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SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA
Chicago, Illinois
Six Flags Theme Parks
 Park News - (12/1/2024) Over the past few years we’ve seen Six Flags install solar panel structures in the park’s lots of Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, SF Great Adventure and SF Magic Mountain, and now it looks like SIx Flags Great America could be next. According to a local news update the Gurnee Village Planning / Zoning Board gave a unanimous recommendation to approve a building request by the park to install about 40 of the solar energy generating shade structures in the theme park’s parking lot. The Village Board will still have to give their final approval before Six Flags can move forward, but with the successful installation of the units at three other theme parks so far, I’d be surprised if they were rejected.
(9/5/2024) As expected, Six Flags Great America has now officially posted their very own Chaperone Policy that will go into effect for Fright Fest night events. All guests age 15 and under will not be allowed to remain inside the theme park after 5pm unless accompanied by a guardian at least 21 years old. Those found to be without a guardian will be ejected from the park at that time.
(9/2/2024) If I’m not mistaken, currently Six Flags Great America remains the only mainline Six Flags theme park that has not yet confirmed that they will be adding a Chaperone Policy during Fright Fest this year, preventing guests age 15 and under from being in the park without an official chaperone age 21 or order with them.
This is a bit strange, as many would have assumed that SFGAm would have been one of the first parks to put such a policy in place, given the park’s history of previous after-dark security incidents. At this point, it is likely only a matter of days (or hours) before the park confirms this well, so plan your visit accordingly if you want to visit Fright Fest this season.
(1/15/2024) According to information given at the ACE No Coaster Con event, Six Flags Great America has a few interesting off-season projects they’re working on. The list includes retracking on the Viper wooden coaster, work on the lifts for Joker and American Eagle, and Whizzer is getting a new control system. Elsewhere, Condor is planned to reopen this season and the Crazy Bus will also be getting a major rehab.
Elsewhere in the park, there are plans to renovate the park’s front gate (inside and out), new landscaping to the Carousel Plaza, new brickwork outside Sticky Fingers, and in the County Fair the removal of the Kidzopolis ship, Revolution, American Eagle/DDD portal and the basketball game.
2024 - Sky Striker - (7/1/2024) Six Flags Great America has now opened their new Sky Striker ride, a Zamperla Discovery Giga 40 pendulum ride. Zamperla described the ride as an experience where “riders are launched skyward, they will feel a surge of excitement from soaring high into the sky. The pendulum's back-and-forth motion creates a sense of vertigo, while reaching incredible heights induces an unparalleled freefall sensation.”
According to Six Flags Great America Park President, John Krajnak, “We are thrilled to introduce Sky Striker to our world-class lineup of attractions here at Six Flags Great America”. “Our ongoing relationship with Zamperla has been instrumental in bringing
innovative and exhilarating attractions to our guests. The addition of Sky Striker not
only exemplifies the quality and excitement that Zamperla attractions are known for,
but also reinforces our commitment to delivering unforgettable experiences to our
guests.”
(6/14/2024) Local media thrill ride aficionado, Marcus Leshock, takes the new Sky Striker ride at Six Flags Great America for a test spin in the video clip below. At this time, the park has not set an official opening day for the new ride, but I can’t imagine it will be too long from now if they are testing with live media broadcasters. From the look of the site in the video, it may just come down to finishing up the entrance and queue areas before they can open.
(8/30/2023) Six Flags Great America’s website has confirmed that Sky Striker is coming in 2024. As many predicted, this will be a new Zamperla Giant Discovery, a 172 foot tall spinning pendulum ride that will swing guests back and forth at speeds up to 75 mph.
2025 - Wrath of Rakshasa - (12/4/2024) Wrath of Rakshasa has now gone vertical with the installation of roller coaster track on site.
(11/27/2024) Some new images of the track and supports for the Wrath of Rakshasa coaster at Six Flags Great America have been posted sitting on-site at the park.
(10/6/2024) A construction update showing off aerial footage of Six Flags Great America has been posted by Chicago Coaster for the Wrath of Rakshasa project.
(9/27/2024) While it isn’t as impressive as the arrival of the first pieces of track, Six Flags Great America has confirmed that the giant “caissons” used to create the massive concrete footers needed to Wrath of Rakshasa, have now arrived at the park.
Meanwhile, Screamscape has also been told that with the construction and site clearing for Wrath of Rakshasa now progressing, it appears as if the park has opted to close Demon for the rest of the season. According to one report sent in, clearing around the entrance to Demon has started and it appeared as if the trains may have also been removed from the storage tracks.
(9/6/2024) New progress is taking place at Six Flags Great America as they continue to clear the site for the new Wrath of Rakshasa. According to the video below from Chicago Coaster Guy a games building in the area has now been demolished for the new ride. Other changes noticed in the park include the removal of lockers outside Demon, footers from an old ropes course have been removed and more.
