Ranking Every Coaster EVER at Six Flags Great America - Past & Present (Gurnee, Illinois)
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- Six Flags Great America has had 23 coasters come and go over the years. Today, let's rank them all up.
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Coaster Crutchfield: Iron Wolf - • Iron Wolf (Off-ride HD...
Psyclone Steve: Flashback - • Flashback, Magic Mount...
Psyclone Steve: Tidal Wave - • Tidal Wave, Paramount'...
Psyclone Steve: Viper SFOG - • VIPER, Six Flags Over ...
Menachem Piekarski: Shockwave - • shockwave six flags gr...
Menachem Piekarski: Rolling Thunder - • 1995 video rolling thu...
Menachem Piekarski: Deja Vu - • 2005 videos dejavu six...
Menachem Piekarski: Splashwater Falls - • 1999 videos splashwate...
Justice League Battle for Metropolis Expert: Demon - • Video
Valley Thrills: Flash V2 - • Six Flags Great Americ...
VideofromGeorge: Tidal Wave - • The Tidal Wave roller ...
Theme Park Worldwide: Galactica - • Galactica - Alton Towers
Coaster Crutchfield: Deja Vu - • Déjà Vu (Off-ride HD) ...
James C: Viper - • Viper Front Seat POV 2...
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Music in this video:
Nimbus
Black Vulture
Cold Water - Patrick Patrikios
![First Ever Visit to SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA - Gurnee, Illinois | VLOG [6/6/23]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q97N2vRyTM0/mqdefault.jpg)
All I gotta say, The Demon is where it’s at! I had a lot of fun with that ride, and it’s honestly my favorite Arrow that I’ve been on
Demon in the back car gives great airtime on the drop, and I love the inversions & theming to follow, and I love that catchy song. Demon is my guilty pleasure at that park.
@@OklahomaCoasterFan i like Demon because of the history of the ride and yes the fact that Arrow loopers are rare these days. but man it seems like it is only open on weekends these days
I go there every year cause I use a season pass with a ada pass for the exit.
Iron wolf and Demon, I loved to just keep goin on, over n over
Pretty good list as a former Chicagoan. Your top 4 are spot on. I've not made it back to ride Maxx Force yet.
You're not missing a whole lot
My only advice is don't ride it on a super hot day if you can help it! My friend and I rode it during the 2022 heat wave and it felt like being launched through an air fryer that was actively on fire 💀 great ride otherwise!
I genuinely loved MaxxForce, but I see I'm in the minority
@@elizard_9594 it would be great if it had a 30 minute line or so… but on an empty day it has at least an hour wait
Maxx force is definitely a good one too
As a kid, it became tradition every year in our family to ride Shockwave first, because it was so close to the gate. Never forget that feeling at the end of a long drive and seeing it appear on the horizon. Also, I was there on opening day of the Batman ride, I still remember how long that line was and how thematically immersive it was for the time, especially at that age
LOVE to see Viper in the top 3, completely agree and the queue is normally pretty short!
My home park! I'm always glad to see you heap praise on raging bull. The twister finale just adds so much to the coaster it shocks me when people are down on it.
Great America has one of the stronger Six Flags lineups that I have seen. Raging Bull and Goliath really help make this park top teir
Goliath is funny in that it definitely seems like it is still relatively new, but next summer will already be its 10th anniversary haha
@@skippythealien9627true i thought it was only 4 or 5 years old not nearly 10 lol
@@mothiskobeni i know! isn't it crazy?
If you could hypothetically only go on two rides there...go on these two. They are by far the best and will make your day there.
Viper Backwards is absolute insanity when you ride it at night. Probably one of my favorite memories of riding coasters🔥
Viper backwards is repiv
Totally agree!
When American Eagle opened, it had buzz bars and no Monstre boards...it was so good, especially when racing at night. Also, Tidal Wave has the weight drop and was so intense and smooth, especially compared to the Arrow loopers of that era.
Spot on for Tidal Wave. Significantly better launch on the weight drop than shuttle loops with a flywheel launch.
I remember hearing the loud clanking noise when the weighted dropped. It added to the excitement.
I remember that also and I been going there since 1978
I'm old enough to remember when American Eagle was widely considered the best coaster at the park...which it held even after Batman opened up. Once Raging Bull opened in 1999, it got supplanted
the decline of Eagle really started in the 2000s in my opinion. once they stopped running the trains backward and having them race each other
Batman @ #9 is a HOT take…low key one of the best rides at the park despite it turning 31 years old this year.
it's wild to me that Batman is over 30 years old now...especially since so many of the big parks have an invert
but man i love Batman so much haha
Personally I think it’s very rough ride almost like lone wolf that they had to shut down
Yep! Especially because it was the original inverted coaster.
