Interview Time: My talk with SFGAm PR

By Ryan Shrout

This past weekend while visiting Six Flags Great America, I was able to get an interview with Ms. Meredith Kelleher from the park PR dept.

She was especially excited to talk about the park's new additions for the 2010 season: MagiQuest, Little Dipper, and the Glow in the Park Parade. While MagiQuest is already open the latter two are aiming to be ready by. Memorial Day weekend.

Magiquest seemed to be a huge success when I was at the park. Ms. Kelleher told me some more about it: "We are first theme park to get that kind of attraction. With 10,00- sq ft. 80 special effects, the whole family can get involved and it gets children thinking and moving."

Another of the big additions I asked her about was the Little Dipper. "We really wanted to keep that part of Chicago history alive," she said. "It was many Chicagoans first coaster and we wanted to help make some new memories for new generations."

Now all of this years additions are family attractions, as have been the additions of previous years. When I asked Ms. Kelleher when we might be seeing a new thrill ride, she just responded by saying that the park strove to have a balance of thrill rides to family rides and that the recent additions have all been necessary and well received.

As with any interview, there was also the no comment session. Despite some interesting pictures on other websites, Ms. Kelleher would neither confirm or deny the rumors that pieces of Chang are on site, nor would she speculate on where the ride would be heading.

In a purely hypothetical scenario I asked her if Chang were to come to Gurnee, whether Iron Wolf would enter the "ride rotation program." She responded in saying, "First priority is make the park the best it can be, finding the right fit, and keeping a balance of rides. Ride rotation isn’t official but it is looked to for options."

A big current story was SFI coming out from under bankruptcy. I asked whether or not that whole bankruptcy experience would change the way the company looked at finances regarding new additions. I was told that the official stance was that, "We’re always excited to add new stuff and make the park better with each coming season. We want to deliver the best product.

Overall it was a great interview and I had a great time at the park. It is very understandable that some matters cannot be disclosed at this time, but that gives us all the more to discuss here. We may not know for sure what the future holds in store for SFGAm, but one thing I was assured of; it will be a bright one.