Six Flags Great America

Visited: August 9, 2019

Attending: Just Brian

After spending most of a week in Wisconsin Dells at That Conference, I took the day off on Friday to visit Great America. The plan was to get up early, check out, and drive the 2.5 hours to Gurnee, IL. That mostly happened, but I decided to do some work in the morning, and I didn’t actually depart the hotel until around 7:45. Which should have been enough time for a 10:30 opening, but wasn’t quite, thanks to traffic. I was startled to discover that parking was $30, more than any park I’ve been to before (for contrast, Great Adventure is $25, and Cedar Point is $20). I don’t have a Six Flags season pass this year, so I had to pay for the parking, and then I had to stand in the regular ticket line to use my ACE discount coupon. And then when I got through security and into the park, I needed a bathroom break, since I’d been driving non-stop much of the morning. It was a fairly unprofessional start, for an enthusiast. The weather was gorgeous, so even though it was a Friday, I anticipated plenty of crowds.

Maxx Force

Unlike most new coasters, I wasn’t terribly excited about Maxx Force, and it wasn’t my top priority at the park. It hasn’t gotten a ton of publicity, and what there has been is mostly about the launch. I’ve ridden Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster, so I think I’m pretty well-versed in powerful launches, and they don’t excite me all that much. However, since it’s the new ride, and right in the front of the park, I knew the lines would be long, so I went there first. I didn’t even bother with a map, because I could see it from the park entrance. The line was 75 minutes when I got in it, thanks to my unimpressive start. However, when I was about 15 minutes away from the station, the ops called for a single rider, and much to my surprise, I was the closest one. I ended up with a middle seat, but it’s a pretty short train, so I didn’t mind. The launch was more or less what I expected. It’s powerful, but seems shorter than either Ka or Dragster’s launch. The little step-up at the end of the launch track is odd, and feels like the launch stops before it gets there. The first inversion is fun, as is the corkscrew. The power from the launch seems to fade pretty quickly, so the inversions aren’t that intense. But then the second drop happens, and the brakes kick in before the drop is even over, which is a stupid waste, in my opinion. It feels like they built the first half of a cool ride, and then just stopped. I get that Great America doesn’t have a lot of land to work with, but it’s ultimately a dissatisfying ride.

Raging Bull

This was one of the coasters I was most interested in, for this trip. It’s a B&M hyper coaster, which is one of my favorite types, but instead of emphasizing airtime hills, Raging Bull has a twister layout. Fortunately, the line was short, as it was still early in the day, and hypers don’t draw the attention of the general public as much as they do enthusiasts. I was able to wait for the back row with little trouble. The first drop into the tunnel is impressive, and the twisting was fun, as it was running fairly fast. However, I found myself missing the airtime that hypers normally have. It looks like it wants to be a modern Intamin layout, but it doesn’t have the force for it. I’m glad of the variety, but it’s not my favorite hyper.

X-Flight

I lacked a map, but Great America’s layout seems to be more or less a circle, so I proceeded counter-clockwise. I knew I was skipping some coasters, but I figured I’d do my priorities first, and then do a second circle to pick up the rest. I was interested in X-Flight, because I’ve loved the idea of wing coasters since I first heard about them, but the two I’d ridden to date (Wild Eagle and Gatekeeper) were somewhat disappointing and forceless. I’d heard that Thunderbird and X-Flight are better examples, so I wanted to test the theory. I also decided to wait for the front row, to see if that made a difference. I think I was correct in both cases. The front row definitely increases the sense of flight, and enhances the near-miss of the keyhole element, but also X-Flight seemed more intense than the others I’ve ridden. Even with the vest restraint, I could feel airtime, and the inversions were forceful. I also swooped quite low to the ground on the final helix, close enough to smell the cut grass, which surprised me. This is my favorite wing coaster so far.

Batman: The Ride

Continuing counter-clockwise, I came to Goliath, which was the other thing I really wanted to ride. Even better, they were allowing single riders to use the FastLane queue, so I got close to the station almost immediately...and then the train broke down on the lift hill. I figured the single-rider queue would still be there later, so I left and went to Batman.

Six Flags really loves the Batman layout, so I’ve ridden a few, mostly the one at Great Adventure. But this is the first. When I rode the original Superman at Six Flags Over Georgia, I was impressed by how much more sense the layout makes in the original setting, and I hoped that would be true here. I was initially surprised that the queue is shorter than other installations; I expected the original to have more queue. But I was impressed that the indoor parts are air-conditioned and have the Danny Elfman soundtrack playing, which the others don’t. As for the layout itself, I went front-row to get the best view, and I was impressed, as I’d hoped. The tight space makes the inversions feel claustrophobic, and there’s a ton of greenery around the twister sections, which on other installations is just gravel. Trees and shrubs probably aren’t as thematic for Gotham City, but they certainly make the ride more exciting. This is probably my favorite installation of the model.

