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Park Queue TimesPQT

Busch Gardens Williamsburg
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Six Flags Great America

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America queue about the same on a typical day - 21 minutes against 22 minutes across 9 and 23 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

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01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America compared on their typical recorded queue times
TypicallyBusch Gardens WilliamsburgUnited StatesSix Flags Great AmericaUnited States
Average wait per ride 21 min (best of the two)22 min
Rides with recorded waits 923 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue Le Scoot80 minMaxx Force38 min
Shortest typical queue The Battering Ram7 minRue Le Dodge8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running99% (best of the two)71%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America compared on live queue times
Right nowBusch Gardens WilliamsburgUnited StatesSix Flags Great AmericaUnited States
Average wait right now --
Rides open --
Opening hours today --
Longest queue --
Shortest queue --

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America queue about the same on a typical day - 21 minutes against 22 minutes across 9 and 23 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Busch Gardens Williamsburg if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 21 minutes a ride
  • You would rather not find rides shut: Busch Gardens Williamsburg's rides run 99% of opening hours against 71% at Six Flags Great America
  • Le Scoot is on your list - it is Busch Gardens Williamsburg's longest typical queue at about 80 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Busch Gardens Williamsburg's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Six Flags Great America if…

  • Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 22 minutes a ride
  • You want more to do: 23 rides here have recorded wait data against 9 at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
  • Maxx Force is on your list - it is Six Flags Great America's longest typical queue at about 38 minutes, so it is the one to do first
  • You want Six Flags Great America's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is consistently rated one of the most beautiful theme parks in the world, winning "Most Beautiful Park" industry awards year after year. Set across European-themed villages in Virginia, it runs a top-tier coaster line-up: Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot, Griffon (a dive coaster), Verbolten, InvadR, and the newer Pantheon - one of the world's fastest multi-launch coasters.

Virginia school holidays, the Howl-O-Scream Halloween event and the famous Christmas Town event drive Busch Gardens Williamsburg's biggest crowds. Weekdays in May, September and early October are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Pantheon and Alpengeist first thing on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd date - the park's wooded setting keeps temperatures pleasant.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg live queue times

Six Flags Great America

Six Flags Great America sits in Gurnee, Illinois, between Chicago and Milwaukee. The coaster line-up includes Maxx Force (with one of the world's fastest inversions), X Flight wing coaster, Goliath (a Rocky Mountain Construction wooden coaster), Raging Bull, American Eagle duelling wooden coaster, and Batman: The Ride. A Hurricane Harbor water park is included during summer.

Illinois and Wisconsin school holidays, Chicago-area weekend visits, and the popular Fright Fest event drive Six Flags Great America's busiest periods. Weekdays in May, June, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Maxx Force and Goliath on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd midweek date for shorter queues.

Six Flags Great America live queue times

05 · Questions

Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Six Flags Great America?

Which is better, Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Six Flags Great America?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 21 minutes a ride on a typical day. Busch Gardens Williamsburg has 9 rides with recorded waits against 23 at Six Flags Great America. Busch Gardens Williamsburg also runs its rides more reliably - 99% of opening hours against 71%. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Busch Gardens Williamsburg or Six Flags Great America?

They are level. Busch Gardens Williamsburg averages 21 minutes a ride on a typical day and Six Flags Great America averages 22 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Busch Gardens Williamsburg best time to visit and Six Flags Great America best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Six Flags Great America for the full ride lists.

Is Busch Gardens Williamsburg bigger than Six Flags Great America?

By rides we track waits for, Six Flags Great America is the bigger day out: 23 rides against 9. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg calendarSix Flags Great America calendarCompare other parks