Six Flags Great America, A Second Look

The rides were up and running for opening bell, long before the midway games had their curtains lifted (does this tell you something about Great America's priorities?). And speaking of opening bell, I can't recall another park playing the Star Spangled Banner just as the rope drops. I find this very touching and a nice reflection on the park.

On Saturday morning only Raging Bull did not open at 10:00 a.m. There were clearly attempts to get it up and running as quickly as possible, as numerous trains were sent out only to get stuck on the lift hill. This did not hinder our day in the least. Instead it allowed us to make Viper our morning wake up call.

And what an alarm it gave us! We sat in row three, I was allowed two clicks on my lap bar (no seatbelts), and for the duration of the ride I was OUT of my seat more than I was in it! Viper does not have the brutal psycho mentality of the Georgia Cyclone. Instead, it simply kicks your ass with airtime! No less than 5 standup, holy-mother-of-God- where-is-a-seatbelt- when-you-want-it moments of airtime make Viper one serious coaster!! The Georgia Cyclone's infamous fourth drop is replaced with a double down and is, for obvious reasons, the place where any comparisons between the two coasters should end.

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

In fact I tend to compare Viper more to Hersheypark's Wildcat, with Viper getting the edge. Viper is an incredibly smooth, extremely rerideable twister that gives it's front seat riders a challenging mix of airtime, frightening headchoppers and sharp laterals. There are no seatbelts and the lap bars stay put. If you ride it first thing in the morning they do not slow it down at the top of the lift hill. At night it was simply insane with speed! I put Viper No. 7 on my list, just behind Raven and ahead of Hersheypark's Wildcat. I absolutely love this coaster!!!

Next we rode American Eagle. I think Julie and Geoff like this coaster a lot more than Susan and I do. The first out section is fantastic - it really flies over those first three hills and lets you know what it's capable of doing. And then.... it hops onto that first turnaround and just...... crawls..... through the rest of the ride. Such a pity.

Iron Wolf was another coaster I was itching to ride. I was completely surprised by this short but intense stand up when I rode it for the first time last year. So impressive was it that I thought it better than Mantis. I have since ridden two other stand ups that I felt were worthy of challenging Iron Wolf. Riddler's Revenge and Georgia Scorcher are both excellent coasters. Riddler's Revenge is great for it's pure feeling of flight. But Iron Wolf, in comparison, is my favorite for it's all-out intensity. Both Susan and I walked off with spaghetti legs. Iron Wolf packs a powerful punch - it has turns that really mean something, with drops that make you go OOF! There's no mid-course brake to slow it down so what you get is a ride with raw power. And that's the best way to sum up Iron Wolf. It's what a stand up coaster should be.

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

Raging Bull was up and running after a few hours. Finally, a chance to enjoy my second B&M hyper! I love the way this coaster fills in the Southwest Territory. It's great looking and a perfect addition to the best looking area of the park. I'm not sure I like the blue bull at the entrance though. It doesn't seem to be raging so much as..... staggering. It's eyes are bloodshot and it has a dopey expression on it's face. It's a family friendly bull I guess.

Everyone seems so eager to compare Raging Bull and BGW's Apollo's Chariot. Indeed, employees asked me several times which coaster I liked better. I suppose it all depends on what you like in a coaster. Some people prefer out and backs, some like twisters. Either way, both coasters are outstanding on their own merits!

Raging Bull has, I think, the best first drop I've ever experienced. Even better than Desperado (I *think*!). I purposely did not read any reports about this (or others) coaster, and I was completely surprised by both the angle of the first drop and it's tunnel! After that, it became a series of high turns and low to the ground drops. There is one hill that seems, not tilted, but the track seems angled toward the station. Maybe it was my imagination but I always felt like throwing my arms out to the crowd at that point! Most of the early turns, though very high, did not provide much in the way of interesting forces, but the high turn and twisting drop before the mid-course brake was very fun! The drop off the mid-course brake was AWESOME, and there are three wonderful drops with airtime after that, including one preceding the figure eight that ends the ride.

