Six Flags Great America PTR (7/20-7/23)

[Bat Fastard]

Ok so the time has finally come. My most anticipated trip yet, my first trip to Six Flags Great America. This is my first trip report, so the quality may not be the best, but I'm trying my hardest. All photos were taken on either my iPhone 4 or iPod 4th gen. Enjoy!

Day 1 (7/20)
We arrived in Gurnee around 5:00 PM. We went grocery shopping first, since amusement park food is WAY overpriced. We arrived at the park around 6:00. Because we are visiting the park 4 different days, and also Six Flags St. Louis later on, we bought season passes to save on admission and parking ($25 for parking is INSANE!!!). Buying and processing the passes took about 30 minutes, so we were off at about 6:30. We headed to our first ride.

X-Flight

Our first ride of the trip was also my very first wing rider. X-Flight looked awesome in the photos and everything, but in person, this coaster was absolutely beautiful. The sign said there was a 90 minute wait, but it didn't look THAT bad...

While I was waiting in line the first time, I was amazed the first few times I saw the coaster running. It is very fun to watch.

Awesome shot I got of the zero g roll.

Watching the ride certainly made the queue go by a lot quicker. Such a great looking and photogenic ride.

The near miss moments on this ride look incredible.

What a great ride! We waited about 45 minutes, but it was worth the wait IMO. We (my brother and I) rode the second row, on the left side. There was some B&M rattle towards the end, but I didn't care. The inverted drop was awesome, the zero g roll had some floater, I loved the feeling of being on the side, and the near misses were great. This ride immediately got my #2 spot after riding. Loved it so much. It is not perfect though.


Rating- 9.5/10 I loved everything about this ride. The theming was great (especially for Six Flags), the ride had good pacing, and flying on the side is just plain cool. The only reason it doesn't get a 10 is because of the B&M rattle towards the end of the ride. I will be re riding later in the trip though, that's for sure.

American Eagle

Up next was the classic Intamin racing woodie. American Eagle looked like a fun ride when I was doing research on the park and when I actually saw it in person. It was one of the more anticipated rides at the park for me.

My god the queue on this line takes forever to walk through. It is the longest non-Disney ride queue I've ever seen.....

We got in line for the red side. But because our luck is the best, the red side had a seat belt problem, so said side was down for about 20 minutes. The line took about 45 minutes including the 20 minute delay.

We rode in the first row of the last car. There was some decent floater airtime on some of the little bunny hills, and the ride wasn't to rough, only on the turnaround and the final helix. This was my also my very first racing coaster (well if you don't count Space Mountain), which made a cool effect

Rating- 7.5/10 I thought this was a fun ride. It's by no means a Prowler or Renegade, but it is my 6th favorite woodie. I wouldn't wait 45 minutes again, but I wouldn't mind waiting less then 30 minutes to ride the blue side.

After American Eagle, we headed in the direction of Goliath. We knew there would be a line.

We walked up, hoping the line wouldn't be more then an hour, but we were very, very wrong. A lady told us they just waited 3 hours. THREE HOURS!!! No thank you. We skipped Goliath for tonight. We will ride it tomorrow though.

I love this shot. Can't wait to ride it. I think it will take NTG as my favorite coaster.

That zero g stall just looks NASTY!!! My Dad even said, "That ride looks like the most insane thing on the planet."

I like collecting lanyards, so I bought a Goliath one for really cheap. All the employees and ride ops were wearing these things. I haven't even been on the ride and I already bought something for it haha. I know it'll be great.



Batman the Ride

Up next was the classic B&M invert that started it all. And yes, I took that pic. I LOVE that shot. Like it did on X-Flight, the sign said the line would take 90 minutes.

I don't know if they do this all the time or not, but the lights on the cop car under the zero g roll were on which made a cool effect.

Action shot!

I noticed that the wheel cover thingies (don't know what to call them) that cover the wheels and make the wheels not visible were off... Anybody know why???

Almost on! The line took about 50 minutes to get through.

Riding the original really made me appreciate how good the Batman clones are. This one was intense like the other 3 I've been on, and it moved up a couple spots in my top 10.
Rating- 8.5/10

Our first night at the park was fun. We did only ride 3 rides, but X-Flight became a top 10 coaster for me, and Batman the Ride moved a couple spots up. Tomorrow we will be at the park the whole day, so I will be riding Goliath and Raging Bull for sure tomorrow.
Ride count of day 1-
X-Flight- x1
American Eagle (red side)- x1
Batman the Ride- x1

 

[tomahawk]

Absolutely love that Batman photo. Looks fantastic.

Can't wait to hear another Goliath opinion!

 

[GuyWithAStick]

This is my home park, and I'll give you a few tips.

-Goliath is a front row coaster. Tell the employee at the station this is your first time and you want to ride front row. It's worth the extra 5-10 minutes!

-Raging Bull is an anywhere coaster. Sit anywhere you please.

-RIDE VIPER! This is one of if not the most underrated ride in the park!

-Whizzer is a must-do as well. It packs a punch for a family coaster!

-Superman on the other hand is OVERRATED. It has the pretzel loop, and the rest is meh.

