Six Flags Great America - 8/1/04

Just a quick trip report from Great America for those interested;

First off, this is the first time in YEARS I have gotten to the park before the 10AM opening time. I've read here and there about the "running of the bulls" that happens when they drop the rope by the bridge over by the Pictorium - but holy crap, I didn't realize it was that nuts. Personally, it seems a bit silly to do a full out sprint to get to a coaster "first", but to each his own. Bottom line here is that if you do not want to run and/or get run over by those whom do, don't push your way to the front of the waiting masses.

On to the day - after watching the runners take off from the rope, we walked back to Raging Bull. Funny part of the whole scenario is that for how PACKED it was in that waiting area by the rope, the crowds really do disperse quickly. We casually walked right on to the second row of the ride when we got there. I simply cannot wipe the smile off my face before/after riding this ride. Just awesome.

Up next was Viper - had to wait just a few trains to get on. This is another one of those "can't wipe the smile off my face" rides. Good times.

We headed back to Giant Drop, where we only had a one-cycle wait to get on. What a neat rush that ride still is.

We then hit Revolution - this ride had 4 people waiting for it when we walked up. That second half of the ride where it reverses and REALLY speeds up is great.

Making our way back towards the front, we hopped in line for Rajin' Cajun - wow, that line does NOT move quickly at all. Being that we were only "stopping" at the park before heading up to Wisconsin for the day, we HAD to get out of that line before we got too far in. Looks like a great ride, but I'll have to experience it another day.

We did wait for Big Easy Balloons..........ANY mention of this ride even remotely replacing Sky Whirl is CRAZY. Nice ride, but not even comparable to what Sky Whirl was. Not to live in the past, but what a great ride that was....what an AWESOME way to cool down for 15 minutes. GOOD TIMES.

We then headed back "around the horn" to get a season pass processed for one in our group - only to find out the "normal" processing center was not open. Back to Guest Relations we went - they first told us that we'd have to wait till 2PM to get it done at the Processing Center - but after telling them we were out of there for the day, the said "no problem...we can do it here." Very cool.

We were in and out of there in just under two hours - hit a few rides, won a basketball, and were on our way.

Few notes on the day...Deja Vu seemed to be running off and on...saw it go a few times, but not consistently...or so it seemed. King Chaos was not running at all in the AM - though that fountain looked really nice in front of it.

I was there today as well! Next time (when you have more time) you should run/walk to Deja Vu if you see it testing in the morning (which it was today) Got two front row rides in 40 minutes.

It actually ran consistently. When I left the park at 3pm - it was still running!

Glad you had a good time!

Cool, glad to hear it was running well.....I actually haven't ridden my "home version" of Deja Vu in a couple of years - I did the Magic Mountain version this past April (walked on) and confirmed that the ride is just not for me. Can't quite pinpoint why I don't like the ride, but it's trying to battle Iron Wolf as my least favorite ride at the park (and in California it's battling Flashback as the worst at THAT park).

I guess you really have to "watch" Deja Vu for a good 10 minutes to see whether or not it is having issues - those dispatch times are pretty slow so I guess it's easy to confuse a unload/load cycle as actual down time if you're not really paying attention.

I almost always start my day with the running of the bulls at the rope drop and as i get older its that much harder to keep up with the kids. I think it would be much safer to have the whole park open at 930am so people could walk to the ride of there choice and wait there like they do for Superman or have employee's walk the guests to SW Terr.

I did the "running of the bulls" with Carl but could not keep up I had to meet him at DejaVu. and watching DejaVu from other areas of the park it does seem to look like it's not running but i suppose that is because we just keep expecting it to break down. BTW today the Giant Drop got stuck about midway up at about 12:20pm

Matt