Something we've noticed over the past few weeks is that Great Adventure and Hurricane Harbor have had their park hours change from what we originally inputted into our system (the hours you see on the right) at the beginning of the season. From looking into it and listening to everyone on the site it appears that the hours are changing on a dime, sometimes not until the week of.
Some examples are that the park was listed as being open until 9:30 every day this week in the beginning of the season. All of a sudden at the beginning of this week the times changed to 8 on the website. And reports at the park indicate all the printed paperwork for hours still said 9:30, including that shows like the parade were happening - and they did not, due to the last-minute change in hours.
Also it appears that Hurricane Harbor was supposed to open full time last week, but at the last minute the park did not open Monday-Friday, which caused some very unhappy guests. And I can definitely see why.
We are not sure why this is happening, although Screamscape
mentions:
The new management team coming on-board wants to make sure they make a good impression with Wall Street at the end of the 2010 season, so they’ve asked each park to cut a significant amount from their budgets to ensure they all hit their new target figures.
If the above is true, and that is why hours are being slashed we are going to be very, very disappointed in Six Flags Corporate. Making it so your balance sheets are more important than park guests' happiness is a very sad thing to see. I really hope this isn't why, but I can't see many other alternative reasons.
One thing, though: if this is the reason, it was made at the Corporate level. So don't be mad at the Six Flags Great Adventure staff, they have to do with what Six Flags Corporate tells them. So write to the corporate offices if you have any issues. Of course, I can't find any contacts for corporate on
the website. Good times. If anyone knows of a contact feel free to write it below.
Anyway, I'm writing this because we believe that the last minute park hour changes are not done yet. Whether it will go on for another few weeks, or all summer, we aren't sure. But we will try to keep everyone updated when it happens, and we strongly suggest that you take a look at the
park's website for hours the day you head out for a visit.