-AVOID THE DARK KNIGHT! If you just want the cred, then fine. But otherwise, it's rough, boring, and the camera blinds you.

-V2 is an average Intamin Impulse, it just doesn't have a holding break.

-There are two Flumes. Logger's run is the better one.

-Roaring Rapids is a cool river rapids, including a tunnel, waterfall, and even guests pay to spray!

-Demon may seem rough at first, but when you ride Ninja at SFSTl, it's suddenly made by B&M.

-Kiddie coasters are for creds only.

-Hit up on some flats like Orbit, Condor, Giant Drop, and Revolution.

Have fun!

Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Bat Fastard]

Sitting in the hotel room now, it's about 12 AM. The rest of my family is sleeping anyways, here's day 2.

Day 2 (7/21)
We woke up around 8:00, since we wanted to be to the park as early as possible, so we wouldn't have to wait as long for Goliath as soon as the park opened.

Drove through the gates around

Ready for a fun day. They started letting people through the gates at 10 AM

A trip report wouldn't be complete without a picture of the park's icon, right? We didn't have time to take many pictures, as we headed straight for our first ride almost immediately after being let in.


Goliath

As soon as they opened the gates, we booked it to Goliath. A LOT of people started running a marathon to Goliath, it was a freaking stampede. Luckily, we were within the first wave of people, so once the ride would actually open at 10:30, we'd be on in less then 15 minutes. Also, the ride is MASSIVE. The pictures and videos just don't give it justice. The reason I think it looks so massive is because of the support structure holding the lift hill up. The ride does look pretty intimadting.

At about 10:20, the line to get into the line, was backed up all the way to Batman the Ride.

That employee is about to have fun.

My boarding pass.

The trains looked really cool. We went for the back row, since, well, we wanted to get the most absolute intense ride possible. The restraints where really comfy actually, i liked them.

HOLY FU***NG SH*T!!!! That was the most insane thing I've ever ridden. We only waited 10 minutes after the park opened at 10:30. As soon as the ride hit the brakes, I didn't even have to think about it, it became my NUMBER 1 coaster. I loved everything about this ride. The first drop was absolutely BONKERS, with so much air on the way down (we were in the back). The camelback gave us a huge pop of ejector airtime, the dive loop was fun, and that zero g stall though. Oh man. Coolest feeling on a coaster ever. We were just floating there for what felt like 10 minutes. It was nuts. The hill going into the brakes provided a nice little pop of ejector. This coaster is absolutely perfect IMO. The pacing is great, the airtime was ridiculous, and RMC really is on their way to greatness. The ONLY complaint I have is that it is a tad short, but this ride still gets a perfect score from me and my #1 spot. Sorry New Texas Giant. After riding this, I'm a lot more motivated to get my butt up to Silver Dollar City soon to ride Outlaw Run (I live 5 hours away)
Rating-10/10


After being blown away, we headed to another great ride. X-Flight had almost no line, and we waited about 10 minutes, which we rode front row.

Here it is, sexy as always.

Anyone else noticed how all of the B&M Wingriders make that "CLACK........ CLACK........ CLACK.......CLACK" noise as the train is dispatching the station? Anyways, front row was awesome. On the drop, you just kind of sit sideways while waiting for the other cars to crest the hill. I didn't notice much B&M rattle on this ride.

Hey there sexy girl.


We headed into Southwest Territory for our 3rd ride of the day.

Raging Bull

While I have been on Goliath at SFoG, I considered Raging Bull to be my first B&M hyper, since I was REALLY young (about 9 years old) when I rode Goliath at Over Georgia, and literally don't remember anything about it, except the fact that I rode it. That was WAY before my enthusiast days.

They were giving out boarding passes for Bull also.

This is why I wear cargo shorts to amusement parks....

For some reason I really like this shot.

Like everyone on these forums, I absolutely love the look of B&M hyper trains. The clam shells were very comfy. We rode in the 2nd to last row. I rode on the edge of the right side, which was great, I felt more exposed.

Raging Bull seems to be one of the least favored B&M hypers, but I actually really liked it. The kicker was a surprise (well I knew it was there, but didn't see it coming), I got floater the whole way down the first drop. The trims did kill a lot of speed, but since we were riding near the back, it did provide some floater. I actually really like the layout on this ride, and unlike Titan, there was some good airtime throughout the ride. The few trims did kill it a bit, and there was some rattle towards the end. I still loved this ride though, and thought all the turnarounds were fun. If it wasn't for the trims, this would be a top 4 coaster for me. Also, they were using 3 trains, which made the line go by quicker. Great ride.

Rating-9/10

Since the line was short and we were right by it, after Raging Bull, we rode Giant Drop. It was my first Intamin drop tower ride (I've only ridden S&S ones before). The restraints were uncomfortable, but the drop was good, and like all drop towers, it provide huge air on the way down. I still like Superman Tower of Power at SFOT better though.

I really liked some of the theming in Southwest Territory. It was cool to see Raging Bull behind all the shops and buildings like in this picture.


Viper

Up next was Viper. Again, the sign was over exaggerating the wait time, saying there was a 60 minute wait.

