My daughter wanted to go to Great America for the first time on her 6th b-day. So we packed up and went. Aside from construction the entire trip to the park, it took at least 1/2 hour to get into the park because you have to pay $15-$25 to park in their cruddy parking lot. By cruddy I mean it needs repaired. We parked in the backlot to save $15. As we were entering the crosswalk, the crossing guard actually waived cars forward. Everything is very commercialized with ads everywhere. Park wasn't disgusting filthy but could be better kept. Many rides backdrops needed repainted. Food is so unbelievably high priced. 4 soft drinks and 1 chicken strips dinner $28...and I waited 15-20 mins to get it. That's not including the time in line to place the order. It wasn't that busy either. Also the reviews posted here about uncaring workers....there's some truth to that. In the cartoon section, my daughters road the boat ride. My 3 yr old was trying to get out herself and nearly fell into the water...meanwhile 4 workers were conversing to the side. I loved this place as a kid....but will not be going back. If you do go...by and ice cream treat at the stroller rental for $2. It's the only bargain in the place.

Wow, I didn't know you could fit so many people in a wave pool. Great waterpark if you could subtract a few thousand people. My oldest son said it best -- "Dad, I knew something was wrong when I saw the line for the lazy river." An actual que that had you wandering back and forth. Mind you, you were only allowed to go around once. Didn't even try any of the water slides, to long of lines. Also, not enough bathrooms at the waterpark.

Concerning the rides, most were great. That is except for their new ride "The Dark Knight Coster" What a pathetic joke. It's just a small four person car coaster that does absolutely nothing but go back and forth and small ups and downs. Oh, but they do it in semi darkness with a weak joker theme. Seriously, don't waste your time unless there is no line at all.

The park is clean and there is a lot to do. We recommend parking in the general lot and bringing a cooler full of food and snacks. You can drop a lot of money in the park if you are not careful. Some of the rides even require that you rent a locker to put your stuff in during the ride.

We really did just go with the flow and did have a good time. Just be prepared for crowds and cranky children as the day wears on.

My family just returned from our annual trip to Great America in Gurnee. We live in the Chicago area and go once a summer. My children (3 boys, age 11) look forward to this excursion every year. We all love roller coasters and had a great time, but there are some serious flaws to the park. (Note: we do not go to Hurricane Harbor, just the amusement park). Below is a snapshot of our experience:

Parking: What a way to start the day with a bad taste in your mouth! We always arrive at the park about 15 minutes before it opens. The parking is already overpriced ($15)...but now they stick you in the "back" parking lot, regardless of what time you arrive, unless you are willing to pay $25 for premium parking! I have already fired off a letter to the Mgt of Great America, as this practice is absurd.

Attractions: The saving grace of this park is that if you are a rollercoaster person, they have some fantastic coasters! My boys and I all enjoy coasters and spent the entire day going from one to the next, with the occassional water-ride in between. Having said that, I couldn't justify going to this park if I didn't like rollercoasters. The rest of the rides and/or shows are very "neighborhood carnival" like. Enjoyable, but not worth the $$. However, if you are into coasters, they have many, many, to choose from! One note on riding the coasters... if you are carrying items with you, sometimes they have folks that won't let you get in line with the items (even though there is a place to stow your bags on the platform for many rides). It seems that they will let you carry a bag/purse in line, but will not let you carry an "item" such as a souveniour, etc. It sort of seemed random to us.


Food: extremely overpriced (as all amusement parks tend to be!) and not that great tasting. If you are on a strict budget, pack your own food and go back to the car to eat (or bring it in if they let you, I can't remember what their policy is). One tip...the portions tend to be really large, so for lunch we usually order 2 things and split between the 4 of us.

Miscellaneous: They sell a "fast pass" for some of the rides that looked really cool, but was not in our budget. We found the only long lines we stood in all day (it was a Monday in July) were for the Superman Coaster and the new Dark Knight Coaster. All the other lines were easily managed w/o the fast pass. Also, the park was relatively clean and there were lots of families there...however, we did run into packs of "young adults and/or older teen-agers" that were disruptive/line jumping and using somewhat vulgar language, etc. This increased as you got into the evening hours. Not enough to ruin our fun, but just beware that the crowd is not as sqeaky clean as say, a Disney park (actually, the "crowd" might be the same, but Disney management seems to be stricter w/regards to enforcing these types of things). Finally, although the park opened at 10am, many rides towards the back of the park did not open until closer to 11am. Sort of dissapointing for people that like to get to the park early to beat the crowd.

Overall we never miss our annual trip to G.A. due to the rollercoaster experience that we can't get anywhere else in the nearby vicinity. But, if you are not into coasters, your money might be better spent somewhere else.

My wife and I (26 &24) went down to Great America on a Sunday and Monday. We took advantage of the six day pass (since we can drive). Pretty good deal if you want to go two days or more. We stayed at the LaQuinta nearby and avoided the parking lot charges. $25 for close lot and $15 for far lot.

Stayed open to close on Sunday. If you can go on a weekday I highly recommend it! Sunday was extremely busy (beautiful day as well). 2-3 hour waits on some rides. Their roller coasters are awesome. We loved Raging Bull and Viper. I would also recommend Superman, V2 and the Whizzer. Demon, Batman and Iron Wolf were all ok, but a little too violent and head bangy for me. American Eagle was fun, but pretty shaky. A lot of the other rides were fun too, but too many to name. One piece of advice AVOID DARK KNIGHT AT ALL COSTS!! We waited 3 hours for the new "coaster" and honestly it felt like a county fair roller coaster in the dark. We were not impressed at all. I guess one bonus was that we were in the shade for 3 hours and avoided sun burns. Water park was fun. If it is a nice day out go early (opens at 11). Started getting really busy around 2:30 PM. We also went for their Sunday night concert series (Gavin Degraw), had a blast. Tickets were available up to the show with maybe 200 - 300 people or so. Not the best venue and a little too light out for lights, but it was a really good concert. Tickets were free for bleachers, up close VIP was $20. Free tickets were just as good as the VIP in my opinion.

A general tip is that if you can afford a flash pass I would recommend it, especially if you only go one day. I think they were $40 for two people and maybe $80 for the gold level. We didn't get one, but were highly annoyed by the people continually cutting in front of us on rides. So, I'm guessing being on the other end was probably pretty nice. Video screens played "six flags TV" while in line. They did offer some entertainment, but if I see another six flags commercial I'll probably break my TV. They showed the same commercial every 20 minutes or so. Food was pricey, but pretty much what you expect. You can leave and come back with restaurants about 15-20 min walk away.

I couldn't give it a five. Even though I had a lot of fun, the flash pass system bothered me.