(8/31/2024) Special thanks to the Chicago Coaster Guy for posting a construction update for the new Wrath of Rakshasa roller coaster. It’s a bit early to see much, but the views here are taken with an aerial drone cam, giving us a unique point of view of where all the action will be taking place over the next several months.
(8/17/2024) As anticipated, Wrath of Rakshasa was unveiled this week, confirming our suspicions that it was indeed a B&M Dive Coaster. The good news is that this isn’t just a copy of Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger, but rather an even bigger model that will stand 180 feet tall, feature a 171 foot first drop taken at a beyond-vertical angle of 96º, leading you into a twisted layout that will feature a record-breaking 5 inversions on a Dive Coaster., hitting a top speed of 67-mph along with 3,239 feet of track.
Much like Dr. Diabolical at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, this will be another 7-across Dive Coaster model, and it will pack a lot of thrills into a very compact layout. Unlike Dr. Diabolical however, Wrath of Rakshasa will do it all without a mid-course brake-run, which means you’ll get to keep all that speed you generated from the first drop throughout the entire course and 5 inversions.
Layout wise, this looks like a superb addition to the park, which has been waiting a long time for another super-star level coaster to be added to the lineup. As for the records-claims, some of those are really a bit of marketing trickery that needs some explanation. For example, the “World’s Steepest Drop” at 96º isn’t even close to being true, except this is the steeped drop ever built on a B&M Dive Coaster, as the previous two built (Oron Menance and Dr. Diabolical) were 95º, and prior to that B&M only built 90º drops, going back to day-one on Oblivion which only had a 87.5º drop. When it comes to World’s Steepest Drop however, there are coasters that have it beat by quite a bit, with TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe (New Jersey) currently holding the record with a 121.5º first drop on a Gerstlauer made Euro-Fighter coaster. When it comes to steepest drop on a coaster, unfortunately Wrath of Rakshasa doesn’t even enter into the Top 10. Most Inversions follows through the same loop-hole of logic, as 5 inversion is actually the most on a B&M made Dive Coaster / Dive Machine, there are ride sfrom other manufacturers out there that feature vertical and beyond-vertical first drops with more inversions. The afore-mentioned TMNT Shellrasier features 7-inversions, though the first half of the ride features a launch-track and several inversions become coming to the vertical lift-hill and beyond-vertical drop and more inversions. So if you want to compare something that is more like Wrath of Rakshasa, then you’ve got HangTime at Knott’s Berry Farm built in 2018, a Gerstlauer made infinity coaster, with a 96º first-drop and 5 inversions, though it is shorter in height and length than Wrath of Rakshasa. However Gestlauer’s has an even bigger Infinity coasters called Monster at Adventureland that has 5 inversions and a 101º first drop.
Again, Wrath of Rakshasa is bigger, longer and taller than these others with beyond-vertical drops and large inversion-counts, but there are also plenty of other B&M Dive Coasters that are taller than 200 feet, with Yukon Striker (Canada’s Wonderland) and Valraven (Cedar Point) holding the record for tallest Dive Coaster at 223 feet, with Yukon taking a lead with a 245 foot first drop (through an under-ground tunnel), but only at 90º and with slightly less inversions.
What I do appreciate is that Six Flags is finally moving away from cookie-cutter designs, and allowing their parks to create fantastic coasters with unique themes as well as unique layouts. Now I’m just hoping that Six Flags Great America will add some cool theming to the queue for this new demonic themed roller coaster to make it suitably creepy.
(8/9/2024) We won't have much longer to wait to find out what Six Flags Great America has in store for the 2025 season, as the latest teaser indicates that everything will be revealed on August 15th. This is also the same day that Six Flags New England will reveal their own roller coaster plans as well.
(7/28/2024) More interesting developments have come to light regarding the 2025 plans for Six Flags Great America. For starters, while the first teaser posted was near the former location of the removed Mardi Gras Hangover ride, a new banner is in the park very close to The Demon that has the same demon eyes as the on-line teaser, along with the text “SHEDDING SKIN” and a QR code in the lower right corner.
The photo isn’t clear enough to scan the QR code, but the post says that it leads to a wordle that spells the word “DEMON”. So as I was previously speculating, it does seem that something involving The Demon is definitely involved for the 2025 park plans. The more interesting thing about this section of the park is that the long closed Buccaneer Bay ride is right across the pathway from The Demon, and behind that lies a closed go-kart track that could be combined to make a good sized plot for future development.
Looking deeper into this new banner, look at the right eyes in the artwork and there is a strange symbol within the eye. Running it through Google Lens identified it as the letter “SA” from a Hindi script writing system called Devanagari used in the Republic of India and Nepal. As you may recall, “SA” were also the capital letters in the first teaser posted online.
The mystery doesn’t end here… in fact the park seems to be screaming for everyone to take notice that they are up to something, as another very odd sign has been added to the park that simply says, “CAUTION” and “THIS IS A MYSTERIOUS SIGN”.
