I remember a mid-week group trip I took there in the late 90s. I had never seen the lines so short, I was amazed. Since this was before Raging Bull was around, Batman was the Really Popular ride. Shockwave was usually pretty busy too. Shockwave was my favorite, and there was no line at all for Shockwave that night. My friend Scott and I rode it 11 times in a row. We only had to get off to switch seats a couple times (we were riding mostly in the front row) and we only stopped because I was starting to black out at certain points of the ride (Probably from holding my breath)
I always wanted to reproduce that experience, maybe get it up to 13 or 15 times in a row, but then they took Shockwave down.
I also remember the first fright fest I attended, also in the late 90s. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. It seemed like you could hear the theme to halloween EVERYWHERE. and it seemed like the costumed people did the best job I've seen since on that first visit. I think the train ride was something to do with Zombies. I think the people had been zombified by some radioactive alien stuff. That one was good. The pigman ride one subsequent year was so bad it was funny.
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Park Memories
33 posts
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well, my favorite memory from six flags was riding Bull for the first time. i had a fear of coasters when i was young(got stuck on whizzer at age 3 or 4 and saw the demon get stuck upside down) well i rode bull the first time with my because in the front row and we nearly had heart attacks.
and then there was that one time were julia lost fer flip flop on bull....
Wow theres been WAY too many over the years to even list a fraction of them! I'll try to list off a few that ill never forget:
*SUFs opening walking through the queue line fiasco. Walking through every single queue was fun, but what was hilarious was what came after. Since there was no signage posted at the time, everyone followed the operator up the right side of the stairs. Since Dave was the only one who was at media day/knew that was the front row line I turn around and see Dave running up the stairs trying to pass everybody and get on the first train. Since I was the 5th person in line and couldnt get front I ducked the railing and got in front of Dave then everyone else in line ducks the railing and it was rediculous but hilarious at the same time. *I had a lot of "first rides:" first train/back row on SUF when the day opened, first train on SUF at least 30 days in 2003, first train on DejaVu in 2003 (the year it opened in July, first train 1A, that was a funny day), 2004 (also got first train/front on Demon earlier that morning as Vu opened late, and 2005 (ran to it and it actually opened on time). As well as many, many, many first trains on random rides on random days, first ride on Ragin Cajun when it opened. *DejaVu in July 2003 when it was testing all day every day for a full week with water dummies, and since the ride was relatively new/popular at the time instead of just putting the "THIS RIDE WILL NOT OPEN TODAY" sign at the front they had to do that with park employees at the entrance to explain extensive maintenence was being done and the ride would not open. *Riding Shockwave over 40x without getting off on a crowded day (this actually hapenned quite often with me in 02), gotta love the fact that the ride was so unpopular that it was running empty trains in the afternoon when all the rides had long lines. *DejaVu's downtime in general in 2001/2002/2003. You thought it was bad 04/05/06 that was NOTHING compared to the first few years when people actually came to the park cause it was a new ride and they wanted to ride it! Normally it didnt open till late in the afternoon while the mechanics worked literally all day every day trying to get it to operate properly. The line would stretch back all the way to Farmers Market even without the ride testing or showing any signs of life. What a nightmare that ride was for the park... *ACE Fat Saturday 04 where we rode Bull/Viper at least 20x each before the park opened. Then the park gave us notebooks in our "goodie bags" later that day (I that was a personal joke). *I rode Demon over 300x in 03 and over 400x in 04. Yeah that was me  .
*Riding American Eagle in the morning on a solo race, both sides running but I was the only one on either train. I've been on all the coasters where im the only one on the train, but this one was definitley the most "interesting" to say the least  .
*This isnt a park memory, more of a forum memory. These 3 guys: Coasterman Jro, Chimike, and Soxman, I will never forget those usernames, all came at the same time and started flame wars in every topic they posted in. I posted that I did not think the Snow White ride at MK was an apporpriate attraction for kids and they somehow managed to turn it into a huge flame war as well as bombarding everyone elses opinions with their own about pretty much every attraction at WDW and SFGAm. *Watching King Chaos' first cycle (way before it opened) when it looked like it was going to implode. Loud schreeching noises, smoke billowing, it was a pretty funny sight. It may not be able to handle a good program but at least they got it operating semi-consistently. Definitley was not looking good at the beginning .
