Absolutely Reliable News & Rumors.

Six Flags Great America Builds Parking Lot on Top of Roller Coaster

In a never-ending quest to boost attendance at their theme parks by installing top-rate thrill rides and attractions, the Six Flags Corporation has added an exhilarating new parking lot on top of the existing Déjà vu roller coaster at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.

Jim Wintrode, vice-president and general manager of Six Flags Great America chatted with ARN&R reporters recently about this fantastic new addition to Great America.

"At Six Flags, we understand how important it is to listen to our guests," stated Wintrode. "Our extensive consumer research has indicated to us that Americans were ready for a new level of thrills at theme parks. They were looking for something bigger, better and ten times more exciting. We teamed up with Vekoma International, who did all of the phenomenal work on Déjà Vu, and asked them how we could take the thrill factor to the next level. Their response, build a bigger, better beautiful new parking lot. So, that's exactly what we did."

Due to a lack of space for expansion at Six Flags Great America, the new parking lot could not be built without sacrificing another attraction elsewhere in the park. Great America made the bold decision to build the lot right on top of one of their existing roller coasters.

"We chose to construct the coaster on top of our Déjà Vu roller coaster. We had a dozen or so coasters, so what if we lost one, especially Déjà Vu. Who would even notice?" asked Wintrode. "Besides, we didn't even have to tear down the coaster to install the new parking lot. We just built the lot right on top of the coaster. You see, our extensive consumer research has also indicated to us that the average theme park guest doesn't particularly care about the theming of eye-popping new parking lots, especially parking lots as impressive as this one. So, no one is going to care whether or not there is an old, defective rusting roller coaster right smack in the middle of this fancy new thrill lot, I assure you."

Great America's new parking lot opened to the public and to rave reviews on June 12th, 2003. The lot features 750 compact and mid-size parking spaces. Each space is outlined in a dazzling metallic white spray on paint. The lot itself is a deep shade of black asphalt and has metallic yellow borders spray-painted along all four of its outermost edges.

"She's a real beauty," Wintrode attests. "Our guests are lining up in droves for a chance to experience this parking lot. They just cannot get enough of it. Attendance [at Six Flags Great America] is up six percent so far this season, and I'm sure it will only get better as the word-of-mouth gets out. In addition, Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Magic Mountain have reportedly been whining and begging for Vekoma to build nice new parking lots on top of their worthless Déjà Vu clones, as well.

--JWS