page_title: Six Flags Great America
section_title: Premier Parks era (1998–2005)
hierarchical_section_title: Six Flags Great America / Six Flags ownership / Premier Parks era (1998–2005)
caption_attribution_description: Raging Bull , montagnes russes à Six Flags Great America
context_page_description: Six Flags Great America is an amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. Originally opened in 1976 by the Marriott Corporation as Marriott's Great America, Six Flags has owned and operated the park since 1984. The park features nine themed areas and seventeen roller coasters, as well as a 20-acre water park called Hurricane Harbor. Over 3 million guests visited the park in 2017, ranking it among the top 20 amusement parks in North America for attendance.
context_section_description: Time Warner sold 50% of its stake in Six Flags in 1995, and in 1998, Premier Parks had its IPO and became the parent company of Six Flags Theme Parks after purchasing the remaining stake from Time Warner as well as the other 50% that had previously been sold off to holding companies. Premier Parks opted to follow the trend set by Bally's and began acquiring more properties.
  1998 saw many family-friendly additions. Yukon Territory welcomed Camp Cartoon Network, with five new rides, including Spacely's Sprocket Rockets (a Vekoma junior roller coaster), Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine, Yogi's Yahoo River, Rocky Road's Rescue Service and Bedrock Boulder Roller. Bugs Bunny Land was renamed Looney Tunes National Park and included the Looney Tooter Choo Choo Train, the Waddaview Charter, Porky's Buzzy Beez, Petunia's Lady Bugz, Looney Tunes Lodge Foam Ball Factory, Pepe Le Pew's Peak and the Nature Trail. An accident occurred on Demon, stranding 23 passengers upside-down on the black train for nearly three hours.
  For 1999, Bolliger & Mabillard constructed Raging Bull, a hyper-twister coaster that was added to Southwest Territory. This 202-foot-high (62 m), 73 mph (117 km/h), and 5,057-foot-long (1,541 m) ride was built on the former lot used by Rolling Thunder.
  The park celebrated its silver (25th) season in 2000. This was the last year for the Sky Whirl, as well as the Hay Baler ride. Since the removal of Sky Whirl after the 2000 season, Six Flags Great America has continued to operate without a Ferris wheel. That same year, an accident involving a guest occurred on the Cajun Cliffhanger ride, which led to its eventual removal.
  In 2001, two inverted shuttle coasters were added: an Intamin impulse coaster named Vertical Velocity, stylized as V²; and Déjà Vu, a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang ride to replace Sky Whirl and Hay Baler. Vertical Velocity was added to Yankee Harbor, with the swing ride Whirligig moving closer to the lift hill of Batman: The Ride to make room. On V², riders are launched at speeds over 70 mph (112 km/h) up a twisted vertical tower, then fall backward and climb up another straight tower. The ride repeats, but on the second time up the back tower, riders are held facing straight down for a moment before being released. This holding brake on V² has not been used since September 2008 due to maintenance issues. On Déjà Vu, the riders were pulled backwards up a vertical tower and dropped through the station and into a cobra roll inversion, followed by a loop over the station and up another vertical tower. After being pulled up a bit more, the ride then repeated the course in reverse. The ride did not debut until October 7 that year due to mechanical and design issues, causing a public relations nightmare for Six Flags, including being threatened with lawsuits regarding false advertisement of the opening date of the ride. Déjà Vu continued to be problematic maintenance-wise, with guests frequently finding it closed. Due to increasing operating costs, Six Flags announced in 2007 that the Déjà Vu coasters at this park and Six Flags Over Georgia would be removed before the 2008 season. The Déjà Vu from Great America was relocated to Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho, where it now operates as Aftershock.
  At the beginning of the 2002 season, there were no major changes to the park. The Pictorium's original IMAX film, To Fly, was once again shown. In the summer, plans were announced to remove the Whizzer, which would offer its final rides on August 11. The announcement confirmed existing rumors. The plan to remove the coaster, which was one of only two operating Schwarzkopf Speedracers in the world, an original ride from the park's first season and a popular family-friendly attraction, was met with outrage from the public, particularly because the intended replacement was a major thrill ride. The backlash led to Six Flags deciding on August 3 to cancel their plans to replace Whizzer, and instead elected to replace Shock Wave. Major additions to the entertainment department included brand-new parade floats. Power D
caption: Added in 1999, Raging Bull is still the park's tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster.
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