Coaster Community

The last day of the trip (Thursday 5/22) we hit up Six Flags Great America in the ‘burbs of Chicago. Note to self: come from the west of Chicago next time, tollways suck.

Anyway, SFGAM reminded me obviously quite a bit of Six Flags St. Louis, but on a grander scale, and was a bit nicer IMO. I was freaked out a bit upon entering the lot when I was greeted with an endless row of school buses, but as a whole (except for a few exceptions), waits weren’t bad at all. Can’t say the same for the crowd that showed up though… Anyway, on to the park itself. I didn’t pay much attention (read: any at all) to the theme of the place (it is a Six Flags, after all), but some of the park had a neat “old school” amusement park feel which was pretty cool. All in all, it was a nice park and an enjoyable place, but nothing stood out as exceptional in my mind.

The first coaster we hit was Superman Ultimate Flight, the closest coaster to the gate. This was where the biggest operational problem was: only one train operation, on what may be their most popular ride. Good job Six Flags. Luckily we beat a rush to the ride and only had to wait 15 minutes or so, I can’t imagine how long it must have been later in the day. The ride itself was cool. It was only my second flyer, so I kept drawing comparisons to Firehawk at PKI. This ride had more of a smooth, graceful flying sensation than Firehawk, and the pretzel loop was of course awesome. It was fun, but nothing amazing. I’ve come to think that roller coasters weren’t meant to be ridden in that position, but it does offer some neat sensations.

We glanced at the new ride, the Dark Knight, which had just opened a few days earlier. Judging from popular opinion, I didn’t miss much when I opted to skip the line that was out of the queue house/station/whatever that building is supposed to be.

I made my first visit to Six Flags St. Louis on 5/18, which I affectionately refer to as Advertisement: The Park! It was my first experience with the “new” Six Flags, and there were more ads than rides. I understand making some revenue from empty space, but this was just ridiculous.

Anyway, it was only my second Six Flags park, but all in all, it was nice. The theming was solid but not consistent at all, and it was a really pretty park. Some of the backstage areas need cleaned up, and pretty much all the rides could use a paint job, but all in all it was an pleasant place. Plus, White Castle is just down the street, which is like +1000 points in my book.

The first ride (after discovering the endless line for season pass processing) was Xcalibur. I have no idea what the hell to call this thing, but it was a pretty sweet flat ride. Looking straight ahead at the ground was freaky. Not quite as cool as an S&S swing or Frisbee, but there aren’t many better flats around.

Next up was the coaster next door, Tony Hawk’s Big Spin. And it was pretty boring. I guess I just don’t get the appeal of the Gerstlauer spinners. They are fun and all and for the “family” I suppose, but they are pretty meh to me. I think I like Spinning Dragons at WOF better simply because I’m not bashed over the head with the “OMG TONY HAWK!!!!” aspect of this ride.

Next up was the Boss. I’ve heard nothing but mediocre-to-bad reviews of this thing, but after making the roughly 46 mile trek to the station, I found a pretty decent ride. The layout and setting was cool, and it was fast, intense, and not as rough as I expected. There were some decent pops of air and I liked the out-of-control feeling of it. It reminded me kinda of the Legend, which usually isn’t a bad thing. It’s not one of my favorite woodies, but it was definitely a fun ride.