I love Disney, and I've been there much more than I've been to other parks, but believe it or not, there is a major park not too far away from me: Six Flags Great America.
Home of big carousel.
So you may all be curious as to what I think of this place. Well, here are my thoughts on my local park!
The Rides
See that tall coaster? That's the best one.
Obviously, I have not been on every ride there, but I've still been on a bit of them, and they do have some good ones. For the sake of brevity, I'll just speak on some of my favorites.
Raging Bull- So far my first and only hyper-coaster, and it is very good. Most of these are just a lot of big hills, but this one is more twisty and compact. It's a breed all its own, and a masterpiece of engineering.
American Eagle- Pretty good, when you can ride it. The largest, tallest, fastest racing wooden coaster in the world doesn't always run as it should, closed for maintenance or only running one train, but still has a lot of fun in it, and I'd be pissed if it got an RMC conversion. I'm sorry, but that would take away what makes it special.
Whizzer- A small, rare Schwarzkopf model, with the only other like it in Colombia. It ain't the tallest, it ain't the fastest, but it's a Schwarzkopf, and that means it automatically kicks ass.
Oh, she's a beaut. One that I wish they made shirts for.
Justice League: Battle for Metropolis- The park's sole dark ride, and thankfully, it doesn't suck. It's more than a bit reliant on screens, but it's still generally well-made, and when there are set pieces and animatronics, they're done pretty well.
Demon- Okay, this is far from the best coaster ever. Arrow loopers generally haven't aged well. But this is the first coaster I went on that went upside-down, so it'll always have a special place in my heart because of that. Also, the theme song kicks ass.
The Food
From their website. Whatever this is, I'm sure it doesn't look as good when you buy it.
If you want a good, cheap meal at Six Flags, pack a lunch, keep it in your car, go to the park, leave around lunchtime and get your hand stamped, then eat at your car before heading back in.
This is not a joke.
I don't know if it's just because they're very deeply in debt, but Six Flags charges way too much for food. My twin sister still complains about two beers costing her $30. And no, the food is not particularly good. Just, try not to bother with it.
Merchandise
There are not a lot of good photos of their shops, so we're settling for this.
Even if the food sucks, the merch is surprisingly good. I mean, it's at least better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be not very good.
But yeah, shirts from Great America are of generally decent quality with some pretty nice designs. And they're fairly cheap, at least compared to the food. I've gotten two shirts from them so far, and they're both pretty good. I can't get pictures of them at the moment, but take my word for it. It's a good deal.
Final Thoughts
Also, this opened last year, but I didn't go on it.
Great America is one of the parks Six Flags puts the most money into, and it shows. There are definitely problems; yes, the food really is that expensive, and there a lot of crowds, though that can't really be controlled. But the ride selection is world class, with the only fault of it being that there's only one dark ride. But the coasters are great, which is probably most important, and the merch ain't half bad either. If you're in the Gurnee area, give it a shot. Just remember that you should probably pack your own lunch.
But what do you think? Have you been to Great America, and what are your thoughts? Feel free to comment or ask me at @Colonel_Colin on Twitter. Until next time, keep raging those bulls!
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