Six Flags Over Georgia (Need Atlanta Dining advice)

[Laurabearz]

We are heading there as part of our summer road trip and was wondering what you guys thought about it?

Any tips?

Is it a busy park? Do you suggest Flash pass?

Thanks!

EDITED TO ADD....

Anyone know some good places to eat on the West side of Atlanta for families??

 

[look1angel]

Please keep in mind this is just my own opinion. My 15 yr old step daughter has a seasons pass & seems to like it. I on the other hand wouldn't go there if you gave me a free pass everyday of the year.

My last trip there was OK, we took all the kids (6) ranging from ages 12 - 23. I found the park to be dirty & customer service on a scale of 1-10 is a 4.

One thing I do recall is after my first trip to Disney in 92, going back to Six Flags was terrible. I think my expectations were far higher now.

I just don't care for the park & I live 45 mins from it, it's changed & that was 4 yrs ago.

I could be wrong, like I said my step daughter goes with her friends at least 2x a year & at that age what matters to me wouldn't matter to her.

 

[Laurabearz]

We understand the differences between Disney and the Six Flags chain.

But coaster fans must do what we must do to ride what we must ride.

 

[mousetravel]

We understand the differences between Disney and the Six Flags chain.

But coaster fans must do what we must do to ride what we must ride.

I think if you go without comparing it to Disney, you wouldn't have a bad time. I don't understand why the 1st thing most people say is "It's not Disney". Well, you know it's not Disney, so no comparison needed. If you want the Disney experience, you would HAVE to go to Disney. We all know that.

My only negative thing to say is, It will be VERY HOT if you go in the summer.

 

[laurie31]

Well, as it's been pointed out, it is NOT Disney-clean, nor Disney-nice, but the coasters are good. Crowds depend on the day of the week, with (obviously) higher crowds on weekends, including Friday. I'd go on a Tuesday if I had a choice, however, it's likely you'll have fun even if it is crowded.

It is VERY hot though. I haven't been in awhile, but I recall there was very little shade, and I was miserably hot. And I live here - lol. Don't forget the sunscreen!

Will you be doing other stuff in Atlanta? The Georgia Aquarium is awesome, and the World of Coke is fun, and I think you can still tour CNN studios, which is right next to both those things. Also, Fernbank Museum (a natural history museum) is very cool. We had allotted 2-3 hours for it, and we stayed for 5. My kids loved it.

Have fun on your trip!

 

[Laurabearz]

We will be going on a Friday and a Saturday, so it sounds like we should get the flash passes for Saturday at least.

We have AP's for Great America and we can use it in GA, so that takes the sting out of the flash pass.

I think we just want to spend two days there before moving on to Hilton Head. I guess we will see how the first day goes, and go from there. We are flexable. But the key for us is a nice mellow touring plan.

We are staying at the Embassy Suites near the Galleria, my fear is, since it was so much cheaper than the other embassy suites around Atlanta, it will be a pit. But as long as the suite door locks we are good. haha

 

[ckay87]

We understand the differences between Disney and the Six Flags chain.

But coaster fans must do what we must do to ride what we must ride.

From one coaster fanatic to another....amen sister!!! Plop a good rollercoaster on a big old cement slab and I'll pay to ride it! I don't go to Six-Flags type parks for Disney-clean and I definitely do NOT go to Disney for coasters! 2 different animals, IMO.

 

[Laurabearz]

on a side note, we have coupons to bring people for half price if anyone is interested in a DIS meet

 

[ChristaDeVil]

I haven't been in a couple of years, but I do enjoy it. The coasters are a lot of fun. We might do a trip late this summer.

It will be crazy hot whenever you go this summer. If you go on a Saturday, it will be crowded. Flash Passes would probably be a good idea, but we've never gotten them. I have a feeling that since we are spoiled with Fast Passes at Disney, we will spring for them on our next trip! Have fun!

 

[OhMari]

on a side note, we have coupons to bring people for half price if anyone is interested in a DIS meet

I'm going Wednesday, our principal had surgery and I'm going as the school representative. But I am also not going to the one in GA, but th one in Chicago. I love the SuperMan Ride, the one where the tip you and you soar thru the air. Probably be the only ride I go on.

I would love to meet other DIS members at Six Flags.
Sorry, I'll just be at the wrong park.

 

[Laurabearz]

Hey Mari... Great America is our home park, but we wont be there on weds...

I have free tickets for Monday Memorial day at Great America lol

 

[OhMari]

Hey Mari... Great America is our home park, but we wont be there on weds...

I have free tickets for Monday Memorial day at Great America lol

Matt my ds just came home for lunch, and I told him I am going.
He told me to buy the ticket where you can come back again.
I don't know if it has to be for the next day, or if you can use it any time.
How did you get free tickets.
I know Great America has been sending me e-mails,
and the Annual Pass has 4 free tickets with it.
They must be really hurting.
The Annual Pass was really cheap too.

 

[Miz Diz]

You might want to get the Flash passes. We bought the 6 day passes last year. You can use it any 6 days in the season - does not have to be consecutive. I think we used 4 of the days and I was sick of it by the 4th time.

Lines were long, but we only went weekends. We rode Batman first because later in the day, the line stays at 2 hours. Georgia Scorcher had a decent wait at the end of the day. I think it was about 30 minutes. The river rapid ride always has a long line when it's hot. We did not have a long wait for the boat flume rides.