@@JavyTHC 1. It was called Iron Wolf.
2. And unlike Batman, that ride actually did suck lol
@@stonerthoosie yeah there you go I couldn’t think of the name I was like 12 when they removed it
I live only 5 mins away and have been going there since the 90s. I agree that Raging Bull is still the best coaster there, but they have a solid lineup. I do miss Shockwave, though, not going to lie.
Shockwave was sooooo good.
Viper is wonderful and underrated. My son and I can get on it about as many times as we want in a given day with wait times no more than 10 minutes during the week. It's not super intense or fast, but it's a ton of fun. I'll take 5 rides on that vs an hour wait for 1 ride on maxx force. The smile on my 7 year olds face on viper says it all.
Shockwave should be much higher than Demon, VV, and Rolling Thunder. Even X-Flight. In its day, it was a very formidable ride. It was rough, but it was the crown jewel in the golden age of SFGAm. It was imposing, in a good way, and impressive. It should easily be in the Top 10. (Tidal Wave was awesome though. Good call.)
Appreciate the love for my home park! Raging bull is 100% the best ride there!! Your top 3 is just about perfect in my opinion
Spot-on list ! But praise is also due for your carefully layered aerial comparison shots and historic videos. Great research, fascinating history. Well done and much appreciated !!
Those aerial shots are really easy to line up thanks to Google Earth. That kind of thing fascinates me
As my home park for 36 yrs. Your list is pretty spot on, except... Batman, criminally underrated, needs to be much higher but to each is own, awesome video nonetheless!!
I never loved the batman rides but as the original i gotta give it its props
@Airtime Thrills ughhh that hurts my heart to hear that 💔
The original Batman was built around the time of Batman Returns coming out, alongside BTAS, multiple video games, toy lines, and McDonalds promotions. It was expected to be just as big of a hot as the 1989 film, but then the film came out to mixed reviews and angry parents about the films content.
The issue though is that you just can’t bottle what this coaster was like in it’s opening year if you didn’t experience it. Regular Saturdays had three+ hour waits in the days before fast pass. The model was so successful that 55 inverted coasters went up in the next seven years across the globe. The common myth today is that Magnum XL-200 started the coaster wars, but it was actually Batman that started the coaster wars as evidenced by all those inverted coasters.
Love seeing this since Great America was my home park since I was born and raised in the Chicago area! American Eagle was my first coaster that wasn't a kiddie coaster and Demon was my first coaster with inversions so those two are pretty special to me. I haven't been back there in quite awhile (2014) but can't wait to go back some day. 🙂
Well at least you were there for Goliath
@@AirtimeThrills I just realized that I haven’t been there in almost a decade. Granted it’s nice having Kings Island in my backyard now but still a visit to SFGA should be in order soon! :)
Same here. I think the first time I went was when they just shutdown tidal wave.
YES! My home park! Always love it when my home park gets its own video from you!
same
Not a bad list! Arguably one of the most overlooked coaster collections and one of the deepest one as-well!
The first seat row on Vertical Velocity is trippy. I'm bummed that these impulse coasters are starting to go.
Demon's theme song is something else ;D
I rode Vertical Velocity a few days ago for the first time in like seven years. I was surprised how thrilling it was!
it is a shame that the impulse coasters are starting to disappear. I didn't visit Cedar Point until this summer and by that time Wicked Twister was taken out :(
@@skippythealien9627 Impulse Coasters are quite underrated. It's crazy to think that Wicked Twister went up 200 feet. I miss hearing the music in line. People would freak out because it would sway a lot on windy days in line.
@@ScottyMania313 okay that legit sounds terrifying haha
@@skippythealien9627 It kind of is lol. Steel Vengeance sways even harder because it's like in 5 spots in the queue it seems. This makes Cedar Point the bestest 🥰
The new one built in 2021 gives me hope that we might still see more in the future. Personally, impulse coasters are my favorite shuttle coaster model!
Six Flags Great America used to be my home park, lots of amazing memories their and it will always have a special place in my heart!
Fun facts about SFGAm coasters
-Jim Wintrode (the parks longtime GM) went to USC and made Iron Wolf that color as a tribute to that.
-On Ragin Cajun SF's lawyers deemed Zamperla's programming not safe since the cars could bump, and as a result SF's engineers re-programmed it (and in typcal SF fashion, in a way that made no sense at all). For this reason it never ran more than 5 cars (keep in mind Disney ran 12 on each side of Primeval Whirl).