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

I counted six GREAT moments of airtime on Raging Bull. It's not the airtime machine that Apollo's Chariot is, but it's got an unbeatable first drop, a perfect mix of high turns followed by low to the ground drops, two or three floater-filled camelbacks and a fun figure eight ending. But forget the Apollo vs. Raging Bull debate. Viper is still my favorite ride in the park, and if BGW had a woodie I'd probably pick that over Apollo as well. But I'll go on record and say I like Apollo better, simply for being an all-out airtime machine.

One thing I did not like seeing were "hippies" being forced to leave without riding. This is a terrible, terrible situation if you ask me. B&M has failed badly to provide people who could not even be considered obese with an opportunity to ride their two hypers. Not only that, but consider the horrifying embarrassment these people suffer. I sincerely hope both BGW and SFGAm *INSIST* on being provided with alternative seating arrangements for these guests. There is no excuse for it.

One other thing I noticed is the looseness of the restraints. On Raging Bull in particular, you really are forced to keep one hand on the restraint. If not, it WILL come down, and not just a little. On two of my rides I was pinned in before the mid-course brake, and my ride experienced notably suffered for it. I wish there were a way to just let loose and fly, but I guess when riding the bull, you gotta hang onto the rope.

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

The only other area where I feel Raging Bull missed the mark was in the station. The outside of the station is BEAUTIFUL!! Unfortunately it's a little bit wasted, since you can't see it very well inside the park. No, the problem is inside. There is no room to queue once you reach the top of the stairs. The park has virtually guaranteed permanent assigned seating with this design. I feel this is a huge disappointment. If a person is going to wait an hour to ride the coaster, they should sit where they want to sit. After waiting in line all that time, to have your choice of seat come down to dumb luck doesn't seem right.

Fortunately I was spared that disappointment! On Saturday I politely asked the attendant if we could hold for the backseat. He paused for a moment, then said "okay, sure, it's the best." The next time we got a different guy and he made us take a middle row seat. So Susan burped in his face as she is prone to do, while I spat on him. No wait, that wasn't us. Phew!

On Sunday, Susan and I were lucky enough to FINALLY meet Joe Campanella! Joe is a poster on RRC and he was more than gracious to us. He got us a backseat ride every time! However, one time he was forced to push down on my restraint to satisfy the lead op. It was hilarious - he handled it with all the delicacy of a surgeon ("here now, this won't hurt a bit..."). After it clicked I screamed "he's a NAZI!!!" and he just laughed. On our next ride he walked up with a smirk on his face and said "here, I think this needs to come down some more." He pretended to push down, and I yelled "Aaaaaah!" and he just laughed and walked away. Joe is every bit as cool as I'd heard.

The security systems in place for Raging Bull's queues was brilliant. On Saturday they set up a boarding pass system. As we entered the queue we were given a number, distributed in sequential order, to be given to the attendant once we reached the station. No boarding pass, no ride. Number out of order, you'll have to wait. It was an obvious and overwhelming success with regard to containing any line jumping problem. However, I noticed we did not encounter any line jumping at all anywhere in the park, despite both days being quite crowded. Still, this boarding pass system worked perfectly. On Sunday the park did not use the boarding pass system - instead security monitors were placed at the entrance. Again, we encountered no line jumping. I say whatever works, THANK YOU for doing something!

We also rode Demon as well as Batman. Going from the front directly to the backseat on Batman is amazing, the ride is just *that* much better! The line for Shockwave was surprisingly all the way out the queue and into the midway so we never rode it, nor Giant Drop for the same reason. We also didn't ride The Whizzer as it broke down as we were close to boarding. Julie seemed devastated! That is, until she was launched several times on Viper.

