Six Flags Hurricane Harbor

Meh. Too crowded & too expensive.

This year was my first year doing Hurricane Harbor because I have a season pass. I enjoyed my experience!
There are a variety of things to do here that are good on those hot summer days. The water slides are unique. Some of my favorites are the Wahoo Racer (a racing mat slide), Tornado (a large raft ride), and Dive Bomber (drop slides). There is a massive wave pool here, and it gives a good amount of waves. I like the Flow Rider here. It’s a surf simulator, and you can either do boogie boarding or regular surfing. It’s really cool!
The water park is very spaced out. You can experience a lot of walking. I don’t really care about the walking, but don’t forget about the lines!
The service is good. The lifeguards know what they are doing. The staff at the food stands are friendly, and the food is served right.
All in all, Hurricane Harbor is a great waterpark, but the size is a bit large and requires a lot of walking. I will be back!

Hurricane Harbor is no longer free with general admission for 2015. You would have to pay an additional $ 7 for the day if you are NOT a season pass holder. As always of course, you’d want to get there as soon as the Harbor opens to land a seat to put your stuff down (with Hurricane Bay having the largest deck/​chairs/​umbrella). Different days of the week has different opening times. The Harbor does not open the same time as the rest of the theme park and closes earlier. Six Flags boasts that it is one of the cleanest parks, however the bathrooms in Hurricane Harbor, while I understand it can’t be helped, is pretty gross. The floors and toilet seats are always wet because people are coming in from the water rides, there is always a shortage of toilet papers in the women’s restrooms, and it might just be me, but I could not find a family bathroom for the life of me. Be prepare to stand in line anywhere between 45 – 65 minutes for any of the water park rides during peak hours. One of the things I found incredibly useful was that if you are a new mom or a mom who is still nursing, you are more than welcome to use the First Aid center to breast feed/​pump milk in the air conditioned, out of the sun, and semi private room.

I came today with my family and was really looking forward to the skull island area which is the best looking and fun area for small kids with pool, play area and slides and after paying $ 25 parking and over $ 80 in tickets (more than $ 100 expense for 3) we find out the area is closed. My daughter is 3 and very petite so there is not a lot of areas or slides she can go on, so we where extremely disappointed to say the least. I had read some bad reviews before about not having a lot of areas open but I taught I would not have that bad of luck coming in June but I guess I was wrong, not only was this area closed but so was wipe out slides and lots of food kiosks and shops, it just seemed very understaffed!

It is a good water park, the best in the area, but the price of admission is also the highest in the area since it requires a park ticket plus another $ 5 if you do not have a season pass — so it is definitely a trade-​off.
I have been to other amusement park water parks across the US (I am a coaster fanatic) and there are much better places to go for an ‘included’ waterpark but the closest is seven hours away.

If I could give 0 I would. I wasn’t going to Unilocal but after receiving a generic «who cares» response to my email, I’m going to. AWFUL. DISGUSTING. BARF
Hello. I went to Hurricane Harbor today (8.31.14). My friend, a season pass holder got me in for 50% off. I paid about $ 40 for entrance. First of all, she was not able to purchase the ticket online. That said, we had to wait about an hour in the line to buy a ticket. You should consider giving season pass holders the ability to purchase the special priced tickets online ahead of time. Once we finally entered she went to purchase a pretzel. It took over 15 minutes. Once we entered Hurricane Harbor it was very difficult to find available chairs. The lines were extremely long for water rides and food. You had a rides and sections closed which limited space. The employees didn’t seem to have it together. The park was understaffed. At the Flamingo café it took an hour to get food. If that wasn’t bad enough, the food was awful! I paid $ 12 for a cheeseburger that I couldn’t even eat. It was that bad. I don’t even think it was actual meat. My friend saw what appeared to be a taco salad. When we reached the counter to order she asked the employee named Christian what was inside the tortilla shell. He replied with an attitude «salad!». She then had to ask him to be more specific. Her salad was warm. Was the lettuce just sitting out? In addition, I saw that the fruit salad cups, with no lids sit out in the open. It was over 80 degrees out and bugs flying around. It’s gross. The wave pool was so overcrowded people were knocking into one another way more than expected. I understand it was a holiday weekend and the last weekend for the water park to be open. That being said, you should anticipate this and staff appropriately. This includes the rides and food areas. This would help with the employees not feeling overworked and stressed and the park goers could get a better experience. Furthermore, I would not be surprised if you were over the occupancy allowed. I did not enjoy my time at the park. I spent more time in lines and waiting than actually partaking in the enjoyable aspects. Also, the food was terrible. I waited over an hour just to be more disappointed and still not having eaten. And the drink cup you charge $ 14 for is a joke. The lines for those refills were just as ridiculous as for food. Employees need help and pep in their step. I hope you take my feedback seriously. I look forward to hearing back. Thank You.