So yes… we see you Six Flags… and we’re ready to play the game.
(7/27/2024) Another teaser about the rumored “Wrath” coaster project has been posted to social media, with the message “it lieS thRougH the demonS eyeS”, giving us a few more capital letters clues… “SRHSS”.
While I’m not quite sure what to make of the letters at this point, one interesting item is that it might be making a reference about The Demon roller coaster. Since the current New Orleans project area and The Demon lie on opposite sides of the park, don’t for a second start thinking that this new ride will touch at both points. However, the Demon has been getting some attention over the past year.
Demon was closed for most of the 2023 season when the park decided it was time to take down the themed rock-work that was built up around the coaster’s two vertical loops, just before it enters the tunnel. When The Demon reopened during Fright Fest last year fans noted that the ride experience had improved from the refurbishment, and the lighting effects around the tunnel and surrounding area had been improved, giving off some very creepy red lit nighttime vibes. A very quiet rumor was sent to me at the time that a more long-term plan was being proposed that could enhance The Demon experience further in the years to come, so perhaps we may see more changes made to The Demon for 2025 along with The Wrath project. With Fright Fest not too far away, it wouldn’t be too crazy to think that the park may be planning to drop some 2025 teasers for Wrath in the area around The Demon as well, so maybe keep an eye out in front of the Demon logo, where the glowing eyes look out from the dark tunnel, because the eyes in that video teaser sure do look like The Demon’s glowing eyes.
(7/25/2024) While we really don’t know much yet about what is planned for Six Flags Great America, the fact that they started teasing a 2025 attraction so soon compared to other parks is usually an indication that it may be a larger project, such as a roller coaster.
What I like to call a “wild rumor” was just sent in that does tick off a few boxes, but as of yet I’ve not been able to verify anything with any other sources, so please do take this particular rumor with a large grain of salt until we can find out more. According to the claim, The Wrath of Rakshasa might actually end up being a clone (or near clone) of Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger from Six Flags Fiesta Texas. If you are not familiar, Dr. Diabolical is a B&M Dive Machine coaster with a unique 7-across seating configuration. As for that “SA” hint in the previous teaser, if this holds true, then the SA may have simply been a hint about San Antonio, the location of the Fiesta Texas park.
Currently the park’s Rapids ride is said to be closed for the rest of the year, and we may end up seeing the new Wrath of Rakshasa coaster built to fly over the top of the rapids area in order to fit it into this section of the park.
(7/19/2024) Six Flags Great America has begun to post some teasers about their plans for the 2025 season. While there isn’t much to go on, they go include the tagline, #FearTheWrath, along with the message “Something iS coming, just wAit”. You’ll note that the extra capital letters “S” and “A” are on purpose and not a mistake. Some have taken this to perhaps be an abbreviation for perhaps something that S-A could stand for, and others say we should also include the first S as well, giving us SSA. Of course in the amusement biz, if you see “”SS” the first thing that comes to mind is S&S the ride company, known officially now as S&S Worldwide or S&S - Sansei Technologies. Of course, this may clearly be assuming far too much at this point.
What is more interesting is we think we’ve got a clue on the theming and location of the attraction as well. In the park a teaser banner was put up at the site of the former Mardi Gras Hangover ride that says ‘Looks Can Be Deceiving” and has the same #FearTheWrath hashtag.
Meanwhile a Screamscape reader uncovered a new Six Flags trademarking filing for the name, “Wrath of Rakshasa”. Raksha-whata? I’m glad you asked… because Rakshasa are a race of demon-like creatures from Hindu mythology. They are more powerful at night than during the day, have been known to eat humans, shapeshift to lure in prey and so on. Just nasty buggers in general, you wouldn’t want to meet one on the park midway alone at night, that’s for sure.
It is worth mentioning that the New Orleans / Mardi Gras section of the park has pretty much removed all previously themed attractions, with only the Big Easy Balloons remaining, along with the nearby Roaring Rapids, so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that the Rapids and this section of the park would be getting a new theme to go along with the new attraction. Though an attraction themed to flesh-eating Hindu demons sounds more like a killer dark ride idea than anything else, but we’ll have to wait for the next clue.
2026 - 50th Anniversary Celebration / New Kids Area - (11/14/2024) A press release from Six Flags today confirmed that the company is planning to spend over $1 BILLION on the parks over the next two years. Some of this will come in the form of enhancements to the guest experience, such as new themed areas, dining upgrades and technology enhancements. While we’ve seen the 2025 capital projects ($500 million) already announced, they decided to post a list of teasers of what they are already confirming will come to some of the parks in 2026 as part of another $525 million capital investment plan.
Six Flags Great America was mentioned as 2026 serving as a celebration of the park’s 50th Anniversary and ‘debuting a new kids’ area, commemorative events and park enhancements”.
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