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Photo TR: Chicago, SFGA, Food, CORN MAZES and more FOOD!


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Stacey and I had a wedding to attend this past weekend in Chicago so we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it and do Six Flags Great America for Fright Fest, explore Chicago since we have not been there in a few years and eat WAY too much amazing food. Overall it was a very fun and relaxing trip! I do feel as if I have grown out of Six Flags parks however... While we had a good time they just do not feel as if they offer much to me any more. Credits are good but the horrible service, long lines, lack of other rides and entertainment and the clientele make me want to stay away. Ahh well.

 

We have a bad tendency to go to SFGA when it is *way* to busy and this time was no exception. We had 45 min to an hour lines even with Fast Lane and the lack of an open full service restaurant and huge lines at the crappy quick service actually had us leave the park to eat dinner (which we never do!) For some reason I thought the opening weekend of Fright Fest on a Saturday nite would not be busy... silly me!

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This is *way* to country for us!

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We then decided to try out the corn maze. It started off very easy but we actually got lost a few times. I want to try a bigger one now!

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These little piggies all have their boob credit ;)

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I decided to try and feed this creature with long claws that was very fast. Bad idea? Why yes... yes it was.

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Hello Robb!

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They even had a zoo set up at this farm! This was a very sad looking tiger... :(

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I got to fondle a donkey! Yae! Donkey credit!

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They also loved to violate copyrights here... Why are the muppets on sesame street? Oh yeah..they were painted by a drunk farmer!

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Being city folk we had always wanted to check out a corn maze and a traditional farm. About 20min from our hotel we got our wish!

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Next day lunch was at Gino's East for some deep dish chicago pizza! I told you it was all about the food :)

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This was all over the buildings near the restaurant. WTF?!?!

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We had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Cafe Mateu - The highlight was poached figs drenched in honey. It made me cry!

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Our hotel was in Schaumberg and we could see our Ikea credit taunting us from our window! (we don't have ikea here either so its a big deal to us!)

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We landed at Midway airport and ran smack into a White Castle after we got our rental car. We don't have White Castle in Florida so it was a rare treat!

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More fun and food!

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Wow.. Let me put on my surprised face.

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Damn you stacker and your PSP prize taunting me. I'm really good at this game usually but at a $1 a pop and the top prize a PSP..it took me for quite a few dollars.

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Best Coaster in the Park.. Raging Bull! Fast Lane was very helpful here!

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The Demon! Rock ON!

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The theming at Viper consisted of a sign out front saying "Snakes on a Train"...that is *Amazing* halloween theming.

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Area 51-- OMG!! Perhaps the Aliens could help with the 90 minute wait for every attraction in the park?

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They had a few different scare zones but no people really scaring - just kinda walking behind you. When we were in guest relations later that night we heard them say they "Toned it down" this year.

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They tried with their theming..but it just cant get that bad six flags taste out of your mouth.

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We then made it to SFGA...the most bizarrely crowded park EVAH!

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Next day for lunch we headed to Portillos for some hot beef action! No..seriously...they serve hot beef there. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!

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Stacey is not tall enough to get the pumpkin credit :(

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Awesome apple cider, apple cider donuts, and apples with warm caramel and nuts. MmmmMM Apple-Delicious

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Stacey got lost in the Hay Maze.. it was only really effective if you were.. um.. 3 feet tall.

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A combo Zebra and Donkey! ROCK ON!

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The ACEr's built their own park.. yae for them!

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Sadly you should have gone to the worlds largest maze that is actually 1.5 hours from where you are. They have 3 mazes. The large one, a haunted one, and a small boring one.and they get hay rides. But nice job doing the donkey!

LOL Snakes on a train !

 

EDIT: Didn't you know that portillos beef is supposed to be on recall right now it gave my family the Shilts!

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and more...

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I leave you with this ferris wheel photo. McDonalds and Vekoma in the same picture.. Love it or hate it?!?! It is enough to make you go crazy.

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Before our flight we hit navy pier which had horribly overpriced parking, marginal food and a few rides.

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Dinner was at another amazing restaurant called Sweets and Savories where we had a great meal and a 3 course desert tasting. This was our Duck Fat Fries with Fig Ketchup. The fries melted in your mouth.. drool.

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No one has *ever* taken this photo before!

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OMG! I'm touching myself!

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We then went to the Millennium Park where we saw the Cloud Gate sculpture - it was pretty amazing!

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I'm not sure what is worse.. the little girls, the moms or the dolls. This one was pretty creepy!

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Then to the American Girl Doll Store for Stacey which made her very happy!

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We then headed to downtown chicago to explore. This used to be the Chicago DisneyQuest.. RIP! :(

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The food was too die for. We don't have a grill in our apt so it is a rare treat!

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For lunch the next day we went to the Weber Grill restaurant where they cook all of their food on... huge weber grills. It was *awesome*

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We were kinda hungry so of course we had to get another white castle credit. Why are these not in Florida?

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The clone of Primeval Whirl at DAK.. it was *exactly* the same.. with no theming or audio.

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Fun ride - horrible people in line. We then ran over to the next attraction at full speed. We had 5 minutes at the end of the night to make it to...

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Hi Joe!