-Shockwave had an accident which is why it was removed instead of Whizzer. It's not well known since no one was in the seat that got damaged, and the park was easily able to pivot and say that fan feedback saved Whizzer. This is the reason it just randomly closed in the middle of the day one day and never re-opened.
-SFGAm was supposed to get a Mr Freeze clone but it was really unreliable at SFSTL and SFOT, and Jim Wintrode called up B&M at the last moment and said go ahead with our hyper idea.
-There is a wall in Batman's queue (Gotham City Park area) that has a tribute to B&M and Jim Wintrode.
-They did a bunch of programming work to DejaVu in the early part of 2007 so it was closed the first few months, and Mark Shaprio visited the park during that time and said this is the last straw get this thing out of here. So they put it up for sale and Silverwood bought it, but the ironic thing is after it re-opened from its programming work in 2007 it was actually really reliable for the rest of the season while they had already made plans to remove it.
-DejaVu had something really weird with its paint where it had splotches all over it even though it was still a new ride (the same thing happened with Batwing at SFA but not as bad, must have been a Vekoma thing around that time period). The ride was repainted in 2005 to fix that, but then was removed just a couple years later. Look at some pictures of DejaVu 2002-2004 the paint looks ridiculous.
-I'm not sure if it still does this, but for decades Viper's lift would run faster from startup to 10:30am to warm the ride up, but then would slow down to save $ on maintenance cost. The ride is/was definitely better before 10:30.
-If you started a cycle on Fiddlers Fling at the same time you dispatched a train on Iron Wolf, Fiddlers Fling would lose power and shut down and maintenance would have to come reset it. It was a watchdog put on the power supply.
This is all really interesting stuff. Now i gotta find good pics of deja vu
Great America is my home park. Been going there since 1991 when I was just a small tyke. My first coaster was tidal wave! Thanks for the blast to the past with this list. I love it!
Little Dipper was my first ever true non carnival coaster and I rode it all the time at Kiddieland. When Kiddieland was announced to be closing after 81 years of operation, I was devastated but my home park saved a piece of my childhood. Love this park and am grateful for the coaster lineup it has. I love almost every single coaster operating in the park as of 2023 and will be happy to do all of them. 😊
I remember back in 1998 watching the news and seeing that Demon some how stalled on one of the vertical loops, leaving riders stranded upside down for over 2 hours! Crazy, that it is still in operation after all these years.
Maxx Force was such a huge surprise to me. For me it's the best ride in the park. I was blown away after the 2 rides I got. Imo, one of the most underrated and underappreciated coasters.
I agree with you on Raging Bull. That first drop is insane!
Chapter markers for ya
01:00 #23 Z Force
01:49 #22 Gulf Coaster
02:10 #21 Sprocket Rockets
02:36 #20 Iron Wolf
03:14 #19 Little Dipper
03:50 #18 The Joker
04:20 #17 Ragin Cajun
04:50 #16 Shock Wave
05:30 #15 Demon
06:10 #14 Dark Knight
06:43 #13 Flash (Vertical Velocity)
07:14 #12 Rolling Thunder
08:00 #11 The Tidal Wave
08:43 #10 Whizzer
09:20 #9 Batman
10:00 #8 Superman Ultimate Flight
10:33 #7 The American Eagle
11:10 #6 DéjàVu
11:48 #5 Maxx Force
12:25 #4 X Flight
13:00 #3 Viper
13:37 #2 Goliath
14:22 #1 Raging Bull
This was my home park as a kid so this was a great trip down memory lane. I totally forgot about Tidal Wave and Dejavu. Shockwave and Iron Wolf were the coasters that got me hooked on loving coasters. It's been way too long since I've been to this park.
The fact the gulf coaster is better than z force is just crazy
Also 100% accurate!
Better to have 1 season of causing torture than 12 seasons of causing torture
Anything is better than that piece of garbage!
Agreed.
Zforce was definitely a piece of crap and deja Vu was just another piece of crap always with major down time
I remember riding the viper when it opened. Still my favorite
Love the list! As SFGAM is my home park and I’ve been going there since 1979, here are my tweaks to this list. Z Force ranking is spot on. I rode it the month it opened and it was terrible. Iron Wolf however was much smoother when it opened (not smooth but smoother). Deja Vu is way too high because it was rarely open. Rolling Thunder is also way too high. When it was at SFGAM, it had these checkpoints that made you feel like a ball in a pinball machine. Lastly, Batman needs to be much higher. I know it’s been cloned ad nauseam, but it’s so tough to put into perspective just how groundbreaking this coaster was and it still holds up well today.
