Six Flags Great America from a Drone

I recently flew my drone around Six Flags Great America to capture aerial angles of the park I’ve never seen before.

Disclaimer: I am an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate-holding drone pilot following FAA’s Small UAS Rule (Part 107) and did not fly the drone over Six Flags Great America property.

The park is open weekends only right now, so my weekday flight provided me with views of an empty park.

My flight path followed the perimeter of the park, which gave me multiple views of the park’s impressive skyline of 15 coasters.

American Eagle’s towering 560-degree helix and Raging Bull’s 20-story-tall lift hill greet motorists on I-94, which parallels the park.

Although Six Flags Great America is technically land-locked, it has 304 acres worth of space. It’s a hike to go from one end of the park to the other.

Pictured on the left is the majority of the Southwest Territory section of the park, home to Raging Bull and Viber.

Raging Bull is looking a tad faded. Hopefully it will be one of the next coasters to receive a fresh coat of paint (Batman: The Ride was just repainted a few weeks ago).

The show building for The Dark Knight Coaster can be seen in the distance, to the right of Superman: Ultimate Flight’s first drop.

Raging Bull and Maxx Force are two of the most intense coasters at Six Flags Great America. Their proximity makes it appear that they’re going head-to-head.

Construction for the recently announced Wrath of Rakshasa B&M dive coaster is underway. But at this point, it’s mostly just groundwork.

It’s amazing to think a record-breaking dive coaster will be built within this relatively small plot of land. But a space-constrained park such as Six Flags Great America must be creative with how they squeeze in new coasters. Much of this space was freed up by the removal of the Buccaneer Battle splash battle attraction.

Batman: The Ride and The Flash: Vertical Velocity both stand out with their new-ish coats of paint. I do wish Batman would return to its original all-black color scheme.

X-Flight is a criminally underrated B&M wing coaster, and I stand by that claim.

Flash: Vertical Velocity (previously known just as “V2”) was renamed and repainted in 2022 as part of the Yankee Harbor area’s transformation into DC Universe.

At 330 feet, the Sky Trek Tower observation tower is still the tallest attraction at Six Flags Great America.

Justice League: Battle for Metropolis’ show building is larger than I realized.

I still can’t believe that Goliath is 10 years old this year. It seems like just yesterday we were at the media preview event.

A new security checkpoint structure is seen in the bottom right corner, which looks very nice and matches the Carousel Plaza aesthetic well.

This angle shows just how many coasters are packed into the park.

Raging Bull and Viper both tower over Hurricane Harbor, which has closed for the season.

Guests at Hurricane Harbor are also treated to a beautiful view of the park’s skyline.

I also like how Viper acts as a backdrop to Hurricane Harbor — it’s very reminiscent of a classic beach boardwalk.

At 227 feet in height, the Giant Drop tower is still the tallest thrill ride at the park.

I count nine coasters in this shot alone.

The new-for-2021 Tsunami Surge water coaster stands between Maxx Force and Viper.

Goliath’s trestle-style lift hill structure is almost invisible from some angles.

American Eagle’s 560-degree helix looks like a work of art from above.

Maxx Force’s dog tongue element looks so bizarre from some angles.

…especially this one!

Raging Bull’s “fake out” drop before the 208-foot plunge into an underground tunnel.

The park’s two intertwined log flumes are situated between Flash and Goliath.

The go-kart track in the middle of the park occupies a fairly sizeable plot of land. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s removed for a roller coaster or other attraction within the next 5-10 years (that’s pure speculation on my part).