Six Flags Great America - 6/11/05

The Speedway gas station in Wabash, IN had coupons for buy one get one for Great America with an 8 gallon fill up. I thought I'd take advantage of the deal and head north west to Six Flags Great America.

I got my nephew Arian, my wife and her kid Chandler all together and headed out at 7am on Saturday. The drive was not too bad. We got to the park by 11am.

There was some congestion just inside the gate. Alot of people were just standing around apparently trying to figure out which way the rides were. I found myself wishing they would move further into the park and spread out a little.

Wow, it was a muggy day. I was pretty much leading this tour so I headed directly for Raging Bull but decided to go ahead and hit Whizzer on the way since the line was so short. The wait was maybe 10 minutes. Whizzer is a fun coaster. I enjoy Schwartzkopf rides and this one is a classic. It has the least steepest first drop I've ever seen, but the ride is non-stop action. 7/10

Now we headed back out towards Raging Bull. Of course Viper is on the way so I figured we might as well ride it also. We got in line and after about 5 minutes my wife Beth was wanting to get back out of line to hit Raging Bull. I get irritated when people don't have the patience to wait in line. I said to her "if we leave now we'll just have to come back later and the line will most likely be longer then, plus we'd of wasted the 5 minutes that we've already spent in line". So we stayed in line. A couple came up behind us looked at the line, then turned around and left the line again.

Here's what I think about that. People in Russia have to wait in line for 4 days just to get a roll of toilet paper or a loaf of bread. Why don't some people have the patience to wait for more than 15 minutes to ride a wonderful roller coaster? I don't get it.

15 minutes later we were in the front seat of Viper. Those people who left the line were probably still wasting their day walking around looking for a short line.

I'd only been on Viper once 2 years ago. I didn't have that great of a ride then. This time it was way different for Beth and me. The Viper is great. We rode in the front seat and experienced outstanding floating air over a couple of the hills. I love this roller coaster. I'll have to give this a big 8 out of 10. Sadly, Chandler had a headache so as I watched him he held his head as he and Arian rode immediatly after us.

Now it was time for my favorite ride in the park, Raging Bull. The line began in the station so the wait was very short. Yes, some people actually used a fast pass. By the time the attendant punched everyone's card about 2 dozen people got in line in front of the fast passers. I didn't understand the reasoning there. I'm guessing everyone was at the water park and that was why the lines were so short this day. I was greatful. I'd only been to the park on Saturdays and this was the slowest I'd seen it.

We waited for the front seat. I think it is the best seat on the ride and the line goes quick since it seats 4 people. The crew was working great. They were turning out trains quickly and looking like they were having a good time doing it. The ride was great. I love the freedom and comfort on this style of seat. I can't wait to ride Apollo's Chariot or Nitro someday since they have the same type of train and are normally ranked even higher than Raging Bull. Everyone in the group loved this ride. It is now Chandler's favorite coaster. He ranks it above Millenium Force. I'm not sure if I do or not, but I do rank Superman: Ride of Steel at Darien Lake higher than both of them. I'll give Raging Bull a 9/10. It is certainly a fantastic coaster I wish every Six Flags would build one like this or an Intamin hyper.

Everyone was hot and wanting to go to the water park but I relentlessly pushed on. We walked towards American Eagle. I love the entrance on this ride. I love the little plaza inside. I did wonder if they added the tent over it later to provide shade and how often the queue gets full. This is a long walk back to the station. I love the style of the station. It even has all the fancy wood under the back part of the station. It reminds me of the 4th of July or something.

We decided to ride it forward and we had a great ride. The brakes are a bit disapointing and the train does a great deal of shimmying around at the helix turn-around. This has got to be one of the most gigantic turn arounds on a wooden coaster there is anywhere in the work; it's huge. 7/10

We went ahead and rode Revolution since it looked like a small Delerium or similar to a Fireball like the one at Celebration City. Well, I loved both of those rides. I rode Fireball a dozen times, but I don't like Revolution at all. I'll probably never ride it again. It dosn't swing very high and it spins way to fast for my taste. 3/10

We walked on. I looked back and Chandler looked like he was going to pass out. I am sure he was just faking. We walked past the spinning wild mouse. I like these rides, but the lines move dreadfully slow on them and this line was fairly long. I thought I might hit it later, but I never did. We went to Superman which had an even longer line. Fortatly it moves much quicker. I think some people are not aware that they are waiting for the front seat on this ride when the line splits off. I saw a few people that looked rather discusted that the other line was moving rapidly as they were practically standing still. You really should pay attention to that sign before you wait in that very long line for the front seat.

I'd love to ride this in the front seat someday since it is a fun ride. This is one of the few multi-loopting coaster that I like. Superman: 7/10

It was 2 o'clock, we had ridden several coaster so I figured we could head toward the water park. We went to the car to get a snack and Arian began to vomit. We lost our appetites after a large amount of puking by Arian so we grabbed our swim gear and headed towards the water park.

This is a nice water park. I was rea.ly suprised. They was live music, palm trees that are almost dead, and sandy beaches all over the place. Skull Island is very cool and fun looking. They have alot to do.