All fair points and thanks for the Z-Force input. I hated the thing twice relocated but thought MAYBE it was better new
Haven’t been there but looks fun
It is. If you do go there. Raging bull is the best ride there. So go on it last so it can warm up.
So happy my OG home park is featured and a lot of love for Raging Bull
Thank you so much
Dillon
I love having SF Great America as my home park, even though I'm still well over 2 hours away
My home park. Crazy how many strong rides they have. So many different ways to rank the top coasters there.
Nice video! Great America has always been a bucket list park for me. Some great B&Ms, some nice woodies, an awesome looking S&S, and one of the better atmospheres at a six flags park. Zforce doesn’t look like Intamin’s best… the space diver isn’t the best model to say the least.
It’s my home park. I hope you can get down there some day since it’s such a good park
@@bartplays3392 thanks! That’s an awesome home park to have. I may go in the summer, so I’m very excited!
@@coasterconquistador2517 Hopefully you can. MaxxForce, Goliath, and Raging Bull are all so fun
@@bartplays3392 those all look awesome, one of the best top threes anywhere
@@coasterconquistador2517 Yep, they are all great. Wish MaxxForce and Goliath were way longer tho
Iron wolf before it was taken out was a god damned death trap. That thing hurt your joints and your spine
Ah, Shockwave, I miss you so. This ride was a classic to me. In the years it was operating, I guesstimate I rode it over 100+ times. Iron Wolf was decent, and repeatable in its time. I am happy that Raging Bull, Demon, and Viper are still operating to date. Next year, my 1st priority is to revisit my home park again.
As someone who got stuck on the lift hill of iron wolf for 45 minutes i can say that combined with the bruises left on my collarbone make it my least favorite coaster i have ever ridden. You are correct about it being even worse when it was a stand-up
Those bruises probably aren’t as worse as the bump I got when I fractured my collarbone four years ago.
@@DoswarePictures Damn you fractored your collarbone on Iron Wolf? Cant say im super surprised but that sucks.
@@kanklebreaker no, it was a swing set. By the time of my injury, the coaster was about to become Firebird, and I’ve never even been to SFAM despite living closer to it than KD and BGW at the time.
Unless you’re joking.
Tidal Wave was so nostalgic and fun. I loved the wave lights that lit up at night time. I also LOVED Deja Vu. I thought it was such a thrilling coaster, but it was always broken down and had a bad rep because of that. Iron Wolf was okay, but uncomfortable. Shock Wave was rough, and you'd need three Advils after riding that. I love that the Whizzer still holds up after almost 50 years! Hopefully in that year SFGA will add the best coaster to its roster.
DEMON is super chill. It was mine / a lot of people’s first LOOP !! Less intimidating and all the others seem when you’re young.
I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't think i'll ever love a coaster more than Demon, I don't really know what it is about it, but it always keeps me coming back. I don't really mind the roughness as it's easy to avoid, and I really hope it eventually becomes an ACE landmark, though I'd imagine a more historic ride like American Eagle gets it first.
I think both American Eagle and Demon will get it together
I sure hope so
Although Demon helps me appreciate the progress that's been made in design, smooth modern coasters don't have that element of danger.
I LOVE raging bull, it has a clamshell restraint which feels SO secure and yet VERY freeing, I always raise my hands and legs really high in the air the entire ride! I wish other coasters would use this restraint!!
Thanks for putting up a list from my former home park (1995-2019). I have a whole lot of disagreements with you but that's okay and I really like how highly you regard Raging Bull and Viper which too often are overlooked by other enthusiasts. I assume I will be in the minority with my own list:
1. Raging Bull (The greatest element on any ride in the history of this park, is the 1st drop in the back row on Raging Bull. The airtime is so powerful that if feels more like a drop tower than a roller coaster).
2. Goliath
3. Shockwave (I've ranted about my love for this lost coaster probably too often but I will make a few quick points. Firstly this was the only megalooper that never had operating trim brakes. This made a dramatic difference to the ride experience when compared to Great American Scream Machine and Viper---I loved riding both those coasters as well but neither of them were as intense as Shockwave. The speed in which you traversed the first 3 inversions was absolutely insane. Depending on where you sat you could also get ejector airtime from that crazy rising turn into the mid-course. Also the mid-course did not bring you to a complete stop like on the other megaloopers. That extra momentum gave the batwing and corkscrews more punch. Yes it was a rough coaster but everything else about Shockwave was spectacular and it was one of the most beautiful looking coasters I've ever seen).
