Still not all good news…

>Based on preliminary operating results, revenues for the nine-week period ended Aug. 31, 2025, totaled approximately $1.1 billion, down 2% compared to the same nine-week period in 2024. The decrease in revenues reflects the impact of a 298,000-visit increase in attendance and a $5 million increase in out-of-park revenues, offset by a 4%, or $2.50, decline in in-park per capita spending. The decline in in-park per capita spending was entirely due to a 7% decrease in admissions per capita spending, which was the result of incremental promotions designed to drive volume, and to a lesser extent attendance mix, during the nine-week period. The decrease in admissions per capita spending was slightly offset by a small increase in per capita spending on in-park products, which includes guest spending on food and beverage, merchandise, games, and extra-charge offerings.

It's encouraging, but they really cut prices on season passes to sell more and could only do a couple percent more. And attendance is also up by a few percentage points?

Now let's see what happens next year when they inevitably increase the price of the passes for the 2027 season. They got people buying the passes but now they have to keep people coming back and the only way for that is the parks getting new coasters or flat rides consistently.

That’s what happens when you sell all park passes for less than 100 bucks….

They were down 9% in q2. Part of the next quarter they were up 3% (granted a slightly busier quarter), and they probably cut price by 40%?

Congrats on stopping the bleeding, I guess.

The hidden double whammy in this is the pass revenue recognition will be extended into additional months, making the per cap drag carry a heavier weight next year.

I can't answer the flash pass, but while the parks are busier, some of that attention is split between the rides and the haunted houses and the few shows that are running. I've never found the waits to be significantly different than any other busy time there.

We are planning on stopping by on a Saturday in mid October for a couple hours on our drive back to Minnesota. It would be early afternoon so I'm hoping most people are doing Halloween stuff and we can get on some of the smaller coasters really quick with the kids.

It can be stupidly crowded. I personally skip all haunted houses as well, and lines can be insane. Fast pass would be a must if you go on a Saturday.

Alternatively, if you can make it work, the very few Thursdays that the park is in open in October are always empty. I go on that first Thursday they’re open for fright fest and it’s always super quiet.

Flash passes can be found day of on the flash pass website

I just bought flash passes for Oct 4th last week. Will most likely be busy with fright fest going on, but park is open from 11 to midnight most weekends during the time you are speaking of. Not gonna lie, we never got flash passes or fast lane growing up on the few occasions we went to amusement parks, so now when I take my kids I always get them and have never been disappointed.

Last day to ride the water coaster before it moves to Valleyfair!

Are you sure they are open for September 6th? I checked under daily tickets and it’s all greyed out. 

Safari opens at 10:00am-show up by 9:15/9:30 to be sure to get out on an early trek. The animals are not as hot/tired in the early hours.

Go to the water park as soon as you’re done on the safari, and the. Go to the theme park when you’re ready to be dry. With those ages, plan in advance which rides they want to ride so that it’s not overwhelming. The park will be busy on the last official day of summer and likely the last open day for the water park.

One thing for your planning is the hours of the water park and Safari. Both are only open the first half of the day. That is why you will see people lined up at the Safari entrance in the morning because they choose to do the Safari first and then go to the water park or main park.

IMHO, you want to be at Hurricane Harbor the moment it opens because all the chairs and lockers will be taken quickly. Spend your morning there and then do the Safari when there isn't a line to get in. Once done with Safari go to the main park

The parks will be crowded that day, especially the water park. If you want to do all 3 parks then I recommend being at the water park when it opes. With the ages of your kids I would try to grab chairs by the kid play area instead of the wave pool but it depends on what your family would prefer.

Maybe around lunchtime leave the waterpark and head to the safari. From the safari proceed to the regular park and end your day there.

