I have never been as dissappointed as I was when I took my family to Fright Fest at Six Flags Great America. They advertise it and you are so looking forward to a "scary' visit, problem is, that over and above the already high price to get in, they charge extra to see the Haunted Houses! What??!! The commercial never says, for an extra price, it only invites you to see them. I already paid the ticket price. I paid it for something I thought was going to live in our memories, instead it is now a nightmare! Not only do they charge extra for each Haunted House, they also short the cars on the rides making the lines unbelieveably long. What I mean is if a train has 10 cars on it, they close down 3 or 4 out of the 10, thus the ride is not holding as many people per round, thus making the wait almost twice as long as usual. I honestly believe they do that to make people buy the fast passes that they offer. Well, if we wanted to ride the coasters while we were there, we had no choice but to buy the fast pass.
I also couldn't believe the prices of the food. No solution for this other than coolers, but you can't bring them in the park, and you can't leave the parking lot to go anywhere or you get charged to get back in. That was another thing that got on my nerves, I already paid entry to park and for parking, why should I have to pay again just because I left. Here's why, that way you will stay there and spend the money on the food in the park which is nothing to brag about in the first place.
I am a thrill seeker. I love to ride the coasters and I don't have a problem with paying the price to do it, I do have a problem with an advertisement that doesn't tell you "THE REST OF THE STORY". They tell you if you look on the website it tells you there that the haunted houses cost extra. What if you don't have a computer? Does that mean they are allowed to falsely represent their prices on TV and Radio ads? I just don't feel it is right. People come from a long way to visit the park, they should at least get what they came for without having to pay more money.
Our trip wound up costing us over 750.00 for myself, my husband, and my two teens. I didn't plan on spending that kind of money, but once we got there it was too late. They don't even have a sign at the gates letting you know that the haunted houses cost more, you don't find out until after you enter the park. Then guess what, NO REFUNDS!
So here is some more food for thought: In the summer they run the water park. During the fall it is closed, yet we still pay the same price for a ticket. If the waterpark is closed they are not spending the money to keep it running and they are not paying payroll for the waterpark, yet they still charge extra for the haunted houses. It just doesn't compute!
Bottom line, if you are a teen and going with your friends, great, have fun, just bring lots of money. If you are a family, forget it, might as well go spend the money on something you can cherrish.