether you are a ride operator, in food sales, games, management, whatever, anytime that you left your post you had to bring a picker and a dustpan with you. it really did make a big Improvement in the park.

SFGA is my home park, I've been going since I was a kid. I'm almost relieved to see that the decline I've noticed isn't solely rooted in nostalgia. It used to be booming, every game and food service stand would be open and busy, but going this past summer it was just barren and heartless. It's truly upsetting to see.

Raging bull was actually supposed to have more theming. The guests were supposed to be the bull raging through a town. The original theming had you go through a barn, a saloon and other western themed places but due to budget restraints the only thing that got added was the beginning tunnel when you first drop.

Man I remember going on the space shuttle simulator as a kid, it was so cool! Loved all the roller coasters and the random log flume ride back in the day. I also almost died at Six Flags. Went on American Eagle with my senior Physics class and my lapbar popped as we went down the first drop. Had to hold onto the side of the car for the whole ride, screaming for my dear life. Showed the worker when we got back and they shut the ride down the rest of the day...

The new CEO is ruining Six Flags as a whole. Like really Season Passes only work at your home park now and theyre doing that to push their stupid memberships. They make that stuff way too confusing.

Long time watcher; first time commenter. As both a Theme Park Junkie and a former SFGA employee I can say your spot on in 90% of your assessments. Something even park employees used to wonder at are things like "Why is Superman in Orleans place?" and "What makes sense about x-flight in County Fair?" I would like to vouch for the hardworking carpenters who lovingly tend to American Eagle on a DAILY basis. Those guys walk every inch of track and spend much of the off-season making repairs. Part of it's charm is the sketch feeling you get from a "rickety wooden coaster." Two things I had hoped you would touch on were the lack of actual entertainment and the lack of a kids area for families. Latter first: Since the destruction of Looney Tunes National Park (formerly Bugs Bunny Land) and the slow demise of Camp Cartoon (formerly Camp Cartoon Network) there is a lack of family friendly rides outside Kidzopolis (formerly a wiggles themed area) in County Fair and the small kids flat rides near the back of Hometown Square. There's no cohesion or unifying element quite like cartoons for kids. And not making use of Bugs Bunny and the rest of the gang seems like a huge oversight. I get the dropping of Cartoon Network usage but a small amount of effort into repainting and re-themeing Camp Cartoon into a Bugs Bunny Land type area could have gone a long way. And the entertainment: Full disclosure this was the department I worked in so I may have a bias I can just can't get past, but the extreme lack of good entertainment choices is disheartening. The Grand Music Hall in Hometown Square is one of two sole remaining original venues. The other is the currently un-used Snow Shoe Taphouse in Yukon Territory. The Dark Knight took over the building that was most commonly used for child/family shows featuring the Looney Tunes and Maxx Force currently sits on top of what used to be the Pictorium IMAX theatre which would show 20 minute nature/science/documentary films. These two theatres also were great venues to escape a hot and humid Chicagoland summer day for 30 minutes. Instead opting for a decent thrill and one horribly out of date IP. There is more I could say but...you're the expert. I do mourn the loss of what was and the slow decline into thrill park oblivion that this park is experiencing. As a long-time pass holder/member (that could be a video in and of itself) I will say I have recently been adding to post-visit survey's that what they should just do at this point is drop all theming. Current management has no interest in cohesive, well thought, and executed theme park vision. Just remove the land names, re-name what you will, and that way you don't need to worry when you stick the next off the shelf coaster into what used to be an homage to the regions of America.

I'm from Milwaukee, so this is my hometown park. I've been going since mid 1990s, so I'd like to add a few things. Up until the mid-2000's, I considered the park to be well-themed (at least by Six Flags standards). Each section of the park had it's own soundtrack (Dixieland played in the speakers at Orleans place, while banjos rang through Southwest Territory). From my observations, the turning point was when Six Flags exited bankruptcy in the late 2000s. Ads were placed literally everywhere in the park destroying any hope of immersion: the parking lot (I believe the last time I visited, I parked in Snickers 2), on previously well-themed buildings, even on rides (there are pictures of the Demon and Whizzer trains painted in full Stride Gum and Grown Ups 2 advertisements, and they were just as ugly as you're imagining them). At the same time, the themed music for each section of the park was replaced by Top 40 hits that played throughout the entire park. I used to go to Great America 5-10 times a year. Now, I'll go once (maybe twice) a year. I still like the park, but I miss what it used to be. I'm glad you liked Raging Bull; it's been the best ride in the park since it opened. I hope you had a chance to ride in the back row.