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We searched and searched for the headline magic show that was in the map. This is where it was.. we laughed and walked away. We actually got their early thinking we wouldn't get seats! :)

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This was the *free* scare zone. Once again it seemed scaring was not their focus. They mainly hung out, talked to each other and occasionally scared a small child. Hmm.

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We skipped this crappy ride.. We have decided to never ride stand ups ever again....seriously.

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The Troll way!!! GET IT?!?!! HAh! The tower actually looked really cool at night with smoke and flames in addition to kong.

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Demon was also a highlight of the day.. not for the horrible and rough ride but the retro 80's song and commercials playing in the queue for the ride.

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Great TR!

 

I'm actually shocked at how much effort SFGAm puts into Fright Fest! Changing the names, adding dye to the water, giant props, wow, almost cool. As for Deja Vu...HAHAHAAHAHA...I HAVE ALL 4!!!!!

 

Heh. When we went to guest relations that night (which we never do but we were a tad bit miffed about the 45-60 min waits WITH fastlane) there was a guy in front of us complaining that DejaVu is always closed when he comes. The lady was saying how "It is always open" and he "Must have bad luck" and it is "One of their most reliable rides". I seriously almost laughed out loud.

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LOL! Snakes on a train? woah... I literally JUST got that - as I was typing.

 

I think that's cool how they changed iron wolf's name; I've never been to fright fest before. However, that will all change soon

 

 

Navy Pier looks cool, along with the cloud gate - AMAZING! It's almost mesmerizing... Funny, I only saw the two projection towers when I went to Chica-ga two years ago. I do wish that went to see that, too.

I get to go to navy pier next spring with my class; something about eighth grade priveleges?

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The actual funny thing is.....Dejavu ran all day (except for minor mishaps) on Friday, Sunday, and Monday. It also hasn't seen a day where it hasn't ran at all in quite a long time. It's almost like....dare I say it?.....a normal coaster.

 

Just a random tidbit....fireworks are now BACK for Fright Fest. Catch them on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights in conjunction with the nightly Zombie Jamboree pre-show and parade.

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I think its cool that they have been doing the "retro" version of the Demon for the Halloween event. I believe they started doing that last year. They now keep the original song in the queue all year long. By chance did the have a mist effects in the first tunnel?

 

By the way, greatamericanparks.com has the Demon song, listen to it here:

 

http://greatamericaparks.com/demon.html

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Any TR with White Castle is awesome The Schaumberg Ikea is the Highest volume store in the U.S. right now as my wife works for the one here in Phila. Somehow I got the Deja Vu credit on the first try but no Whizzer due to rain Cloud gate looks amazing and for 23 million it should. Again great TR, I now want to go to Weber grill!

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I think its cool that they have been doing the "retro" version of the Demon for the Halloween event. I believe they started doing that last year. They now keep the original song in the queue all year long. By chance did the have a mist effects in the first tunnel?

 

By the way, greatamericanparks.com has the Demon song, listen to it here:

 

http://greatamericaparks.com/demon.html

 

Thanks for the link! No - no f/x were working on the demon at all except audio in the queue and right after dispatch. No smoke, no lights, no water, no nothing!

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Awesome TR guys.

 

You like White Castle burgers? Eeew! More like cardboard on a sponge. Same with Crystal burgers.

 

I have got to get to 6FGA. Aside from the long lines, it seems you all had a great time.

 

The city looks awesome. I was there over the summer working, but had no time during the day to site see. I'm jealous. That cloud thing looks amazing.

 

Guy "See ya next week." Koepp

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About Deja Vu... it was seriously working well this year. Other years? Eh, not so much. But it was working as well as it could ever possibly work this year. It was probably down due to staffing.

 

Apparently the waterfall was damaging the structure of the tunnel, so they had to turn it off. A tad disappointing, as they used to always have it on. Also, on my last visit, the lights were working (and they are actually very effective), so that's kind of disappointing.

 

SFGAm is a great park when it's not crowded. When it is crowded, it turns sort of bad. Luckily, Great America does benefit from efficient crews and some good employees. It's a lot better than what other Six Flags can do.

 

I'm glad to hear that you guys enjoyed American Eagle. It's probably my favorite ride in the park, just for the fact that the red side is truly amazing in the front seat. What did you guys about it?

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I want to ride the Deja Vus but I am banned due to height (way too tall). As for the Eagle, I remember the first time I rode it back on it's opening year. I thought that was the biggest baddest and coolest thing ever. I still love that coaster. I only wish a gazillioaire would buy the park and return it to the total themed glory of the Marriott days.

 

It's a country of fun for everyone at Marriott' Great America. Ok , i'm done.

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Great TR. Friday night is the best time to got to Fright Fest. Lines are short and it looks much better when it's dark from the get go. I'm headed there this Frida and looking forward to it.

 

Yeah, you need to go to Culver's not White Castle....that's just nasty food.

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I was at SFGAM on columbus day and yesterday (friday the 13th) and Dejavu was closed both days. I think it's a staffing problem rather than a mechanical problem. This year they've had it running pretty good (with a late opening sometime in june). I haven't seen this ride run a whole year without being down for at least a month since it opened. This year and last year they've gotten pretty close to a full year of operation.

 

I have to agree that FF this year is really bad compared to last year. There are less people in Necropolis/ throughout the entire park scaring this year.

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