So...I went to Six Flags Great America for the first time in a few years on the third. The drive up there was supposed to take 3 hours max, but it ended up taking over four because of Chicago traffic and large amounts of major highways being rebuilt. Typical. It was kinda chilly (The high was in the upper 50s) and there was a strong north wind, so the water park was closed. This meant slightly longer lines, but it actually seemed to add some thrill to all the rides, which all felt more forceful than I had remembered. Hm.
The first signs of the park! Raging Bull isn't really visible from far away because of all the development and trees, so it just pops out of nowhere.
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Here's a not so good sign...there were a bunch of little junior high kids running around the park screaming for the first few hours we were there. Luckily it started clearing up at around 2. (Exact quote: "OMG WE'RE AT SIX FLAGS!!!! WE'RE AT SIX FLAGS!!!! *Scream*")
Raging Bull and Viper look sexy together.
Superman from the parking lot.
I kind of wish Shockwave was still in this spot, but at least Superman is an okay ride.
1...2...3...4...5...6...
7?
Apparently SFGAm is being marketed as the "World's Cleanest Theme Park" this year. Trash cans with this rhyme on them were everywhere. (They lost the rhyming vibe on line three...)
Yes, I mean EVERYWHERE. (How many trash cans do you count in this picture?)
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That's right, there are 15 trash cans! [:O]
Raging Bull looked sexy with its new paint job.
Too bad the ride is killed by this......
Giant Drop broke down right when we got in line, and was down for the rest of the day. It still looked cool though?
Iron Wolf was running really well and was my favorite ride of the day. It totally kicked Mantis's ass. It's also probably the closest I'll ever get to riding an Intamin standup. [:(]
Leaving the loop.
Batman was a lot better than I had remembered it, and was running pretty well.
As much as I think CP is overrated, V2 wasn't as good as Wicked Twister. It was still really fun though.
Demon was also running well. However it's never been all that great to me, besides the vertical loops. I love how the train lurches through those things.
American Eagle is very secluded, and the park is really neglecting it. They were only running one side at a time, the whole thing needs to be painted and holy crap do they need to retrack that thing. The first three valleys had just enough jackhammering to be fun, but when you're going 10 miles per hour into an extremely drawn-out helix and it's painful, something really needs to be done.
Superman needed some paint also.
I tried to get a shot of the Chicago skyline from the car on the way back, but I kinda failed. Oh well.
As for the coasters of today:
Raging Bull: 7.75
The first drop is really fun, but the rest of the ride is completely killed by those trims. There's some good airtime in the back, but as soon as you hit the first hill you just feel like you're dragging through the layout and that SF is ripping you off to save a few dollars on replacement parts. Bleh. The new paint looked pretty sexy, though.
Viper: 7.25/10
Viper was just overall a fun ride. There was airtime in a few places, some minor roughness (the good kind), and lats on a few of the turns. On a different note, the park REALLY needs to hire a person to only let a certain amount of people into the loading area at a time. The entire loading area was packed full of people in no order at all, so you basically had to barge your way through to get on the ride.
Whizzer: 6.75/10
Wheeeeee. That's about it. Most of the ride was more fun than thrilling. I've always been a big fan of those low-to-ground Schwarzkopf turns, though. Lesson learned from this ride: your shoulder does NOT appreciate it when you try to reach out and touch the grass then hit a Schwarzkopf transition.
Demon: 6.25/10
The two loops are fun, but the straight sections are a waste. There is a massive pop of airtime going over the first drop in the back, and the horrible Arrow transition into the corkscrews was (painfully) awesome. It was too short for my likings though.
V2: 8.25/10
I love impulse coasters. While this one didn't have the twisting back spike, there was some free-fall and then the front spike covered the twistiness. I also got to witness two junior high girls have literal panic attacks and come back the the station crying. Woo? You decide.
American Eagle - Red: 7/10
As mentioned, the park needs to retrack and repaint this. It was still fun though, offering some mild jackhammering and some light airtime. The first drop could have been MUCH better though, and the racing aspect would have added some fun to the ride.
Iron Wolf: 8.75/10
The pacing on Iron Wolf is amazing. It's non-stop flying through the trees it was build around and weaving through itself. There was also a minute amount of headbanging for a standup ride, and I actually had some added fun trying to keep my ears from being crushed.
Spacely's Sprocket Rockets: 3/10
Yeah, I'm a credit whore. This ride provided what was probably the best on-ride photo of me ever.
Ragin' Cajun: 3.25/10
Ow. This was not fun. It looked fun, but it wasn't. The ride ops struck up conversation about the fact that the team of the jersey I was wearing lost a game in the last 5 seconds a few days earlier. Our car didn't spin at all. There are now bruises on my thighs. Not a fun ride. If you're going to build a spinner, make it a Gersty or a Maurer Sohne.
Batman: The Ride: 8.25/10
I actually like this Batman more than the later clone at SFSTL. There are some bonus near-ground sweeps, and it's just as forceful as it's Dolly down south. Fun ride, minute head-banging.
Superman Ultimate Flight: 8/10
This is another of those "wheeeeee" rides. There was more force this time on the valley of the first drop, due to some roughness. I lovelovelove the bizarre forces of the pretzel loop. It goes from 1g to airtime, to being pinned on your back, to airtime, to a banked turn. I kinda wish the rest of the ride was as forceful as that, but it does what it was meant to do. (By that I mean giving you the feeling you are flying.) One bad note: I lost 32 cents in change. [:(]
Dark Night: 3.5/10
SF fail. This was such a waste of money. The whole thing was based off of theming. In the Q, you are forced to watch some 10-minute video clip that is basically taken from the movie, even if there is no wait. The only fun part of the ride was the smoothness of the hairpin turns, which made me think that it might be ok after all. I was wrong. After the hairpin turns, there was just as much pain and lameness as Ragin' Cajun. Available GCI>regular wild mouse coasters>rare steak>electrical burns>Dark Night.
Thanks for a great day SFGAm, and even though you made a horrible horrible decision on which ride to install for this year, it was a good visit.
EDIT: If you want any of these photos in full size, PM me and I'll send them to you. (I don't have PRO Flickr yet.)