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Six Flags Great America · US & Canada · typical hours 10 AM–9 PM
The one-minute version: be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride Maxx Force first. Waits peak from late morning to mid-afternoon — do shows and meals then. The final hour is often as quiet as rope drop. There is no headline evening show, so the final operating hour is usually the quietest time to ride.
Worth it on busy days: The Chicago season is short, which concentrates the crowds into summer weekends.
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Six Flags Great America is a seasonal park. It opens in spring (opening day was April 25 in 2026) and stays open into early November, with Fright Fest running on select nights from mid-September to the end of the season. Hours change from day to day, so the park's official FAQ tells guests to check the operating calendar for the date they plan to visit.
| Day | Park hours (local time) |
|---|---|
| Fri 23 Oct | 5 PM – 12 AM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Sat 24 Oct | 11 AM – 12 AM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Sun 25 Oct | 11 AM – 10 PM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Thu 29 Oct | 5 PM – 11 PM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Fri 30 Oct | 5 PM – 12 AM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Sat 31 Oct | 11 AM – 12 AM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
| Sun 1 Nov | 11 AM – 10 PM Haunt from 6 PM (separate ticket) |
From the park’s published schedule. Hours change, and evening events can close the park to day guests early — check with the park before you go.
Six Flags Great America is in Gurnee, Illinois, just off I-94 and roughly halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. It opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America, became a Six Flags park in 1984, and celebrated its 50th season in 2026. It is known for its roller coasters, including the Goliath wooden coaster, the Raging Bull hyper coaster, Maxx Force, and the Wrath of Rakshasa dive coaster that opened in 2025.
| Ride | Min. height |
|---|---|
| Wrath of Rakshasa · Dive coasterOpened in 2025; 180-ft-tall dive coaster with a 96-degree drop. Official maximum height 78 in. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| Goliath · Wooden roller coasterRecord-setting wooden coaster known for its steep drop and inversions. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| Raging Bull · Hyper coasterB&M hyper coaster with a twisting layout; it can still draw long waits at peak times. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| Maxx Force · Launched roller coasterLaunch coaster that the park bills as going 0-78 mph in under 2 seconds. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| X-Flight · Wing coasterOfficial maximum rider height 78 in; minimum is listed inconsistently on the official site. | — |
| American Eagle · Wooden racing coasterClassic wooden coaster; side-by-side racing came back on June 20, 2026, for the 50th anniversary. | 48 in (122 cm) |
| BATMAN: The Ride · Inverted coasterLong-running DC-themed coaster that is a park staple. | 54 in (137 cm) |
| SUPERMAN: Ultimate Flight · Flying coasterDC-themed coaster with a 54 in minimum, among the park's taller height limits. | 54 in (137 cm) |
Height minimums as the park publishes them; some rides also have a maximum or need a companion below a second height. Check the ride's sign on the day.
Checked 2026-10-11 against the park’s published information.
Queues here follow a predictable daily shape. Lines are shortest in the first hour and the last, and peak 2 PM–4 PM — that is the window to spend on shows, meals or indoor attractions rather than headliners.
Typical shape of a Six Flags Great America day, shown as each hour's share of that day's own peak wait. Actual minutes vary by season and day of week — check today's live waits.
| Hour | Typical wait level |
|---|---|
| 10 AM | 30% of the day's peak |
| 11 AM | 47% of the day's peak |
| 12 PM | 68% of the day's peak |
| 1 PM | 86% of the day's peak |
| 2 PM | 97% of the day's peak |
| 3 PM | 100% of the day's peak |
| 4 PM | 95% of the day's peak |
| 5 PM | 82% of the day's peak |
| 6 PM | 64% of the day's peak |
| 7 PM | 44% of the day's peak |
| 8 PM | 30% of the day's peak |
Be at the gate 30–45 minutes before opening and ride in this order. Maxx Force has a short cycle but small trains; Goliath and X-Flight follow.
The first hour is the cheapest capacity of the day — no pass, no fee, and typically the shortest waits you will see.
Red = busiest, green = quietest, grey = moderate.
Expect the year's longest waits during the summer holiday and Fright Fest.
The best value for short lines is May weekdays and September weekdays.
Scores are the crowd forecast, 1 to 10, averaged over the stretch. Visiting in a busy stretch anyway? Be at the gate before opening, and ride the big ones in the first hour and the last. Every day is scored on the crowd calendar.
Included with admission
Included with admission: scare zones, shows and rides in the dark on event evenings. The haunted mazes need a separate pass.
Usually runs in September and October — check the park's calendar for this year's dates.
Worth it on busy days
The Chicago season is short, which concentrates the crowds into summer weekends. Buy on a July Saturday, skip it in May.
Looking for a Flash Pass or fast pass? At Six Flags Great America it is called Fast Lane: Buy it on the website or the Six Flags app for your visit date. Fast Lane Reserve holds your spot in line digitally and gives you a return time; Fast Lane Ultimate gives you a QR code for immediate Fast Lane entry. An All Season Fast Lane is also sold, and park admission is not included.