There is a water park area that is a lot of fun with a few slides and splash zones. Great for those hot days, but if you go later in the day, they are usually at capacity and you have to wait in line to get in as people leave.

 

[Laurabearz]

Yes we have AP's and the free tickets I am offering up come with the coupon book.

We have already been twice with plans to go at least 2 more times for the rides and 3 or 4 times to hurricane harbour. $69 bucks is a great deal. Then with the coupon book... we have already saved a lot of money just on the darn midway games lol

IMO Great America really is taking steps to clean up and make the park more family friendly. Every time we go we are greeted by loads of Characters Bugs Tweety, Wacky Dance Man lol

Yeah yeah there is lots of teens with their pants hangin off their butts (how do they stay up) but we find it captivating like an accident on the side of the road... will the pants fall... or will they jack them up in time. I tell you that's family bonding at it's best, betting on whether or not they will fall. FYI put your money on the kids after they get off the water rides, their pants are heavier then, thus harder to find that fine line between up and down. ha

Food is horrid and way over priced, but there are some great coupons to ease the sticker shock.

 

[minkydog]

I think we just want to spend two days there before moving on to Hilton Head. I guess we will see how the first day goes, and go from there. We are flexable. But the key for us is a nice mellow touring plan.

We are staying at the Embassy Suites near the Galleria, my fear is, since it was so much cheaper than the other embassy suites around Atlanta, it will be a pit. But as long as the suite door locks we are good. haha

Two thoughts:
--Get the flash pass. Weekends are very crowded. All the coasters will be mobbed. Bring water bottles and sunscreen, too.

--Embassy suites at the Galleria. I don't know about this specific hotel but I know it has a good reputation. The Galleria is in a decent part of town next to a new theater venue. That whole area caters to business travelers and conventioneers, people who largely travel during the week. That may be why you're getting a good deal on the weekend.

Have a great time. My DD16 would live at Six Flags if she could. Me, not so much. But I like to sit on the bench and watch all the kids having fun.

 

[lovebuzz]

Definitely get the flash pass. We did and walked onto every ride. As an adult I now need to take a motion sickness pill when I ride the rides over and over. Worth every penny.

As far as your hotel, you picked a good one. It is right by Cumberland Mall. ( you can walk there, they have a walk way) In the mall there is a Maggaiano's ( they take reservations) Cheesecake factory, Stoney River steakhouse, Ted's Montana grill and tons of good restaurants.

If you have any other questions just let me know, I would be happy to help you.

 

[Laurabearz]

Definitely get the flash pass. We did and walked onto every ride. As an adult I now need to take a motion sickness pill when I ride the rides over and over. Worth every penny.

As far as your hotel, you picked a good one. It is right by Cumberland Mall. ( you can walk there, they have a walk way) In the mall there is a Maggaiano's ( they take reservations) Cheesecake factory, Stoney River steakhouse, Ted's Montana grill and tons of good restaurants.

If you have any other questions just let me know, I would be happy to help you.

Thanks everyone for the information! I knew DISers could shed some light...

Now about the flash pass... there is regular and gold. I have read that some parks the regular one shaves off a lot of the wait time and the gold is not needed.

We could do regular flash passes for both days or just gold on one day (Saturday).

 

[lovebuzz]

We did the gold one and walked onto every ride. If I had to do it over again I would have just done the regular one because, to me there was not enough down time in between. We walked from one ride to the next. With the gold pass as long as the wait was under an hour we walked right on with out a wait. After about 4 hours we had a headache and were ready to go and had rode all of the roller coasters.

 

[lovebuzz]

As someone already mentioned bring a swimsuit and a towel, so you can cool off at skull island.

At Hilton Head they have this hole in the wall seafood restaurant called the Sea shack ( ask anyone about it all of the locals go there ) It only has about 12 tables in it and looks like a dive, but it has the best, freshest seafood on the island and is very affordable.

 

[Laurabearz]

Definitely get the flash pass. We did and walked onto every ride. As an adult I now need to take a motion sickness pill when I ride the rides over and over. Worth every penny.

As far as your hotel, you picked a good one. It is right by Cumberland Mall. ( you can walk there, they have a walk way) In the mall there is a Maggaiano's ( they take reservations) Cheesecake factory, Stoney River steakhouse, Ted's Montana grill and tons of good restaurants.

If you have any other questions just let me know, I would be happy to help you.

Thanks for the dining choices around the hotel, but we are going cheap and bringing food from home and taking advantage of Embassy Suites cook to order breakfast and evening managers reception. They will lose money on this family of 5 for only $109 a night lol

We did the gold one and walked onto every ride. If I had to do it over again I would have just done the regular one because, to me there was not enough down time in between. We walked from one ride to the next. With the gold pass as long as the wait was under an hour we walked right on with out a wait. After about 4 hours we had a headache and were ready to go and had rode all of the roller coasters.

I was thinking the regular pass might work better for us, since our kids are younger and we spend most of our time on the yucky nasty spinning rides that never have lines lol

As someone already mentioned bring a swimsuit and a towel, so you can cool off at skull island.
.

Oh thanks for the info about Skull Island. Perhaps I will have the kids wear their suits under their clothes...