Medill News Service article - Published: Oct. 4, 2001

Newest coaster gets biggest screams

By Patrick Cooper
Medill News Service

At Six Flags Great America's newest roller coaster, riders' screams continue even when the "Deja Vu" stops halfway through the ride. That should tell you something.

The screamers have just experienced an 18-story free-fall, four times the force of gravity, and feet spun repeatedly above heads. Now their coaster is quickly climbing another 18-story tower, all they see is the sky and they're waiting out the seconds before all this terror will happen again. Backward.

Wouldn't you scream too?

Local roller coaster enthusiasts gave the Deja Vu rave reviews at a preview run early Thursday morning, predicting long lines when the "boomerang" coaster officially opens Saturday with Fright Fest, the park's annual Halloween celebration.

"This is a big, big day for us," said Jim Crowley, marketing director for Great America, as he introduced the coaster to the crowd before its first public run at 5:55 a.m.

As he described Deja Vu in the mostly empty amusement park, young riders waited in the coaster's cars and cheered. They were sets of twins, promoting the ride's name and double tower structure. Members of Chicago's American Coaster Enthusiast chapter, up for the next ride, clapped as they surrounded the podium in the darkness. Standing nearby, his ears making him too tall to ride, Bugs Bunny gesticulated wildly.

Such is the opening of a Six Flags roller coaster. But the first riders said the coaster's design made it live up to the hype.

"It was fantastic," said Amanda Schweinebraten, 11, of Schaumburg, accompanied by her twin sister, Christina. Spotted hours later, she was headed for her 10th ride of the morning.

The ride began as the cars pulled backward out of the station and slowly up the first perfectly vertical tower. By the top, the riders were 178 feet in the air -- approximately 18 stories -- and had their bodies parallel to the ground.

"You're just looking to the ground and hanging there," 16-year-old Heather Paine said. "You can feel the harness," said her twin Holly, "but your feet are just dangling."

Riders then heard the hiss of the cable lift releasing its hold on the cars. Accelerating to a reported 65 mph, the coaster rushed downward and flew back through the station and out the other side into a "boomerang double inversion" turn, spinning the cars through tight corkscrews and turning toward the next destination, the second tower.

After a loop, the coaster reached the tower and stopped cold, giving riders the head rush of sudden deceleration. Another cable lift pulled the cars to the top of that tower, also 178 feet tall, and dropped them again, this time as riders faced the sky and their dangling feet flew up in the air.

The coaster charged backward along the steel frame and within seconds returned riders to the station. Total ride time: about a minute and a half.

Riders left the coaster's cars grinning and laughing, and no one stopped at the nearest trash can to deposit their breakfast, possibly because most in attendance hadn't even eaten yet.

But, on a full stomach or not, the ride was remarkably smooth, a quality veteran riders on hand said pushed Deja Vu onto their list of favorites.

"It is intense but absolutely as smooth as glass," said Ron Witrzek, 41, an American Coaster Enthusiast member and Chicago resident. "Great America has done well this time," he said. "It'll give Raging Bull a run for its money in popularity."

Many riders said Deja Vu is now neck and neck with the rodeo stylings of Raging Bull for the honor of best coaster in the park. Like a hungry judge in a dessert competition, riders said they "would have to try Deja Vu some more" before naming a favorite.

The coaster requires riders to be 54"-76" and has stringent requirements on those with health problems. Thirty-two people can ride in the coaster at once.

Deja Vu was under construction for nearly a year after the Skywhirl ride was demolished. The train has been running on the tracks and being tested for about the last three weeks, according to Jim Crowley. Similar coasters in Six Flags' Los Angeles and Atlanta parks opened in recent months.

"We're always lobbying to try and bring new and innovative rides," said Crowley, 42. "Anytime we take something out, we want to replace it with something bigger and better."

Classes from several Chicago-area high schools arrived later in the morning, for a little research and a little fun.

Students in Naperville Central High School's sport and entertainment marketing classes appropriately came in preparation for their final project: creating the marketing and design of an amusement park.

"This is the best field trip I've ever taken," said sophomore Adam Liss, 16. He said he couldn't think of one that compared enough to be second best.

Glenbrook North High School students brought equipment with them from their honors physics class to measure acceleration and pressure during the ride.

After being carried in special vests worn by students on the coaster, the instruments were plugged into a laptop computer by teacher Nathan Unterman, who was surprised by the results.

Analyzing the data on a park bench near the ride, Unterman said the coaster was packing three to four "g forces," or was making the riders feel like their bodies were three to four times heavier.

Senior Megan Fried, 17, said the trip fit well into a class where they were learning about acceleration and speed, but, as a season pass holder at Great America, she left no doubt that riding the coaster was the best part of the day.

Fried rode Deja Vu repeatedly, getting seats in the back, middle and near the front, but the very first row eluded her for hours. Park staff was reserving the row for media pictures of the twins.

She claimed "there's no bad spot on the ride," but later begged -- unsuccessfully -- for a reporter's press credentials to get a spot in the reserved front row.

Finally, however, she made it to the row and rode all the way with her hands in the air. After getting off, Fried weaved down the exit stairs, her arms still waving, and spoke with the breathless voice of a just-satisfied roller coaster fan.

"Front row is the best."