4. Viper
5. American Eagle
6. Maxx Force
7. Demon
8. Whizzer
9. X-Flight (I would put this higher if not for the vest restraints---this is the only coaster I have ridden where the vest restraints are so bad that they really hurt the ride experience for me).
10. V2 (with the holding break I would place this higher).
11. Batman-The Ride (A great classic ride but why in the hell...did they decide to paint it bright yellow!? For the first 10 years or so of going to Great America, Batman had black track, black supports and dark grey rails and man did it look badass! Now it is straight up ugly. Please repaint this thing Six Flags!).
12. Dark Knight Coaster (You are absolutely correct about the unusually high speed of this wild mouse. I have never ridden a faster wild mouse before and that airtime hill toward the end gives borderline ejector in the back seats).
13. Tidal Wave
14. Deja-Vu (When it was running this was a badass ride and it's really cool to know that it is still operating at another park).
15. Rolling Thunder (I might have put this higher but I just missed my chance to ride it in 1995 so I only have Disaster Transport to compare it to and Disaster Transport was too tame for me---I hear this coaster is wilder but I need to get on more bobsleds to properly rate this one. So I'm just sticking it here for now).
16. Superman: Ultimate Flight (A bland, gimmicky clone that is inferior to the one in Georgia and a huge step down in excitement, height, speed, duration, aesthetic beauty...from Shockwave).
17. Iron Wolf (It was more of an ear-crusher than a ball-crusher but unfortunately this ride was intolerably rough from the first time I rode it in 2000 to the last time in 2011. I was able to come up with simple defensive riding techniques for Demon and Shockwave but nothing I tried worked on Iron Wolf).
18. Little Dipper (Thanks for sharing the story of this small coaster. I'm a big fan of roller coaster preservation and I applaud Six Flags for going out of their way to save this little classic).
18. Sprocket Rockets
19. Gulf Coaster
20. Rajin Cajun (I just hate spinning coasters and each time I rode this it made me nauseous. Even though I hated this ride I'm glad it was saved and relocated along with Iron Wolf, Deja Vu and Rolling Thunder. I'm never one to celebrate demolishing a coaster. The one spinning coaster I would love to try however is Time-Traveler at Silver Dollar City).
21. Joker (I despise this ride model. It's like riding one of those Chance carnival flat rides but on a roller coaster track. I think that was the intention but I hate that type of flat ride and putting it on roller coaster track---even if it is RMC track---does not improve things for me).
Sorry about the length of this comment. I was very nostalgic with my old home park. Thank you again for the upload and despite all my nitpicking I would highly recommend every roller coaster enthusiast visit Six Flags Great America as it has one of the most varied coaster lineups of any park.
I’ve ridden the Batman clone at La ronde and that is one great roller coaster. It is insane that that was the first invert to go upside down.
Thanks for the memories! I visited in 1976 the first year it opened. I remember feeling very nervous waiting in line for Turn of the Century - the hill looked so tall plus the 2 corkscrews at the end were intimidating. I love the Whizzer! The setting is perfect with all the trees and over-the water moments.
Raging Bull is elite and so are the ops! I’ve never seen such hustle at a Six Flags park. I got a row 8 ride and it’s not the same. Row 9 is where it’s at.
I remember one time I was there they were really pushing for 30 second dispatches
It's no Cedar Point or Busch Gardens, but it's my home park and we've always had a solid lineup! I've been on all these coasters (even the ones that were removed) and loved them all except for Iron Wolf. I just went on it every year because I hated leaving without getting on every single one before closing. And I remember Batman during it's premiere and the LINES to get on! It was so buttery smooth during it's first 5 or so years. Love my home park! Also, much love for Whizzer! Love that coaster!
I love this park, personally more than cedar point. Rb and Goliath are top tier, ae is underrated aswell as viper. Batman is super intense. And xflight is good, re using both the name from geauga lake and a former air traffic controll tower from ohaire airport
Shockwave was my first coaster and at this point, the only thing I remember from it is constant head-banging. Between it and Iron Wolf, give me IW every time, which really wasn't bad before the relocation as long as you're not predisposed to hating all traditional B&M standups.
My home park. Never been on dejavu as it was always down. Shockwave was scrapped, and one of the corkscrews was used to replace one on demon since the nearby waterfall rusted it. Last time I went there I queued for little dipper, and all the kids were too scared to be in front. So they had to deal with 2 adults in front of them.
my home park❤ The whizzer is so important as it was many people’s first rollercoaster as kids. sitting in our parent’s lap essentially. I did the same for my son as my family did for me and my grandparents did for them so im so glad that they kept it.