I recommend packing a cooler and eating lunch in the car between parks. The food is expensive and not the best.

https://preview.redd.it/03ang9s7l7mf1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=732cb6f061f3539c393d0e9c00631e7ae790b4a3

Not that bad waiting seems like economy is cooling down..

https://preview.redd.it/fr03xn96l7mf1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07483a7cc5e75298a4cd37db650573bd51742845

I would start the other direction and hit Gotham first before anything else. Batman and Mr. Freeze lines can be fucking brutal in the heat and slow line movement. Of course there’s always the possibility that both will be closed for maintenance when you get there unfortunately but in my experience they don’t stay closed for long.

The giant line doesn’t get too bad and in the last 10 years I have never seen the titan have a line longer than a walk on. I’m not sure if I just have that good of timing or it’s just so out of the way that people say screw it. Shockwaves usually quick too.

ETA - sorry meant to reply to zereck… my bad

Sunday was not busy at all back in June when I went the last 3 hours. Couple 10 minute waits, and many no-waits like on the bigger coasters. 

I just want to add that in North Texas this week be the last weekend better school starts on Tuesday. May not effect you but letting you know that could make it busy..

It is important to note that any day can become really busy or really slow at my home park here in Arlington; however, Sundays are typically less busy than Saturdays. If the lines do get long, they do offer various ways to skip the lines for your favorite attractions. With Spain being closed down, I would probably recommend starting your loop on the Texas side of the park and working your way back around Gotham. Mr. Freeze is notorious for ride closures and single-train operations, so you may want to budget for that.

I also have not been in years, but I've read here Wednesdays are the best days for low crowds. Someone will confirm this.

Ride catwoman first if you want to ride it, very low capacity so long lines later in the day

Batman probably gets the longest lines out of the roller coasters

Make sure to ride mr freeze. If you go when the park opens you can sometimes ride multiple times in a row

American Thunder is good but i dislike Boss and Screamin Eagle, but im also not a wooden coaster person so YMMV

Stop at Wally’s in Fenton on the way back home and get some popcorn

So, me and my girlfriend have season passes from last year because they were good for 2 seasons. So we've been quite a lot in the past year.

It's rarely super busy. Even on weekends. Weekdays are less crowded, but even weekends there's basically no wait. Many rides you'll just walk right on or wait for 1 or 2 trains at most. Things like the log flume and screaming eagle get a bit longer as the day goes on.

Catwoman is a nightmare. Low capacity, long ride duration, long loading and unloading, and only 1 ride at a time. That all makes for a 1-2 hour wait despite the line looking very small. Get on early or just avoid it. It's not a ride that's worth the wait.

The wooden coasters vary a lot. The Boss will beat the shit out of you. It hurts. American Thunder is pretty great. Solid wooden coaster. Screaming Eagle has deteriorated A LOT over the years. It's become so loose that it will shake your fillings out now. They desperately need to go over it and just tighten everything back down.

Bring a water bottle, you have to dump it but you can refill in the park. Also recommend bringing a picnic and just heading out to the grassy areas outside the park for lunch. Stuff inside is expensive, as you might expect.

Almost all rides have a storage system of some kind to place bags and water bottles. These are not lockers, they're just open cubbies usually. If you bring a small shoulder bag or something you will have a place to put it, but be aware you're not locking it up. Lockers can be rented, but they're stupidly pricey.

If you plan to go even twice, get a season pass. They can be had for less than the cost of 2 day passes. A single ticket is $35, a season pass is $55 and includes parking and a few perks, or $70 if you want hurricane harbor also. If you keep an eye out for deals you can get them even cheaper. We paid $70 each and got the remainder of the '24 season and all of '25 in about July last year.

It’s a cashless park.

If you’re going more than once, consider season passes. They’re cheap(ish) and some include parking (which is some absurd price - maybe $30?)

The lines are not long during the week. I wouldn’t bother with the flash pass or whatever it is called.

You cannot bring food/drinks into the park, but you can leave the park and come back.

Lockers cost money. It’s easier to not bring a bag if you can avoid it. (I realize not everyone can do this.) I recommend zippered pockets for wallet/phone.

You’ll be fine. Lines don’t get busy on weekdays. I went the Wednesday before the 4th and the longest I had to wait for anything was 20 minutes, because someone threw up on The Boss. The park gets busier after 4 when people are getting off work.