Great place to cool off during the hot days of summer. It’s large with plenty to do. Now, it’s not as crowded since the season pass holders enter for free while everyone else pays $ 5.00.

Always great employees that are having fun there! The photo people are always happy! The front gate employees need more training or a better system. You don’t need to go to the season pass area in the park if you go to the finger print scanning line. Make sure you go to that specific line for finger print scanning and show your papers you signed up and paid for a season pass so the person better give you a season pass after you scan your finger print and give the paper work you printed out. No need to wait an hour for your season pass when your in the park! Employees did not say anything about that! You just get a card as your season pass in the park after standing in line. I suggest getting your card at the front line instead right after security check so you don’t have to get it in the park.
The service is better inside the park. My favorite is superman and xflight. Both are smooth coasters that are very exciting! The fast pass for hurricane harbor is $ 15 and $ 25. It depends on options you want. I like all of the water slides there. The lockers are $ 13, $ 17, $ 20 depending on size you want. The lazy river is the best with the $ 9 double donut rented for whole day. Plenty of rides that will give you a thrill! Just need patience here!
The turkey legs and funnel cake are the best here!

It’s a water park…
The only drawback to this place is the long lines on the weekends, otherwise it is worth it. I’m not going to go into great detail, just suffice it to say that our kids like it…

I didn’t get to get the full experience of hurricane harbor so maybe ill update this once I do but in the mean time…
I agree with everyone about lockers… $ 13 really?
And the bathrooms ARE DISGUSTING which is crazy because the theme park is so clean…
And I hate water parks, I just wanted to go down the lazy river… But I was told it was closed… BUT it was reopened 10 min before they closed, say whaaaat? Who does that?!
So I took a nap on their «beach»
Hopefully my next visit will be better.

Pricey! Lockers will cost you $ 13 minimum, and that’s if all the small lockers haven’t been taken. Want a small meal in the park? at least $ 12 per person. Even a pretzel will cost you at least $ 8, and almost $ 2 more for a very small container of cheese. Also the entrance to the water park is about a ten to fifteen minute walk from the park entrance.
Enjoyed the rides at the water park, but I’ve definitely been to better.

My wife and I took our 10 year old daughter to Great America yesterday for the first time. We hadn’t been there in years, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Given that over 2 million people were downtown for the Blackhawks’ parade and there was a small threat of rain in the forecast, the park was about ½ full, based on what we saw in the parking lot.
We were able to get on all the rides we wanted to ride and even rode some more than once. The weather was great and the park was very clean and well-​kept. The staff we encountered were very courteous and willing to help, some even approached us as we were looking at the map asking if they could help us find anything.
Some of the lines were long, but that goes with the territory at an amusement park. Most of the guests were dressed appropriately for the venue and weather. Not too many thug wanna-​bees or gangster-​actors. Some of the female guests didn’t leave much to the imagination, so if that kind of thing bothers you, I wouldn’t go on a hot day in the summer.
Overall, we had a great time and my daughter rode the Wizzer (twice), the Demon and the American Eagle. We hit some water rides and the tea cups. Parking was easy and security seemed appropriate for the venue. We had burgers at Johnny Rocket’s that weren’t too bad.
We will definitely be going back; maybe not this season, but next summer for sure, maybe a two-​day adventure so we can check out the water park.

