Celebrating 40 Years of Fun at Six Flags Great America {Gurnee, IL} #sixflags @sfgreat_america #40 seasons

Disclosure: I received complimentary tickets in exchange for sharing my honest opinion.

This year Six Flags Great America is celebrating 40 seasons of thrills. In honor of the milestone they have opened three children’s rides in Hometown Park and I got the chance to visit the park with my family.

I have been going to Six Flags in Gurnee, Illinois, ever since I can remember and I love that I can now take my own children. I can still remember my first big rollercoaster, the American Eagle with my dad, and the first time I won a game there I won a giant white ape! Crazy all the memories I have of the park and now I am creating memories with my own family.  Below I feature mainly all kiddie rides but don’t let that fool you, Six Flags has tons of adult rides and rollercoasters. I focused on kid rids though since my youngest is 3 years old.

Image from Flickr

10 Historic Facts About Great America

1. When Great America opened in 1976, the Park had 3 roller coasters – today it has 14.
2. When the American Eagle opened in 1981, it was the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. This record is currently held by its neighboring coaster, Goliath.
3. When the Turn of the Century was converted to the Demon in 1980, a custom soundtrack was made for the ride which can still be heard in the queue line.
4. The East River Crawler used to be called the Lobster. The name was changed to fit the theme of BATMAN: The Ride in 1992.
5. At 100 feet, the Columbia Carousel is still the tallest carousel in the world.
6. The Park has gone from zero to 16,458 feet of wooden roller coaster track with the addition of Goliath, making it home to the most wooden roller coaster track of any theme park in the world.
7. Yankee Harbor has been home to the only 2 roller coasters that launch riders in the Park’s history, Tidal Wave and Vertical Velocity.
8. Each ride in Hometown Square is an original ride from Marriott’s Great America.
9. In 1976, the tallest roller coaster in the Park was Turn of the Century (Demon) at 104 feet, but today it’s held by the Raging Bull at 202 feet.
10. 2015 will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Harbor, a massive 20-acre development to Great America.

Since pictures are worth more than words when trying to describe our day at Six Flags Great America I took a bunch of pictures to show it off:

We even got a quick view of some new entertainment at Six Flags:

We even got to meet some characters:

We also got to get our ride on the Whizzer videotaped:

Oh and we ended the day with a Funnel Cake Sundae, which is an absolute must have while there (at least for me!):

In addition to the park there is also Hurricane Harbor at Six Flags which is a giant waterpark. We went last year and had a blast, literally, but the day we went the waterpark hadn’t opened for weekday admission yet. We will definitely be heading back for more fun later this summer!

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