Grim, Grinning Goliath

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to return to Six Flags Great America.  For those of you who don't know, I participated in an HR internship at that park back in 2012 before finishing my senior year of college.  Great America is near and dear to my heart, since working there solidified my desire to make a career in the theme park industry.  It was good to see old friends again and check out the new additions to the park.

During this time of year, Six Flags parks host their Fright Fest event.  The parks become fully decorated with all kinds of corpses, ghouls, and ghosts.  Many of the rides and areas also get morbid makeovers, as seen in the pictures below.  Most parks also have a variety of haunted experiences, usually at an upcharge.  Great America had some pretty cool haunted houses and themed areas, but it wasn't exactly terrifying.  But for those who live nearby and want to try it out, it's worth a shot.

Over the summer, Great America also opened a brand new attraction: Goliath.  This ride is now the new record holder for the world's tallest, fastest, and steepest wooden coaster (180 ft, 85 degree drop, 72 mph).  As impressive at that sounds, you really don't get the full effect until you've actually ridden it.  It's a non-stop thrill as you fly down the first drop, up into huge banked turns, and then into some pretty awesome inversions.  Goliath also features a new type of ride element called a zero-gravity stall or zero-g stall. Although it may be a little hard to tell from this picture, the track piece immediately to the right of this text would place the train completely upside down for a few seconds.  It's a crazy ride experience, since you basically just hang out of your seat until you finally twist upright again.  

Total ride time on Goliath isn't very long (about a minute), but the intensity and creativity of the ride make up for it.  Great America also had a fairly limited amount of room to build this attraction, and I feel like they capitalized on the land available without removing other nearby attractions.  There actually used to be a different coaster in this spot, but that ride was disassembled and moved to another Six Flags park a few years ago.  Yay for recycling!  

If you get the opportunity to visit Great America, definitely check out Goliath.  Wait times were a little harsh during the day, but the night proved much less crowded, especially as people went to the haunted houses.  Six Flags has also started implementing a single rider line, although they haven't exactly figured out the best way to do it yet.  So if you want to avoid waiting, maybe try single rider.  I'll also a post a ride POV video from the SFGAm Youtube Channel for those of you who realistically may not get a chance to visit the Chicago area any time soon :)