Planet Coaster park tour: Six Flags Great America 1991 

Masterful recreation from when Great America still had its soul.

The intense flood of nostalgia I felt watching this was amazing. I was 10 in 1991 and Great America was my entire world at that age. I loved every last little thing about it.

I have saved this video to my favorites so I can come back to this park, back in 1991 and experience it all over again. Your attention to detail is amazing, down to the employee areas you catch a glimpse of on the train ride, to the picnic area that was almost never used, but you would see it on the two flume rides, to some of the long lost flat rides, like the Haybaler and such. One small thing was the Big Top ride by the Eagle didn't invert. It is the same as the Richocet now in Southwest Territory, a Huss Ride Around. Other than that, most of the ride replacements were pretty darned close. It's sad that the sky whirl had to be a static build :( One more ride on the tweetie bird cages as my wife called them would have been great. You picked an interesting year for this, too. This was the year before the gradual decline of the park as Six Flags began to transform the park. It started the very next year with the removal of Tidal Wave and Batman: The Ride going in. It was the first of many DC rides and attractions to make it's way into the park. It was when the theme of each area of the park started to break down and the park started losing it's character. I remember this year well because it was my first year at the park for essentially five years, as I had gone of to serve in the military and did not return to that summer from Desert Storm. I went plenty of times that summer, taking advantage of the Twicket deal often (nice catch at the entrance of the park, such detail!). Thank you so much for this time capsule. It is absolutely amazing. Such memories.

Oh man, what a treat. When I moved to California from Wisconsin back in 98 or so I went to the Santa Clarita version and it was so weird that it was more like the Gurnee park of my youth than today (even back then). Thanks for making this.

Went for the first time in 1988 when my class graduated from Junior High. Got myself an "I Survived The Grizzly" hat; I figured I earned it with how bad I was shaking when I exited the ride. The Whizzer and Loggers run were my favorites. Demon was my first inverted coaster and when we were dating, my husband took my picture up on the Sky Twirl for photo class. The Edge scared me too much to go on it. (I believed the rumors about the brake failure, lol!) I've been watching Channel 5's planet coaster videos, and the idea that you can recreate the same park's iterations over the years is fascinating to me: Watch the rides and the booths change over the years. I remember seeing a recording studio location in the park the first time I went, and thinking what a crazy, silly thing that was to put in a roller coaster park. Thank you so much for making this, and sharing.

I worked there in 1990. I was doing costumed characters, primarily Bugs Bunny. Mostly I would sit for pictures in the gazebo in the main square in front of the train station. When I was done with a shift, I would often go right back into the park and ride Shockwave a few times. Employees would walk into the park under Iron Wolf, and the character building was behind the theater, under Tidal Wave. Your recreation is astonishing. What I wouldn't give to ride those coasters, or Sky Whirl, one more time.

1988 I was a Ride Operator, I ran the Powerdive, Shockwave, Roaring rapids, and even the Train. I actually was certified to run about half the rides at six flags, by the end of that season.

Omg..this is INSANE! Underrated, great job!

I Worked here in 1986 and 1987 and your recreation for 1991 here is virtually PERFECT with some minor cosmetic changes due to non available ride types! I felt like I spent a day in the park! JOB WELL DONE!!!

Absolutely gorgeous I was just here on the 23rd I had a great time

WOW that was fantastic. I went to Great America for the first time in '92. I was in 2nd grade and Batman was brand new. Great job recreating this park.

Wow. I visited Great America for the first time in 1991. Some of the memories are as fresh as if it was yesterday. Then, I must have gone over that guide book a million times between that day and our next visit, a year later. And just… WOW!

This is incredible

wow this is spot on. great job

Phenomenal details. Well done!

This is very impressive! I like how now Great America has a better lineup of rides but It’s a shame the park doesn’t have the same level of detail and theming that it once had.

Bro - I was there and YOU NAILED IT!!!

This is so cool! The park in Gurnee, IL outside Chicago was a sister park to this park. Most of the same rides, all the same names etc…I was born and grew up in Chi, so as a teen, I was there all the time from April - Oct. we had season passes. I remember Shockwave coaster, and Z Force, The Edge, Batman The ride

HO! LY! F**KING! S**T! THIS IS AMAZING! The detail is un paralleled! I legitimately lost myself, I thought I was watching home videos! THIS IS A MASTERPIECE! There are a few places things could be fixed loggers ans yankee but i realize you were going for authenticity and you surpassed my wildest dreams!

I had such a great childhood here

Great work :)

Damn, what a trip down memory lane. Six Flags was my jam as a teen. Tidal Wave would get ripped out and make way for Batman the next year.

I love it. You should do a modern day one!!

I was working there from 1990-1992.

Love to see one for Magic Mountain

Why is there two arrow loopers at the park?

I wish I was good at this game!😢

If i could live inside a youtube video itd be this

God theyve really wrecked this place as of late. They need to brung back the higher quality entrance gates, that unique ferris wheel, the lighthouse, and fix the square in the new orleans section as well as county fair in front of eagle. Really just bring in a good landscape architect. Really bothersome how haphazzard everything is placed these days

How did you do the double carousel?

Howww am i just finding this video

This should be called Marriotts great america

the fact that parking was "only" $16 and the season pass was less than $60 is definitely proof that this was 1991 lmfao man...i miss the Sky Whirl so much

Ah back to a time when six flags great america was amazing... Now its just trash...