loop-de-loop

Guests were quite good actually. I think the chaperone policy helps. I was just at Canada’s Wonderland before this trip and the amount of kids/teens line jumping is frustrating. Wonderland needs that policy too. Employees were good for the most part. Not a whole lot of effort put into filling trains (sending superman out with only 2 people in a row when you’re down to 1 train and an hour wait is hard to watch), but they all seemed to have a good hustle, especially for how hot it was.

I visited Six Flags Great America for the first time this week. I haven’t posted here in a long time but my flight home is currently delayed so I decided to write up a trip report. My home park is CW and I don’t have a lot of parks under my belt, but SFGAm has been close to the top of my bucket list with a strong line up of coasters. Overall, I was very impressed by the park. I was surprised that the park didn’t have a bigger footprint, as they cram a lot of rides into this park. This park has such a strong lineup of quality roller coasters. Unfortunately, Maxx Force was closed while I was there (rumor is it’s closed for the rest of the season?) however I was able to ride everything else. It was extremely hot while I was there and I don’t know if that kept crowds down a bit but it wasn’t crazy busy. Wrath of Rakshasa - This is a phenomenal dive coaster. I only have Yukon Striker & Valravn to compare it to, but it reminds me of a mini Yukon Striker. My biggest complaint about Valravn is how it hits the MCBR so early. Wrath hauls through its entire layout, and really whips you through the entire ride. Maybe a little shaking in the outside seats, but minor in my opinion. This is a slam dunk and I love how the queue and midway interact with the entire ride. The unique theming incorporated with this ride is a very nice touch too. Demon - A fun, classic Arrow looper. I love the vertical loops of an Arrow looper. I wish the lights in the tunnel were working. It’s a minor complaint, but I always think it makes a park seem cheap when there is an obvious feature of a ride that doesn’t work. Whizzer - My first time riding this type of roller coaster, and it was great! It’s obviously a great family roller coaster and has a nice setting as well. Superman - This was my first B&M flyer. I loved the pretzel roll, but besides that it doesn’t do a whole lot. They were only running 1 train and weren’t honouring Flash Pass on it (I paid for Ultimate so this rubbed me the wrong way with Maxx Force already closed as well). I can’t wait to try Manta & Tatsu after riding this. The Dark Knight - A fun wild mouse indoors. I wasn’t sure exactly what the layout was going in so it was fun to experience it in the dark. Families seemed to love this ride. Joker - This was a lot of fun, and spun more than I thought based on some reviews I had read. A short ride but fun when there’s not a line. Batman - My first of the Batman clones, and this lives up to the hype. One train operation which wasn’t great when it had a bit of a line. The inside queue before the station was a million degrees. Mix in the red lights and fake smoke, and it felt like you were being cooked. Even the station was warm enough, at least they had fans for the employees working in there. V2 - This was down for a lot of the day but I got lucky and it opened up as I was walking by. This was my first impulse and I really enjoyed it. The accelerating backwards is a lot of fun, which makes me want to get back to CP to try TT2. Aqua man - It was crazy hot while I was here. I jumped on to cool down and it was a fun ride and got myself more soaked than I was expecting which felt good when it was so hot out. For a park that seems to be lacking space, these water rides do seem to take up a lot of valuable real estate. I wouldn’t be shocked if this gets tore down someday for a new coaster, especially when they make people pay a separate admission to enter Hurricane Harbor. Goliath - An awesome RMC! I had pretty high expectations for this ride, and it delivered. Such a short ride it seems when you’re hauling through the course, but the airtime is great and the hang time is even better. American Eagle - A fun classic coaster, I got some night rides which were a lot of fun. I love that you have to walk a mile in the queue to get back to it. They were running both sides but not racing them unfortunately. (Side note while I’m talking about this area, the kids section back here was extremely depressing looking. It looks like they just threw some rides in an old theatre, and it looks like a haunted house is just left there permanently? This back section of the park could use a re-vamp if they were going to fix an area of the park up.) Sky Striker - My home park is CW, and this blows Psyclone away as this thing was running such a long cycle with so many full swings back and forth. The light package on it is amazing as well. It held a good line and was clearly one of the most popular rides in the park. X-Flight - A solid wing coaster, felt like a smaller Gatekeeper. It doesn’t really fit the County Fair theme (does any ride in this area?) but the flight theme for X-Flight itself was executed well for Six Flags with near-misses and landscaping. Justice League - This was a better interactive ride than I was expecting. The end scenes where you are racing through the city actually feel like you’re moving if you only focus on the screen. The air conditioning felt so good too on a hot day. Raging Bull - This thing is awesome. The airtime you get in the back was way better than I was expecting. The queue and overall theming of this entire area is very well done. Viper - I was very surprised at how good this was. I was expecting a rough old wooden coaster, but it delivered a great ride. Again, the ride’s little bit of theming in this area is great too. (While I’m talking about this area, the six flags app is not great. For some reason it was calling my home park “Six Flags Over Texas” and when you get close to Hurricane Harbor it kicks you out of Great America and shows you Hurricane Harbor instead). Overall, besides the one-train operations on Batman and Superman (and Maxx Force being closed) I was very impressed by this park. I see a lot of potential that the merger could bring (landscaping, consistent theming and ride ops could be slightly better compared to my home park of CW) but this is a park with several quality roller coasters that I’m glad to have had the chance to visit. (I attached a few quick pics I snapped as well).