Goliath

While I was riding Batman, Goliath resolved whatever problem it had, so I went right back over there. (It did cross my mind that riding a coaster that had just broken down might not be too smart, but I didn’t care.) This is the oldest RMC that I’ve ridden, and it shows. It’s original, like Lightning Rod, not a rebuild, but it’s also not a terrain coaster, and it’s on a fairly compact plot. The first thing I noticed is that while it has 90-degrees turns, they’re traditional banked turns, not the wave turns RMC likes now. The inversions are forceful, what one expects from an RMC. There wasn’t as much airtime as I thought there would be. The zero-G stall is the best element of this coaster, and that was impressive. I thought it went over a walkway, though, and I was surprised that I couldn’t stand underneath it for a good vantage point for photos. I was also surprised at how short it is, even compared to Twisted Timbers, which was the shortest RMC I’ve ridden to date. I’m sure it was mind-blowing when it first came out, but RMC has made so many impressive coasters since then that Goliath suffers a bit by comparison. It’s not bad by any means; it’s just lower-tier in the context of RMCs.

Vertical Velocity

I’d already walked by Vertical Velocity twice, and the line was relatively short (about 20 minutes), so I decided to ride it next. This is the third Intamin Impulse I’ve ridden, and while I’m still not a huge fan of them, this one wasn’t particularly objectionable. For whatever reason, this model doesn’t use holding brakes on the spikes, so once the momentum dies, you reverse direction immediately, and that may be a more “natural” feeling to me. Vicky called this model a “supersonic banana” once she saw it, and I’m going to stick with that name.

Viper

At this point, I decided to circle back around to where I’d started and ride the things I’d passed up the first time. Viper was first, since it lives by Raging Bull. There wasn’t much of a line, even though it was the middle of the afternoon at this point. According to CoasterForce, Viper is the only coaster Six Flags ever built in-house, but it’s kind of hard to tell. It’s a Cyclone clone (mirror, really), so it could have been built by any number of companies. It’s hard to imagine a Cyclone clone being built in 1995, but there it is. On the whole, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Cyclone. Maybe a little smoother than most, because it’s not so old, but nothing special.

Demon

This old Arrow looper was next, although it took me some time to find the entrance, because it seems to be in the middle of the park, rather than on the outside edge. You can easily tell this was once a real showpiece for the park, with its central position and absurdly long queue, but it’s so old now that it’s just kind of funny. It had some kitschy “demonic” decorations, and some tunnels with lights, but the real kicker was its 70s-style theme song, which played in the queue and in the area surrounding the ride. The riders were mostly families with little kids, which just made the whole thing funnier. I opted for a back-car ride, and had the same experience I’ve had on Arrow loopers over the last couple of years: it was slow, with small loops, and not particularly thrilling, but I kind of had to feel some affection for it, because it appeared to be trying so hard.

American Eagle

I had to walk a bit to find the entrance to this ride, because it’s strangely far from the center of the park, even though it’s one of the oldest rides. It also had an unexpectedly long line for an older wooden coaster, but it was only running one side (blue) that day. I was expecting a simple racer, like Racer 75 at King’s Dominion, but this surprised me. It had an unusually tall drop (apparently the tallest and fastest on a wood coaster at the time it was built), and a monster helix at the turnaround instead of the simple u-turn I was expecting. It’s not an all-time classic in my list, but I can definitely see why people might have fondness for this.

Superman: Ultimate Flight

At this point, it was around 5:00. Certainly not too late, but I had a four-hour drive to my hotel for the evening, and I didn’t want to stay too late. All the lines were pretty long at this point, but I learned there was some traffic in Chicago, so I could either stay later at the park, or sit in traffic. I opted for Superman, because I wanted the credit. With this, I’ve now ridden all three iterations of Superman: Ultimate Flight, and with Tatsu and Manta, all the B&M flying coasters in the U.S. I think that the original installation at Six Flags Over Georgia is the best of the three Supermans, but none of the three are as good as Tatsu or Manta. In short, I had pretty low expectations for this ride, which were pretty much met. There was nothing new about the experience, but the plot of land around the coaster is tree-covered, instead of just grass like Great Adventure, so that was a plus.

Joker, Dark Knight, and Whizzer

I’m noting these because I didn’t ride any of them, as my time was getting short, and they had long lines. I’ve experienced both Joker and Dark Knight at Great Adventure, so I wasn’t expecting anything new there. Joker I just plain dislike, and I might have skipped even if I’d had the time. Dark Knight I can take or leave, as it’s a wild mouse in a box, but that also makes it a prime family coaster, so there are usually long lines.

Whizzer, I’m embarrassed to say, I just plain forgot about. I probably would have tried to ride it if I’d remembered, because there aren’t many old Schwarzkopfs left, especially not this model. But it’s small, so I didn’t even see it. I have no idea what the line would’ve been like.

I hate to leave credits on the table like that, but it was proving to be a pretty busy day. I got to my hotel rather late, checked in, and promptly fell asleep.