Six Flags Great America

Welcome to Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor water park, the best water park in the nation! Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park in the Chicago metropolitan area, located in Gurnee, Illinois. It first opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America. Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain. As of 2012, the park has nine themed sections, a 16-acre water park, two specially themed children's areas, and various other forms of entertainment. Great America saw the addition of the Glow in the Park Parade, which was already featured at other Six Flags parks. The parade ran from Memorial Day until mid-August. The park installed the Little Dipper, a "kiddie" wooden roller coaster that had previously operated at Kiddieland Amusement Park in Melrose Park, Illinois, from 1950 until 2009. It was placed outside Bugs Bunny National Park and opened to the public on May 27, 2010. MagiQuest was added to the County Fair Games Gallery in place of the Wii Experience. Space Shuttle America, the park's motion simulator ride that had been closed for two years, was removed during the 2010 season. On May 26, 2010, Great America filed a petition with the Village of Gurnee seeking to exceed the village's 125 feet (38.10 m) height limit. Six Flags was considering installing the Chang roller coaster from a closed Six Flags park in Kentucky on the vacated site. However, the park confirmed it was abandoning those plans in July 2010 and announced a 3-acre expansion of its Hurricane Harbor water park called Riptide Bay on September 2, 2010. In late 2010, Six Flags began removing licenses from concessions and attractions including those of Papa John's and The Wiggles. As a result, Wiggles World was renamed and re-themed as KIDZOPOLIS for the 2011 season, and Papa John's was replaced by Famous Famiglia Pizzeria. MagiQuest was removed due to a lack of popularity, and Great America Raceway, which opened in 1976, was closed and in the process of being removed.