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Six Flags Great America (SFGAm) Discussion Thread


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I went on 6/3/2010. There were about 4 or 5 schools there and at times it could get crowded. Luckily, when we had gotten there a the schools were heading to PG for lunch so the crowds died down for a little bit. Today was my last day of school, which only lasted two hours so when I got home my mom brought me to six flags. Since it was her birthday we had to do what she wanted, and be very nice because she doesn't really enjoy being there. We rode all of the 48'' rides that my brother hadn't been on which included Viper and RC.

 

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First up was dipper, which only had a 25 minute wait.

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In the station

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for you brake enthusiasts

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Brake run

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Noted!!

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Why is the back car closed?

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Random footer next to Dipper's queue

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Rules and Requirements

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Ropes course is almost done

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Rules and Requirements

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They had workers up on the coarse tweaking things

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Meeting!

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Clown car time!

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Through the loop!

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Ewwww...

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The demon is slowly taking back its car

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little by little

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Next was Buccaneer Battle which was empty all day

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When we were hanging around BB and Demon for about 45 minutes (we were waiting for another group to meet up w/ us) they would have very frequent announcements like "Tired of waiting in line? Then head over to Buccaneer Battle because there is no line!"

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Om NOM NOM!! this harness sure is yummy!

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"Hey boss! We have some extra blue paint, what should we do with it?" "Hell, just paint some of it on Iron Wolf. That'll make them think."

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Hehe... Erect

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Time for some Raging Bull!

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Mmmmm... Twisty

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From this angle it looks like the camera is mounted on the support

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I'm ready for a Ragin' Cagun good time!

 

Total ride count for the day:

Little Dipper- 1

Viper- 2

Orbit- 1

Demon- 1

Raging Bull- 1

Iron Wolf- 1

Ragin Cagun- 1

 

Hope you enjoyed my TR!!

 

--Aeater333

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I don't know what's wrong with MOA's ropes course. It fits the theme of its area perfect. I sits on top of GhostBlasters, and right next to a SpongeBob Roller Coaster, so I think the spooky SB theming fits perfectly. Plus it's actually painted, instead of just being a massive Grey structure out in the open. Granted it may not be Adventure Mountain, but I still think it looks great.

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^Oh I don't think there is anything wrong with the themeing of the rope course. It's just the same layout as the one being installed at SFGam. I didn't even know we were getting one this year! I'm assuming it's an upcharge attraction, but does anyone know what the price will be, or if it may be free to season pass holders?

 

However, since I live in Memphis, I was curious what my chances are of getting a job. If my chances are decent, when would I need to apply? I will be at the park for a few days next month-is there anyone at the park that I should talk face-to-face with? Is it common for out of town college students to work at the park?

 

When I worked there many moons ago, there were a lot of out of town college kids working. The park sets up residency at two local colleges: Carthage and Parkside both are in WI (about a 30-40 min drive away). If you stayed there, they had busses to shuttle you back and forth, or you could just get a ride with someone who had their car.

 

If you have any questions regarding the hiring process and what to do, I would just call HR. I'm sure they'll be happy to help you. If you want to know about all the fun and crazy stuff that went on behind the scenes, feel free to send me a PM.

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A large standing roller coaster could be relocated to Great America from another Six Flags theme park. Details are few as park officials maintain "nothing is for sure," but the wheels appear to be turning.

 

On May 26, Great America received a unanimous favorable recommendation from the Gurnee Zoning Board of Appeals to exceed the 125-foot height restriction for the construction of a new 150-foot coaster. The ride is proposed for the park's Space Port area near the main entrance. The site was formerly home to Space Shuttle America, which closed after the 2007 season.

 

"This is our first major thrill ride proposed since Superman in 2003," said Hank Salemi, park president.

 

It's also the first time Great America has asked for a height variance since adding the 205-foot tall Raging Bull in 1999.

 

Park officials said they are in the very early stages of planning and there is no construction timeline. All that is known is the coaster is expected to come from another Six Flags park. The coaster's name is not known, but it was manufactured by the Swiss company B&M, creators of Batman, Superman and Raging Bull.