Part of the queue was right by and also underneath Raging Bull's turnaround. Took some pics, because I thought they'd make for cool photos.

My laggy, outdated iPhone 4 made me miss the perfect shot by a split second!!!! I need to upgrade....

The inside of Viper's station was HOT! Anyways, back row like always.

I actually really liked Viper. We waited about 45 minutes. The first drop's "twist" caught me by surprise, and provided decent airtime down. There are SO MANY hills on this coaster, so there was airtime all over the place. However, it was a little rough in some places, but whatever. I liked it more the American Eagle. It was more intense IMO. Worth the wait. Very underrated.
Rating-8.7/10

After Viper, we went back to chill at the hotel for a bit. We stayed for about an hour. It was nice to get out of the heat and relax for a bit.

There were seagulls everywhere in the parking lot.

After getting back to the park, we went to the water park for about 2 hours. Most of the lines were <10 minutes. The only exception was Tornado. These slides are always packed at other water parks that I've been to that have them. We waited about 40 minutes.

While on the way out to the car to go and change at the hotel, we figured we might as well do Buccaneer Battle. It was my first ride of this kind that I rode. It looked like a cool concept.

It was a cool ride. It was a walk on. I would never wait more then 10 minutes though. The employees kept on yelling "DO NOT STAND UP!!!" in a very angered voice over the intercom, since there were kids who would stand up and try to avoid getting wet.

After Buccaneer Battle, we went back to the hotel to get our normal clothes back on. Superman had a lot of downtime this trip.

They had these signs all over the park. Don't know if that's true or not....


Whizzer

Whizzer's chain lift was so loud. We saw that there was a short wait, and I wanted the cred, so we hopped in line for it.

I thought of RCT3 every time I saw the spiral lift hill.... Don't know why, just did.

The trains looked funny

Anyways, it was an alright ride. The VERY low to the ground helix was easily the best part of the ride. Besides that and the final helix, the ride was forceless. We were in the back.

Rating-6/10

Artsy shot I got of Raging Bull while heading to Demon.


Demon

Demon was running three trains. That is quite a lot considering how short then ride is.

Took this shot while waiting.

Figured that we would go front row, since the line was short.

It was alright. About greyed out on the second loop. The ride wasn't THAT rough, but it still had me head banging the restraints a bit. The tunnel with all the lights was actually pretty cool. The transition into the corkscrews was PAINFUL. Would ride again if it had a <10 minute wait.

Rating-7/10


While in the area, I snapped some X-Flight shots.

We rode American Eagle next. Since we did red side before, we did blue side this time.

15 minute wait. I liked the blue side better. It seemed a bit faster actually, and felt like there was more airtime.

Another cool shot of my new favorite coaster. We headed for Vertical Velocity next.


V2: Vertical Velocity

I'd been on Steel Venom at Valleyfair before, and since it had the holding brake I loved it. I knew V2 doesn't have a holding break, but we decided to ride it, because I've always though Intamin Impulses were cool.

These coasters are insanely loud at the launch.

Nothing but a blur.

It was a fun ride. I still like Steel Venom more due to the fact that it has a holding brake. We waited about 20 minutes.

Rating- 8/10

We hoped in the queue for Batman, since we were right by it, and the line wasn't long.

We rode back row this time. It was INTENSE.

The suit looked TERRIFYING!!!! The "ears" were all bent out of shape, and the mask was messed up!


I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the back row on Batman. Insane and intense.


After Batman the Ride, we headed to other Batman themed coaster in the park. I've heard lot's of bad things about this coaster, but I wanted the cred and I love The Dark Knight series of movies.

The Dark Knight Coaster

SO.MANY.SWITCH.BACKS. I actually really liked the theming in the queue. Anyways, the ride was a walk on.

I thought the cars looked cool.


It was OK. The theming was honestly a bit underwhelming, as I expected much more. I did really like the part where you go down the straightaway with all the Joker writings on the wall, and there was a small drop that caught me by surprise that I really liked. Other then those parts, the ride was insanely loud, rough, and the camera flash was BRIGHT!

Rating- 4/10

It was about 9:30 at this point, and the only major coaster I hadn't ridden yet was Superman.

Superman: Ultimate Flight

I rode the Superman at SFOG, but was like 9 at the time so. I don't remember anything, so I considered this my first flying coaster. The ride was down a lot this trip.

 

[BBH]

I hope you ride Viper in the back row today or did it yesterday. Easily the most intense airtime in the park just because of the sheer amount of hills.

 

[DelPiero]

Anyone else noticed how all of the B&M Wingriders make that "CLACK........ CLACK........ CLACK.......CLACK" noise as the train is dispatching the station?

It's quite a noise isn't it. I believe based on what I've seen, that noise is the sound of the train moving over the charging ports for each row, charging ports in the below pic on the track.

There is a grey box visible on the back of the rows, as in the pic below, this has a "Video" light which is only illuminated when stationary, or when going over a charging port when the train leaves the station.

Anyway, the sound seems to sync with the rows passing over the charging ports.

Great report by the way, good to hear Goliath was brilliant, would love to get to this park in the next few years.