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Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread


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^But remember... we still have (what I think to be) the best park in the chain. In terms of variety, operations (could you believe!?) and general set-up.

 

Every time I go to another SF park, I usually leave early (unless at an event or with friends) because the situation is so pathetic. But I have to admit, I've been spoiled in a sense. Years of going to Holiday World and their events, and all those other parks that - however still a business - let you know they care. Good thing about Great America for me, I'm only 45 mins away. I can go when no one is there, get my rides in and go home. Wish me luck doing that at Magic Mountain next week. Doh!

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^But remember... we still have (what I think to be) the best park in the chain. In terms of variety, operations (could you believe!?) and general set-up.

I completely agree. I haven't visited many Six Flags parks, but what I've read on here and other coaster sites and forums I believe we do have the best park in the chain. However, like many other parks, it still has its flaws. I guess not everything has to be perfect, even though because we know more about these parks and rides than the average person, we expect everything to be.

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FINALLY! . . . After a 12+ hour drive from AL, I made it to Gurnee! Already checked in my hotel and about to get plenty of rest for my first time visit at this amazing park I hear so much about! I'm ready for a "Six Flags Day!"

Have fun! I'll be checking back for a trip report!

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FINALLY! . . . After a 12+ hour drive from AL, I made it to Gurnee! Already checked in my hotel and about to get plenty of rest for my first time visit at this amazing park I hear so much about! I'm ready for a "Six Flags Day!"

 

Have a great time! In case you didn't get the run-down for best seats and stuff:

 

Demon- 2nd to back. Better view than very back, more leg room, but you still get the awesome *snap* of the first drop. Will be a walk-on after 8.

Eagle- RED! Seat #3 is heaven. Try very front and 3rd from back ("row 13") if you have time

Viper- exact same as Eagle. Heavenly floater air time in #3.

Whizzer - very low intensity, VERY high uniqueness, ride-ability, comfort and general awesomeness. Very back seat! Heck, any seat is coaster perfection.

Raging Bull- Very back seat. If you don't fall into the very boring and knee-jerk complaint of the 3rd hill trim, you can really enjoy this ride. The layout is one of kind. The uniqueness of the layout wins me over every time. I much prefer this to the camel-back repetition of most hyper B&Ms across the country.

 

Fiddler's Fling is the fastest ride every built. Ok, maybe not, but holy cow don't miss it.

Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper are 2 of the few remaining classic log flumes at corporate parks. Pure joyrides!

That's the important stuff anyway! Hope you have a blast.

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WOW! WOW! WOW! Today was a great day! A VERY GREAT DAY! Even though it started to rain towards the end (steady/drizzling), I managed to ride all the major thrill rides, and with the exception of Little Dipper closing because of rain, I got 13 coasters out of 14! YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT! All roller coasters were running with three or two trains! The operations were on point as well! I give much applause to all the ride ops at Six Flags Great America! This park is definitely one of the best Six Flags park! Everyone was nice and friendly! No attitudes . . . no rudeness . . . A GREAT PLACE TO BE!

 

A TRIP REPORT/VLOG IS IN THE WORKS! I'LL HAVE IT OUT SOON, HOPEFULLY!

 

Before I forget, please pray for a "happy day" at Mt. Olympus tomorrow. I'm nervous!

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WOW! WOW! WOW! Today was a great day! A VERY GREAT DAY!

 

"Maybe a Great day is just what you need this year!" Was their commercial jingle for the early years. Now if I could find one of those commercials...

So sorry you didn't get to ride Little Dipper. It's beautiful!

 

Before I forget, please pray for a "happy day" at Mt. Olympus tomorrow. I'm nervous!

 

I will pray for you indeed! Beware the stupid "curbs" placed throughout the park. That can hurt. The biggest travesty about Mt. Olympus (for me, personally) are the changes made to Cyclops about ... 3 years ago. I haven't been back. But that was the one reason I would go up there, on non-crowded days. They have re-profiled THE DROP, as well as added ratcheting lap bars that have infamously "runinnned!" the buzz bar experience on many older and formerly classic woodies. As dramatic as it sounds, if you get to ride something that awesome and are used to it, and the train gear is changed like that... well, it nearly ruins the experience for me.

 

Are you going to Little Amerricka? I would TOTALLY skip Mt. Olympus in favor of that. I know I know... many of us coaster nerds want to the get the most talked about credits, but if you have any appreciation or like of classic-style stuff, I would so do LAmerricka. They have the "other" clone of Little Dipper (that was also originally built at a park here in Chicagoland). They've rebuilt it and called it METEOR. The operation of the ride has been kept classic: very fast loading and dispatch, a manual hand brake and they give you like... 3 or 4 rides in a row (depending on the crowd). They also have a classic Hershell Mad Mouse, which looks and runs like brand new. It's rough and tumble, and not a single restraint, the way it should be. When I go there with friends, they usually camp out at Mad Mouse and I'm doing time on Mad Mouse! All the super-old rides they have look old... because they are old technology, but they run better than new. LAmerricka has their own metal machine shop! A Roll-O-Plane (which would hit Meteor if a railing on Meteor hadn't been removed - this is awesome!) and a bunch of other older rides. A VERY LONG train ride out to no where, which is somehow very cool and charming all in one. They also have future plans to rebuild the Lincoln Park Comet, and do so in a very classic way.