 

Great America is a huge revenue source for the Village of Gurnee. Keeping it that way benefits the community and the park, said Salemi.

 

"It's important we continue to freshen our product and expand and increase revenue."

 

"If you're not growing, you're dying," said zoning board member John Spadaro.

 

Zoning board president Tom Hood agreed, stating, "Bigger, better, faster is what makes or breaks Great America."

 

NOISE ISSUE

Not everyone was excited to hear about plans for another big coaster, though. About 20 residents who live around the park attended the public hearing to learn more.

 

Several homeowners spoke of how noisy the park is, especially when they're trying to sleep at night. Other concerns included excess garbage and park goers using their neighborhood as a parking lot and cutting through their yards to access the park.

 

"It's not so much an issue of height as location," said resident Dan Fearn, who lives on Bough Court. "It's pretty close to our property."

 

Salemi said the park is landlocked and the Space Port area is the only site large enough to accommodate a large coaster. The coaster will encroach on some parking spaces near the main entrance. About 90 spaces will be lost, but Salemi said additional spaces will be added elsewhere to keep the total at a more-than-sufficient 8,500 spaces.

 

Zoning board members said while they appreciated the public comment, the hearing was about the height variance, not noise or other nuisance issues residents had with Great America. Hood suggested the residents appeal to the village board for such issues.

 

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/gurnee/news/2327076,gurnee-coaster-060310-s1.article

 

This actually isn't Chang, It's Riddlers Revenge. Magic Mountain is taking it out for the new 500 foot Intamin inverted floorless stand up. My amazing source told me, but I can't tell you who it is.

 

Seriously though while I'm happy were getting it I really don't want it to bring an end to IW. Also I hope it keeps its color scheme as it looks pretty darn sexy. It's Medusa pain job was just god awful.

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Wow. I wasn't expecting this. This sure is interesting to hear. I'm not going to go into any speculations right now. I'll just wait to see what happens.

 

But I do have one question. Riddler's Revenge and Chang are over 150 feet. Why is Six Flags asking for a permit to build a "150 foot coaster" then? I'm assuming they are not counting the footers, but rcdb.com has a height of over 150 for both.

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Went to the park yesterday and it was surprisingly empty. The longest wait was for Loggers Run which was only about 20 minutes. Also the RB crew was awesome! Just get in, pull down the restraint, check restraints and dispatch. Even with all three trains there was no stacking and no waiting in the station. The RC crew on the other hand just sucked. Horribly.

It did rain on and off for most of the afternoon but that made for an insane ride on Viper which is really redeeming it's self for its crappy performance last season. Most of the coasters closed for a while after the rain with most reopening with the exception of Demon. The only thing I saw closed all day was all of BBNP (not LD) which I assume was just for maintenance since Porkys Buzzy Bees had part of the "honey comb" removed. Over all it was a great day and it was great to be with Jo and Jeremie again.

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2385718,CST-NWS-coaster13.article

 

A 150-foot-high roller coaster could be relocated to Great America from another Six Flags theme park, officials say.

 

Officials say "nothing is for sure," but the company has won approval from the Gurnee Zoning Board of Appeals to exceed the 125-foot height restriction for a new 150-foot coaster.

 

The ride is proposed for the park's Space Port area near the main entrance. The site was once home to Space Shuttle America, which closed after the 2007 season.

 

"This is our first major thrill ride proposed since Superman in 2003," said Hank Salemi, park president.

 

Park officials said they are in the very early stages of planning and there is no construction timeline. However, the coaster is expected to come from another Six Flags park and was manufactured by the Swiss company B&M, creators of Batman, Superman and Raging Bull.

 

"It's important we continue to freshen our product and expand and increase revenue," said Salemi.

 

Zoning board president Tom Hood agreed, stating, "Bigger, better, faster is what makes or breaks Great America."