I also got a chance to ride Spacely's Sprocket Rockets roller-coaster. I think this is the best kiddie coaster I've ridden. It has a nice layout, some good speed and a nice lateral or two! I also rode this with DrHavoc (nice meeting you!) and his friend, while Julie, Geoff and Susan watched with admiration from below. One great thing about our Saturday with Julie and Geoff was getting a chance to ride all of the *wonderful* flat rides in this park. Six Flags Great America is flat ride heaven! There are more flat rides here than any other park that I can think of. Not only that, but they are *unique* flat rides and extremely well maintained!

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

One thing I noticed about Great America that particularly impressed me is that each flat ride is completely isolated from the rest of the park. Every ride has rows of flowering trees or a ring of bushes surrounding it, and this really makes each flat ride a self-contained attraction. It accentuates the importance of each ride. You're not just riding any old ride, you're riding THE ride! It's an extremely nice touch and one of the most memorable impressions I had of the park.

Photo courtesy of Julie's Coaster Pictures!

Of all the flat rides we rode that day, I'd have to say Fiddler's Fling was the biggest surprise. This is a *kind* of scrambler (though nothing like the Hometown Fun Machine) and it has to be the fastest flat ride I've ridden since Kennywood's Bayern Curve. It made *all* of us dizzy, so much so that we had to sit there for a spell and get our bearings back! This is a helluva spin! I also really enjoyed the gorgeous double decker carousel, Sky Whirl (are there any others in existence?) Triple Play, Condor and Power Dive.

Power Dive makes the most awesome roaring rocket sound as the ship swings back and forth! However as the ride came to an end, tragedy befell, along with the overhead restraints, on poor Julie's boobies. Her hooters were howling with pain from being squished together so forcefully! It did not look pleasant at all, though it *was* quite funny to look at!

Julie told us that she asked the Great America representative at No Coaster Con if the windows on Sky Trek Tower would ever be replaced. Sure enough, every single window pane had been completely replaced. It's so nice to see parks paying attention to public concerns, even when there's little to be gained financially.

Another thing that impressed me were the employees at Great America. Now, I know what you're saying - "Yeah, it's easy to be nice at the beginning of the year, come back in the fall and see what they're like." Well, we DID go in the fall and one of the things that left the biggest impression on me then was the courteousness of all the employees. I'm happy to report that this was not a fluke. Every single employee we encountered over two days was not only competent, they were FRIENDLY. I encountered workers who were enthusiastic about their jobs, concessionaires who smiled at me, and ride ops who respected my spleen. I, for one, am extremely delighted to see this kind of attitude. Not only that, but everyone seemed genuinely proficient at their positions. Even when dealing with problem guests they remained polite but firmly in control. Somebody in management is doing something very very right at SFGAm.

The food at Great America is about the only thing you'll find that is not great. Susan is krazy with a K over corn-on-the-cob, but again, like last year, the corn was wrinkled and had been setting out way too long. I tried it and yeah, it was pretty nasty. We did enjoy some tasty breadsticks with marinara sauce, but at $3.50, would it not be unreasonable to expect more than two lousy breadsticks, I mean come on! Anyway, poor Julie was saddled with some funky kind of cardboard pizza that Geoff compared to a badly thawed Jeno's in your grocer's frozen food section.

Food aside, Six Flags Great America really has it all. This was our second visit to this park, and I would now say it's my second favorite Six Flags park, after SFOG and even ahead of SFOT. They really have a marvelous collection of coasters and flat rides, and the place is filled with beautiful walkways and nicely decorated plazas. The employees are extremely nice and the park is very well run. We spent two full days at SFGAm. Is it really worth going for two days? Absolutely! I really, really wish ACE would hold a Con in this area. SFGAm, MA and Big Chiefs would make a marvelous Con.

Joe, it was great meeting you - hope we can hook up sometime when you don't have to work! And Julie and Geoff, thanks for spending the day with us. We had a blast!

Mark-
"The Demon......... is gonna get cha..."