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Park News - (7/24/10) A nice general photo trip report from Six Flags Great America can be found at Coaster101.
    (7/15/10) Having worked in the theme park industry for years, it’s a well known fact that some of your average park guests are not the most intelligent people in the world. Sometimes it’s not their fault, as I used to say that the average guests I.E. would drop by 50% as soon as they passed through the turnstile, because they would do things in a park that they wouldn’t do anywhere else. Now… not all the idiots in your average park are guests however… unfortunately some are employees. Case in point… a couple of lame brained Six Flags Great America employees decided to come into the park, go find Porky Pig, take a photo or two and then begin to punch the character in the head 10-15 times. Park security detained them until the police arrived to charge them with battery. The article doesn’t mention it, but I think it’s safe to say that their asses are fired.
    In other news, With all the rumored cutbacks at various Six Flags parks, the early word about Fright Fest this year is actually good news. I’m told that Fright Fest will be done in-house this year and will feature a good number of new unique haunts this season.
    (7/12/10) Sounds like some good news for Six Flags Great America… I’ve heard a report that Revolution was repaired and reopened, as well as Yankee Clipper being open this weekend. Can anyone else confirm either of these?
    (7/11/10) The latest buzz from Six Flags Great America is that the Yankee Clipper flume ride is closed and may remain closed all season. When a reader asked someone at the park about it, they were told it was likely going to be removed to install a new modern era flume ride with higher capacity in 2012. More when we find out…
    (7/10/10) In case there was any doubt, Six Flags confirms that they have backed out of the plan to install a coaster at the park for 2011. The rest of the article sounds more like damage spin-control as the park tries to figure out what they are adding next year instead. After that, check out this new trip report from the park as the Karate Kid ad wraps on Whizzer have turned into ad wraps for Grown Ups.
    (7/6/10) According to sources at SFGAm park hours were cut back, eliminating the once planned later hours for the July 4th holiday weekend. The Revolution is also said to have been closed for the last couple of weeks, and one popular rumor going around the park is that the ride could likely be removed rather than fixed. Meanwhile a fun photo update from the park can be seen over at Great American Thrills.
    (7/2/10) A general photo update from Six Flags Great America has been posted to Amusement Insider.
    (5/25/10) I’ve been sent pictures (see sidebar) of the Karate Kid ad wrap placed on The Whizzer train, as well as several pictures of the clown car Stride Gum ad wrapped trains (one of you called it the Rainbow Vomit cars too, which was funny). I’m also told that Vertical Velocity has Axe Twist banners on the station, but nothing on the trains… yet.
    (5/20/10) Signs have been posted around the park announcing that a public hearing involving a zoning variance request from the park for a future attraction is coming soon. No big surprise here, as every tall ride that goes into the park has to receive permission from Gurnee, so I guess this is just the final legal step for them to install Chang in the park next year.
    (5/14/10) The onslaught of Coaster wrapped advertisement cars continues with a report from Six Flags Great America about a Karate Kid themed car on Whizzer and even the “scary” Demon has now had one of the Stride Gum “Clown Cars” put on it.
    (4/16/10) Six Flags Great America will open for the 2010 season with a Buy One Get One Free ticket offer with a qualified Goodwill donation according to the latest press release. “Six Flags Great America teams up with Goodwill Industries to kick off the 2010 season. Bring a bag of gently-used clothing to Six Flags Great America opening weekend, April 24 and 25, and receive a buy  one admission ticket, get one free.  Plus get BOGO deals around the park on select treats and games, including the all-new MagiQuest.”
    (2/22/10) The latest word from insiders is that SF Great America is hoping to have the Little Dipper up and running by June 1st if possible. I’m not sure if they’ve even started ground work yet, keep your eye out to see if they can get this project moving quickly or not. As for that mystery interactive attraction at the Midway… I’ve been sent a rumor claiming that it will be a compact version of MagiQuest. If you haven’t seen MagiQuest in action, check out the official website showing off how it works at one of the stand-alone MQ sites.

2010 - Glow In The Park Parade - Confirmed - (5/10/10) A sneak preview look at the new floats just created for the park’s Glow In The Park Parade can be found over at the Goddard Group’s YouTube page.
    (9/29/09) Six Flags Great America has announced that they will be adding the Glow In The Park Parade for the 2010 season, with the first performance slated for May 29th.
    (8/18/09) According to the latest rumors, Six Flags Great America may add the Glow In The Park Parade for the 2010 season.

2010 - The Little Dipper, SkyTrail & MagiQuest - (6/28/10) I’ve got a few new pictures to share of the new SkyTrail ropes course from Ride Entertain ment that just opened at Six Flags Great America. “Guests are secured into a custom-fitted harness with a patented safety system.  Once locked into the overhead track, guests are free to venture onto any of the 48 elements.  The challenges are strung across three levels of the 45 foot tall course.” “The course is designed so that each guest chooses their own adventure and tackles the course at their own pace,” said Jennifer Savage, park Spokesperson.
    (6/5/10) Screamscape was sent a couple of pictures showing off the new SkyTrail Ropes Course going up at Six Flags Great America.
    (5/31/10) The local news has some nice coverage of the opening of the Little Dipper at SFGAm. Also it seems the park has started to build it’s own Ropes Course attraction where the old rock climb used to be.

