I visited Six Flags Great America a few (okay, five) times last week while I was in the area. It was my first time to my unofficial “home park” this season. After working in the area last summer and visiting the park regularly, I was looking forward to seeing what had changed during the off season.
With the excitement over Goliath still present from its June debut last year, I knew this season would be rather quiet in regard to capital investments.
Indeed, this year the park is celebrating “40 Seasons of Thrills.” The park opened as Marriott’s Great America on May 29, 1976. Note: it’s a 40-season celebration, not 40 years. I know, confusing.
One of the first changes you’ll notice when entering the park is the return of Hometown Square to its former glory (or close to it). The giant swaths of concrete used for the former igNite Grand Finale nighttime spectacular have been toned down with flowers, trees and other greenery.
And the Gazebo is back!
The most notable addition to the park’s attraction lineup is Hometown Park, a new children’s area that features three returning rides: Tots Livery Surrey Carriages, Red Baron Airplanes and Lady Bugs.
The park’s original “Great America” logo has been reappearing occasionally for the past few years. But it’s front-and-center this year.
There’s nothing particularly amazing or groundbreaking about the area. But I think the park deserves praise for taking the time and effort to restore these three rides from the early days. They just as easily could have purchased some cheap lookalikes from Zamperla or another flat-ride manufacturer.
The Lady Bugs ride reminded me of something you would see in Rollercoaster Tycoon, which is just fine by me.
I think it’s more fun to say “Tots Livery Surrey Carriages” than it is to actually ride. And I’m probably too tall to ride anyway.
Out of the three rides, my favorite would have to be the Red Baron Airplanes. As a kid, nothing topped these types of flying rides.
The park is offering double rides on the following attractions through August 23, 2015:
- American Eagle
- Columbia Carousel
- Buccaneer Battle
- Kidzopolis rides
- Hometown Park rides
- Camp Cartoon rides (excluding Spacely’s Sprocket Rockets)
In addition to these, “epic attractions weekly spotlights” will see a different ride featured each week with guests riding back-to-back during the last hour of the night. The schedule for those rides are below:
- Week of June 15 – The Dark Knight
- Week of June 22 – Goliath
- Week of June 29 – X-Flight
- Week of July 6 – Raging Bull
- Week of July 13 – Superman: Ultimate Flight
- Week of July 20 – American Eagle
- Week of July 27 – Whizzer
- Week of August 3 – Demon
- Week of August 10 – Roaring Rapids
- Week of August 17 – Giant Drop
Of course, be prepared for slightly longer waits on these rides (especially the ones that have a lower capacity to begin with).
Remember: 40 seasons, not 40 years. That’s next year.
The former Ragin’ Cajun spot is still dormant, but the former station facade has been transformed into a giant advertisement for Fright Fest, which begins on September 26, 2015. The extravagant set even plays Fright Fest music, which confused my senses every time I walked by.
Goliath is running even better in its second season. I’ll have a “one year later” review later this month.
I benefited from the off-and-on rain throughout the week. Never in my countless visits to the park last year was Goliath a “walk on,” unless I was one of the first in line.
I don’t think it’s possible to ride Goliath too many times. It’s pure roller-coaster bliss from beginning to end. The park is very fortunate to have it.
American Eagle was offering daily double rides (blue side only).
However, I found that the line for the red side was typically so short that you could ride twice in less time than it took to wait for the blue side. But of course you would have to exit the train and walk through the queue again.
I really wish the park would do something with this section of the Great America Raceway that circles around the base of Dare Devil Dive. It makes me sad every time I pass it heading for American Eagle.
Condor (as of Wednesday, June 10, 2015) was down for the entire duration of my trip.
Batman is sporting a spiffy new paint job. Part of me still wishes the would repaint the coaster all black as it originally debuted in 1992.
But nevertheless, the yellow certainly stands out more.
You can ride Buccaneer Battle twice (I’m guessing in an attempt to increase ridership). It did get rather warm during my visit, so that might not have been a bad deal.
The Sky Trail ropes/obstacle course that opened in 2010 is no more and is (hopefully) temporarily being used as a smoking area. Demon’s lift hill is now more prominent.
With the igNite stage gone, the Great American Railway station is also much more prominent (and easier to access).
X-Flight is holding its own very well. I still prefer it over Wild Eagle.
Batman’s new paint job looks really great. And Goliath’s superstructure is as menacing as ever.
Fun fact: at 100 feet, the Columbia Carousel is the tallest carousel in the world.
I had many great rides on Raging Bull, which was intermittently operating with three trains. Even with only two trains, I never waited more than 30 minutes. Having a grouper employee assigning seats definitely helps keep the line moving, so kudos to the park for having them.
Overall, I had a very enjoyable time at the park. If the “new coaster every other year” pattern continues as it has since 2012, we may see another coaster open in 2016. But I wouldn’t be surprised if instead the park receives a flat or dark ride instead. Regardless, it should be interesting to see where it goes.
See more photos from our trip to Six Flags Great America on our Facebook page.
Have you visited Six Flags Great America in 2015 yet? Share your thoughts about the season in the comments section below.
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