Six Flags Great America: Meeting again for the first time

One of the reasons I left my job was that I was sick of the unsociable hours that I had to do. I wouldn't have minded so much if there was so consistency, but working some days at 6AM, and finishing others at midnight when you have other things that you love doing in life can only go so far. So how ironic it was that I had to wake up at 3.30AM on Friday 22nd May to catch a flight to Chicago when I was trying to get away from early starts.

But at least this was for something I whole heartedly wanted to do, for two reasons. Firstly, I'd wanted to go back to Six Flags Great America since they'd installed Goliath in 2014 - a wooden rollercoaster which along with its sister ride in Silver Dollar City, redefines what a wooden coaster is able to do. Goliath has the tallest and steepest drop of any wooden coaster anywhere, and as a result, is also the fastest, at 72 miles per hour. But more importantly, it features two inversions on a scale normally associated with the latest steel monsters. I simply had to ride it.

Goliath's lift hill

Some of the supports may be steel, but the track is all wooden.

But this park trip wasn't just about meeting a new ride, it was meeting an old friend who I hadn't seen in 10 years. I started chatting with Deidre on the internet wonder that was the MSN chat rooms. She got me in to Def Leppard, and I got her in to The Smiths. We sent each other letters and mixtapes for many years - but the first time we met up in 2005, neither of us were in the best place. But after reconnecting through Facebook several years later, and after I found out she moved to Chicago from Portland, Oregon, we decided to meet up and spend a day at Great America. And at 8AM that Friday morning, I met her and her boyfriend Tristan in the baggage area of O'Hare International Airport. Me with a couple of heavy suitcases, and her with a coffee for me so I wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon!

With a head full of caffeine, Deidre, Tristan and myself headed for the the car rental desk to pick up my rental car. I'd asked for a Ford Focus sized car, because I didn't need anything ridiculously big. What I got was a BMW X5. And whilst I couldn't complain, it is like upgrading from a rubber dinghy to a Supertanker.

It's HUGE!!!

But after this was presented to me, we hit the road, got straight in to Great America, and headed straight for the Goliath queue. Once in the queue, we were given a ticket with a number which ensured that no-one could jump the line ahead of us - like a sequenced boarding pass at a low-cost airline. It's a strange way of ensuring that no-one jumps ahead in line (seems that Six Flags don't trust their guests to be completely honest, and they may have a point), but it works. Interestingly, it isn't the first time Six Flags had tried this system, as the tickets given to us had a former ride on the ticket stub (which now belongs elsewhere in the chain of parks)!

Deidre, Tristan & I in line for Goliath

The boarding pass!

After handing our boarding cards to a security guard (yes, it was taken that seriously), we made our way in to the station, and we lined up for the back of the train.

Where, it promptly broke down. Given how far I'd travelled, and how unfortunate I was to miss Kingda Ka with the weather, I wasn't about to give up my place lightly. So we waited for nearly an hour till they'd fixed the fault, and we finally boarded the train. My cred anxiety (this is the nervous feeling an enthusiast gets when they're really anxious to get on a new coaster so they can add it to their coaster count) was going through the roof until we crested the lift hill. And after just one ride, I was blown away. It was fast, smooth, the inversions were incredible, and I came off laughing my head off. There's not many rides that can do that to me after you ride as many as I do, but Goliath was in a different league.

Between the massive wooden structure, that train is upside down, You'll have to take my word for it!

We decided to give it another go at the end of the day when the lines would be shorter. So in the meantime, we went to ride some of the other coasters in the park. Next door to Goliath was American Eagle, a large racing wooden coaster like the Grand National at Blackpool. It was a lot smoother than I remembered, and whilst they don't race the trains any more (bit daft when it's a racing rollercoaster), it was still a fast and fun ride, Sadly, I neglected to take a picture as I was still gobsmacked from Goliath!

But I did remember to take pictures of the next ride. X-Flight, a Bolliger & Mabillard Wing Coaster (like Swarm at Thorpe Park) was also a fun ride, especially on the front row where we all got a ride.

Now I know a few folks in the enthusiast community who have a bit of a downer on some wing coasters because they're not as forceful as they (the enthusiasts) think the rides could be. But how intense and forceful a ride is isn't always a sign of greatness or superiority. I'll get on to this in another blog post, because there's so many questions to answer, but when the penny drops, they're great looking rides, incredibly graceful, with a seating position which gets your Joe Public rider very excited, and rightly so.

X-Flight's first drop is just like that of The Swarm at Thorpe Park

Threading the eye of the needle

Coming out of the second inversion.

The park also has some other attractions which complete a very well-rounded line up of coasters and rides. Vertical Velocity, an Impulse Coaster made by Intamin launches you forwards and backwards a total of 5 times up giant vertical spikes. 

The twisted spike on Vertical Velocity.

Nearby is a ride which has been responsible for some of the greatest rides ever made. Batman: The Ride was the very first B&M Inverted Coaster ever built, and its likeness has been copied and replicated around the world from LA to Japan. Without this ride, Nemesis at Alton Towers may never have happened. It's punchy, powerful and still pretty smooth after 23 years of turning people upside down.

Batman: The Original Ride

The park also has a Superman: Ultimate Flight clone which opened in 2003, and still gets big lines every day due to aforementioned reasons (the flying position, the Superman brand, etc etc.).

Superman: Ultimate Flight

Even with all these relatively new rides with insane drops, breakneck speed and enormous loops. Great America does have a soft spot for a few classic rides. The Little Dipper was saved from another amusement park in the Chicago area a few years ago when it closed down. The impressive double decker carousel has been with the park ever since it opened, and the Whizzer rollercoaster is still running strong after nearly 40 years of operation.

The Little Dipper

The impressive looking Carousel

The Whizzer, built in 1976 and still thrilling families today.

 But after the nostalgia tour, we had to head back to Goliath for one more ride. This time, Tristan sat it out (the first ride hasd taken its toll on him) so Deidre and I got in line for the front row as the day came to a close. This time, there were no breakdowns, no stoppages, and no less excitement. The first ride at the back had placed it firmly in my favourite rides ever. The front row ride made it my new Number 1 coaster on the planet. It's not the longest ride, but it does everything really well, from first drop to the brake run. And more importantly, I came off laughing and cheering, which is what every good ride should do.

And with that, it was time to call it a night. Without doubt one of my favourite theme park days I've ever had. Great rides, great friends, Great America.