Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread

[i305isdaddy]

Goliath also seems like it was built to have a 2nd half... instead of swerving up and to the right into the brakes at 70mph it seems like they meant for there to be a lot more left. Everything at this park is so short! Goliath and then Joker and now this... it's the land of waiting in long lines for 15 seconds of fun.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Sure it's short, but it boasts an intense launch and FIVE inversions in such a short amount of track. This does way more with it's track length than YOLOcoaster does, in my opinion.

This is exciting. Can't wait to ride this, probably next year.

[prozach626]

Look how short a launched coaster like Mr. Freeze is and how good of a ride it produces. This will be great.

 

Clearly these aren't the days of SF building Raging Bull sized coasters.

[Danrarbc]

If you want to whine about Maxx so damn much we'd KILL for that ride in STL.

[Canobie Coaster]

Would I like to see a great ride never end? Yes. Who wouldn't?

 

But I just care that the ride is great. I've been on short rides that are awesome and long rides that are duds.

[prozach626]

If you want to whine about Maxx so damn much we'd KILL for that ride in STL.

 

Yep. We're starving right there with Worlds of Fun. Send it to us.

[DoinItForTheFame]

5 inversions?? Really?

 

Ummm... it clearly inverts 5 times.... Where’s the confusion?

[tanthonyam]

i only see 3

[JG-77]

The two giant inversions are both double inversions, where the train inverts, then rolls back right-side-up, before going back upsidedown and completing the element.

[DoinItForTheFame]

i only see 3

 

Watch the official YouTube video. There’s 5 inversions.

 

Inversions 1, and 2.

 

 

Inversion 3

 

 

Inversion 4

 

 

Inversion 5

 

[9Armgeddon4]

To be honest when Maxx Force was announced I didn’t noticed there were 5 inversions until I realized the 4th was right before the 5th.

[9Armgeddon4]

So the trains for Maxx Force have finally arrived this past week so hopefully testing can start soon. I also finally got to see the coaster in person over the weekend. Whizzer is open now as well.

[i305isdaddy]

Calling the first and last inversions "2 inversions" is a biiiiit of a stretch but hey, it's a 10 second ride let Six Flags have their marketing I guess. We call all the weird inversions and inverted turns that RMC creates single elements.

[RollerManic]

^RCDB lists cobra rolls and interlocking corkscrews as one element but counts two inversions for each. I think the logic is fair.

[FutureMan2]

^RCDB lists cobra rolls and interlocking corkscrews as one element but counts two inversions for each. I think the logic is fair.

 

Yeah... a cobra roll wouldn’t be a fair comparison here.

 

I think the issue might be with the angle of the picture itself. It doesn’t look like it “completes” the first inversion for it to be considered two inversions.

[Lotologist492]

With SFoG being our home park, we have decided to skip our annual trip to the two Texas SF parks and instead are traveling to this one and SFStl. This will be my first visit to SFGAm since 2001 and my friends have never been. While my memories of Raging Bull are great, I know a lot has changed and been added since then. (We are REALLY hoping Maxx will be operational by June 8th.)

 

We generally do not buy Flash passes but we do have our Diamond Elite two skip-the-line passes. We are also interested in checking out the Hurricane harbor area as well. We will have TWO days - Saturday and Sunday June 8-9.

 

Any pro-tips for the major rides?

 

After our two days here we will be off to SFStl (my first visit to that park since 2005).

[RollerManic]

^RCDB lists cobra rolls and interlocking corkscrews as one element but counts two inversions for each. I think the logic is fair.

 

Yeah... a cobra roll wouldn’t be a fair comparison here.

 

I think the issue might be with the angle of the picture itself. It doesn’t look like it “completes” the first inversion for it to be considered two inversions.

Take a look again at a construction picture. You can clearly see that the ride is banked >90* in the middle of the first element. I think a cobra roll is a more than fair comparison here because the same thing happens: Invert -> <90* -> Invert.

 

Also taking another look at RCDB’s element database, I see that each element considered more than one inversion has the number of inversions listed on it’s database page. Case in point, a lot of the funky, grey-area RMC elements that I don’t care to remember are listed as two inversions, and only extra particularly-questionable examples (like banana rolls) are listed as one. Matter of fact, the last element (inversions four and five) is kind of similar to the unique stall on Untamed that is listed as two inversions on RCDB.

 

Nonetheless, RCDB lists Maxx Force as having five inversions, and while you may not agree now, I think once you ride it the inversions will actually feel pretty well defined. IMO it’s hard to miss being upside-down, continuing to rotate 90* upwards, and then quickly changing direction of rotation and finding yourself upside-down again.

[RaceBoarder]

With SFoG being our home park, we have decided to skip our annual trip to the two Texas SF parks and instead are traveling to this one and SFStl. This will be my first visit to SFGAm since 2001 and my friends have never been. While my memories of Raging Bull are great, I know a lot has changed and been added since then. (We are REALLY hoping Maxx will be operational by June 8th.)