This is a review just for the water park.
We went on one family raft slide, and that was decent fun. We went in the wave pool, which was crowded but also nice. Then we tried to go on one of the smaller «toilet bowl» slides. In this section, there is one line for five slides, and since there were only 30 – 40 people in line, we figured it wouldn’t be all that bad. Wrong. 20 minutes later and the line had barely moved as we watched multiple parties get off the slide and go right back on with no wait via the flash pass/​blue tube line. We watched one party do this three times before we finally gave up and went back to the wave pool. I guess they didn’t have enough yellow (free) tubes to go around on a bunch of slides that required tubes to ride. I have never in my life been to a water park where you had to basically rent your own tube in order to ride their rides, or face really long wait times.
The lockers cost $ 12-​$ 18 and there is pretty much no way around using them. For some reason, the concrete in the locker area is much hotter than the rest of the park, and people had to stand on their towels to avoid burning their feet. The changing rooms had cheap curtains that did not even come close to closing all the way, so people could see you while you were changing, and at mid-​afternoon on a not-​all-​that-​busy day there was actually a line to use the changing rooms. The area by the showers is all soaking wet as the draining system doesn’t properly direct the water, so to take a shower (without soaking my bag) I had to leave my belongings in another part of the locker room and hope it didn’t get stolen.
The food, as with the rest of the park, is ridiculously expensive. I’m talking $ 10 for three soggy chicken strips and some fries.
Look, I know the water park is «included in the cost of admission» but given the size, the lack of free tubes, the wait on rides that require tubes, the cost to rent a locker, the cost of food, etc. I’d much rather go to the Dells and not be nickel-​and-​dimed.

Went for the first time today when bringing kids. Spent over 6 hours at both the amusement park side and water park. We didn’t spend this much time in one day at Magic Kingdom before the kids were worn out. Great for 6 and 7 year olds 40+ inches tall. So much to do. Hurricane harbor blows away any of the other local water parks. The water rides are unique and plentiful.
My only complaint is there is no entry to the waterpark from the parking lot. You have to walk halfway into the main park and another 200 – 300 yards down a winding path. We will probably get a season pass next year.

Loved the facility, the staff was phenomenal, and the food was great! Everything was overpriced though, but I figure the kids had a great time. I am looking forward to buying season passes for next year for sure! Well worth the trip with the kids. I recommend you bring alot of sunblock because there isn’t enough shade in the small children’s section. :(

Had the yearly visits with the family and had a blast. The new x-​flight is awesome the park is very clean friendly staff. Used my $ 20. Coupons and also a buy one get one free. Only way Togo would never pay full price. it’s not in my blood EVER! Brought the cooler to eat at the truck for lunch and enjoyed the whole day & night

SUMMER 2012 COUPON CODES!!!
I hate when people write reviews saying they used a code but dont bother to share it. In this economy, we need to start helping each other out. We all know Six Flags is NOT worth the full admission price.
BEFORE YOU BUY with these codes, PLEASE CHECK WHICH ADMISSION IT IS FOR and LOCATION (general, kingdom, hurricane, etc) since I dont know (unless i listed). Most came out to $ 28/​ticket
July 17, 18, 21 or 22, 2012: RASADAYS ($ 28.64)
July 21 – 22 Chamber2012 ($ 28.64)
July 14, 15, August 11 or 12, 2012: CODE: IBEW12
July 25 — July 31, 2012 Code: iocdf
July 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 2012 (gurnee): CODE: FUNWITHTHRIVENT
July 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 2012 (St.Louis). CODE: THRIVE
As of today, all these worked 100%.
If it worked for you, click the «helpful» button so others know if it worked or not

Got the season pass this year! My son and I get to the Harbor by the time it’s open and go to the amusement side after we eat lunch! He loves the Purple and Orange slide and Bahama Mama! He’s only in the 42′ range, but he never complains about going on any of the rides with mom! The only thing I can’t get my child to go on is the mat slides by himself! lol Can’t wait for you guys to open back up next season! My one and only problem I do have though, Lazy River or as you guys call it, Castaway Bay, you can only go around once and you must fall back in line. Only Lazy River I’ve been on that you have to fall back in line and can only go around once?