They should play up the location and do a whole bunch of Chicago-themed rides. Skyscrapers, railroads, the Great Chicago Fire. It would be truly unique.

I worked there in maintenance for a couple of years, 2013-2014, and now work for Disney. I attempted to post this respectfully to a Six Flags Great America group I was a part of, but was quickly silenced. I upset a salty Admin with this video and every post I made after was immediately deleted without explanation. That’s how you know you’ve done something right! Keep up the amazing work.

As someone from the midwest, SFGA was a staple of my childhood. Before the pandemic I began noticing that the park was leaning hard into live entertainment and I had a lot of theater friends being employed by the park in that aspect. I haven’t visited since then, so i’m not sure if they’ve kept that up. My favorite part about this park though was always Fright Fest around halloween time, it felt like passionate people put a lot of effort into that event.

I’ve been going to this park since I was a kid and I’ve started to notice the decline recently. The games in county fair are never running, behind the American eagle and dare devil dive there is overgrown remnants of a raceway, and so many random areas in Yukon Territory are just being left to nature with abandoned concert shells. I still love to go as a rollercoaster fanatic but it is a shame from someone who used to run around the ball room in bugs bunny national park that is now a $20/ride go kart track

I was a regular visitor at the Santa Clara park from the time it opened until the early 80s. In the early 2000s I took my daughters to the park with friends to celebrate a birthday. When the park opened, it was very well themed, a good mix of rides and shows, and overall very balanced in the types of rides they had and the age groups that the attractions appealed to. I was a young teen, I loved the park, and my grandmother loved it, too, though she liked spending time at shows as did my young cousins. Friends and I were there on the opening day for Tidal Wave. It caused a lengthy resurgence in the attendance at the park, which had become quieter prior to that, especially on weekends. I think the effect was that Marriotts saw the park as needing continuous construction of new roller coasters to keep bringing people back to the park. It may be part of why they sold the parks, because I think the original vision they had was for a more Disneyland-style park, but now they were faced with an unending series of expensive roller coaster projects to stay afloat. When they opened, during the bicentennial, there was a wave of patriotism and nostalgia that suited the park's theming very well. As that turned into the cynicism of the late 70s and the 80s, I expect it didn't poll so well, and they failed to introduce educational elements into the park to support the theming. They did away with the shows they had, and crammed in more roller coasters. When we returned with our children in the 2000s, we had a good time, but the many new coasters that had been shoehorned into the park were not well designed. They seemed to be more focused on variations of seating and a rough ride, rather than on really being good coasters. Both of my teen daughters said that they preferred the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz boardwalk over the various coasters at Great America. They also missed some rides I had described from the park's history like the Barney Oldfield Speedway. I think a park that focused on growth from the original precepts of Great America would have grown to be more of a travel destination like Disneyland, than the regional coaster park that it is today. It had that potential at its beginning, I feel, but the management were misled by the short term returns they got on the addition of new thrill rides.

Listen, no matter what you think of Six Flags, you really can't deny there are definitely six flags in the park. no false advertising there.

I've never heard of your channel, the algorithm coughed this video up, and I'm glad it did. Hi, i'm from the Chicago area and spend a lot of my youth at this park! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making a video about it! Back in the late 80s-00, the park actually had really great themeing, as you've already noticed. The main entrance area was themed like something out of a musical, and played a lot of big-band songs, even after Shockwave was put in. It tried to keep a more old-timey theme park feel; it mostly had shops, and bumper cars, and two different theatres. It also had a silly silo and a giant arcade. The log flumes and white water rafting ride were added to blend it with the Yankee Harbor section, which used to have the Tidal Wave entrance right where Batman is currently located. Right next to it was a heavily themed octopus-style flat ride called "The Lobster!" Moving into Yukon Territory, it was always overgrown with trees, and had lots of shops with handmade items, the hidden entrance for a different log flume, and some really amazing BBQ pork/ribs. Always worth a stop sometime during the day to rest and recharge, as well as to get out of the sun. The American Fair was really about the Eagle, but across from it was ALL of the different carnival "games of skill and chance!" before they got scattered through the park. I also remember the Sky Whirl being a good time, and having an amazing view of the park; there was the antique cars running around "Splash water falls" and under the Demon. The fair also used to have an extensive food court that even sold beer! Lastly, Orleans place had the Whizzer and not a great deal more. The main attraction were the flat rides it housed, and the largest theatre in the park, meant to evoke visions of the Grand Ol Oprey. They'd usually have some giant musical number or a Vegas-style magical act to get you out of the sun and into Air Conditioning for an hour. I watched the park grow and evolve, sometimes not for the better. My last word on this, though, is something you brought up inadvertently. Chicago, and by larger extension IL, has this reputation for guns and god and corn. But we're honestly pretty polite and welcoming folk; we're glad that you came to visit, and hopefully you'll do so again! Have a great day!

