X-Flight is a wing-rider coaster with a three-minute ride featuring water jets, fog machines and a vertical flip through a tower. more ›

The Daily Herald attempted to tackle the question posed in the headline, and sent reporter Lee Filas heading north up I-94 to Gurnee Friday to figure it out. And guess what? As Robb Alvey, creator of Theme Park Review -- a group of coaster nuts on a whirlwind amusement park tour -- told Filas, "It really depends on who you ask." more ›

When spring arrives, the empty field between Batman: The Ride and the Bugs Bunny National Park at Six Flags in Gurnee will become the new home of The Little Dipper, a 61-year-old roller coaster that survived the demise of Kiddieland last September. The process of transporting the wooden coaster to Six Flags Great America is being carried out behind closed doors, with mechanics like Andy Adams checking and replacing parts on the original coaster that was built for the Kiddieland amusement park in 1949. more ›

Over 10,000 students from Illinois, Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan bussed their way to Six Flags Great America for the annual physics day in which high school students pretend to learn about velocity and actually play on rides all day. We kid. Students actually learn a lot about how "stuff" works based on a curriculum by Nathan Unterman, a Glenbrook North High School science teacher who also wrote the book, Amusement Park Physics, which we love. Because if you're going to have to figure out the amplitude of a driven oscillation, you might as well have fun vom-ing on Raging Bull while doing so. [S-T, photo by Hendricks Photos] more ›

Thank the Lord. Six Flags Great America is going to expand its sales of hard liquor this summer. Man, we were worried that not enough people were getting sick, acting the fool and being generally lame at Great America. Now they will have plenty more ammunition to fuel their fire. more ›

We know you're so excited to ride that new Superman roller coaster at Six Flags Great America that you're hopping around like a little girl about to pee in her pants. But would you eat a 3-inch long hissing cockroach to get through the line faster? As part of their annual "Fright Fest" Halloween promotion, Six Flags will allow anyone who eats a live Madagascar hissing cockroach to skip to the front of the line.... more ›

You know what is more fun than standing in the hot sun for three hours to ride a rollercoaster or water slide that takes a minute or less to get through? Pretty much everything. We realize that not everyone shares our hatred for theme parks like Six Flags Great America and the Dells, and that’s all well and good. But what if we told you their rides were also death traps? more ›

Chicagoist hasn't been to Six Flags Great America for years, but we used to love to go and remember the last time we went (1999?) we thought it was really expensive. Great America opened for the season on Saturday, and we were shocked to read that the price for a single adult admission (anyone over 54 inches) is now $54.99. For one day! Holy shit! And that doesn't include the cost of gas to get up there or soda or anything to eat or a wacky souvenir Bugs Bunny tshirt. Not to mention that the price of parking also went up this season. It's now $15 to park for the day. more ›

Thrill-seekers looking for a good time at Six Flags Great America yesterday got disappointment instead, after a series of power outages shuttered the park for more than two hours. Power flickered off for about 30 minutes at 1:20 p.m., and a backup system's subsequent failure an hour and a half later left park-goers in the dark for more than two hours - some stranded atop roller coasters and thrill rides. more ›

Crain's Chicago Business released their annual list of Chicago's Largest Tourism Attractions, and to nobody's surprise, Navy Pier whupped some tourism butt by topping the list of favorite attractions in the city. Stomping the next largest attraction, the Taste of Chicago, by 3.2 million people, the Pier had 8.75 million visitors last year, and raked in $43 million in revenues. Coming in number two was the Chicago Cubs, with 3.1 visitors in 2004, and Six... more ›