Photo courtesy of Julie's
Coaster Pictures!
Six Flags Great America
So off we went, sunroof open, music blaring, and both of us chattering away
about, well, everything! The amount of traffic on I-94 east was incredible as
folks in Minneapolis have been forced to drive rental cars to Chicago to catch a
flight. Still, it was a wonderful drive, although Wisconsin and Illinois are no
better than Iowa when it comes to landscape, the curse of the Midwest.
Once in Chicago we drove downtown and ate at The Cheesecake Factory
under the John Hancock Tower. What a great dinner and romantic night we
had! Chicago has one of those magical downtowns that makes you feel
sophisticated and trendy even if you're only wearing Dockers and a golf shirt.
We walked all over the place, passing what has to be the coolest looking hotel
I've ever seen, The Drake. No, we didn't stay there, it was Holiday Inn Express
for us, baby! But we both felt a noticeable straightening in our stride as we
passed such a lovely place.
From the glamour and glitter of downtown Chicago, we drove back to the
equally alluring town of Waukegan, where we spent the night. Yes, the
enticing sounds of booming bass speakers and long neglected mufflers
seemed to pepper this place at every turn. What a town! We pulled into the
Holiday Inn Express parking lot and were greeted in the next parking spot by a
gang of four who seemed a little *too* anxious for us to get out of the car.
"Say, are you hungry?" "Yes! Are you?" "Yes!" "Say why don't we go fill up
the car for the 5 mile drive to Six Flags tomorrow and we can get something to
eat at the gas station?" "Good idea!" (Our dinner from The Cheesecake
Factory was barely two hours old.)
Saturday morning was yet another perfect, end of summer day. As we drove
to the park I apologized to Susan ahead of time for choosing to visit on a
Saturday. We had planned to start our trip at MA and work our way back
toward the Twin Cities, but we found out Robert and Sam Ulrich and Roz
Stevenson would be at MA on Sunday and we thought it would be fun to
experience Shivering Timbers with them. So it was Saturday at Six Flags, a
decision I was *sure* I would live to regret.
I had a preconceived image of SFGAm - and I don't know where it came from -
that it would be a massive, barren, concrete filled wasteland. Why I thought
that I have no idea. Well, this image was *shattered* once we entered the
park. Six Flags Great America is BEAUTIFUL!!! Oh my God, the entrance is
so pretty, so charming, and the double decker carousel has got to be the
most perfect backdrop for an amusement park entrance I have ever seen! In
addition there are absolutely gorgeous buttercup flowers lining the pond and
mature trees are everywhere, providing ample amounts of shade and a sense
of intimacy.
We slowly made our way through the entrance and waited under an overhead
train track until 10:00 a.m., when they lowered the chains and everyone
scattered for their favorite ride. We immediately headed to Viper in Southwest
Territory. This is a brilliantly themed area, and the second we entered it Susan
remarked "Wow, I like this place already!" In spite of its lack of trees, the
detail in the architecture and landscaping is stunning, with old boardwalks
lining the buildings, and my favorite - a huge plaza area that featured a Spanish
tower with bells that tolled every hour on the hour. Later in the day we would
have one of "those moments" as we ate fajitas under the tower and listened to
a Maruichi band playing in the courtyard while the bells rang loudly above us.
On to Viper. Neither of us had ever seen any footage or photos of this
coaster. I received a video of it recently but purposely put off watching it so I
could enjoy this experience with no expectations. The theming is incredible
and makes the coaster look more rickety than it really is. We opted for the
front seat and left our seat belts a bit loose and lap bars a bit high in case
there was any airtime to be had.
Oh. My. GOD!!! Why didn't you people tell me? This thing is FANTASTIC!!! It
was 10:15 in the morning and we were already being thrown out of our seats at
least 5 or 6 times!! This coaster has it all - airtime galore, laterals for days
and it's all smooth as glass. It's unpredictable in it's change of direction, and
it gives great, great standup airtime. At night the coaster is virtually unlit and
the rides we got were nothing short of spectacular. Viper has to be the most
underrated coaster I've ever ridden. NOBODY talks about this thing, yet it is
easily in my Top 10. If ACE were to ever hold a Con here, this thing would
leap into everyone's Top 10. I have a feeling people would talk about Viper the
way they talk about the Hersheypark Wildcat - it's a few years old now and its
broken in VERY WELL. An amazing, wonderfully re-rideable thriller!
Next we headed over to Iron Wolf. I wanted to ride this early on because I
feared a slow loading process and long lines. I also knew this was the first
B&M stand up and frankly I was not prepared to like it. I always think a short
ride will not impress me and then along comes The Raven or SFOG Viper and
I'm hooked! Well, Iron Wolf had the same effect, although I must say it isn't
*that* short. WOW, this thing is INTENSE!!!! No brakes, no lulls, just
non-stop action, drops, loops and turns. Both Susan and I commented on our
legs going numb, and I felt extremely dizzy after our back seat rides! I also
could not believe I got *airtime* on a stand up!!!!
Iron Wolf is definitely MUCH
more intense than Mantis and PKD's Shockwave. It's not something you can
describe either, you just have to ride it and see for yourself. I don't know if I
like it better than Mantis though, but it for sure made me scream my head off!
We rode this coaster a lot.
By noon it became apparent that the park was not going to have the hour long
waits I anticipated. An employee later told me there were 10,000 people in the
park, compared to the usual 45,000 on a typical summer day. Yee-haw!!! I
did a little dance right in front of him and told Susan to give it up to me, I was
THE MAN!! Yeah, baby, I know when to hit the park!!! Just climb on my back,
I'll get ya there!!
