American Eagle (red) • Six Flags Great America

Airtimes First Drop Rattle

It's a piece of history, but it's overdue for some refurb.

Airtimes First Drop Ejectors Rattle Dead spots

rattly? yes. is the middle section super slow? yes. but there is some awesome airtime on this outside of the middle section. first section has great floater, and the last few hills have some great ejector. real good coaster outside of the rattle and the middle section being entirely unnecessary

Its a classic, but im not a fan. Its rough and over rated in my opinion. Glad to say i rode it, but i wont ride it again.

Airtimes Nice surprise! Rattle Headbanging

It's not the smoothies ride in the world and whenever you mention RMC and American Eagle all of a sudden die-hard fans come out of the woodwork... It's fast you can't say it's boring. The first drop is ok and the ride does pick up the pace and the airtime hills save this coaster. I also had multiple night rides so that experience changed the way I look at this ride overall. Reds definitely better

Airtimes Duration Discomfort Dead spots

Fantastic RMC candidate.

Airtimes First Drop Duration Discomfort Dead spots

I have completely changed my mind regarding this coaster. Originally I thought it was the perfect candidate for the RMC treatment like Twisted Colossus and although that would be an awesome change, I really enjoy the current format it is in. Sure it probably needs a re-track and especially some structural work done. They need to get to the point where they can run two trains at the same time because it's a letdown to only run the Red side. The first drop is fantastic and I bet it was groundbreaking during the 1981 release. I sat in the back and got a ton of ejector airtime. The weak dead spot would be the massive helix for me. Some people love laterals but I'm just never a fan. For it to turn for that long it became a bit boring. Once it finally leaves the helix you get some great pops of airtime. The ride is super long and I'm glad you get a lot of runtime. The other downside is a bit of discomfort for the car. I rode with a larger significant other and we felt a bit cramped in the seats compared to pretty much all other coasters in the park outside of the kiddie coasters. 3.5/5 stars

Fun Rattle

The ride is fun but so dirty and the stairs handle bar is rusty it looks disgusting the ride is fun but shakey and not really fast

Airtimes Dead spots

There is a nice amount of airtime but that boring helix is way too big.

Airtimes Nice surprise! Fun

This ride really surprised me! The first drop is great and all the airtime hills are taken at a great speed. The ride loses a lot of speed entering the helix, but it picks up the pace again as it spirals down the helix. Reminds me of Colossos in terms of layout, which is a really good thing as I love Colossos! For being Intamins first coaster, this is such a good one!

Airtimes Fun Masterpiece

One of the best coasters at six flags great america

Airtimes Ejectors Duration Rattle Dead spots

A fun ride for sure, but the helix really is what brings this ride down. The helix is comically rough and slow; however, the airtime hills are super good and give good forces. It is a nice, long, enjoyable ride overall.

Airtimes First Drop Dead spots

Disclaimer: This a review of the blue side American Eagle can be separated into two parts, an airtime filled section and a slow boring section. Now with that being said let's begin the review, normally I would start with the off ride experience but there really isn't one. American Eagle is very hidden from the rest on the park as all you can really see is the massive lift structure and similarly massive helix. Now arguably the most famous parts of American Eagle is it's obnoxiously long queue and it really is long, there is absolutely no theming but since there's almost never a line that doesn't make a difference. Now with that all said let's get into the actual coaster review. The ride starts with an unbanked turn out of station that provides weak laterals and then proceeds into straight track before another unbanked turn leading into the lift hill. Now this lift is absolutely massive and in turn takes forever, thankfully there are amazing views of the park on the right. Now leading up to the drop the slow crawl of the lift builds anticipation looking down the rides 147ft drops at 55 degrees which looks a lot larger when you actually up there. This drop provides virtually no airtime but you do feel like your falling forever, especially in the front. This drop actually is larger then the lift hill of the ride so you actually level out in a trench. This pull out of the drop provides little positives however the sense of speed is absolutely unreal, after all the ride is the 8th fastest wooden coaster in the world and is only one mile an hour slower then the Voyage. Unlike the Voyage American Eagle goes into two low to the ground airtime hills continuing with the insane pacing and giving surprisingly strong airtime that borders from strong floater to flojector airtime. This whole portion of the ride is rather bumpy and may not be enjoyable if you dislike rougher rides. Following these hills American Eagle climbs up a large hill killing much of the speed. Once the ride reaches the peak of this hill it runs into... trim breaks slowing the train down to a crawl. Now the first section of this ride is over leading into the second most famous part of this ride, the helix. This helix drags on for quite awhile slowly building up speed, it provides little forces at all and really feels like it's just there to add track length. Now I probably should say that American eagle is a racing coaster that as of this review is only running one sides as it has been for at least 3 years, this helix would have likely been better if the racing mechanic was still a feature however that is not currently the case. Once the massive helix is completed the ride has built up some decent speed, which is immediately lost as you hit trims killing a portion of your speed. Now this is the first portion of the ride where the two sides of the ride really differ both having sides having completely different layouts. As I haven't ridden the red side in quite a while I'll just be commenting on blue side. The ride steps down from the helix which surprisingly gives no airtime throughout the entire train, a theme that will be carried throughout the rest of the ride. The ride rises up into a rather large airtime hill that of course gives no airtime. Then the ride goes into a small portion of straight track and then goes into a very drawn out slightly banked turn that somehow doesn't give any laterals. The ride rises again into another airtime hill that again gives no forces. After this hill it rises again into a midcourse break run which slows your train to a complete crawl which is rather unfortunate as the ride goes into another helix. The lack of speed going into the element just makes it a slow and surprisingly bumpy helix, while much of the ride is somewhat rough in my experience this is the worst offender as it is just slowly crawling through the helix. After the helix you rise up again and hit the breaks concluding the ride. One last note is that a night ride is absolutely fantastic and I strongly recommended you ride it then as the final few hills can even give some airtime. Overall the ride gets a 7/10 primarily for it's incredible first half but also for being a genuinely fun ride.

