Six Flags Great America Rocks the Block

Six Flags Great America celebrated Memorial Day Weekend with “Rock the Block,” a block-party-like event with live music, funnel-cake eating contests, a new nighttime parade and a fireworks display.

The new biomatric fingerprint-scanning process seems to be slowing entry to the park, but that will likely fade as everyone becomes accustomed to the new system.

The entrance to Hometown Fun Machine provides a beautiful shot of Whizzer, which is largely shielded by a canopy of trees.

Raging Bull is still only running two trains while the third (blue) train is receiving some TLC. It should be returned to service sometime next month.

Hurricane Harbor opened this weekend. But as temperatures hovered in the upper 60s for most of Saturday, the crowds seemed to stay away. New this year is an additional $5 charge to enter the waterpark, but season passholders get in for free. Tickets can be purchased in Southwest Territory across from the Hurricane Harbor entrance.

Giant Drop was dropping all of its cars, which really helps move more guests through the line.

It’s always fun to watch the V2 tower sway a bit (and overhear people talking about the sway).

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Six Flags Great America without a look at Goliath.

Crews were busy installing what looked to be the final piece of track.

However, I was surprised to see a crane with workers concentrated at the overbanked turn. I thought this part of the ride was complete. (and Geico?)

So close.

Here’s a shot of Goliath as seen from Sky Trek Tower.

All of the coasters had a line. Luckily Demon’s wasn’t too long.

Batman’s queue provides some great shots of the coaster, most of which is now hidden by the surrounding trees.

X-Flight seemed to suffer from slow dispatches, especially later in the day.

I can’t wait to be passing under this sign to ride!

Look what this panoramic shot did to the go karts.

The beautiful sunset made for some great shots of Batman.

I can’t wait to see trains heading up the lift hill and through the zero-g stall.

In other news, the Thrill Seekers (Goliath) gift shop opened for business. It is stocked nearly exclusively full of Goliath merchandise. On-ride photos will also be viewed and purchased inside.

Unfortunately, several of the coasters (American Eagle, Viper and Raging Bull) closed early in advance of the fireworks. I guess roller coasters and fireworks don’t mix after all.

“I Can’t Keep Calm, I’m Riding Goliath.”

Six Flags Great America’s Batman: The Ride is by far the most picturesque out of all the B:TR clones, I think.

The new Six Flags Grand Finale nighttime parade premiered Saturday night while we were at the park. The crowd seemed to really enjoy the spectacle.

And there was a lot of interaction between the parade performers and spectators, which was nice.

I was very impressed with the fireworks display. It was a solid 15 minutes of steady fireworks leading up to a spectacular finale. I was not expecting it to be of that caliber. I’ll be sure to return for the Fourth of July Fest (4th Fest) which will see another round of fireworks.

Overall, it was a great day at the park. The crowds were heavy but not unmanageable. I don’t believe any line exceeded an hour in length. Operations for the most part were efficient. Hopefully by this time next week, we’ll all be riding Goliath. Stay tuned!

Tags: constructioncrowdsgoliathgreat americahurricane harbormemorial daysfgamsix flagsweekend