American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Pulled up by a chain 127 ft to the top

Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Illinois

American Eagle

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4,650ftNo. 31 longest of 398 US coastersThe Beast 7,361 ftFury 325 6,602 ftAmerican Eagle2:23ride time66mphtop speed
POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
this giant bowl of wood
What riders love
  • The entire train and I seemed to be floating for a full second or two.
  • Its filled with several epic flojector moments in the back row and one intense helix.
  • first section has great floater, and the last few hills have some great ejector.
  • It's also a very long ride so you get a ton of value.
  • It is a nice, long, enjoyable ride overall.
  • This is taller, longer slightly faster and it has a cool helix.
  • This drop provides virtually no airtime but you do feel like your falling forever, especially in the front.
  • The first drop is one of my favorites and the airtime all throughout is pretty solid.
  • The first drop is great and all the airtime hills are taken at a great speed.
American Eagle Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

American Eagle Front Row POV 4K 60fps Wooden Roller Coaster Six Flags Great America

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American Eagle POV 5K Back Row GIANT WOODEN COASTER Six Flags Great America Gurnee, IL

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American Eagle POV 5K GIANT WOODEN COASTER Six Flags Great America Gurnee, IL

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American Eagle Roller Coaster Six Flags Great America T5 The Traveler & Becky The Trekkie Review

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First Ride American Eagle Review Six Flags Great America 7-3-21

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American Eagle Blue Review Six Flags Great America 5-27-17

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American Eagle backwards at Six Flags Great America

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American Eagle Backwards Blue Leaving Station Six Flags Great America 8-6-11

youtube.com › JiggidyNDG

American Eagle Lift Hill Backwards Blue Six Flags Great America 8-31-13

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American Eagle Entrance Update Six Flags Great America 5-6-23

youtube.com › JiggidyNDG

American Eagle Lift hill Six Flags Great America 2012

youtube.com › Frank Richter (The Boo)

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Six Flags Great America

The few potentially enjoyable spots are the first few hills which have some ejector but the valleys jackhammer you so hard you can’t enjoy it.

Benjamin Deneweth

The airtime and first drop are perhaps the most alluring factors.

Limitless Park

But the sense of speed and sustained floater airtime is unmatched, easily a top 5 coaster in the park.

Gabriel Feffer

I think the two sides of this coaster run about the same with fun airtime, especially between the first drop and helix turnaround.

David

Basically no airtime, even in the back, but the dueling makes this blasted Intamin surprisingly fun.

Birb from not Canada

It’s old but still dishes out a few moments of quality airtime and pretty comfortable even in the back.

Glass Cannonn

If it still dueled and wasn’t extremely rough in certain spots, I would definitely consider American Eagle a Top 5 roller coaster in the park.

Limitless Park

Seriously on the valley of the first drop, I got a headache from the roughness that lasted throughout the rest of the day.

Mik Gov

Its filled with several epic flojector moments in the back row and one intense helix.

Aric The Kakapo

Then you go into an insane helix that is very intense.

Caiden Brauchler

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...

Inverting Thrills

This is taller, longer slightly faster and it has a cool helix.

Brian Sheldon

It’s fast, it’s pretty smooth, the racing makes it kind of fun.

Richard Buman

The ride loses a lot of speed entering the helix, but it picks up the pace again as it spirals down the helix.

Chermaine Streppel

The helix is comically rough and slow; however, the airtime hills are super good and give good forces.

Cal Schattschneider Jr.

Ride operators were having a terrible time with lapbar operations and took probably a little short of 5 minutes to leave the station.

Kaby Ben

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.

Max S.

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

127 ftHeight
202 RagingBull 185 Flash:VerticalVelocity 180 Wrath ofRakshasa 175 Maxx Force 165 Goliath 127 AmericanEagle
147 ftFirst drop
208 RagingBull 180 Goliath 172 Maxx Force 171 Wrath ofRakshasa 160 Flash:VerticalVelocity 147 AmericanEagle
66 mphTop speed
Maxx Force78 Raging Bull73 Goliath72 Flash:Vertical Velo…70 Wrath ofRakshasa67 American Eagle66 078 mph
55°Drop angle
96°Wrath ofRakshasa85°Goliath65°Raging Bull55°AmericanEagle54°Demon53°Viperdashed line: straight down, 90°
0Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

Strong airtimeHuge first dropLong ride

Criticised for

Rough or rattlySlowed by trimsWeak layoutRider fit issues

Even so, the airtime feels about as intense and long as other, smaller dueling wooden coasters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as they do pack a punch.

