I finished classes and finals last Friday at noon, which means I am now a full-time sun bathing, book reading, silly adventure having slacker! In honor of my newly found freedom, me and a crew of approximately 30 met up this morning for a short road trip to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. This was my third Six Flags theme park (I've also been to Great Adventure in New Jersey and Six Flags Over Texas), but my first trip to an amusement park since my senior year in college. I was anxious to see how a 30 year old body would respond to this type of torment. It ain't pretty! I'm still feeling a little queasy! 
We got to the park around 11:30am, gathered the troops and made our way across the park to Superman: Ultimate Fight, which is 115 feet high and up to 60 mph in speed. We spent our time 
in line listening to Matt's question us about which of two disgusting scenarios we'd pick if forced with a decision - and let's just say they were so foul I can't even mention them here. Definitely entertaining 
though! The first half of the Superman ride was pretty cool, but overall not that exciting. Off to the next stop, Batman! I remembered the Batman ride from my days at Great Adventure and it definitely lived up to my memory! You hang from the track in a ski lift-style chair, with your feet dangling below and fly at 50 mph through hairpin turns, vertical loops, a corkscrew, and a zero-gravity spin. Max panicked before we even took off, "is this thing supposed to close?!?" which made for a good laugh. I definitely lost my stomach a few times! We waited on line for about 45 minutes for each ride, so by the time we got through the first few, we were ready to eat! We scarfed burgers, chili cheese dogs, turkey legs, waffle fries and assortment of other terrible items and then made our way to Iron Wolf, a steal, stand-up coaster with a 90-foot drop, hairpin turns, and a 360-degree vertical loop. Put it this way, it was two minutes of pure head-rattling hell! I got off that thing and felt like I had just been in a boxing match - decent design, but so terribly un-smooth. Next!
Time for the old school wooden roller coaster, the American Eagle, which debuted as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world when it was built in 1981. While those records have since been relinquished, the American Eagle still is the highest drop (147 ft), fastest (66 mph) and longest (4,650 ft)! I love wooden roller and this one was wicked - we got tons of airtime (see video below). After American Eagle, we went on some lame ride that made me feel like sh*t and then went over to Raging Bull, which has a 20-story lift hill, high-banking turns, and a 65-degree first drop that pushes you to a top speed of 73 mph. At 5,057 ft in length, it's the longest ride at Great America and was North America's first hyper-twister roller coaster (whatever that means!). Loved this one, too (more video from Eddie below). In fact, it was so good that I decided to eat some of a funnel cake and then catch a ride home. It's hard work riding roller coasters all day! Thanks to Evan and Paulita for organizing!!
Video from the back of Raging Bull:
Video from the front row of American Eagle:
1 comment:
So which one is better ? Six Flags Great Adventure or Six Flags Great America. I personally like the great adventure. Love El Toro, Kingda Ka, Nitro.
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