A quick trip to Chicago's Great America 07/24/2026

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

The gang and I took a very short trip up to Gurnee to experience some of what Great America had to offer for their 50th anniversary. Here's how it went.

We left Thursday night to start our drive and were able to make it into the parking lot right as the drone show was ending. It looked interesting from what we could see, though that wasn't much. This was very much a "We're this close, so why don't we just go see the park at night from the outside" kind of thing, so we didn't mind not going in. After that we had some late dinner and headed to the hotel.

The next morning consisted of breakfast and waiting for the park to open at 10:30AM. Our hotel was pretty much right across the street so it wasn't like we could waste time driving to the park. They opened the parking tolls around 9:45AM, we were able to scan our pass with no issues, and then we decided to forego parking in the Preferred lot since there were plenty of spots closer to the security entrance. It looked like Preferred was a "somewhat guaranteed parking spot on busier days" deal like at Cedar Point. Not the closest, but it'll be good when you need it. My first impression of the park during the day was that it has a nice skyline. We got in line for security, waited for the national anthem to play (they direct you to look at the Sky Tower flag instead of any of the other 6-10 US flags near the entrance), and then the line started moving around 10:10 or 10:15AM. Their security setup was kind of odd since they didn't seem to be enforcing a single-file line through the metal detectors like at Kings Island. We were then sent around a planter toward the front gate. The associates used park-owned smartphones to scan our passes — similar to how Six Flags America did — and the system pulled up our information much faster than it has at KI anytime this season. 

My number one first amazing thing I learned about Great America is that they still have paper park maps available!! It's updated for the 50th anniversary, but is still in the old Six Flags map style. They were in a little holder right at the turnstiles for anyone to grab. Carousel Plaza looked so pretty yesterday morning with the new park sign and fountain jets. We took a ride on the upper level of the Columbia Carousel and got some great views of the front of the park! This ride wasn't without its issues, though. It has mandatory seatbelts on each animal which are not very accommodating to plus size folks. I was able to have mine buckled with some help (the buckle itself was closer to my back than my front), but one of my group members was unable to fit it around their waist. I can understand why the ride has seatbelts — especially on the upper level — but there is no way the seatbelts need to be that short. All of this was an omen for the rest of the rides at the park. I managed to spot some landscapers actively working to prepare a planter bed at the entrance to Orleans Place while I was up there. We were able to check out the Maxx Force gift shop that has the original scale model of the park and the some classic Six Flags merch. Hometown Square is a fine little area with some entertainment potential. I think we passed through at the wrong time of day to get a proper look at it since a lot of the rides hadn't opened yet — the railroad didn't open until noon. I contemplated taking a ride on the Whizzer, but decided against it after seeing the line waiting for it to open. 

Southwest Territory was our next area. The entrance into the land takes you under another railroad trestle, and this one felt better than the entrance to Hometown Square because it didn't have a giant LED screen over it. We really wanted to ride Chubasco (their spinning teacups), but we couldn't tell if they were about to open or if there was an associate positioned there waiting for a specific time to open the ride. We ended up not riding it. The theming around ST is nicer than around the rest of the park. Their 2nd generation Intamin Drop Tower (funnily enough the same version as the one in California) had some great rockwork and theming as well. I ended up riding the River Rocker (a smaller canoe version of Viking Fury). It was shockingly tight and I had to kind of pre-position my stomach so that the bar could automatically lower enough to verify. The ride operator, Rocco, was wearing a cool helicopter hat which lifted my mood after I thought I was about to make a walk of shame. Something interesting about this ride was that the water trough beneath it was completely empty. That might be a classic Six Flags blunder. We made our way into Metropolis Plaza where, and I kid you not, the only attraction/dining location/shop in the land is Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. The blacktop pathway and unshaded outdoor queue left a lot to be desired, but luckily we strolled right past it and went into the indoor queue where we only waited 5 minutes. I took a precursory ride before the rest of my group to make sure that the restraints would fit our largest group member. It's just a basic lapbar that can accommodate large people, so they were fine. This dark ride was nothing like what I had expected. My ride description is in the spoiler box in case anyone else would like to be surprised during the ride.

Spoiler

I expected to hop in a classic Sally Dark Rides car and shoot at some screens and was wildly surprised when we started tilting and drifting along the track. The fire I expected to hop in a classic Sally Dark Rides car and shoot at some screens and was wildly surprised when we started tilting and drifting along the track. The fire effect was absolutely insane, and since I was on the right side of the front row I got up close and personal with it. The various physical sets and props were good to have though I wish they had some interactivity with the blasters. One of my favorite animatronics was the bus coming out of the tunnel. It's similar to the car in KillMart, which might be one of my favorite props in a Kings Island haunt maze. The screens leave a lot to be desired. Between the lack of the 3D glasses (but still with the 3D video) and the weird blaster tracking, I would've loved a little more. 

