When you have an active teenager, trying to find time for a meaningful summer vacation can be tricky. Ultimately, we ended up taking 2 smaller trips in mid-late July about a week apart. The first was a quick weekend jaunt up to the Chicago area while our son was at soccer camp, which allowed us to make our first visit to Six Flags Great America since 2015. Due to other activities we wanted to do in Chicago over the weekend, we ended up going to SFGAm on a Saturday. I was really concerned that the park would be packed with massive lines for everything, but as has been a bit of a concerning trend I’ve observed this summer, overall crowds and lines at SFGAm were much less than we had anticipated for a beautiful weather day on a Saturday in the middle of July. I’m not sure why the park seemed so uncrowded – there were decent crowds and few lines that extended beyond an hour as shown in the app, but not nearly what we expected given the timing of our visit.
In the 10 years since our previous visit to this park, Six Flags has added 2 major unique new roller coasters, Maxx Force and Wrath of Rakshasa. While Wrath of Rakshasa is the newest addition to the park, I had strategized to line up for Maxx Force when the park opened because of the lower reliability and capacity of the S&S launching coaster. We weren’t the first people through the gates, but it did seem that most folks were heading straight to the B&M Dive Machine, with a handful of guests queuing up outside the entrance to Maxx Force when we walked up. There was a chain across the entrance with a sandwich board noting the coaster was temporarily closed, which initially seemed because it was still prior to the official park opening. The expectation among the gathering crowd was that the crew would eventually open the queue when the coaster started testing, and since we were committed to the strategy, we hung out in the area instead of sprinting with everyone else to Wrath of Rakshasa. We waited for about 15 minutes until a team member from the adjacent gift shop indicated that the coaster was not going to open at all. The lack of testing and overall lack of activity should have been enough of a clue that the coaster wasn’t going to open anytime soon, but there was no indication in the app (showed as “temporarily closed”) or on the sign outside the entrance to convince me that Maxx Force was going to be down the entire day. Ultimately, the coaster never did open and has remained closed with some reports of major maintenance activities spotted along the launch track over the past week. Sadly, the coaster I was most looking forward to riding at SFGAm was down, and to top it off, we had wasted over 15 minutes standing in a line that was never going to move.
Even though we had wasted time, it was probably for the best, because we ended up bypassing the massive line for Wrath of Rakshasa that most guests ran to when they entered the park. Instead, we walked around to Goliath, which was the first RMC I had ever experienced. This coaster is still an incredible piece of engineering, even though it falls short of some of RMC’s more recent design. We were able to get 2 quick rides on the coaster (front row and back row) before the line eventually made its way out of the station. While RMC has continued to one-up itself with future designs, Goliath is still a great coaster with an amazing zero-g stall, but it just doesn’t quite measure up to recent RMC designs like Iron Gwazi, Steel Vengeance, and others.
Since the very back of the park was still pretty quiet and uncrowded, we wanted to take advantage of the short to non-existent lines for other coasters that have lower capacities, so we headed to Flash Vertical Velocity. This Intamin inverted shuttle coaster is no different than other clones located at Valleyfair (Steel Venom) and Possessed (Dorney Park), but it’s worth a spin when it’s virtually a walk-on. The same goes for Joker, an S&S 4D Free Spin. Both of these coasters have the light DC theming emblematic the old SF ways of doing things with a few flat signs, but not much else to utilize the characters or stories. For most coaster fans, these are just checks in the box, but I’m sure the average guest finds them thrilling to a certain extent.
Unfortunately, we’d have to wait until later in the day to ride Batman: The Ride, the original B&M invert, but we did eventually take a spin and felt fortunate that we got in line just as the coaster opened so we didn’t get stuck in the un-ventilated corrugated steel stairwell leading up to the loading platform (with just single-train operation). While all the lighting and sound effects in the queue have been restored, waiting in the stairwell is a true test of patience and endurance that I just don’t have, even for an OG coaster like BTR. Poor ventilation and reverberating echoes aside, BTR does demonstrate that Six Flags can do a decent job theming a roller coaster if they put their mind to it, as does The Dark Knight, though we skipped this one due to lines that were continuous reported at 40 minutes and went through at least 4 switchbacks in the queue house. We did ride Superman: Ultimate Flight after taking a chance to walk back towards to station to see if the length of the line matched the 20-minute wait indicated on the app and seemed bogus but ended up overestimating our 15-minute wait. Superman is fine, but is not good as custom B&M fliers like Tatsu and Manta, nor as good as the identical clone at SFoG, which uses the park’s topography to enhance the layout.