Alpine Bobsled (Rolling Thunder) is sadly heading to the scrap pile after this September 4th 2023. Great escape is my hometown park and I remember when it was installed in 1998. Its really very sad because of how rare of a coster it is. It was only a matter of time because Six Flags seems to hate this park and let this ride and other rides fall apart. Back in the day they would run multiple sleds on the track and fill them. Now when it "runs" only one car is on the track at a time with the back row empty. That extra weight in the back would give this thing a boost of speed.
Just a light rain and the thing would be shut down for the day.
The ride is unique and gives a feeling of being uncontrollable, also you always knew when it was running because the boom from the sleds could he heard throughout the park.
Im sure more carnival rides or water slides will be put in its place or a joker which personally I don't care for.
With only 6 coster at this park, the bobsled was #2 in my book and could have been #1 if they actually spent money on it.
Sad to see this type of coaster disappear.
shockwave had been my parents favorite, as well as their friends’. i myself never was able to ride it, but based on how much they raved about it and how much they rode it when they had gone to the parks makes me wish i had.
one comment about dark knight in my experience though, my back hurt for a few hours after that ride. if you dislike jerky rides, do not go on it haha
on the back of the seats, there is also a part that bulges out a little bit. my shoulder blades were right on the edges of them, which also made for a pretty uncomfortable ride. i do enjoy the theming though!
I also like Viper more than the original Cyclone. Goliath is my favorite at the park. I do actually like B&M hypers, just not as much as other people do. Raging Bull's first drop in the back is awesome, and I do rank it ahead of Maxx Force. X Flight is still my # 2 at the park, as I'm a sucker for wing coasters.
You should do a video where You should do a video we’re you do every stand up coaster past or present by the Numbers, and in that video rank every stand up you have ridden.
Heck yea. My home park. Wild that they had the first B&M ever, and the first B&M invert Batman.
Demon is fantastic.
Also Iron Wolf was awesome and featured in the “Richie Rich” movie.
The Maxx Force launch is in fact no joke. I browned out. I basically spent the whole ride trying to recover from the launch. Good ride.
Everyone who actually rode it (and kept their head against the headrest) would rate Shockwave at no.1. there's nothing quite like the rush of an Aero Looper going 65+ mph. Haven't been back since they tore it down. Raging bull is a close second because it's fun screaming with 3 other people next to you.
I love having Great America as my home park.
samee
I grew up at this park. Now I’m a Floridian so I’m spoiled with velosicoaster , but this video makes me so nostalgic and happy
Shockwave was rough. Hard on your neck. "Shockwave was plagued with some operational issues throughout its lifetime. Due to the speed and stress from the train negotiating the first vertical loop, a track fracture developed and needed attention on a regular basis in order to remain safe for operation. The wheels for the ride were expensive and wore out quickly according to ride operators, which required a vigilant crew and frequent 10-15 minute closures for maintenance staff to be dispatched to change them out. Shockwave also gained a reputation as a rough ride. A sharp turn located after the third vertical loop and before the mid-course brake run was most notable, often resulting in unprepared riders smashing their heads on the restraints."
Yes I love taking family trips to the Theme Park during my childhood but now my absolute favorite ride there is Goliath or raging Bull those two rides are so good in so many ways and my childhood favorite roller coaster there was the wizard
my ranking as someone who has a season pass and goes almost weekly:
1. Goliath - best drop at the park
2. Raging bull - nice fun drop and long ride
3. Viper - so chill and small fun drops
4. Maxx force - short but good, always has the longest line
5. V2 (the flash) - gives good drops, but super loud when waiting in the line
6. Superman - it’s so fun when you go through the loop because it feels like your just laying down but moving (idk how to describe it)
7. American Eagle - it’s loud and creaky but the drop is super fun and it’s a long ride, be prepared for the long walk to the line once you enter, the line is never really terrible
8. X-flight - it could have a better drop but overall it’s so fun, i wish the restraints didn’t tighten so much because i have trouble moving and it gets uncomfortable
9. The Dark Knight - line isn’t horrible, line is inside so it’s a good ride to go on during a bad weather day, lots of fun sharp turns, small drops, and scenery
8. Joker - this ride always scares the hell out of me for some reason, always at LEAST a 15-30 minute wait, you get a different ride every time, i barely go on it since the line is always bad
9. Batman - one of my first actual rides i went on here and it’s great, your head gets banged around a lot though.
side note: i don’t think i can rate demon properly - i have only been on it once and that was when i was really little and i ended up throwing up after, my friends won’t go on it with me now because they say it gives them whiplash
other rides that aren’t mentioned but i enjoy -
1. Aquaman - this is a super fun water ride to help you cool down on a hot day, be prepared to get soaking, there’s a decent drop where you get splashed with water, crazy long line though, me and friends usually try to dry off by going on the DC Swings
2. Giant Drop - although this isn’t a roller coaster it’s a HUGE drop and it’s so fun
i hope you guys liked my review!