Heading back under Demon brought us into County Fair, Great America's largest land. I will say it right now: this land is too big for what it needs to be. Wrath of Rakshasa and Demon are so cut off from the rest of the area. Demon still has its incredibly ugly sign, which is now framed more by WoR than anything else. Google Maps is showing me that it used to be all red and was placed on top of a short wall — much better than the flame paint they have now. I'd ultimately love to see it get a better sign and some orange paint on the running rails before too long. Demon rant over. The entire stretch between WoR and the entrance to American Eagle feels very ugly and disjointed. I'd like to say that getting rid of/retheming/redecorating X Flight would help, but I don't think it will in the way I'd hope. Most of the games also looked to be closed. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets (more about this in the next paragraph) and then went over to the train station. They had a nice whiteboard sign stating when the train was expected to be in the station. I've been thinking that it'd be nice for Kings Island to have something similar, but if KI got one I'd want it to be a series of analog clocks that can be adjusted from the control panel. The railroad itself is a nice reprieve from the sun and is mostly covered in shade. There are various Looney Tunes figures standing along the route in comical poses. I noticed that they still have a water tower even with a (presumably) diesel engine. As another forum member pointed out some time ago, the foliage is overgrown and is especially noticeable aboard the train. You know it's bad when the associate has to say "Please don't touch the trees" while the train is in locomotion. 

 

Now for my rant about the merchandise. There were some fun options in some of the gift shops, but the variety didn't really make me want to buy anything. I saw a few AI shirts and a lot of generic DC/Looney Tunes merchandise. What really irked me was the near-complete lack of supply for any shirts bigger than a size large. We found a few XL and at least one 2XL shirts in the 50th anniversary shop, but it was nothing like the good size variety KI has. There were also zero magnets 😭 I collect them as my go-to souvenir to say where I've been and despite looking so hard, there were none to be found anywhere in the park. Is it something to be upset about? Not really, but I think the park is missing out 

 

Overall, I feel that Chicago's Great America is a somewhat fine park that could use some thoughtful improvements. It definitely still has that cheap Six Flags stink vibe that brings the park down in my rankings, but I would like to see if it's able to be improved with some Cedar Fair flair. Would I have preferred to stay longer so I could get on more rides? Honestly, no. The park needs a lot of quick fixes to patch up the "harm" legacy Six Flags did to it alongside some longer-term fixes that will take at least a decade to clean up. Part 2 with my thoughts on the rest of the park will be coming soon.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I definitely agree that it still has that traditional Six Flag park feel , and a couple years of improvements would really bring that park to Cedar Fair level. Although, I'm not sure you can do that without removing all of the DC theming?

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

There's definitely a way to improve the DC theming without getting rid of it entirely. Superman would definitely need to be rethemed to closer match Orleans Place and the entirety of DC Universe would need to be fixed up. Having seen (through videos) what Great Adventure has been able to do for their Boardwalk area so far, I think it's possible. Maybe I'll go make another concept map now that I've seen what it all looks like in person.

[silver2005]

For me, something about SFGAm's simplicity stood out to me.  Its an easy park to navigate, something about their color pallet really stuck out for me, too.  There's something about the overall look that I really liked.  

Their Batman is awesome, too.  They really spruced the queue up and it runs great.  Love they pump Prince and Danny Elfman music in the queue (leagues above the one I just rode in StL).  Whizzer is an absolute gem. 

I get the tacky/cheap look in spots, but I feel there's enough good elsewhere that I liked.  

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

It's entirely plausible that some of my thoughts on the park were also affected by its status as a legacy Six Flags property, and therefore I noticed the faults more than I have at other parks. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ride Batman (I hate queues and one of my group members can't ride much anyway) but what I was able to see of the updates did look really cool. If they can make this new family area in Yukon Territory look really good then I think that will give me more hope for the park. 

[jzarley]

16 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Their Batman is awesome, too.  They really spruced the queue up and it runs great.  Love they pump Prince and Danny Elfman music in the queue (leagues above the one I just rode in StL).

Isn’t their Batman the very first B&M suspended inverted as well?

[WoodVengeance]

Just now, jzarley said:

Isn’t their Batman the very first B&M suspended inverted as well?

Yes, Batman at SFGAm is the first B&M invert and an ACE landmark because of that.