Negative-G - Six Flags Great America 2024

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Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois

With a nice super long 4th of July weekend created by a holiday and a few vacation days I decided to head up to Northern Illinois for a day of fun at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee.

It looks like Six Flags has decided to spruce up the entrance plaza with a new gate. I'm curious if this is more for a new security checkpoint or will they actually have ticket booths out front once again.

The Sky Trek Tower at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois

As soon as I got in I was so happy to see that the Sky Trek Tower was up and running.

The Sky Trek Tower is a classic observation tower ride that sadly are growing pretty rare as only a handful of parks still have these. The thing is parks don't have to have nothing but jam packed thrill rides. Observation towers are great experiences because they give guests a few minutes to slow down, maybe have a seat, and enjoy the gorgeous view of a park spread out beneath them.

As always the Columbia Carousel is a stunning sight to see when entering Six Flags Great America.

Looking back at theme park design throughout the years for those parks that opened especially in the 1970's took their lessons from Disneyland and made sure to put something impressive visually to draw guests into the park. At Kings Island or Kings Dominion the parks built replicas of Paris' Eifel Tower. At Canada's Wonderland they built Wonder Mountain. Here at one of the two twin Great America parks that Marriott's created the twin double decker Columbia carousels lure guests into the park away from the real world for a day of fun.