Tsunami Surge is a water coaster located in

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago is a 20-acre (8.1 ha) water park located in Gurnee, Illinois, United States. Six Flags owns and operates the park, which is located within the Chicago metropolitan area. The park opened on May 28, 2005, as pa ...

, in the Riptide Bay area that opened on May 29, 2021. Manufactured by

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, the water coaster was the tallest water coaster in the world at from 2021 to 2025. Announced in 2019, the water coaster suffered a delay following the effects of the park's closure and construction delays relating to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

On August 29, 2019,

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

announced Tsunami Surge, in which the park claims as the tallest water coaster in the world. The attraction would be located across from Maxx Force, utilizing the former Pictorium site. As the 25th attraction at the water park, Tsunami Surge would utilize "AquaLucent" effects. Construction of Tsunami Surge at Hurricane Harbor Chicago

Construction of Tsunami Surge at Hurricane Harbor Chicago

More plans were announced at the

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' No Coaster Con event on January 18, 2020, in which the park announced that

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was in early-January, and had released the renderings for the attraction. Later in March of that year, the park had temporarily paused construction due to the

. After the announcement that Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago would be separate from Six Flags Great America, the park confirmed that Tsunami Surge would be opening for the 2021 season. Soft opening for the attraction began on May 27, 2021, for the media, and the attraction's grand opening was on May 29, 2021. It is no longer the tallest water coaster as Surreal at Brazil’s Beach Park opened on March 21, 2025. The ride is 91 ft tall.

Ride description

The ride starts above, and drops into the ride's first uphill blast, and turns left into its second uphill blasts. After the second blast, the ride turns into a

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before its turn into the final uphill blast. After two turns, the ride has two pre-drops, before dropping into a splashdown section. In total, the water coaster features five turns, five drops and three uphill blasts. The attraction utilizes "AquaLucent" effects during each turn, which create "bursts of colors" and "dreamlike patterns" during the turns.

Awards

and Ramaker won an award for the ''Leading Edge Award'' in August 2021 by the

World Waterpark Association The World Waterpark Association (WWA), which was started in 1982, is an international not-for-profit member-based trade association that serves waterparks, aquatic venues and spray parks. The WWA is focused on providing its 1200 members with the ...

for their work on the attraction. Additionally, the next month, the ride placed third place in ''Best New Water Slide'' on ''

Amusement Today ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arl ...

'''s

Golden Ticket Award ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arl ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Six Flags Great America rides Six Flags Great America Water rides Amusement rides introduced in 2021 Operating amusement attractions