Shockwave was great, although it did bounce around a lot. Demon is also great for kids, and Sprocket Rocket for younger kids. It's really nice that the part has good stuff for a wide range of ages.
Raging Bull being #1 makes this list legit. It's my favorite coaster ever. Shockwave was my first big coaster I rode. It was so jerky, I called it whiplash. I would've ranked Batman higher. Top 5 to me. I've ridden 17 out of the 23.
My home park! I love it and its history. I'm so excited to watch this, thank you for making this
I used to go to Great America as a teen all the time. My friends and I always got season passes. It seemed that Deja vu was always closed when we were there.
This was my home park and seeing an inside out perspective is really cool. Pretty much agree with you on all the ranks i just have a special place for Superman and Batman since I haven’t rode any of the others around the country. Little Dipper was my first ever ride and this park brings back great memories. Great list.
I’ve greyed-out while riding Goliath twice now. Love it. 😂
Iron Wolf (Standup) was insanely fun, con confirm a small headache 🥲
My favorite roller coaster there is Goliath followed by X-Flight, Raging Bull, American Eagle, Whizzer, Superman: Ultimate Flight, Batman: The Ride, Vertical Velocity, The Dark Knight Coaster, Demon and Joker. I am going back there this summer and I can't wait to try Maxx Force and Viper for the first time.
Goliath is an intense ride beginning to end. One of my favorites
Just had Surgery I appreciate the video to give me something to watch.
Shockwave is way too low. It was rough (and i was much younger back then), but it was a fun ride. It towered over the parking lot as you drove in. Much more interesting and no more rough than Demon.
crazy, I had no idea Little Dipper was a thing until this vid
Iron Wolf was always rough, had to glue your head to that headrest. Raging Cajun was very solid. Rolling Thunder had a great chaotic feel. My favorite Superman UF was a night time annual pass holder lights off ride on a night with a full moon.
I visited this park last summer and it was great Maxx force Goliath and raging bull all we're great
Growing up in the pb&j's-and-warm-kool-aid-out-in-the-parking-lot set, visits to Six Flags were few and far between. I really liked Willard's Whizzer, not because it was the most fun to ride, but because I could get to ride it 10-15 times as opposed to 2-3 times for the more popular rides with hour long lines. Then spend my lawnmowing $ at the shooting gallery and skee-ball to win tickets to redeem for a penny in a tiny glass bottle and a kitty piggy bank (1979) or a Van Halen mirror and a fish that died on the way home (1985)
The original IRON WOLF. Standing up… 🐺 was HORRIBLE!! Everyone knew that you were guaranteed a decent amount of whiplash and a good headache after that ride.
Viper and V2 were my favorites from my visit in ‘05. I loved the speed and layout of Viper. I didn’t care for Raging Bull, but I enjoyed Ragin Cajun.
I think I’ll go back in ‘25 to mark 20 years since my 1st visit. SFNE and SFWoA were once my favorite chains in the park. SFGAdv was my home park at the time. This was my last favorite.
I like the demon because there is usually no line and sitting in the back the first drop is really good.
SFGAm is my home park so I'll share my rankings for anyone who cares. My first visit was in 2006 at 7 years old when I was still scared to ride some of the bigger rides so Deja Vu is not included as well as some obvious rides like Shockwave, Tidal Wave, Rolling Thunder, and Z-Force. Junior coasters will also not be included as I don't think they can be judged fairly.
1. Raging Bull
2. Goliath
3. Batman (the original and the best)
4. Viper
5. Maxx Force
6. X-Flight
7. Superman
8. V2
9. Joker
10. Eagle (prefer red over blue)
11. Whizzer
12. Iron Wolf (removed)
13. Dark Knight
14. Demon
15. Ragin' Cajun (removed)
I really wish I could have rode Shockwave. I'm Canadian and I was one year old when this coaster was decommissioned so there's no way I ever could have ridden it but there's something very intriguing to me about this specific coaster for some reason. I should ride Viper before it's too late. In RCT2 I change the colors and name of Great American Scream Machine to be like Shockwave. It's a great looking ride, the colors are awesome and make me think of a sour slurpee. Something about this coaster that was made before computers designed rides, made in a decade of excess and consumption that got people to line up yet caused discomfort. I clicked on this video specifically because I wanted to see how Shockwave placed. I should visit Great America to see the gravestone during Halloween to pay my respects. Also I think Shockwave is an awesome name for a ride! The logo is awesome too, I wish they made shirts or something.