Price: roughly $40–$120 per person, per day: Reserve holds your place in a virtual line, Ultimate goes straight to the Fast Lane entrance. Prices change often and by date — treat this as a range, not a quote.
Maben Parks shows every wait live with a "vs typical" marker, and your magical fairy will run the numbers for your party and date — including telling you to keep your money when the answer is no.
Check today's waits before you buyPlanning ahead? The free Six Flags Great America crowd calendar scores every day for the next twelve months, 1 to 10 — no sign-up.
Median posted wait across the rides we track, on packed days — the crowd level most visitors get. The shaded band is the middle half of readings at that hour.
Detected automatically from the live feed — each of these reported closed all day, every day, for at least three operating days. Observed through October 23, 2026.
| Attraction | Closed since | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Logger's Run | August 28, 2026 | 43 operating days |
| Roaring Rapids | September 6, 2026 | 37 operating days |
| Forbidden Forest | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Head Bangerz | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Lost Souls | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Necropolis | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Oddities: Circus of Madness | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Underworld | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| Wretched Meadows | September 18, 2026 | 30 operating days |
| AQUAMAN™ Splashdown | September 28, 2026 | 23 operating days |
| Raging Bull | October 13, 2026 | 8 operating days |
| Bouncer | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Krazy Kars | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Krazy Kups | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Lady Bugs | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Red Baron | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Scenic Railway County Fair Station | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Sprocket Rockets | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Tot's Livery | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Up, Up & Away | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| ZoomJets | October 19, 2026 | 3 operating days |
| Attraction | Was closed from | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| THE JOKER™ Free-Fly Coaster | October 14, 2026 | 3 operating days |
Generated from wait-feed observations, not an operator announcement: a long closure usually means refurbishment, but we report what the feed shows rather than guessing why. Always check the operator's own page before travelling for one specific ride.
Every wait we have recorded here, grouped by how busy the day turned out to be. The bold figure is the middle half of what we saw — a quarter of the time it was shorter, a quarter of the time longer. Read it against today’s crowd level to know whether the number on the sign is good or bad.
| Ride | Lightlevel 1 | Packedlevel 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Blair Witch: No Signal | 0–00 typical | 5–7545 typical |
| The Conjuring Universe | 0–00 typical | 5–7545 typical |
| Sky Striker | 5–155 typical | 20–7045 typical |
| THE DARK KNIGHT™ Coaster | 5–105 typical | 15–6035 typical |
| Goliath | 5–155 typical | 20–6040 typical |
| Maxx Force | 5–2515 typical | 30–6050 typical |
| Raging Bull | 5–105 typical | 25–6045 typical |
| SUPERMAN™: Ultimate Flight | 5–2010 typical | 25–6045 typical |
| THE JOKER™ Free-Fly Coaster | 5–1510 typical | 25–6035 typical |
| Wrath of Rakshasa | 10–2520 typical | 30–6045 typical |
| Whizzer | 5–2515 typical | 20–6035 typical |
| AQUAMAN™ Splashdown | 5–2015 typical | 10–5030 typical |
| BATMAN™: The Ride | 0–55 typical | 10–4525 typical |
| THE FLASH™: Vertical Velocity | 0–55 typical | 10–4525 typical |
| X Flight | 5–105 typical | 20–4535 typical |
| JUSTICE LEAGUE™: Battle for METROPOLIS | 0–100 typical | 10–4530 typical |
| Nightmares | 0–00 typical | 0–455 typical |
| Viper | 0–50 typical | 10–4020 typical |
Minutes of posted standby wait, from our own recorded snapshots — up to 20 days per figure. Cells stay blank until a ride has enough observations at that crowd level to be worth printing. Posted waits are what the park displays, which is not always what you queue.
Aim to be at the gate 30–45 minutes before the posted opening time of 10 AM. The first hour consistently has the day's shortest waits, and arriving even 45 minutes late typically costs you two headliners.
10 AM–11 AM and 8 PM–9 PM — the opening hour and the final hour of the operating day. Waits peak 2 PM–4 PM, so plan meals, shows and indoor attractions for that window.
Maxx Force, then Goliath and Raging Bull. Maxx Force has a short cycle but small trains; Goliath and X-Flight follow.
May and September — May weekdays and September weekdays. Avoid June, July, August and October, when the summer holiday and Fright Fest.
The Chicago season is short, which concentrates the crowds into summer weekends. Buy on a July Saturday, skip it in May.
The free official Six Flags app shows live ride wait times, show times, and directions inside the park. To skip regular lines, the park sells Fast Lane, which replaced THE FLASH Pass in 2026.
The park opens in spring (April 25 in 2026) and runs into early November. Fright Fest runs on select nights from mid-September through the final weekend (September 19 to November 1 in 2026).
Hours change from day to day, and on some days weather can close the park early. The official operating calendar at sixflags.com/greatamerica lists each day's hours and is updated when closures are confirmed.
No. THE FLASH Pass was retired in January 2026, and the park now sells Fast Lane, in Fast Lane Reserve and Fast Lane Ultimate versions, through its website and app.