Are Big and Sad Changes Coming to Six Flags Great America in Illinois?

An exciting era is ending at Illinois' Six Flags Great America theme park. Take a look at what's coming next and some HUGE ride rumors for 2024 and beyond.

New Thrills Coming to Six Flags Great America in Illinois

The "thrill capital of the Midwest" is about to get quite a bit taller. The tallest pendulum thrill ride in the Midwest will debut at Six Flags Great America in 2024.

The largest theme park in Illinois, Six Flags Great America, just announced some plans for the 2024 season.

The home of one of the absolute best rollercoasters in the world will have a brand new thrill waiting for us when the 2024 season begins and it will be the tallest of its kind in the entire Midwest.

And it might make you vomit.

Midwest’s Tallest Pendulum Thrill Ride to Debut at Six Flags Great America

Take a look at Sky Striker, coming to Six Flags Great America in the spring of 2024.

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The Sky Striker will be 17 stories tall and that swinging disk where we sit will reach speeds up to 75 miles per hour as it swings back and forth.

We'll get a pretty spectacular view of the entire park being that many stories high, but I doubt I'll be able to focus on anything other than that queasy stomach feeling I get on rides like this. Weightlessness at 172 feet tends to force my eyes closed.

In the video below from WGN, the anchor says that the ride isn't as nauseating as you'd think it would be. Part of me is having a tough time believing that. The disc where you sit spins clockwise while you get swung up to 172 feet in the air. That sounds nauseating to me.

The video is from Six Flags Magic Mountain where they already have this type of ride,

According to Six Flags, the Sky Striker will be built in the County Fair section of the park, in the same spot that was home to Dare Devil Dive, near the American Eagle.

MORE: One of the Best Rollercoasters in the World is In Illinois

Big Changes Coming to Six Flags Great America

Not all the news is good news. There are interesting clues that point toward Great America saying goodbye to other rides in 2024. Those clues are shared In the video below from Park Pros on YouTube,

Clues to which rides might be going away are on some of the Six Saints Cemetery headstones during Fright Fest this year.

The headstone on the left is referring to Dare Devil Dive which is being replaced by Sky Striker. The headstone on the right refers to the birth years for two other rides, could that mean there are two more 'ride deaths coming?

Park Pros checked on those birth years, 2004 and 2018, and found the two possible rides that could be gone soon.

Mardi Gras Hangover

The only ride that opened in 2018.

The 2004 birth year, Park Pros best guesses are:

Big Easy Balloons

Or,

Revolution

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The End of a Great Era at Six Flags Great America

The rollercoaster has been closed for a bit, but it still gives me goosebumps when I see the first looping rollercoaster I've ever ridden.

Another YouTube channel, Keep Ridin' Coasters, shared photos of the Demon's rock formations near the loops and it appears they are being demolished. Or, is it the start of the Demon's rebirth?

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