A long-shuttered icon of Six Flags Great America is reopening this weekend.
As first reported by WGN, the Gurnee, Illinois park will be putting its Sky Trek Tower back into operation beginning Saturday, May 27.
The 330-foot-tall observation tower — the tallest freestanding structure in Lake County, Illinois — opened in 1977, back when the park was run by the Marriott Corporation. It’s been sitting idle since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with its cabin suspended in the air and its queue roped off.
The still-closed Sky Trek Tower on Great America’s 2023 opening day (Theme Park Tribune)
“Being able to bring Sky Trek [Tower] after four years of it not being offered to guests, it’s totally a milestone,” Six Flags Great America spokesperson Rachel Kendziora told WGN. “It’s something we’ve been looking forward to since COVID started in 2020.”
The reopening of Sky Trek Tower will be the only significant change to Great America’s offerings this season. The park has not added a new ride since before the pandemic, with its last new roller coaster being 2019’s Maxx Force.
Other Six Flags parks have abandoned their own observation towers, which gave Great America fans anxiety that their own tower would suffer the same fate. Magic Mountain’s 385-foot-tall Sky Tower has been closed since 2014 due to not meeting elevator safety requirements set by the state of California.