 

Are you going to Bay Beach!? Again, if you like a classic mom & pop, relaxed feel - don't miss it. Zippin is a near top 10 ride in my book. They have (now rare) giant racing slide (KI and CP had these years ago). I have a permanent scar on the inside of my arm from that ride. My fault, I tried to lock arms with my friend next to me to go faster and my arm hit the slide. But look! I didn't sue the park! It was my fault. The cool thing is the scar looks like a Bat Signal.

 

You would get MUCH more mileage out of going to those 2 parks, but if you really need the bigger "credits," I understand.

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^Darnit! And Little Amerricka is closer to Great America than Mt. Olympus!

 

I'd compare it to traveling to Pennsylvania and only going to Dorney for the B&Ms. Ok, not the best example, but you get the drift: going to a state and spending time and (lots) of money at the crappiest place and foregoing a couple of the best places on the planet. I digress...

 

Hopefully you will never have to return to Mt. Olympus again after today. Gawd, Cyclops was a top 5 for me - for years. I hope you still have fun on it. Just imagine it with 6 inches between you and the lap bar, and a sharper breakover/steepness on THE DROP. The first drop is (was?) killer in the back seat, too!

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"Maybe a Great day is just what you need this year!" Was their commercial jingle for the early years. Now if I could find one of those commercials...

 

 

Here ya go. Would've been nice if they had remade this commercial for the "40 seasons of Thrills" celebration back in 2015

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PS - you DO know that the best coaster at the Dells is visible from Mt. Olympus, correct? Avalanche, right down the street:

 

 

We took a northern detour after camping at Devil's Lake two weeks ago just to get my 8-year-old son on this before heading home to IL, and he loved it. It was a bit rougher in spots then it was when I first rode it in 2011, but it just hauls start to finish and is so much fun. Got to love another great Alan Schilke design!

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Hey all

 

Super excited to be making it to SFGAm on Sunday, currently was planning on buying Flash Pass, however I'm contemplating Flash Pass Gold. Do I need to pay up? Or will the whole day be enough to hit the majority of the rides? That being said I am planning on making it to the water park sometime during the day. Also can anyone give me a solid route through the park? I know to sprint for Goliath, but after that I'm blind. Thanks!

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Hey all

 

Super excited to be making it to SFGAm on Sunday, currently was planning on buying Flash Pass, however I'm contemplating Flash Pass Gold. Do I need to pay up? Or will the whole day be enough to hit the majority of the rides? That being said I am planning on making it to the water park sometime during the day. Also can anyone give me a solid route through the park? I know to sprint for Goliath, but after that I'm blind. Thanks!

 

I was only visiting the park once, so I bought the Platinum Flash Pass. I work my way around counter clockwise starting with Sky Trek. But head to the ride that's a MUST DO for you. AND REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!

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Hey all

 

Super excited to be making it to SFGAm on Sunday, currently was planning on buying Flash Pass, however I'm contemplating Flash Pass Gold. Do I need to pay up? Or will the whole day be enough to hit the majority of the rides? That being said I am planning on making it to the water park sometime during the day. Also can anyone give me a solid route through the park? I know to sprint for Goliath, but after that I'm blind. Thanks!

 

You do not need to sprint to Goliath first anymore, really, as the additions of Justice League and Joker the last two years, in addition to Goliath being 3 years old now, have made the Goliath line a lot shorter. I would still try to hit it fairly early on, but you could hit at least one other ride first since it is at the very back of the park and most people ride Raging Bull, Superman, or Joker first.

 

Since the park is mostly an easy to follow oval, just pick a direction and work your away around the park, is the usual suggestion. Superman gets long lines fast, so you might want to hit that first since it is at the front of the park.

 

I will let someone else handle the FP question, since I never buy them.

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I'm really surprised that two of the flagship parks in the SF chain, SFGAm and SFMM, are the only SF parks that do not have Skyscreamers. I only just now realized that. Unless you count Great Escape, but the point still remains.

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I don't think Six Flags is completely done with them since we saw one added to SFA this year. Heard a rumor elsewhere that SFMM may be getting the world's tallest variant as the "Record breaking ride" for the chain in 2018, though of course it is just a rumor. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing one here, though I still think we're going to be seeing a new water park addition

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Quick question for you Great America regulars. My son and I are going to be making our first trip out to this park next month, and we don't have a ton of time to spend at the park unfortunately so I'll be investing in Flash Passes for us.

 

Does the park currently have any weird restrictions in effect on those, like how Magic Mountain requires an extra fee to reserve an X2 ride and only gives you single reservations for Twisted Colossus and Full Throttle? I had heard that they did something like that for Goliath when a friend visited some years back, but don't currently see anything stating as much on their website.

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Only restriction currently I can think of is you are only allowed 2 rides per day on Joker. Joker is only available on platinum as well. I'd wait to see if you need the flash pass though. I went yesterday arriving at 10:45 and had ridden all major coasters by 3PM. The park was empty which is surprising because yesterday was a beautiful although hot day. Only lines were 15 mins for Joker and Goliath. The water park seemed to be empty too. I saw on a couple slide complexes with very short lines. Most were walk straight to the top of complex.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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