Six Flags Great America, Illinois
18 May 2023
My last overseas roller coaster adventure was in 2018, so post Covid lockdowns it was time to start planning again.
I had to scrap the first draft of my itinerary because it completely blew the budget. With inflation, US taxes, the general increase in tipping from 10% to 20%, and the Australian dollar being rather crappy, I basically had to take the US costs and double them. The other consideration was that Covid made me a bit of a homebody, so I was concerned about being away from home for an extended period.
I settled on a 23 day trip visiting six parks across America. The itinerary was a balancing act. I wanted to go just before the American school holidays to avoid summer crowds, but this meant that staffing would likely be in short supply, and potentially some rides would not yet be open.
I commenced my adventures at Six Flags Great America in Chicago. I stayed at the very basic La Quinta, trying to keep costs down as much as possible since a huge chunk of money was going towards Ubers (I opted not to hire a car). The bonus of La Quinta was that it was only a 20 minute walk to Six Flags.
The park opened at 10.30am, so I arrived half an hour earlier. I was devastated to see about 100 school buses, with thousands of teenagers already forming massive queues. End of school field trips were in full swing! It would have to be a flash pass day. So I went to the pass booth, knowing that the passes had jumped in cost astronomically from my last visit in 2014. A platinum pass was about $226 AUD (90% reduction in wait times), $135 AUD for gold (50% reduction in wait times) or regular at $105 AUD (virtual queue system). The only pass they were selling was the regular so that’s what I bought. The odd thing was, the park didn’t have enough staff to monitor the three levels of flash passes, so regardless of what people paid, they all got the platinum experience. Awesome! Lack of staff also meant that none of the photo booths were operating, so no ride photos were acquired at this park.
With a spring in my step, I went off to my first ride. I must admit I was nervous about not fitting in the seats due to the amount of weight I had put on over the years. However I fit into all seats with no problems, and didn’t need to use any of the ‘extra large’ seats that some coasters offered.
At 32 seconds, Maxx Force was one of the shortest coasters I have ever ridden, but the epic launch from 0-125km/hr in just under 2 seconds contributed to that low duration! Apparently this is the fastest acceleration of any roller coaster in America (not the fastest launch speed, but the fastest acceleration to reach the top speed). I can confirm it was hard to keep my arms up!
I enjoyed the launch through a short tunnel, complete with imitation sonic boom sound effects. The queue was building very quickly due to slow loading of one train, so I was feeling satisfied with my decision to fork out cash for a fast pass. However things didn’t remain straight forward…
On several of the rides, the fast pass queues were closed off with bins blocking the entry. I assumed this meant that I had to use the regular queue as it was not peak season. I was annoyed while waiting in a long queue for Whizzer due to the fast pass lane closure (particularly because the winding steel coaster which opened in 1976 looked cooler than it felt!)
Once Whizzer the fizzer was ticked off, I waited for Viper for 10 minutes before it broke down with lengthy delays predicted.
I was thrilled to arrive at Raging Bull and see the fast pass lane open, so this took me all the way to the loading gate. This B&M steel hyper coaster was great fun, with a stomach churning first drop. I felt out of practice because the drop wasn’t actually that big!
Next was X flight, which looked very similar to other B&M wing coasters I had been on at Thorpe Park in England and Heide Park in Germany. Although I knew the ride would be excellent, the wait was killing me. I got in the fast pass queue, which merged with the general queue about half way (therefore saving you about 50% of the wait time). This was unbelievably awkward, as you had to mix with the people that you had just paid to push in front of. The line was moving ridiculously slowly with only one train, averaging just under 10 minutes per train load, for a 1.20min ride. I forgot my frustrations when I saw how flustered one staff member was getting however. The ride supervisor was being a bit of a jerk, repeatedly yelling instructions to her over the loudspeaker. Load issues were out of the control of this junior staff member however, because guests were simply not following instructions. This poor young girl started crying, and after words with the supervisor, left the platform. At that point she was heckled by a group of teenagers in the queue, making things so much worse. I waited almost 60 minutes for this coaster which took some of the shine off. It was not helping that staff were not calling for single riders, and every time there were multiple single seats empty. I miss single rider queues!
