Six Flags Great America - 6/28
This was only my second visit to a Six Flags park, and for once in my life I really didn't know what to expect on my visit. My only other SF park was SFoG, and I was actually surprisingly impressed with that park and their ride collection. I had heard some good things about Great America, so I was excited to try it out for myself.
We made the 2 hour trip from South Bend and got to Gurnee shortly after the park had opened for the day. It looked like it could be a fairly busy day, and since 2 of the people in the group (my wife included) didn't want to make it a long day, we decided to get a Flash Pass for the 4 of us. 71 dollars later and I had our ride "Tamagotchi" in my hand. I was VERY impressed with the Flash Pass system. It was simple to use, and not having to wait in line for the major attractions was a great perk. We purchased the Regular Flash Pass, but it seemed like for the first few hours they were not updating wait times as every major ride had a 10 minute wait, when it was clear many lines were longer than that. I would love to see Cedar Fair implement a Lo-Q system.
During our 7 hours in the park we were able to get on all the coasters, except for the kids coaster. The only flat I was able to ride was the carousel. I would have liked to try a few more (Ricochet, Revolution, Condor, etc...), but like I said, my time was limited in the park.
I found the atmosphere of the park to be decent. The layout was a bit frustrating as there was no real way to cut through the middle of the park. A walk from the Mardi Gras area to the Southwest Territory was quite the hike. Several areas of the park felt "crowded", and it seemed it would be easy to miss some attractions (it took us 15 minutes to find American Eagle's entrance). There were many characters (including Mr. Six) out and it was nice to see all the interactions with the guests. The whole "cleanest theme park in the world" thing was a bit overdone. It almost felt like that was all they were advertising the park as. Food prices were high, as to be expected, however I ended up shelling out the 10 bucks for an oversized piece of Papa Johns pizza and 6 pieces of cheese bread. Quality was good, prices were not.
As for the coasters, I am sad to say that not one in the park really impressed me. I can honestly say this is the only major park I have ever been to where this has been the case. It's sad that this was the case, because I hit my 100th nerd credit on the Demon. Wish it could have been on a better coaster (oh well). Below I will give brief reviews of each coaster:
American Eagle: This ride has so much potential. I really, really wanted to like it, but the jackhammering/vibration on both sides was almost unbearable. I've never felt something like that on a coaster. It was like the track was covered with highway rumble strips. The airtime was great, and the layout was a lot of fun, but it was so incredibly rough that I was unable to truly enjoy it. I wish this ride would get some TLC. Also, a shorter walk to the station would be nice as well...
Batman: I rode the B:TR at SFoG, and this was obviously the same. Good ride, very intense, too short.
Dark Knight: Wow. What a letdown. I had read bad reviews of this ride, but I tried to have a positive attitude. Not only was the theming lame, but the ride goes too quick to even see it. Not to mention that the ride itself is completely un-fun and even painful at a few spots.
Demon: Your run of the mill arrow looper. The rock formations and tunnels were nice, but I have no desire to ride this coaster again
Iron Wolf: One word: Ouch! I had decent hopes for this after somewhat enjoying Georgia Scorcher, but this was horrible. First I made the mistake of riding in the backseat, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not avoid serious headbanging on nearly every turn. Then, to make matters worse, my friend riding with me was hit in the face by a pine branch near the end of the coaster. His eye and cheek were red, and when we mentioned it to the ride supervisors who were on the platform, they apologized and said it was the wind and they could do nothing about it. They said that they have already trimmed several branches, and that is why the ride was up and down all day...
Ragin' Cajun: This was actually more fun than I expected. It spun a lot! Unfortunately the cars are quite uncomfortable, and I got slammed around quite a bit as well. However, all things considered it was a pretty fun coaster.
Raging Bull: My expectations were not high for this after reading reviews, and I'm glad. It was an ok ride, but there was nothing to it. After the first drop it's almost like a scenic trip around the Southwest Territory. I felt little to no forces through the entire ride. It's a shame too, because without some of the trims, I think it could be decent.
Superman: Like B:TR, I have been on this coaster at SFoG, and this was the same. Fun ride, but really a one-trick pony with the pretzel loop.
V2: Impulse Coaster... decent, no holding brake. Not much more to be said.
Viper: I wish I could have gotten more than one ride on this coaster, as we only rode in the back. I thought it was fun, but it seemed that the front of the train would provide more airtime. Ran very well, and I was surprised how smooth of ride it was.
Whizzer: A fun little coaster with the unique spiral lift, but not much more to it. Definitely a classic.
All in all, the park was ok, but it's not somewhere I would pay to go to again unless they had a major new attraction to lure me. I also can't imagine this park on a Saturday or major holiday. I imagine it is packed beyond belief. As a final semi-related note, on the way out of the park we stopped in Libertyville (just south of Gurnee) at a place called Sushi Thai. It was an excellent Sushi/Thai fusion restaurant that I highly recommend. Everything was delicious, and the prices were pretty decent too.
Josh M.
Magnum - 330 / Timbers - 46 / Maverick - 70 / Voyage - 5
http://www.coastercounter.com/StormFreak