Living in the Chicago suburbs my whole life, I remember going to six flags every summer with a family friend because our school used to have a reading challenge where the prize was a free day ticket (the high school physics class still goes every year for a field trip). I remember, and maybe this is just nostalgia, characters roaming the park for pictures, employees with little carts selling light up wands and flashing headbands, the sounds of carnival games playing and always going home with a stuffed animal bigger than I was because my friends dad would always win the strong man hammer game. I just recently went a few months ago after getting a season pass as a gift and I have almost no desire to go back, and if Fright Fest wasn’t a thing then I probably wouldn’t. The park felt dirty, the food was insanely overpriced, the bathrooms were gross, the only games that were open were the ones that had basketballs as prizes so it felt like I was dodging basketballs all day, the whole place smelled like weed and it felt like all the rides I loved as a kid were closed. The magic is gone. Instead of leaving the park with my funnel cake following a path of light up toys and the old six flags music playing, I just feel like cattle being herded through the exit gate while it’s still light out with no music playing.

Having lived in southeastern WI practically my whole life, Great America has been a part of it. I was 13 when it first opened, but my first visit was the following year, an end-of-semester trip with my eighth grade class. I still have a few Marriott-era souvenirs, including a rubber figurine of Bugs Bunny in his Uncle Sam costume, a stein decorated with bas-relief images of attractions no longer at the park and a candle made to resemble a glass bottle of Pepsi... bought that at Yankee Harbor's old craft store, the Glass Schooner. Unlike you, I've never been a coaster enthusiast. But I loved Marriott's... for me, the theming was a large part of its appeal. Certainly it was no Magic Kingdom ( which I first visited in '75), but it was still great. I remember the employees wore costume-like uniforms, period music played from hidden speakers and every shop and eatery was named to fit the section it resided in. Admittedly, I wasn't too concerned when Six Flags first took over, but a few years later, when a Batman-themed ride was announced, I immediately thought, " WHERE are they going to put it?" When I first saw it in Yankee Harbor, it looked as out-of-place as Pirates Of The Caribbean would look in Tomorrowland. As I visited throughout the late 80s, 90s and the 2000s, I watched as practically all the charm was bled out of the place. I saw live shows cancelled, billboards for products went up and annoying pop music spewed from the speakers. My last visit was sometime in the early 2010s, a very unsatisfying day. While I acknowledge that my age ( 58 ) is a factor, I don't think I'll ever be going there again.

The Southwest area was ALWAYS my favorite area, nice flat ride theming, "unique" park food (unique compared to the rest of the park), and solid coasters. I used to be a Season Pass holder (early 2000s) and coasters after dark was an AMAZING experience, Superman, Batman, and Raging Bull with 0 ride lights. As for the people that are normally in the park, Chicago folks don't mess around. We are at Great America to ride rides, as many as possible as fast as possible, you mess around in line you impact ride efficiency.

I grew up in Illinois- long time fan of all the parks in Ohio, Missouri, & of course SFGA, Silver Dollar City etc... I feel your experience with guests in the park speaks more to the mind set of the Midwest than any economic barriers. People, in general are raised to be more polite... its definitely like the wild west in Orlando (especially the Universal parks!)

When I worked there from '87 to '89, we still had Themed Uniforms, with a Large wardrobe department, that I am sure they got rid of to save money. Now employees have a generic park uniform and they take them home. I worked in the new Orleans area, but I was certified to operate about half the rides at the park.

I was a past SFGA employee, as well as been local to it so i would go often. Through the years, it has gone downhill. There really is only rides to be excited for. They dont have shows anymore, no ampitheatres, none of the cool stuff that wasnt a ride.