Yeah i bet if you get to ride Viper youll get the jist of what Shockwave used to be
@@AirtimeThrills yeah! And they took the cars from Great American Scream Machine and Shockwave and put them on Viper so there's a chance I'll still be with a piece of the ride.
Viper and Goliath ranked above x-flight, max force and Superman? I think you’ve lost your mind! We just made the trek from Dallas and have to say that Goliath was so disappointing after being hyped up from this video. Viper was really good but not THAT good. Now, I do agree about Raging Bull. Ok, flying coasters and wing coasters are new to us and may be a novelty but I rank those higher. I appreciate your content!
Gotta love the T-Mobile theme on X-Flight
Raging Bull is the first B&M to go over 200 feet, and the oldest hyper of theirs not to kill a pigeon. Or a goose, whatever it was.
The goose didnt stand a chance against Fabios face
for the iron wolf, You sat on a bicycle seat and ya there was definitely head banging, not as bad as the Demon
SFGAm is my home park, and having XFlight ahead of Maxx Force is criminal lol 😂
Shockwave was my first big coaster back in 2000 and it was ok but was very rough the next and last year. Iron Wolf was the worst B&M so you didn't miss anything with the stand-up trains
I've been waiting for this one! My home park!
I call the Joker the concussion maker. I rode it only once and will never ride it again. The way it moves forces your head forward and then slams it back.
Was just looking for a video to eat dinner to! Thanks!
Vertical velocity is criminally underrated
From like 2008-2017 we would go almost everyday abusing the meal pass before they changed it, sometimes going just to eat(basically free by then), walk a bit then leave, sometime not even going on a ride.
Loved the whizzer, raging bull, V2(flash), superman, xflight, and goliath. Hated the demon cuz my brain would be banged-up if i didnt force my head to the right-side during the corkscrew.
This was my 1st job too, working culinary in the southwest territory and demon funnels cake😊
I also used to go to six flags on the weekends just to walk around and get food. You are not alone there
Does anyone remember the Turn of the Century roller coaster Before they changed it into The Demon??? The year they built the Eagle. 1976-1977?. The Shock Wave would give you Cauliflower Ear from the jerking. God help you if you had an earring in!!!
The funny thing is I have been on 20 of these coasters at Six Flags Great America, and I have ridden Deja Vu as Aftershock at Silverwood, and hopefully I will ride Ragin Cajin this year at Six Flags America. That only leaves the kiddie coaster from 1976 as the only one I have not ridden. Also fun fact, Demon was originally called Turn of the Century and didn't have the loops. Anyways here are my rankings of the 21 coasters (Counting AfterShock) that I've ridden:
1. Goliath
2. Aftershock (Silverwood)
3. Maxx Force
4. Raging Bull
5. Viper
6. Batman the Ride
7. American Eagle
8. X-Flight
9. Superman Ultimate Flight
10. Shockwave
11. Vertical Velocity
12. Joker
13. Z Force
14. Tidal Wave
15. Whizzer
16. Iron Wolf
17. Rolling Thunder
18. Little Dipper
19. Dark Knight
20. Demon
21. Sprocket Rocket.
I think Demon would place higher based on old rides that I got, but recently it has not been enjoyable. I think I got a bad ride on Dark Knight and that coaster should probably be higher. Z Force was much better received while at the park than Iron Wolf. I remember enjoying Z Force as a kid, but not liking Iron Wolf all that much.
We found the one Z Force fan lol
@@AirtimeThrills you have to remember I rode it as a kid in Chicago before it got moved. The moving it and different conditions probably had some impact. Anyway you slice it is was better than iron wolf
My park. Never got to ride Shockwave but your list seems on point. I think you could make the case Goliath tops Raging Bull too
I just think Goliath is a lower tier rmc while bull is an upper tier hyper. But thats my weird opinion
Great video!
The Edge??? The Tidal Wave??? Went on class trip in 1981. ATM Withdrawal fee was $4.00 when it was less that a dollar anywhere else. Pack of cigs was fifty-five cents cost $4.09 from an old pull knob vending machine. Canada's Export A's was $5.00 a pack from vending machine.