    (5/26/10) New photos posted to SFGAm World show Little Dipper making some test runs. It’s rumored that it could open this weekend for the Memorial Day crowds.
    (5/25/10) A construction update for the Little Dipper at Six Flags Great America can be found at Theme Park Review this week. It’s really looking good so far!
    (5/3/10) A couple of new construction pictures showing off the current status of the Little Dipper can be found at Theme Park Review.
    (4/26/10) A new review of the MagiQuest system installed at SFGAm can be found here.
    (2/26/10) Six Flags Great America has confirmed that MagiQuest is coming to the park in the Country Fair Midway.
    (2/11/10) According to the latest rumors the new Little Dipper coaster will be located in the Bug Bunny National Park section on the site of the former net climb. However… to ride Little Dipper you will actually have to enter it through Yukon Territory. While some slight modifications to the Dipper’s safety systems will be added, they do expect to keep the ride as close to being the same as possible once it is ready to open… hopefully by June.
    I’m also not quite sure what is going on, but we’ve heard rumors about a possible upcoming announcement regarding a new attraction coming to the Country Fair area of the park. Anyone know more?  We’ve also heard that the new Glow In The Park Parade may feature a couple of new surprises.
    The park will make a few changes to their live entertainment options this season as well. Looney tunes DanceOff will replace the Looney Tunes Talent Show and Dick Clark’s Face the Music will replace The Best of Dick Clark’s Bloopers in the Pictorium. Stop Stoppin will return in the Grand Music Hall for its fourth season.
    (12/21/09) A reader has sent in a picture from SFGAm where they tell us truck loads of white wooden support pieces, believed to be from the Little Dipper, have started to arrive.
    (11/27/09) According to a statement from Six Flags, they have confirmed that The Little Dipper will be installed and ready for the 2010 season.

2011 - Hurricane Harbor Expansion - Semi-Confirmed - (6/22/10) Screamscape sources have confirmed that Chang is now no longer being planned for the park in 2011. New expansion plans are currently in the works and seem to involve the same basic plot of land… but with a focus on expanding Hurricane Harbor instead. Nothing has been finalized yet it seems, as all the plans are still in the air, though we have heard of one plan to add a water-coaster style slide to the park, possibly similar in style to the Wildebeest slide added to Holiday World this year. More as we find out.
    (6/21/10) A new rumor has come up over the weekend at SFGAdv (New Jersey) that claims that the park may now be planning to replace their Great American Scream Machine coaster with CHANG. Up until now Chang has been all but confirmed for Six Flags Great America, with even a few pieces and the trains already spotted on site. The meetings to obtain the needed height variance permit are all but over... with the final approval meeting expected to take place today... Monday, June 21st.
    While I haven’t seen it myself, I’ve heard a rumor that the Six Flags issue may have been unexpectedly removed from the agenda for tonight’s meeting, which only adds fuel to the fire that Chang could now be looking for a new home. Of course the online version of the agenda still shows it there, waiting to be finalized. I had been told that as soon as Al Weber took control of Six Flags, he began to made huge and immediate changes to the plans set in place for the 2011 season by Shaprio. I guess we’ll know more once the Monday meeting is over if the proposal to add Chang has been dropped or not.  Stay tuned!
    (5/3/09) According to a reader, some small Orange survey flags have been spotted in the area near the Sky Trek Tower, the Go-Karts and through the Space Shuttle America area. This is where the rumored expansion of Hurricane Harbor was rumored to be going so there could possibly be a connection.
    (6/26/08) Screamscape sources have reinforced that Six Flags Great America will focus on expanding Hurricane Harbor in the near future, adding at least one major new attraction to the water park. However… I’ve also heard that they are thinking about turning the waterpark into a “second gate” where it will no longer be included free with your daily admission to Six Flags Great America. If I had to guess, they’ll probably add something that they’ve tested out at another park… so if I had to guess I’d be looking at either a Tony Hawk’s Halfpipe slide like what was added to Six Flags America in 2008 or if your lucky, a copy of Deluge, the hydromagnetic powered water coaster.

2012 - New Flume Ride - Rumor - (7/22/10) According to one reader, they spotted survey crews doing work in the former Splashwater Falls area. Looks like they may be working on something here after all, but for 2012 or 2011?
    (7/19/10) Remember that rumor about a new flume ride in development for the park? If the latest rumor is true, they could be speaking to Mack about building a new Super Splash ride for them to replace the old Splashwater Falls ride for as early as 2012. More when we find out.

???? - Whizzer Replacement - Rumor - (7/19/10) Lots of interesting rumors were sent in regarding the possible future of SFGAm.  This is all more long-term planning rumors, and nothing that is going to happen right away, so all of this can be taken with the grain of salt, as ideas constantly change as time goes by. 
    First off the disappointing news what we all knew would come someday. Yes… the Whizzer is going to close… someday.  I know we’ve heard that rumor almost every year for the last decade or so, but the honest truth is that it is going to happen someday… sooner than we would like to think. It’s well know that the Whizzer is not only old, but difficult to get spare parts for, so most of the time they have to have stuff custom made, which isn’t cheap. The good news however is that in an attempt to be a little proactive, Six Flags is said to have asked Mack to look into recreating the Whizzer’s layout for when the time comes to replace it, they could possibly build an all new version for everyone to enjoy.  Again… this is just something rumored to have been looked at, and there is no word if this was something done under Shapiro’s era or Weber’s new regime.