Trip Report Six Flags Great America 7/16

I'll be visiting Six Flags Great America on 7/16. Of course I'll be spending some extra time on Goliath but are there any requests for pictures?

[Turbo]

Take ALL teh pictures! lol

I hope you have fun

Well, I would have had pictures but my iPhone met it's worst enemy today in line for the very first ride. Concrete. I am now a season pass holder so I'll be back real soon to take more pictures.

Since I had my brother who is not quite the enthusiast I am, we were not doing as much coaster hopping as I would have liked to but I still managed to get some good rides and most importantly, a run on Goliath. First we took the Whizzer for a ride as it was my first real coaster besides the dragon wagon and no matter how old I get I can never seem to leave without riding it at least once. Fun little coaster as usual. Not too bad of a wait.

Next we took on Viper just to compare it with my last rides. Last year was the first time I had rode since 2005 and last year it ran backwards both times I was there. I loved it backwards and wondered if a forwards ride could even come close to matching the intensity. I did think it was much better backwards but I still enojoyed it and even took another lap later in the night. Demon was next (ugh) I don't really hate the Demon but it's like most Arrow loopers, awkward transitions and not too thrilling. I was more than happy to ride it though since my brother wanted to.

X-Flight was the shortest line I had ever seen it and we figured Goliath's line was going to be long no matter what so why bother running over there? I have found that I like the right side better on this one for no other reason than the whip under the track as you go down the drop. I don't know why but X-Flight seemed to be running way faster this year than last. You actually feel a nice snap over the top of the immelmann loop and the helix going into the flat spin had nice positive g's. It FLEW through the flat spin which killed some of the hang time but it made for some awesome lateral g's. Hands down the best ride I have ever had on X-Flight.

Drum roll please.
Goliath is truly massive in person. You can see it from nearly every corner of the park from behind Vertical Velocity. It truly changes the skyline for the better. The structure is actually as bright as you see in pictures. The orange painted topper track lights up the wood structure and the steel lift hill supports actually reflect in the sun at some angles. They have integrated a boarding pass system with Goliath to prevent line jumping. I never realized that this was a big problem at Great America but apparently the management felt it was necessary to crack down on it with Goliath. (I believe Raging Bull is also using these now, we didn't get to ride that one today) The overflow queue looks like it is going to be there for awhile because Goliath's permanent queue is very small. It has one set of switchbacks maybe about 20 m long and 8 or 9 rows and then two straight stretches to get to the station. I'm surprised they didn't expand it a little more towards the overbank because they definitely have the room for at least one more set of switchbacks. The station itself is well done. You can tell they tried to make the theme work a little but it's Six Flags. (Even though Goliath wasn't even a Gladiator) Dispatch was very slow for two reasons. One, people were lingering on the ride platform and nobody was moving them off of it which was a bit frustrating since the entire train was ready to go before the last one even left. The other is that they check restraints in two steps. First, they check seat belts then they adjust the lap bar for you pushing it down as far as they can make it go. Thankfully, I had my knees raised or that might have been a little uncomfortable. Now onto the ride itself,

Let me start off by saying Goliath does not stop. It goes balls to the wall from dispatch to brakes. Even the little turnaround from the station to the lift was faster than I expected. Coming over the top of the lift, it doesn't slow down so you don't have time to look down before plunging 85 degrees at 72 miles per hour. Easily my favorite part of the ride. You think you have hit the pull out but it just keeps getting steeper. The overbank was here and gone before I could really determine what was going on, the airtime hill gets some serious ejector air. Probably one of the most intense airtime moments in the park. The dive loop has a really snappy roll over which felt right for a wooden coaster but would have felt out of place on a standard looper. That's the best way I can describe that. The zero-g stall steals the crown for best hangtime moment in the park right from X-Flight's flat spin. The last overbank was a fun little transition to end a monster ride. There is even some airtime going into the brakes.

I have never ridden anything like that before. It put the fear of god into me and a coaster has not scared me like that in a long time. It is here and gone before you can even wrap your head around what had just happened. Truly exhilarating coaster. The only complaint I have is length but it is crammed into a cracker box so that is understandable. Surprisingly, the paint on the topper track is rubbing off already from the wheels rolling over it. That it is pretty disappointing considering it opened 3 weeks ago. Imagine how it will look in 3 years considering Six Flags never repaints their rides.

There's my Goliath rant. Part 2 coming in a little bit!

[mkingy]

jdmi012 wrote:

I have found that I like the right side better on this one for no other reason than the whip under the track as you go down the drop.
Drum roll please.

I prefer swarm on the side that gets the whip too - makes the drop so much better! (although its the left side on swarm rather than the right)

Nice part 1 trip report- Goliath definitely sounds like one to head towards when I get over to USA

Part 2

After waiting 2 hours for Goliath, the last thing we wanted to do was wait in line again so we hit a few rides with little to no line. First was Roaring Rapids, the Intamin raft ride in the Mardi Gras section. The absence of Ragin Cajun really makes this place looks bare. This area really needs to be revitalized in the coming years. How about a launch coaster that follows the rapids ride? It probably has the most varied terrain in the park.

Batman was also pretty short and it's always a fun little B&M invert. This is the first time I have gotten off and not felt a little dizzy though. I must be getting a little more tolerant I wish I lived somewhere I could experience a few different inverts though.

V2 is almost always at least 75 minutes so we passed on it for today. At that point it was 8:00 so we decided to sit down and eat. Theme park food is ridiculously expensive. $14 for a hamburger and fries is insane! Theme park management need to realize that more people are going to eat out of their coolers in the car if they continue to raise prices.

Eagle was right across from the County Fair food court so that was our next ride. Twitter has taken over this ride as the blue train had #BlueSide on every car. I didn't get a good look at the Red train so I don't know if both had it as Blue Man Group ads were all over the queue. I think this ride is underrated. It has some nice pops of airtime and it has aged quite nicely. Some say the helix is pretty rough but I don't think it was nearly as bad they say. I'm glad we got an all new coaster instead of a RMC treatment on this one.

To end the day we got another lap on X-Flight and Viper at night which makes basically every ride better.

I upgraded to a season pass so I can now go whenever I always enjoy going to SFGAm. It's no Disney in terms of quality but the coaster line-up is awesome, the crowds are never too bad even in peak season, and it's only an hour from home. I was thoroughly pleased with the park on this trip in particular and I hope it keeps moving in the same direction. If only I had some more enthusiast friends to ride around with. Meet Up anyone??

Get some photos of X-Flight please!

[TTD03]

Yes, X-Flight and Goliath photos please!