Monday, October 31, 2011

Scott And Carol Present - A Hauntingly Ghoulish Visit To Six Flags Great America's Six Saints Cemetery!



It was a dark and scary night... okay so it was a sunny October afternoon when we happened upon the Six Saint's Cemetery!

But, there were no saints on the ground on this day, or under the grounds for that matter.

While we didn't remember all the attractions that were laid to rest, there were some that we have fond memories of from days long since past.

Technically the Turn of the Century is still in the park, at least in spirit. Closing at the end of the 1979 season, the ride morphed into the Demon in 1980.

Opening with the park, the Sky Whirl was the World's first triple Ferris wheel, it was custom built by Intamin for Marriott.

It's replacement was the third Six Flag installation of a Vekoma giant inverted boomerang.

The Cajun Cliffhanger was a Chance rotor, that was moved from the Old Riverview park to Great America in 1975. It was replaced by Jester's Wild Ride, a Zamperla Rockin' Tug.

The Hay Baler was a Chance Flying Bob, a spin and spew inside a barn looking building. It was located near the Sky Whirl and definitely not my kind of ride.

A creation of Anton Schwarzkopf, Tidal Wave was the first roller coaster added to Great America after the opening season. A launch coaster powered by a unique weight-drop system, the ride was removed after the 1991 season to make room for the first B&M inverted coaster. Tidal Wave was moved to Six Flags over Georgia, where it operated as Viper until 2001. It sat in their parking lot until it was moved to Kentucky Kingdom in 2002.

This Intamin Bobsled coaster was moved from Six Flags Great Adventure in 1988, It was built between the Demon and the Whizzer. Rolling Thunder was removed to make way for a new section of the park, Southwest Territory.

Space Shuttle America was a motion simulator ride which featured a full size replica of the Space Shuttle. It closed in 2007 and was removed in 2009 to make room for Hurricane Harbor water park.

Z-Force was the only Intamin space diver roller coaster ever built. The roller coaster featured six vertical diving corkscrew drops and 720 degree gravity defying upward spiral. It was located on the site most recently occupied by Iron Wolf.


The Hay Baler was a Zamperla Joker that fit well in the Southwest Territory with it's chuck wagon theming. The area where it was located is used as a queue for one of the park's haunted houses.

This Arrow multi-looper opened as the world's tallest and fastest looping roller coaster with an impressive seven inversions: three vertical loops, a butterfly corkscrew and two corkscrews. It was built in the parking and was replaced with Superman: Ultimate Flight.

The third installation of Vekcoma's Giant Invert Boomerang and the most problematic, Deja Vu sat on the former Sky Whirl site and was replaced with the Buccaneer Battle, a Mack splash battle ride.

Splashwater Falls was an O.D. Hopkins Shoot The Chute was located in County Fair. The ride closed in August 2007 due to decline in popularity and old age. Most of it was removed, all but a huge footer, which is now being removed for X-Flight.

Another Marriott's Great America original ride bites the dust, originally named the Barney Odefield Speedway, the Great American Speedway closed in 2010.

The station and queue of the Arrow Development Antique Cars are all that remains of the ride.


And, last but not least B&M's first coaster, Iron Wolf is in the process of being removed. The coaster is headed east to Six Flags America, it's unknown what the site will be used for next.

Well, that ends our tour of the graveyard, Happy Halloween to all!


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