If you are going on a weekday you can expect very light crowds don't waste your money on flash pass

lol no. Last summer when we went we walked on rides and didn’t even have to get off to re-ride things. And 98 is cool for us LOL

98 on a Monday. Place has a chance of being relatively empty. The best treat for any fastpass is wait until you get there unless you know the place is going to be close to max capacity

Hey! I went last Thursday and got there right at opening at 11am.

We were able to ride every single thrill ride by 2pm. The longest wait was about 10 minutes for New Texas Giant, and every other ride had a wait of less than 3 minutes, if any wait at all. We even got to ride several of them multiple times!

I would have been upset if I bought a flash pass because it was definitely not needed! I would suggest getting there early as foot traffic did definitely pick up by 2/3pm.

Six Flags Great Scheduled Activity

Did you attribute for walking time? What if a ride is shut down? The time from standing in line, if a ride requires you put your belongings in a locker (are you bringing belongings to do that?), to the loading and unloading time? Or what if the line is longer than you anticipate?

You’ve given yourself absolutely no room for error. Yes, you want to do everything, but you need to be realistic here.

Edit: Also, any reason you need to be on such a tight schedule? The park closes at 7 PM.

Putting everything down to the hour is a bad idea. You should just do a general list and allow for flexibility in case or ride closures and unexpected long wait times. Also even though it's a Monday I'm guessing this is for a school trip it WILL be crowded if it is.

You have yapping but forgot eating and bathroom breaks?!?
This is school group trip time of year....Usually tons of busses on Mondays/Fridays.
Expect the park to be crowded until 4pm when all the busses leave.
Stay hydrated and just try to have fun with your friends. No need to make it this complicated.

Swap all the other rides for El Toro and you are chilling

Only coaster worth it you could try to get on ka but it had an accident should be up again soon tho

Jersey BBQ has not been open recently (unless they specifically mentioned it will open for your group). I'd eat as early as possible. If lots of groups are there with their vouchers...food could easily be your longest line of the day.

Yo, update, got on everything 1 hour before I was called back to the bus. The longest wait was for dip and dots.

Honestly if you go on a weekday, you should be able to get everything done easily. And probably on a lot of weekend days too, but not all of them. The lines have not been bad there lately. The issue though is making the schedule because when you plan things out too much you can get thrown off when they don’t go according to plan. What if one ride is down for a bit and it’s when you had it scheduled? Or the lines for a certain ride are long at one point and get better later but you have it for the busy time?

Flash especially is the ride you want to see what happens with because it’s the one ride that still has decent size lines because it’s new. Although I haven’t been there in a few weeks and maybe that isn’t even the case anymore

Edited to add that I didn’t see you had a date. A Monday before a lot of schools let out will be no problem, especially if you get there early at opening. Head straight for Flash before a line starts and then wing it the rest of the day and you’ll be fine

Drizzles pretty rarely stop the rides. Generally high winds, lightning in the vicinity, or heavy rain are all that do it.

Drizzly weather is my favorite time to go. Walk on everything.

Great Adventure is known to be pretty aggressive with operating rides in poor weather. Before you leave though to the park I would still check the website/app just in case.

I was there a few weeks ago when the weather was kinda crappy and they ended up closing early - I assume because the park was basically empty. That might not be the case with the holiday weekend, but I wouldn’t plan on arriving late just in case.

Slightly rainy days were my absolute favorite when Great Adventure was my home park. Not a soul in the park and I’d marathon the hell out of every coaster.

Was there a few weeks ago on a weekend. The lightest rain we encountered was a light drizzle and heaviest was a literal downpour while on Flash. Felt like wet acupuncture. Much to our delight though, no rides closed due to weather but the park closed early due to lack of guests. Didn’t matter since we got everything, many more than once, without paid skip-the-line passes. Wasn’t just walk-on, but pick-your-preferred-row-including-front-and-back walk-on.