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^I know a lot of people would LOVE to convert Chang to a floorless and give it a whole new theme, but those are really only dreams simply because there is no real evidence to back that up. The coaster will (hopefully) bring in the crowds that Six Flags wants. Why fix something or change something when there's nothing wrong with it? Plus it was already said in that zoning meeting that a relocated standup coaster by B&M was coming. Any chances of Chang becoming a floorless are very slim at this point. Oh, in a news video posted a while ago, there was a brief glimpse of a Chang train backstage so Great America does have them. From what i've heard, Chang is one of the smoothest standup coasters out there. Hopefully it will be better than Iron Wolf

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^^Don't standup trains have a higher heartline? I know that in Newton2 the heartline of a floorless is 1.3 and standup is 1.6...whatever those numbers mean.

 

There's been a lot of debate about whether or not it would be safe/possible/worth it in the past. I think a lot of people elaborated on this topic mainly because it was speculated to go to SFGAm, and that would leave the park with two stand-ups.

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^I personally never bought the idea that it would be unsafe. Riders already ride outside the heartline on every coaster that is hertlined since you don't sit in the center of each car. And I'm honestly not even sure that all coasters that are 'heartlined' are actually designed around the actual heartline height of the average rider. More extreme turns may be, but from my viewpoint it seems like most lead-ins on these coasters aren't actually enough to truly make the train rotate about the heartline. Coasters are capable of being smooth without any heartlining whatsoever and I feel like a lot of these lead-ins/outs are designed to make the train rotate around a generally smooth line rather than the very specific heartline of the riders as that is not always necessary except on certain obvious elements, such as zero-g rolls and the like.

 

Even so, I really doubt they are going to be converting Chang to a floorless coaster anytime soon.

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A new roller coaster might be in the works for Six Flags Great America.

 

Officials are expected to appear before the Gurnee village board Monday night to get the necessary approval to erect a roller coaster that features two hills topping a village-imposed 125-foot height restriction.

 

The coaster, which documents show is a stand-up coaster that was at one time operating at another Six Flags theme park, would reach a height of about 150 feet in the initial hill, then climb 137 feet in a second hill. Under village law, anytime Great America wants to build a ride over 125 feet, officials must obtain a special permit to operate the ride.

 

Jennifer Duggan-Savage, director of communications for Six Flags Great America, said acquiring the permits needed for the ride is only the first step of potentially bringing a new attraction to the theme park, and stressed that a new ride is far from a done deal.

 

"Going to the zoning board for approval is the very first step in considering expansion for our park," she said. "At this time, we do not have any further information. We are always looking to expand and looking for different avenues to do that."

 

Six Flags officials wouldn't way where the new coaster would come from. Gurnee Assistant Village Administrator Patrick Muetz said it would be shipped from a now-closed park Six Flags park in Kentucky.

 

Theme park General Manager Hank Salemi said during his appearance before the Gurnee zoning board on May 26 the coaster is a new generation, stand-up roller coaster that was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard of Switzerland. It would be the fifth B&M coaster at the park, along with Superman: Ultimate Flight and Raging Bull, according to minutes of the meeting.

 

If approved and installed, the addition would be the first major thrill ride added to the park since 2003, when officials unveiled Superman: Ultimate Flight. It's also the first time the park has requested a height variance for a roller coaster since 1999, when it unveiled Raging Bull.

 

The most recent roller coaster built at the park is the Little Dipper, a small coaster purchased during an auction of Kiddieland Amusement Park in Melrose Park.

 

Link

 

Found this in the comments section.

 

Six Flags does not need a new coaster to attract people and make a profit. It needs to shut down for a year, and revitize the entire park. It looks worn-down. While they are at that they need to make each area of the park more unique like it was when it first opened. Each area had its own food, entertainment, gift shops that fit into the theme of the section. (Now the foods all alike, the stores all alike, and not enough varity in the rides). As for the shows, they have to have better acts, and live concerts from known musicians as well as new-comers. Until that is all done, I am not going back, its just not enjoyable. By the way, get rid of the prayer area for the muslims and bring back the dolphins.

 

Someone please direct me to the muslim prayer area the next were at the park.

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