*Climbing up/down Vipers lift stairs in a thunderstorm. *Fright Fest preview 2005, the first day of the "transformed" Demon, and it was having a bit of a rough transition. The setup crew put a fogger spraying right into a photo eye which caused some confusion with the ride control guy .
*Snowball fight in County Fair. *Running into a garbage can in front of DejaVu's entrance in 2005. This was an accident at first, and somehow gained a large cult following (those that were there know, not something im exactly proud of).
*Dream Nite, that whole night was pretty much rediculous. Most of the flat rides didnt even have any riders and the coasters all had literally empty trains all night. *Seeing Jan (TK to the forum faithful) do karioke in the Grand Music Hall, that was rather interesting to say the least. *The one day in 2005 where Tech Services was having some issues and the HTS soundtrack was playing throughout the whole park (this was back when HTS had its own disctinct music). Sometime in the afternoon all of a sudden you hear a loud ZIP noise out of all the speakers and the music went back to the way it was supposed to be. *In February of 04 some construction worker posted a picture of Revolution online when it was sitting built in County Fair before it was repainted and it had the old GAdv paint scheme and the enthusiast communitys reaction of "EEWW they didnt even paint it, it looks horrible!" *Mr Six day in 04.....seeing all the Mr Six look a like dance in front of Columbia as well as seeing an entire Raging Bull train full of Mr Six's with the real Mr. Six in the front row. *Joe and Mikes 59 consecutive ride streak on Giant Drop, very long and mustve been torturous them (a coaster I can understand, Giant Drop would just be like "God smite me now"). I remember reading someones post later that day saying "The operator said its his 18th ride on his 18th birthday" and remembering saying that even though it wasnt his birthday... *The 2005 ACE Coaster Con and the REC Roller Coaster posts that specifically talked about me that came after. *Everytime I used to enter the park in 03 I would go through metal detector 6, at the time my football number was 66. Last edited by BP317 on December 25th, 2007, 8:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
My favorite memory was years ago when I was first able to ride the bigger stuff. I remember going on Raging Bull with my friend. Actually that was my friends first roller coaster he had ever been on in his life was Bull. Now he loves coasters!
Top 3 Steel Coasters: 1. The Incredible Hulk 2. Maverick 3. Dragon Challenge (Fireball)
Top 3 Wood Coasters: 1. The Beast 2. American Eagle (Red) 3. Hades
Climbing up/down Vipers lift stairs in a thunderstorm
Snowball fight in County Fair Dream Nite, that whole night was pretty much rediculous. Most of the flat rides didnt even have any riders and the coasters all had literally empty trains all night. Oh my oh my.... Captain, don't shake the passengers up too much this time!
Just giving them their money's worth!
I used to work in radio, and every year, I would get invited to a special media preview of whatever the new ride was for the year. For the Batman preview in 1992, Great America went all out! They closed Batman to the general public later in the day, and also closed off Hometown Square by the band gazebo for only those of us in the media. They had free food and big band music from the 40's, along with cigar girls with free cigars, and just an overall 1940's atmosphere. After a while, sirens started blaring, and they announced that the Joker and his henchmen had escaped and are on their way- the Batsignal appeared, and they hurriedly ushered all of us backstage by the restrooms next to the Theater, the shortcut to the Batman ride. We got to ride it as much as we wanted, and even the designer of the ride was there for meet and greets! My wife and I had the best time, and to this day, Batman is still her favorite ride. It was one of my favorite memories of Great America. (My only regret is that they removed Tidal Wave for Batman- I wish they would've put Batman elsewhere.)
^ That must have been a neat experience.
^^^^ You're very fortunate. I wish I had been able to do things like that.
It's a close one betwwen the first time I went on Eagle and when I dressed up for fright fest and went around scaring girls 5 years older than me.
 Maybe A Great Day Is Just What You Need This Year
'09 Demon rides-50 '09 SFGAm Visits-21
33 posts
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