Unfortunatly, they were only running 3 lanes of their 6 lane racer. I waited in line for it for about a half hour. The line for the bowl was around 50 minutes. They were not running 2 of the slides on that complex. Then down at the far end there are 4 more tube slides and none of them were running. This made for long lines so in 3 and a half hours I only got to ride 2 slides.

I did however ride the lazy river and it is great. It has many water falls, water squirting from all over the place and it is very long and fun. The wave pool is weak. It dosn't ever go over your head in the deep end.

By 5:30 I was ready to go ride more coasters. We got up to go put on our dry clothes and we somehow managed to lose Arian. We walked all the way to the car to put our things away and couldn't find him. I said, "let's go ahead and ride Whizzer again then we'll look for him some more." So we rode Whizzer again then went back into the water park. We found hime sitting on the pavement next to the dressing rooms. Now it was time to do some more riding. We rode Viper again then Demon.

Demon is the only ride I remember from when I first came to Great America in abour '81. I like it mainly for nostalgia. I do miss the old tape they used to play with the Demon song. The lighted tunnel is still there though. I hit my ears a few times, but overall it was not to shabby. I'll give the Demon a 6/10.

Beth wanted to ride Batman so we rode it. Chandler said he blacked out for a moment during the first loop. I don't like this ride much. I actually prefer Deja Vu which was running for most of the day, but we chose not to ride that or V2 because of the slow lines. I also didn't care to ride Iron Wolf. But I do give Batman a 5/10.

It was 8 0'clock, we rode Amercan Eagle again, then took our last 2 rides on Raging Bull before they closed the place down.

We had fun. It seems as if the water park is relieving some of the lines from the park. The water park is nice, but still understaffed. At least I think that's why only half the slides were operating.

Oh ya, I did see seveal children doing the Mr. Six dance when the Six music played. I think the Six Flags marketing is working on the immpressionable youth.

Good to see you guys had a good time at SFGAm. It is surprising the lines were that short! Sounds good. I went last Thursday and the RB queue almost filled the first switchback house consistently throughout the day. If you get back, try RB in the last row, it makes for an unbelievable first drop (If you like airtime :)). Did you notice how far the Superman queue stretched? was it into the switchbacks in the building? Also, a 15 minute wait for front row on Viper is quite good!!

Well I'm headed to Great America tomorrow, I'll post a TR as well tomorrow night :)

I was also there last Thursday and have to agree that you were very fortunate to have such short lines. For some reason I just don't care for Raging Bull. It frustrates me to no end that seemingly EVERYBODY loves it and I have to ride it every time I go because that is everybody elses FAVORITE coaster in the park.

Raging Bull just doesn't have the out-of-control feeling I admire in my favorite coasters. I'm disappointed to hear so many bad reviews on the waterpark operation (I heard people bashing it all day Thursday).

All-in-all, other than the Batman and Raging Bull rating, I agree with your assessment. I think Batman is getting really rough with its old age. Batman isn't rough enough to bother me yet (still an Iron Wolf fan), but most of the time we have to limit our rides because the people I go with get severe headaches from it. I did notice on Thursday that the zero-g roll has gotten very jerky on its exit.

Glad you had a good time at the park!

I say, if they are getting headaches from Batman, it is due to the G-Forces on the ride.

Batman is far from rough. Yeah, it vibrates a little through the course but headbanging is very minimal if non-existent.

You take Raging Bull for what it is. I to enjoy the out of control feeling but RB provides a nice, fast paced, floating air experience. The first drop in the back row is still ejector action.

We rode RB 2 times right away. I must have forgot to mention the second ride. It was in the backseat. That first drop was great in the backseat.

Superman's line was about 3/4 of the way back to the building.

I simply don't like over the shoulder restraints. I dislike the standups I've been on and I don't care for inverted coasters much either. I find myself getting tense on them and tightening up my body, my neck in particular. In the photos I look like I am in pain instead of laughing care free with my hands in the air.

I don't mind some of the arrow loopers that have 3 or less loops. I loved Tennesse Tornado and don't mind the B&Ms like Wildfire at SDC.

Having been on RB and Nitro, I will say RB was a lot better in my opinion, Nitro didn't deliver as much airtime in the back row that RB did and I was really disappointed in Nitro, RB must have been kicking some arse when we went last year for CBCon because the airtime was sick (almost as good as Cylcops in the back seat).

Chitown, that is what I thought, but I went with two girls and they both complained that their ears hurt really bad because of their earrings hitting the restraints.

What were they wearing? Huge hoop earrings?

If you are short enough and riding a coaster with OTSR's, you run the chance of earrings digging into your ears just from the rapid movement of the train.

I still wouldn't classify it as headbanging.

I've come full circle on the Bull. The first two years of operation, I thought it was the greatest coaster on the planet. Then, I became disappointed with the lack of intensity after riding V2 and some other intense coasters. Plus, I didn't feel the air as much.

But now, after visiting a number of other parks, I'm beginning to appreciate the freedom and fun factor of Bull again. I holds up against Nitro, which is also a great ride, and I enjoy it a bit more than the Intamin Supermans I've ridden (though I have't been to SFNE).

With regard to the TR, I'm disappointed that you missed the two most thrilling rides in the park, DV and V2. No trip to SFGA is complete without these, IMHO.