^Makes you wonder how accurate the TEA attendance report is every year. Their 2017 report lists Knott's at a hair over 4 million. If Hangtime brought in an additional 2 million people that is one hell of an investment. http://www.teaconnect.org/images/files/TEA_268_653730_180517.pdf

I love the view of the park you get right before the drop. Only missing Behemoth from the skyline.

Does anyone know why Shockwave gets left in this position for the winter? I would have just assumed it would be left in the loading position during the off season.

^I get that. Even with the Voyage’s aggressive second half, everytime the train would pull into the station I’d want to ride again. Raven was the only coaster I had no desire to re-ride.

Why wouldn't the bat stay? They just painted the entire thing and gave it a brand new name and logo a few seasons ago. There's no indication whatsoever that the Bat is going anywhere. That Bat is awesome, and (contrary to your experience), I've never seen the thing without a line. You’re right, there has been no indication that it is going anywhere. I was just joining the speculation of the future of the Bat and Vortex. I really do hope it stays, as it’s a great ride and one of the best suspended coasters left. Also glad to hear it’s still popular with the GP. If it’s still getting a line way down there it must be a favourite with a lot of the public.

Nice TR, I just went for the first time last weekend and your reviews sound pretty much bang on compared to mine. The Raven: How does this ride get so much love? This thing was way too rough to enjoy. The Legend: The only review I'll disagree with. It was rough but tolerable and I really enjoyed the twisty layout. The Voyage: Stellar roller coaster up until the MCBR, then uncomfortable from there. Can't imagine how painful the ending would be if it were to just fly through the MCBR. Thunderbird: Great ride, nice to ride something actually smooth in the park. I had some bad luck while I was at the park; at one point The Voyage, Raven, and Thunderbird were all down at the same time and Legend was only using one train so of course everyone flooded that ride. The Voyage only opened up with an hour before close and with only 1 train so waits were painful but those night rides were fantastic.

If The Bat is going to stay, their next coaster should go right beside it with the entrance as close to The Bat's entrance as possible to increase its ridership. Even with Banshee close by, when I was there last weekend I rode it on two separate occasions and never saw a train more than half full. I think most of the public likes The Bat, but don't like the long hike back there to ride it.

Wasn't me but the person a row ahead of me. I was in line for the last row on The Racer at KI at night when a man (probably around 50) got in line for the row in front of me. He wasn't looking too well, almost looked drunk as he grabbed the gates in the station. Anyway, we get on, and during the last drop before the turnaround I felt something wet hit my face, like a raindrop. The sky was clear so I had a pretty bad feeling I knew what it was, and sure enough as we pulled into the station he had thrown up all over himself. I felt really bad for him as when we came back into the station as a bunch of 13-14 year olds started yelling and pointing at him, making a scene. He grabbed his stuff quickly and got out of the station; the dispatching ride op actually had to lean over the booth and tell him to find first aid to wash his clothes while he was walking down the exit ramp as he didn't want to stick around and talk to any ride-ops. I'm just glad I didn't get hit with more than I did behind him, and I hope he was feeling better for the rest of the night.

Mystic Timbers. The night rides on that thing are just as good as The Beast’s in my opinion.

Sheesh thunder run gets worked on every year I just rode it last weekend and was expecting it to be a lot rougher than it was. The only part that I think needs a lot of work is the last turn before the station. T3 was down all day so I guess that roughness makes up for missing the hang’n’bang.

Flight Deck, Behemoth, Stunt Coaster, The Fly, Leviathan, and maybe Guardian and Skyhawk. They take your picture to show your scores on those rides though I'm not sure if you can buy them. Flight Deck got rid of on-ride photos a couple of years ago. Backlot Stunt Coaster had finally gotten rid of the on-ride photos last year and the on-ride photo building was removed during the 2015/2016 off-season. Behemoth, Ghoster Coaster, Leviathan, The Fly, and Taxi Jam have on-ride photos available for purchase. Wonder Mountain's Guardian and Skyhawk do have on-ride photos, although they are not available for purchase as they're only momentarily featured on a TV at the exit. Thanks for correcting me, shows how much I pay attention to those photos.

Flight Deck, Behemoth, Stunt Coaster, The Fly, Leviathan, and maybe Guardian and Skyhawk. They take your picture to show your scores on those rides though I'm not sure if you can buy them.