I'm NotHere, Captain Coaster review

Your typical wooden rollercoaster, however it’s old & consequentially has quite a strong rattle.

Kevin, Captain Coaster review

It’s a reliable ride to have fun on always, but if we really want a classic ride, RMC IT UP THERE IS SO MUCH POTWNTIAL WITH THIS RIDE WE CANT LET IT GO TO WASTE.

Alejandro Padilla, Captain Coaster review

There’s a good bit of airtime in the middle, and the dueling makes this blasted Intamin surprisingly fun.

Birb from not Canada, Captain Coaster review

While American Eagle’s layout may not be quite as exciting as some other racing coasters, it is still provides for a fun enjoyable ride and a nice classic coaster in the Six Flags Great America lineup.

Theme Park James, published review

This is taller, longer slightly faster and it has a cool helix.

Brian Sheldon, Captain Coaster review

Photos

The American Eagle at Six Flags Great America. Sorry for poor quality
Jonrev at en.wikipedia, Public domain
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Wacky Windjammer, CC BY-SA 4.0
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Wacky Windjammer, CC BY-SA 4.0
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Jonrev, Public domain
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Wacky Windjammer, CC BY-SA 4.0
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Wacky Windjammer, CC BY-SA 4.0
American Eagle at Six Flags Great America
Wacky Windjammer, CC BY-SA 4.0
American Eagle from Washington St
Jonrev at English Wikipedia, Public domain
American Eagle roller coaster entrance in Gurnee, Illinois
Great America, Public domain
American Eagle lift hill at Six Flags Great America, Illinois, United States
Christophe95, CC BY-SA 3.0

11 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History

May 23, 1981Opened

A wooden coaster, built by Intamin, designed by Curtis D. Summers.

$10 millionTo build

Past incidents

  1. May 2002May 22, 2002: An 11-year-old girl was taken to the hospital due to suffering a brain hemorrhage after riding the coaster.
  2. September 1997September 7, 1997: Four guests were slightly injured after the second and third cars on the blue train separated and collided on the brake run.
  3. September 1984September 9, 1984: Seven guests were hospitalized after two trains collided in the station.
2incidents blamed on the ride

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Height requirement: Six Flags Great America. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, limitlesspark.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Jonrev (Public domain), Jonrev at en.wikipedia (Public domain), Wacky Windjammer (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0), Jonrev at English Wikipedia (Public domain), Great America (Public domain), Christophe95 (CC BY-SA 3.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

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What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Gabriel Feffer, rider review on Captain Coaster: “But the sense of speed and sustained floater airtime…”; Max S., rider review on Captain Coaster: “The entire train and I seemed to be floating…”; Aric The Kakapo, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Its filled with several epic flojector moments in the…”; Jamie Óchi, rider review on Captain Coaster: “first section has great floater, and the last few…”; Rollertoaster, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It looks absolutely massive, and feels massive when you're…”; Max S., rider review on Captain Coaster: “It's also a very long ride so you get…”; Cal Schattschneider Jr., rider review on Captain Coaster: “It is a nice, long, enjoyable ride overall.”; Brian Sheldon, rider review on Captain Coaster: “This is taller, longer slightly faster and it has…”; Jay Van Linden, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop is really good and surprisingly fast…”; Inverting Thrills, rider review on Captain Coaster: “This drop provides virtually no airtime but you do…”; Lettuce Two, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop is one of my favorites and…”; Chermaine Streppel, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The first drop is great and all the airtime…”; I'm NotHere, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Some would consider it a dead spot, and it…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: East Coasters's back row POV, American Eagle POV 5K Back Row GIANT WOODEN COASTER Six Flags Great America Gurnee, IL (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.