Another cloned attraction at SFGAm that utilizes the chain’s DC licensing is Justice League, Battle for Metropolis. This shooting-gallery style dark ride is virtually identical to those found around the country at Six Flags parks, but what’s odd about this one is that it’s located on the opposite side of the park from where the 2 clusters DC-themed attractions are. As with many of these Sally dark rides we’ve experienced around the country, there were a few effects that we were surprised to see working (like the flame effect near the Joker animatronic), while other features that were completely broken (like the very first screen on the attraction that only featured an Nvidia error message. While Six Flags was generally praised for installing these dark rides around the country, every review, including the various ones here, has almost universally worried that the chain would have difficulty maintaining these attractions. The sad, deteriorated state that so many of these Justice League rides are in right now validate all of those concerns and prove that Six Flags should probably stay out of the dark ride business.
Beyond where Justice League is inexplicably located is probably SFGAm’s best themed area, Southwest Territory. Pretty much every Six Flags (and every theme park for that matter) has a western-themed area. It’s almost become ubiquitous in the industry, but SFGAm’s Southwest Territory is right there with Crackaxle Canyon at SFFT and Ghost Town at Knott’s Berry Farm as the best in the chain. The land is anchored by Raging Bull, which is still the only B&M hypercoaster with a twister-style layout. On the day we visited, a Saturday mind you, Raging Bull was operating with just a single train. One of the ride ops mentioned to us that B&M had showed up unannounced to perform an inspection of the ride, which is why they could only operate one train, but it’s pretty inexcusable to operate an attraction at such a limited capacity. I guess it was better than the coaster being completely closed, like Maxx Force, but if it hadn’t been over ten years since our last time at this park, we would have never waited almost an hour to ride what I consider to be one of the weaker B&M hypercoasters I’ve ridden. To be fair, the ride ops were making regular announcements that the coaster was operating with just one train (though we could actually hear and understand the announcement until we had already waited 20 minutes), and did a good job of expediting the unloading and loading the train.
The other roller coaster in Southwest Territory is Viper, which is a wooden coaster that is a mirror clone of the Coney Island Cyclone. Viper isn’t terrible, but it obviously lacks the nostalgia of its inspiration and the smooth operation of more modern wooden coasters. I preferred American Eagle to Viper even though it feels like you have to walk a mile to get to the racing coaster’s station. Southwest Territory also features a few flat rides, but the most notable is Giant Drop, where guests queue through an abandoned mine. Intamin drop towers are found in so many parks around the country that it’s refreshing to see one that has good theming and fits so well into the park. The other flat rides in Southwest Territory are also stock rides but are well-themed and fit excellently with the western land like a swinging canoe and a spinning teacup ride in a massive mission-style building.
Just outside of Southwest Territory are 2 older steel coasters, the Demon and the Whizzer. Both are “classics” by their age, but Demon is a painful reminder of why so few Arrow loopers are still running, while the Whizzer is a fun and unique throwback. While the Demon has become one of the worst coasters in the park, it is adjacent to 2 of the best, X-Flight and Wrath of Rakshasa. X-Flight is a B&M wing coaster that has a futuristic aeronautical theme complete with a control tower that creates the signature keyhole element for the ride. In addition to that keyhole, the coaster utilizes its supports and other props to create excellent eye candy to accompany the silky-smooth layout. While the Swarm and Gatekeeper rank as my top wing coasters, X-Flight is in a class just below.
The newest coaster in the park is Wrath of Rakshasa, and while its name is as much of a tongue twister as looking at the track’s layout, it’s a solid addition to SFGAm’s lineup. You can tell that B&M has been making incremental improvements to their dive coaster design since Oblivion debuted way back in 1998. Wrath of Rakshasa features the newer vest style restraints used on recent coasters like Valravn, Yukon Striker, and Iron Menace, but instead of temporary floor to allow riders to board, the train slides right into the station. This coaster also features a beyond vertical drop that you can really feel as you make that first plunge, and a layout that replaces the MCBR (and a big second drop) with a series of turns and inversions that packs a lot of intensity in a relatively small footprint. The best element is a zero-g roll that caught me by surprise and occurs right over the main walking path. However, like Iron Menace and some other B&M coasters built in the past couple of years, the overall ride is not as smooth as old models from the Swiss manufacturer. It’s a bit of a small critique on what is otherwise a good coaster, though I would probably still rank Valkyria (Liseberg) higher, and having ridden Yukon Striker on the second leg of our Great Lakes trip, I’d rank Canada’s dive coaster higher as well.
