Six Flags America have unveiled the release of new rollercoasters Vertical Velocity and Déjà VU - both feature high-flying twists and ski-lift style inverted seating, where the track is above riders' heads and their feet dangle.
Shamus Toomey from
Illinois Daily Herald has reported the press release "Jim Crowley could barely contain his enthusiasm Thursday as he and his giddy colleagues revealed the details of what they hope will become Six Flags Great America's hottest new attractions."
"I can't tell you how psyched I am to ride these new rides," Crowley said during a news conference. "These are going to be incredible."
Construction is already underway, and officials at the Gurnee theme park hope to have both rides ready for its May 5 opening. The additions mark the first time since its opening 25 years ago that the park will introduce two new roller coasters in the same season.
"Most people in the theme park industry would be very excited to get one new roller coaster during the course of a season," Crowley said. Vertical Velocity and Déjà VU are the first new roller coasters at the park since Raging Bull was built in 1999. That ride was last year's most popular, but it's expected to be supplanted by the new ones. Both of the new roller coasters feature high-flying twists and ski-lift style inverted seating, where the track is above riders' heads and their feet dangle.
And although the park's admission prices in recent years have climbed steadily upward like the first nerve-wracking stretches of a thrill ride, this season will actually see prices drop - but not like the 178-foot plummet Déjà Vu boasts.
Admission will cost $41.19 for adults and $20.50 for children under 4 feet tall. The park had raised the prices last season to $42.99 and $21.49, which marked an increase of more than $10 over the past five years.
Déjà Vu, the first of its kind, features two 178-foot towers and reaches a top speed of 65 mph, just a bit slower than Raging Bull, the park's fastest ride at 72 mph.
Using "cable-lift" technology similar to an elevator, it takes 24 riders back and forth on an elevated track. Its signature is a U-shaped "boomerang" turn 110 feet off the ground. It also features a 178-foot, 90-degree drop.
Vertical Velocity, nicknamed V2, was first introduced in Six Flag's Cleveland park last year. It uses NASA-designed magnets to sling-shot riders from 0 to 70 mph in less than four seconds to start the ride.
Called Linear Induction Motors, the technology was first introduced to theme parks several years ago, but this is the first such use in Illinois. The ride activates a series of paired magnets that repel each other, creating a speed burst that is re-charged as the car repeatedly passes through the passenger loading station, park spokesman Scott Kirn said.
"It's like you're being shot out of a cannon," he said.
The ride also lasts about 90 seconds. It takes 28 passengers over water and features two towers. The signature thrill is a cork-screw, 185-foot spiraled tower that the car is shot up three times.
V2 takes the place of the Whirligig swing ride, which is being moved elsewhere in the park. Déjà Vu will evict Sky Whirl, a three-armed Ferris wheel with bird-cage seating. It was one of the park's original rides, but now sits in a pile in the parking lot. It will not be re-built in the park, Kirn said.
Kirn refused to offer the price-tag on either new roller coaster and would not estimate the potential waiting time on a typical day. But he did suggest eager riders should get to the park at its 10 a.m. daily opening time or come on a weekday to reduce the wait.
"(The new rides) will continue to keep Six Flags Great America in the forefront of theme parks not only in the Midwest, but throughout the entire country," Crowley predicted.
To use the new roller coasters, riders must be 54 inches tall. Young riders are obviously expected, but officials said they aren't ruling out that desirable crowd that has driven the kids to the park for years and paid the bills: the baby boomers.
Cathy Ritter, the state's tourism director and a boomer herself, said her generation has proven more apt to hunt for new thrills than previous generations. And Six Flags has done well to please the boomers and their kids by constantly updating the park, she said.
"Baby boomers are focused on experience," she said. "They want to do something new and different all the time. So that's what Six Flags and all other travel destinations are responding to these days...The popular thinking now is that baby boomers will never get old. They don't want to slow down."