One thing I noticed about this park were the number of foreign speaking
employees. This seemed to be a good thing as they were very friendly. I also
had the pleasure of meeting RRCer Jay Woods, a ride op on Viper.
Unfortunately Joe Campanella and David O'Connor were gone that day. Jay,
however, is a great guy - if you're ever at Great America say hi to him and Joe
and David!
Batman had the longest line of the day - 45 minutes for a front row seat.
SFOG's Batworld theming is still the best, but all of Great America's effects
were working in top notch condition. I *loved* the sound effect of children
playing in the Gotham City yard - it faked me out every time! And I REALLY
loved the manicured lawn that Batman flew over and also the way it flies past
the queue. One thing I thought was bothersome was the assigned seating.
While I understand there may be very valid reasons for this, the employee
constantly had to stop to measure children and it slowed down the queues,
causing many trains to leave with empty seats because they couldn't assign
them fast enough. By 7:00 p.m. Batman was a walk on!
Shockwave was a walk on all day. This is very impressive looking from a
distance. Up close it's not nearly as attractive. It sits on leftover parking lot.
It's ugly - not in keeping with the rest of the park. The ride itself is great in the
front seat, and somewhat painful in the back! There's a very, *very* violent jerk
after the 3rd loop, just before you enter the mid-course,
stop-dead-in-your-tracks brake. It gave Susan a headache and me a "I've had
enough" feeling after our 3rd ride. A couple of other things I noticed: the
overly long queue has steps that suddenly drop down with no warning and I
wonder how many people have fallen and hurt themselves. A turnstile here
might be a good idea to prevent future accidents.
Also, while the coaster sat on an ugly slab of concrete, the entrance
to Shockwave was perhaps the most
surprising, un-coaster like entrance I've ever seen! Shockwave really feels out
of place here. I could see Demon being a better fit in the Orleans section. I
liked Shockwave a lot, and I would ride it again and again. But next time I
would approach it with a level of concern that would probably confine me to the
front seat.
One other thing about Orleans. First of all, it's beautiful, and I loved the pretty
brick walled entrance coming off the Carousel plaza. And there is an ice
cream parlor, Antoine's. Oh my God, they made me a waffle cone with vanilla
soft serve ice cream, hollowed out the center, filled it with hot fudge, and
topped it off with whipped cream and a cherry. All I made was a mess. Shar,
was it good, I guar-RON-TEE!!!
After we rode the top level of the Carousel (second only in fun to Knoebels) we
headed to The Whizzer. I enjoyed this much more than I expected. It's not
the Zambezi Zinger by any means, but it's not the nothing coaster some
people claim it to be. This was pure, sweet fun. It has good speed for a
family ride and it's got good turns and banking that was fun to lean into and
become "one with the coaster." Plus you can ride with your honey in your
arms! The thing I loved most about The Whizzer was how loud it was! This
makes more noise than any roar I've heard from B&M!
We only got to ride Demon once. It was probably my least favorite ride in the
park, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. The effects caught me by surprise
(though I have no idea what kind of music was playing as we entered the lift!).
The lights in the tunnel were awesome! I bet this ride is cool during Fright
Fest!
Our last coaster was American Eagle. Blue train, red train, who cares. We
rode both and it doesn't matter. They didn't race, and even if they did the trains
were fitted with extra high side guards to prevent hand slapping. But
ultimately our rides were RUINED by brakes. Just to give you a taste of this
coaster's potential you get a *major* pop of airtime on the second or third hill
on it's initial ride out. Then it hits the first turnaround and the ride comes to a
near stop. Nothing even remotely thrilling happens after that, it just goes
through the motions, never regaining speed, never showing any signs of the life
it had before it hit that initial brake. What an absolute WASTE of a beautiful,
classic, wooden racing roller-coaster. Shame on you, Six Flags, for taking all
the fun out of a fun ride.
Now on to more positive things. One thing I particularly liked about SFGAm
was the number of open plaza areas near the coasters. American Eagle's
was great! Viper had one (the Mexican plaza), and Whizzer and Batman, too.
There are some great outdoor eating places in this park. Oh yeah, they have
the best sno cones, too!
I also LOVED their log flume. This is *easily* my favorite log flume. It's such
a looooooong fast ride! It travels at a high rate of speed at ground level for
quite some time, then it climbs a high lift hill and you get another long,
elevated ride! And the final drop is a DOUBLE DIP!!! It's a soaker, too!
The Giant Drop at SFGAm is only 200 ft. But for some reason I liked it better
than KW's Pitt Fall! The speed of ascent is much faster for one thing, which
possibly gives the illusion of greater speed going down! But it *did* feel like a
faster freefall and I loved it!
We stayed WAY past closing. I purchased 2 sweatshirts and a golf shirt and
got 20% off with my SF season pass card. SFGAm is just a first class park
and Viper, Batman, Iron Wolf and Shockwave are world-class coasters. With
the new B&M speedcoaster, I can't wait to return next year!
Friday at noon, Susan and I left Minneapolis for Chicago. It was a *perfect*
day for a road trip! And, thanks to the Northwest Airlines pilot strike, our only
means of transportation. Our plane reservations to Cleveland - a surprise
birthday gift from Susan - and our planned visits to CP/PKI/Americana and GL,
were cancelled. The disappointment was short lived, however, once we made
alternate plans to visit SFGAm for the very first time! We'd been trying to get
to this park for the past 3 years. We also decided to visit Big Chiefs as well -
another first time visit for both of us. And oh yeah, I thought I would introduce
Susan to a little wooden wonder in Michigan.
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Email: MarkinArk@earthlink.net