Overall we had a really good day at SFAGAm, which was accentuated by the fact that the park just didn’t seem to be that crowded despite visiting on a Saturday. This park still has an unacceptable number of clones for what is considered one of the flagship SF parks. I do wonder if merging with Cedar Fair will cause this park to lag other similarly sized parks, because SFGAm could use some more investment on the scale of Wrath of Rakshasa to bring this park up to the level of Cedar Point, SFMM, and SFGAdv. I was upset that Maxx Force wasn’t running, and that Raging Bull was operating with just a single train, but the rest of the park’s operations were good. The park is pretty lacking in the entertainment department with just a single show and a live cover band playing in an outdoor performance area on the day of our visit. It will be interesting to see what Six Flags does with this park, because I do think it has some potential given its location and a decent lineup of top-end coasters. However, it’s going to take a lot of capital to fix this park’s haphazard layout, over-reliance on clones, and inconsistent theming.
Can't wait for part 2!
@the_man26 - TBF, our visit to SFGAm was 2 weeks ago, which was before Six Flags announced their current MVP pass sale. However, I was pretty surprised at how uncrowded the park felt. If Raging Bull was running just 2 trains, there probably wouldn't have been a single line in the park over 30 minutes after the initial rush to Wrath of Rakshasa. Since our visit, it has been reported that maintenance has completely removed all of the brake fins from the launch track of Maxx Force, so it looks like the issues with the coaster are probably going to keep it down for the rest of the season. It just would have been nice if the park had clearly noted that either on a sign at the ride entrance or clearly noted on the app that the coaster would not open for the entirety of the day.
However, despite the time we wasted in line for a coaster that never opened, we were still able to get to every coaster in the park except for Dark Knight and god multiple rides on Goliath, X-Flight, and Wrath of Rakshasa. I would agree that SFFT is operated with a completely different philosophy that every other SF park. I have never understood why that park has been able to incorporate superior theming (even their stock spinning pendulum has a haunted house integrated into its queue) and reliable operations compared to every other SF park, even SFoT located just a few hours away.
@ Russell - I cannot comment on the validity of the inspection for Raging Bull, but I noted in a similar report earlier this year that Raging Bull was a running single train. I would say your report and assessment of this park is spot on from what I've experienced. As our "home park," I've always felt a bit underwhelmed by the additions that have been made through the years. And, while the merger has brought about some fresh paint and few updated queues, the park always feels like it is missing those unique coasters.
Maxx Force - My family has learned the hard way that if you don't hear the distinctive sound of the ride testing BEFORE the park opens the gate, that they will be on delayed operations (at best.) Maxx Force has been down a lot this summer, and it sounds like it may be down for the rest of the year.
X-Flight - You are far too kind in your assessment of this ride. Don't get me wrong, the ride and layout are great, but the restraint vests knock X-Flight down to a one and done for me after getting trapped for 45 minutes. The vests are impossible to breathe in, and for 45 minutes I felt like a boa constrictor was squeezing the life out of me.
Been a long time since I was at Six Flags, although only an hour from me. this makes me more wary of it with the cost and difficulty of rides running right.
SFFT is ran better because the VP of that park (or I should say VP up until a few weeks ago, now he's VP of that region) is basically an ACEr. I've been casually coming across that guy since he was at PKI like 25 years ago and he's always been like that. Mad respect for him for lasting this long and not quitting lol...most people who actually care get driven out.
While you are Galivanting around the Great Lakes - stop in at
Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes
For about 9 weeks....
It is Lovely this time of year. Food is fantastic. And Free.
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No worse feeling than being one of the first people there, getting to the ride you want to ride most, and then the ride sitting there with no indication of anything while watching everyone who got there after you cycle around on the other rides.
I guess for those wondering if Six Flags parks would be ran better under Cedar Fair management, the answer to that is a big fat no. At least for the first two years.
Absolutely crazy that it wasn't busy on a Saturday before the start of the school year even with this absurdly cheap season pass sale. I think most SF parks are taking serious business hits from peoples fatigue of the parks being poorly ran for so long. SFFT seemed to be doing pretty well business wise when I was there early this year, ironically that park is the only one that seems to be ran well!