I enjoyed my next coaster on Batman The Ride, a super fun B&M inverted coaster that was popular at many of the Six Flags parks. Again my fast pass lane merged half way, so there was still a wait. I had forgotten that the track produced a surprising amount of speed and force on the turns which was fun.
As I walked past various other coasters with fast pass lane closures, I posted on the SFGA Facebook Group for tips. As it turns out, the exit lanes were being used for fast pass guests that day. Geez, it would have been really handy if the staff had mentioned that when I bought the fast pass… With new knowledge gained, I retraced my steps for Goliath. I went straight to the exit lane, skipping the 90 minute queue. Sure enough, after a very slow start to the day, the number of coasters I was about to experience shot right up!
Goliath was freaking awesome, and my favourite coaster at the park. The first drop took me to my happy place, and I experienced my first ever inversion on a wooden (albeit hybrid) coaster which was a wonderful novelty. I also experienced another first – an introduction to grey outs! I had only ever read about these before because they had never happened to me. People would not quite black out, but lose some of their senses due to the intense positive G forces of rides. My grey outs came as I exited the first major drop into a sharp banked turn. They appeared in the form of temporary blurry vision for a few seconds. I was quite excited to experience this!
I was also thrilled that staff were efficiently loading the two trains, and so I had multiple turns. I had been on one RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) reinvented coaster before at Six Flags over Texas (New Texas Giant). That was almost 10 years ago though, and I don’t think I ever appreciated RMC’s genius back then! So here I was about to try out RMC’s track topper technology once more. A steel track is laid over the top of wooden foundations (generally a pre-existing wooden coaster), and I had truly forgotten how magical these tracks were! I joyfully experienced several more of these track topper coasters later in the trip, and I became a massive fan. All hail RMC! The lack of harness allowed for great freedom of movement without smacking your head, although the section of the lap bar that locked your shins in place felt a little odd. I returned to make Goliath my last ride of the day, and was impressed that the rider counter was at 342,261. Good job staff!
I was sad to see that the Joker free-fly coaster was closed, as I thoroughly enjoyed this free-spin coaster at Six Flags over Texas in 2014. Employees stated this was due to staffing issues. I would later ride something similar at Kings Dominion, so all was not lost.
My mood improved when I saw The Flash: Vertical Velocity. I absolutely loved Wicked Twister at Cedar Point and was sorry to see it had been demolished since my last trip. But here in Illinois I would get to ride the same Intamin model, woohoo! I love fast launches, so this horseshoe shaped inverted coaster with both forwards and backwards launches was good for my soul.
Superman Ultimate Flight followed, which I had already experienced at Six Flags Great Adventure back in 2011. I was not complaining though – I love flying coasters! On this model, riders get rotated in their seats so you are kind of lying down face forward while flying around the track. I love a good nosebleed loop where you go down headfirst backwards, and this coaster was no exception. I felt a little sad for guests who were complaining that with the queues they would only get to go on 4-5 rides that day, especially as I was hopping on one after the other.
The Dark Knight indoor coaster was the first and only single rider queue I saw being used all day. I was the only one in it and boarded right away. I was grateful I didn’t have to wait longer, because the coaster kind of sucked. It was like an indoor wild mouse with rough and clunky hills taking away any opportunities for air time.
Mardi Gras Hangover was a solitary looping track that looked a bit like a carnival ride. Nonetheless it was a coaster, so I had to give it a crack. Queue jumpers were very annoying on this ride, pushing in front of people in both the regular and fast pass queues. I still got on quickly though, not overly interested in the slow loops which made me a little dizzy. The seating configuration was also a bit weird, where you sit in a compartment for four people, facing each other in pairs. What would happen if someone spat or threw up? Eww! Someone did intentionally drop a map, leading to a very cranky staff member (who also had a good yell at anyone trying to unbuckle their seat belts too early). To be fair, I would be angry too if I had to work on that ride all day.
