November 12, 2024
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Six Flags Great America rebrands park section with superhero theme, new features

By Doug T. Graham - Daily Herald Media Group
Described as its "most maniacal roller coaster to date," The Joker will open May 27 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee.

Described as its "most maniacal roller coaster to date," The Joker will open in May 2017 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. It is part of the newly rethemed DC Universe section of the park, formerly known as Yankee Harbor. (Photo provided)

Move over New England and make way for Gotham City.

Six Flags Great America’s Yankee Harbor section -- home to such favorites as BATMAN The Ride -- has a new name, DC Universe, and will debut new features, park officials announced Thursday.

The renamed section will feature new dining and shopping options as well as new installations of famous superheroes from DC Comics with which guests can take pictures, officials said.

Yankee Harbor was one of the original six sections of the Gurnee park when it opened in 1976 along with other areas named for American sites like Orleans Square.

As part of the retheming, three rides will get a superhero glow-up. Vertical Velocity, the U-shaped roller coaster that launches riders from zero to 70 mph in four seconds, has been renamed THE FLASH: Vertical Velocity and received a new paint job.

The water ride Yankee Clipper and the spinning swing ride Whirligig, both of which debuted when the park first opened, also will be renamed. Yankee Clipper will be named after Aquaman, and Whirligig will be called the DC Super-Villains Swing. The area also will include the Joker roller coaster, which debuted in 2017.

There will be a new beer garden called Steelworks Pub, named for the hero Steel’s workshop, and a dessert stand called Captain Cold Ice Cream, after the Flash villain.

Park President John Krajnak called the retheming the largest park enhancement in recent memory.

“This newly branded area brings together some of DC’s most iconic superheroes and supervillains for an exhilarating and immersive experience,” Krajnak said.

The park is set to open to guests on April 15.

Some guests predicted that Vertical Velocity was going to be rethemed after the ride closed, workers began painting the supports red, and park officials hung a sign at the entrance reading the ride “will be back in a Flash in 2022.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20220324/six-flags-great-america-rebrands-park-section-with-superhero-theme-new-features

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