 

We generally do not buy Flash passes but we do have our Diamond Elite two skip-the-line passes. We are also interested in checking out the Hurricane harbor area as well. We will have TWO days - Saturday and Sunday June 8-9.

 

Any pro-tips for the major rides?

 

After our two days here we will be off to SFStl (my first visit to that park since 2005).

Being a weekend, you might want to consider getting a Flash Pass. Since you're Diamond, use the free FP upgrade. Most rides will be 10-20 minutes after the FP merge point, so a good chunk, if not all, of your "wait" will be done while riding. As always, weather is a variable. Make the call at the park.

 

Food at this park is horrible. Plan on eating outside the park. It's obviously cheaper, and in many cases, actually quicker. There are your common chains within a mile or so on Grand Ave. Tim O'Toole's pub is a local place just west of the park that I'd recommend if you don't want chain fare.

 

American Eagle has no FP line, so plan on doing that somewhat early. If you head back to that neck of the woods to start the day, you stand a decent chance of being able to marathon that and X-Flight. Goliath and Raging Bull are the two main destinations for the rope drop crowd.

[SFStl Fan]

With SFoG being our home park, we have decided to skip our annual trip to the two Texas SF parks and instead are traveling to this one and SFStl. This will be my first visit to SFGAm since 2001 and my friends have never been. While my memories of Raging Bull are great, I know a lot has changed and been added since then. (We are REALLY hoping Maxx will be operational by June 8th.)

 

We generally do not buy Flash passes but we do have our Diamond Elite two skip-the-line passes. We are also interested in checking out the Hurricane harbor area as well. We will have TWO days - Saturday and Sunday June 8-9.

 

Any pro-tips for the major rides?

 

After our two days here we will be off to SFStl (my first visit to that park since 2005).

 

I'm going to agree with the above post - Raging Bull and Goliath should be your go to's at rope drop. I haven't tried this yet, but I believe their water park has a special Entrance for Diamond Elite. If you can get into the water park before opening you can bypass most the other crowd as hurricane harbor's entrance inside the park is right by Bull. So a quick jaunt from the DE entrance through the water park, to the dry side...right to the glorious queue for the Bull.

[jlp94]

^ Goliath sure, but Raging Bull is not a coaster you ropedrop. Its capacity and throughput is amazing and generally won't get a longer line than 45 minutes.

 

Rope drop Superman, it's guaranteed to break down at least a couple times that day and the line doesn't have very much shade and will be long. It's a GP magnet.

[SFStl Fan]

^ Goliath sure, but Raging Bull is not a coaster you ropedrop. Its capacity and throughput is amazing and generally won't get a longer line than 45 minutes.

 

Rope drop Superman, it's guaranteed to break down at least a couple times that day and the line doesn't have very much shade and will be long. It's a GP magnet.

 

He says his home park is SFOG. They have a Superman Ultimate Flight there and in my opinion, it is better than the one at Great America. It plays with the terrain better, has a tunnel, just more enjoyable to me anyway. Bull does do a pretty good job of running people through and speaking of running, SUF is typically a coaster people do run for and is toward the front of the park. That's why I would recommend Bull and Goliath since they're towards the back.

[jlp94]

^ I didn't see the part about SFOG, but even if he's still trying to get credits that'd be a good place to start to avoid all the lines it'll get later.

[i305isdaddy]

SFOG's Superman also has an extra car iirc.... the back row is even *more* intense than the other clones.

[thrillseeker4552]

SFOG's Superman also has an extra car iirc.... the back row is even *more* intense than the other clones.

 

Actually, it is the exact opposite! The one at SFOG has 7 cars per train whereas the ones at SFGAm and SFGAdv have 8.

[Lotologist492]

^ Goliath sure, but Raging Bull is not a coaster you ropedrop. Its capacity and throughput is amazing and generally won't get a longer line than 45 minutes.

 

Rope drop Superman, it's guaranteed to break down at least a couple times that day and the line doesn't have very much shade and will be long. It's a GP magnet.

 

He says his home park is SFOG. They have a Superman Ultimate Flight there and in my opinion, it is better than the one at Great America. It plays with the terrain better, has a tunnel, just more enjoyable to me anyway. Bull does do a pretty good job of running people through and speaking of running, SUF is typically a coaster people do run for and is toward the front of the park. That's why I would recommend Bull and Goliath since they're towards the back.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I failed to mention in my prior post that we have the dining passes so we will be eating inside the park. Any food and beverage location recommendations? I did see there is a Strutters chicken wing location - SFoG added one this year and it is really good actually. We are also hoping we can get a decent salad somewhere.

 

We will have two full days inside the park so we do not plan on purchasing flash passes. We will also strategically use our Diamond Elite S-T-L passes - two per day - for some of our coaster credits.

 

In related news, I have learned there is a major event occurring nearby: Nickelodeon Slime Fest. With thousands of families and children expected to attend that event over the June 8-9 weekend, perhaps that might reduce the SFGam crowd a bit - we will see.