I returned to Viper which had since reopened. This was quite a rough wooden coaster that reminded me a little of the old Bush Beast at Australia’s Wonderland. It had a cool looking track though, and seemed to attract visitors of all ages.
The only remaining coaster opened which I had yet to ride was American Eagle, and this was a huge surprise. I regret leaving this coaster until later in the day, because I would have liked to have ridden it another five times. Sadly there was no fast pass option for this ride, so I had to wait 30 minutes which was totally worth it. The wooden track produced some of the greatest airtime I have ever experienced. The trains had funny little side pads, and I wondered whether these were added to decrease instances of whiplash. The ride had quite possibly the longest queue system I had ever seen. It took some time to get over a couple of bridges and through the winding metal barriers. The safety information was also the most comprehensive I had ever seen, including specifications around prosthetics and limbs. After riding it, I understood why this was necessary (you definitely need legs to keep you in!) Six Flags Great America really did have a good assortment of wooden coasters!
There were numerous ride closures at the park including four coasters (Joker, Demon, plus two kiddy coasters called The Little Dipper and Sprocket Rocket). In fact the whole kiddy area named Camp Cartoon was shut. Apparently due to staffing issues, Camp Cartoon had been alternating with KIDZOPOLIS so that one of the kiddy areas was opened each day. Staff also knew that the park would mostly be filled with teenagers on the day I was there, so thankfully prioritised the bigger rides.
All water rides were closed, as was the water park. The Drop Tower was closed, which was no big loss for this blogger who hates them. Numerous food and shopping outlets were also closed, which didn’t bother me either. Costs for this trip were already outrageous, so I had made a pact not to buy any food from the parks anyway. I basically loaded up with free hotel breakfasts and grabbed a piece of fruit and a muffin to get me through the day. The food queues were also massive, and I needed that time for the rollercoasters!
Six Flags parks are not really known for great theming, and I do find the parks lack a bit of soul and atmosphere. Great America attempted to separate the areas into “lands” like Orleans palace, Hometown square, Southwest territory and Yukon territory. Not being from the US, I didn’t really understand the theming, and thought it was odd that a DC universe was thrown into the mix. This doesn’t bother me though when I look at the quality of the rides first. The park was a good size, although it really could have used a path to cut through from front to back instead of circling the entire way around. It was a good thing the park was relatively small, because the train that travelled around the entire park was also closed.
I didn’t need to purchase any lockers as there were boxes for bags at each load station which was ideal. The park was also cash free. That was fine for me, but I did wonder how kids would manage if they didn’t have eftpos and credit cards! Having said that, the park had instituted a chaperone policy in an attempt to NOT have unsupervised teenagers at the park. Apparently there had been some negative press about teens fighting, queue jumping and generally being rude, so many of the parks were cracking down on this and insisting that teenagers have adults with them after 4pm. I have no idea how they can enforce this when they don’t have enough staff to run the rides let alone monitor the guests. Apart from the teenage hecklers, a few queue jumpers, and a small group that were ejected from Goliath (I didn’t see what they did), I found that most of the kids were pleasant.
Despite my plan to visit the park on a day of low attendance failing, I still managed to get on 16 rides in 7.5 hours, and I think about 12 of those were in the last 4 hours. I didn’t see any shows or go on any flat rides due to time constraints. This was the only park on my trip where I had just one day to experience everything, so I had to prioritise.
Six Flags Great America felt like a good park to start the trip. I knew that bigger and better rides were on the horizon, but was getting nervous that all the closures I had experienced at this park were signs of things to come…
Roller Coaster Ramble 