Airtimes Rattle Discomfort

This ride has excellent airtime but is terribly rough. Seriously on the valley of the first drop, I got a headache from the roughness that lasted throughout the rest of the day. Plus, both trains don’t even run at the same time anymore but if I had to decide between the two sides, I think the red side is better because it has an extra airtime hill. This ride should either be retracked or RMC’d. This feels disappointing for me because this is just a classic ride that I used to love when I was younger

Airtimes Layout Rattle

There's not much to say about American Eagle. Your typical wooden rollercoaster, however it's old & consequentially has quite a strong rattle. Get ready to get hurt and have some fun! I wouldn't prioritize American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, try going on all the other phenomenal rides and if you have remaining time, give it a try.

Masterpiece Rattle

Classic ride, the staple of Six Flags Great America!

Airtimes Rattle Dead spots Layout

An old style wooden racer. It has some great bunny hills but the layout is rather dull and has alot of deadspots. It also is really showing it age and needs a retrack

Pointless Dead spots Layout

This is a very mediocre ride. One of the worst classic woodies I’ve ridden. It doesn’t have any airtime and it feels like 60% of it is just a random forceless double helix. Plus this thing doesn’t duel so that aspect of it isn’t even there. RMC please and thank you

Airtimes Duration Rattle

Classic Ride. Tall, Fast, and long but very rough, especially in helix. Would make a great RMC...

A classic for sure. This is one of the largest of these old wooden creations ever built. I love these classic woody out and backs. My home park of SFSTL has Screamin Eagle and I have ridden it countless times over the decades. This is taller, longer slightly faster and it has a cool helix. Plus it is technically a racer. Although, I've never been dispatched simultaneously. I rode this back somewhere around 2006 and then again about 5-6 years later. I'm 95% sure there wasn't any maintenance done between those rides. It was in pretty rough shape the second time I rode it. Even in it's condition, isn't an awful ride. I've definitely been on much worse. This obviously, isn't anywhere in the realm of liquid smooth, but if you hang on in the helix and turns the rest is rideable as it should be ridden--arms up. Overall, a good example of classic woodies.

Airtimes Lap Bar Fun

American Eagle is the best coaster around, no matter what. If youve ridden this and its not your favorite ever youre crazy

First Drop Ejectors Duration Discomfort Layout

I love the eagle! It was my first big Wooden coaster in 2012, and it was amazing. I just wish it wasn't so rough, and I wish the helix didn't exist..

Location Fun Layout

The side-by-side helix is a very interesting element on a traditional-style racing coaster. Unfortunately, dispatches were staggered when I rode, so I didn't get a racing run, but it was a pretty fun, if forgettable, ride.

Airtimes Masterpiece Rattle Discomfort Dead spots

Fun, long, nice floater airtime. Some slow parts and pretty rough, but this sucker is a classic.

Airtimes Lap Bar Duration Rattle

Intensity Duration

Airtimes Rattle Dead spots

Airtimes Fun Dead spots

Airtimes

Duration Rattle Disappointing!

Airtimes Nice surprise! Fun