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Six Flags Great America
Where: Off I-94 at the Grand Avenue East/Route 132 exit, Gurnee
When: Opens at 10 a.m. daily through Aug. 29. Closing times vary.
Tickets: $41.99 general admission, $29.99 seniors and children under 54 inches tall, free for ages 3 and younger; $10 for parking
Phone: (847) 249-4636
With the dawn of frat blow-outs and "Girls Gone Wild" videos, New Orleans' celebration of Mardi Gras has lost some of its charm. But back in Gurnee, Ill., it's Fat Tuesday every day this summer.
Six Flags Great America's new Mardi Gras themed area is modeled after the French-rooted holiday in hues of purple, green and gold. Tucking four new rides into an already-existing elbow of the park, it's a chaste bacchanal followed by no required period of penitence. Think jovial harlequins rather than John Mayer fans with alcohol poisoning.
Anyone familiar with the park may wonder, "Hey, wasn't there already a N'awlins area - Orleans Place?" Yes, there was, and still is. The Rue Le Dodge bumper cars and the mighty Condor haven't met the wrecking ball. Mardi Gras actually sits in a modest spot between Orleans and Yankee Harbor, a stretch formerly called Marketplace that incorporates Roaring Rapids (the rafting ride, once known as White Water Rampage), the Cirque Electrique carnival games and the fairground "psychic" known as the Amazing Alfredeaux.
The rechristened Bayou Grill promises spicy chow, and a stage formerly used for Looney Tunes character shows now boasts live blues, rock and soul music by local band Manny B. and the Rhythm Nights, alternating with the Jug O'Jugglers.
Great America also debuted a fifth new ride this year, Revolution, in the County Fair area. None of these new rides are roller coasters in the traditional sense, though the Ragin' Cajun does follow a track. The rest are appropriately carnival-style, the sort known in industry jargon as "flat rides." They don't have the razzle-dazzle of recent park additions like Superman - Ultimate Flight or Deja Vu, but their queue lines will probably move a lot faster.
Ragin' Cajun
The star of Mardi Gras is called a family coaster, so like the beloved Whizzer, don't expect corkscrews or loops. The odd little cars fit four across, pulling riders around a labyrinthine...