Welcome To Screamscape!

SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA
Chicago, Illinois
Six Flags Theme Parks

Park News - (1/11/22) Unfortunate news has come from Six Flags Great America this week as it was reported that Park President, Hank Salemi, has passed away. Hank had served as the Park President for that park since 2006 and will be dearly missed.

2022 - The Flash / DC Universe - (3/25/22) Six Flags Great America has confirmed that the DC UNIVERSE is coming to the park this season as “an exciting, newly themed section of the park where guests can immerse themselves inside a DC comic book-inspired world.”
    DC UNIVERSE will take over the space formerly known as Yankee Harbor and be home to three “reimagined attractions:
THE FLASH: Vertical Velocity - formerly V2: Vertical Velocity
AQUAMAN Splashdown - formerly the Yankee Clipper flume ride
DC Super-Villains Swing - formerly the Whirligig (wave swinger)
    DC UNIVERSE will also incorporate the existing Batman: The Ride and The Joker roller coasters. There will be several DC UNIVERSE themed places to grab snacks in the land as well such as the new Steelworks Pub (with beer garden and patio), Gotham City Snacks, Central City Snacks and Captain Cold Ice Cream.

 
    (3/12/22) So what’s new at Six Flags Great America this year? Apparently the park is trying to tease something and leaked out a link on social media to a new page on the site that they were having “technical difficulties” with, which mentions a pending “New for 2022” announcement.
    They also dropped a couple of fun clues… the first being a set of GPS coordinates (42.367874, -87.932719) that lead right to a park pathway in front of the park’s V2: Vertical Velocity coaster in what’s left of the Yankee Harbor area of the park.
    The second clue isn’t as obvious, but was labeled as “Theme 1[RAL 1023,3002]”. RAL is actually a paint color code system, with RAL 1023 being listed a “Traffic Yellow” and RAL 3002 is “Carmine Red”. Put them together and you end up with the colors of DC hero, The Flash, and V2 was spotted getting repainted in these very colors late last year. So as we speculated at the time, it seems clear V2 is getting a quick retheme to become themed to The Flash, much like how V2 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was rebranded as, “The Flash: Vertical Velocity” prior to the pandemic along with the addition of the “DC Universe” name therel.
    DC Universe you say? Yes, it looks like a “DC Universe” was also confirmed for SFGAm in 2022 in the Six Flags annual report last month: “DC Universe, a newly themed area featuring three reimagined attractions at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL)”. So beyond V2 becoming The Flash, what might the other two rethemed attractions be? 
    Looking around what’s left of Yankee Harbor, it was noted that the nearby Whirligig ride (wave swinger) had been completely removed during Holiday In The Park. In the past we’ve seen Six Flags re-theme a couple of these into Batman rogues’ gallery themed, “Gotham City Crime Wave” attractions at Six Flags over Georgia and SF New England. At SF Fiesta Texas, they transformed their version into the DC Super-Villains Swing with the same concept, but a broader category of villains to choose from. With the placement of the Whirligig between Batman: The Ride, a Gotham City Arcade, and the pending arrival of The Flash next door either theme would certainly be fitting. Or just for fun they could go for an all Flash themed Rogues Gallery (Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Reverse Flash, etc…)
    After that, and correct me if I’m wrong, but the only remaining Yankee Harbor ride left would be the Yankee Clipper flume. It wouldn’t be beyond Six Flags to just drop an Aquaman name on it out of the blue. As I recall they did just that to the old Splashdown Falls ride at Six Flags over Texas in 2007 with a quick name change to Aquaman Splashdown and the addition of some new signs and an Aquaman statue in the splashdown pool. Of course Aquaman Splashdown will finally reopen in Texas, transformed into the new Aquaman; Power Wave later this year (but that’s another story…) but I do wonder what happened to that old Aquaman statue they once had in Texas?
    For decades the Six Flags playbook has often been to use the name and theme of whatever DC films were expected to hit theaters over the coming year for a little free cross-promotion. While Six Flags can’t use the actual “theme” of the film or TV versions, they can use the classic comic-book versions. While the latest Batman film has already hit theaters, DC did just re-schedule a number of their DC films that just previously had been promoted for release in 2022, including Aquaman 2, Black Adam, The Flash and Shazam 2.
    These latest changes have pushed back Aquaman 2 from Dec. 2022 to March 17, 2023, and The Flash from Nov. 2022 to June 23, 2023. Black Adam was just pushed back from July 2022 to Oct. 21, 2022, and Shazam 2 (Fury of the Gods) was actually moved up from Mid-2023 to Dec. 16, 2022. With a Black Adam / Shazam 2 combo now on the books to finish out the year, I can’t help but think one or both of those character themes could be put to use in the new DC Universe. Perhaps an all new theme for the Whirligig?
 
    (10/16/21) As you can see in the latest photos sent in to Screamscape, what we assume is intended to be a “Flash” themed repainting of V2: Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great America is going swiftly. With most of the station, track and supports all now sporting the new Red / Yellow color scheme.
 
    (9/22/21) The repainting of V2 at Six Flags Great America has begun! One of our readers has sent in some new pictures from the park where you can see the new colors start to appear on the station and even the twisted spike.
 
    (9/12/21) Interesting news from Six Flags Great America today, as a guest to the park confirmed that Vertical Velocity is now listed as being closed for the rest of the season. The big logo for the ride has also been removed as well, but before you think they might remove the coaster, the sign out front teases a new idea entirely. According to the sign, “V2 is closed for the rest of the season… will be back in a flash in 2022”.
    The obvious hint they seem to be getting at is that Vertical Velocity  may be returning next season with a new name and theme, based around The Flash character from DC Comics. This wouldn’t be the first time Six Flags has done this, as V2 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was also re-branded as “The Flash: Vertical Velocity” in 2019 and repainted to have yellow supports and red track. This was also part of an area wide re-branding, as the nearby area also contains a lot of DC character related rides, so it was officially relabeled as the DC Universe area of the park.
    While I don’t know if a “DC Universe” is in the cards for Six Flags Great America, it is worth noting that Batman: The Ride and The Joker roller coasters are located fairly close to V2, so either way the rethemeing of the ride will make sense. The park will also get a little free marketing from the switch from Warner Bros, who will be promoting a Flash feature-film set currently to hit theaters in November 2022.