And now I know why they call it the Mega Wedgie Drop!!! It has been weeks and I still can’t get my swimming trunks out!!!
The Mega Wedgie Drop water slide is amazing and new for 2011. You stand in a clear plastic tube with legs and arms crossed as the ride operator teases you. In the middle of her countdown she hits the button that removes the floor. Wait you were only on 6… what happen to 5−4−3−2−1??? The rush is amazing… as I free fall straight down… in fact I only feel water around me. Where is the slide? At the last second I feel the slide under me right before the horror ends. Oh yeah!!! That was amazing!!! I picked myself up off the slide and climbed up the stairs to do it again. It was as exciting as the first drop but I am still looking for my swimming trunks!!!
There are also a lot of other slides here too. Great kids area for them to climb and explore. Plenty of lounge chairs are all around to kick back and relax in the sun. The lazy river is also cool… love just hanging out and drifting around. There is also a new place for surfing. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. Midwest people surfing in a water park… America’s Funniest Home Videos should set up a live feed here!!!
The only thing that is not fun is having to walk through Great America to get here. I understand they want me to buy food or play an over priced game to win a squid hat (what is the deal with the squid hats?)! I would compromise with you Great America. I will enter the water park through Great America but can you let me exit the Water park directly to the parking lot? That would be nice. That’s my one request. Please!!!
This place rocks and makes Great America an amazing place to visit. A water park and roller coasters… this must be heaven!!! Seriously where are my swimming trunks??? Curse you Mega Wedgie Drop!!!

Ah nostaligia… As a kid, I grew up in Chicago looking forward to my annual trek to Great America where I could go absolutely BONKERS and go on every single roller coaster. The Hurricane Harbor water park wasn’t around back then. It’s a later add-​on to the Great America compound/​fortress. Now, as a grown and mature adult, who has learned the value and importance of staying cool through the summer’s heatwaves, I can now make the informed and reasonable decision to go bonkers in the water park.
If you get a season pass for the summer, you can go to either Great America or Hurricane Harbor. But what was Great America again? When it’s above 90 degrees, you and a slew of other families will wave it off with a «fuhgeddaboudit!!»… and opt instead to spend the entire day in the water park. Since you technically enter the water park through Great America, you only have to remember it for the length of time it takes to get to the entrance, right next to the Viper. hhhsssttt!
(Frankly, I was quite confused by the water park in the amusement park thing. Some of the Six Flags Water Parks in other parts of the country have separate entrances.)
Today, you can call me a bona fide water park Roman…
…body slides, speed slides, tube slides, wave pools, lazy rivers…
Bring your beach towel, have your suit on, wear water shoes (likely a better alternative to sandals which will flop right off on a slide), and otherwise, try not to bring too much extra gear. Likely, if you want to go on a water slide, you will leave your towel and clothes on one of the sunbathing chairs or on the ground if they’re all full, like a bunch of us did. Leave stuff at your own risk, but then this is how all the water park Romans do. If you choose to bring money and ID, and you want to keep it on your persons, and likely it’s going to get sopping wet. If you have valuables, avoid the stress of theft and stuff them in a locker.
Riptide Bay is a 4-​acre expansion to the water park. There’s a Surf Rider attraction which lets you either body surf or stand surf. Stand surfing is allowed after you take a lesson. One of the waterslides feature big yellow tubes that look like 4 leaf clovers or pretzels from a distance. All day, these cartoonish pretzels slowly inch up the lines of the waterslide stairs. Lots of squeals and peals from the little ones in the big wave pool which lets them catch waves in a safer environment.
I really thought I was going to do a 360 going through one of the waterslide tubes.
**When is a suit a suit?**
The water park is superfun but the lines are superlong. So if you take the plunge and decide to wait thru the lines, don’t get caught like one unfortunate soul, who, after a 30 minute in line ascent to the top of the slide, was crushingly denied entry onto the waterslide by the water park staff member for failure to wear proper swim attire.
Yeah, you feel a little silly at first walking around all day in your suit but you get used to it because now you’re a Roman. After a while, it’s patently absurd that you have to put everything back on when you’re ready to enter Great America to head back to the parking lot.