Lake Compounce
vs
Six Flags Great America

On a typical day Lake Compounce queues less: about 16 minutes a ride against 33 at Six Flags Great America, a difference of roughly 17 minutes on every queue you join.

See both right now

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.

Lake Compounce and Six Flags Great America compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Lake CompounceUnited States	Six Flags Great AmericaUnited States
Average wait per ride	16 min (best of the two)	33 min
Rides with recorded waits	25 (best of the two)	21
Longest typical queue	Boulder Dash37 min	Raging Bull71 min
Shortest typical queue	Rainbow Riders5 min	Rue Le Dodge8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	67%	78% (best of the two)

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.

Lake Compounce and Six Flags Great America compared on live queue times
Right now	Lake CompounceUnited States	Six 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 On a typical day Lake Compounce queues less: about 16 minutes a ride against 33 at Six Flags Great America, a difference of roughly 17 minutes on every queue you join.

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 Lake Compounce if…

You want shorter queues: Lake Compounce averages 16 minutes a ride against 33 at Six Flags Great America
You want more to do: 25 rides here have recorded wait data against 21 at Six Flags Great America
Boulder Dash is on your list - it is Lake Compounce's longest typical queue at about 37 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Lake Compounce's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Six Flags Great America if…

You will accept a longer queue - 33 minutes a ride here against 16 at Lake Compounce - for what Six Flags Great America has that Lake Compounce does not
You would rather not find rides shut: Six Flags Great America's rides run 78% of opening hours against 67% at Lake Compounce
Raging Bull is on your list - it is Six Flags Great America's longest typical queue at about 71 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.

Lake Compounce

Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, opened in 1846 and is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in North America. Boulder Dash is the standout, a wooden coaster that runs along the side of the mountain, alongside the 1927 Wildcat, the triple-launch Phobia Phear and Thunder N Lightning. The park also has the Crocodile Cove water park, and in the autumn it adds Halloween haunts on select dates.

Summer weekends and the July holiday week are the busiest. Weekdays in June and the autumn weekends before the haunts open are quieter. Check the live queue times before you go and use the crowd calendar to choose a day.

Lake Compounce 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

Lake Compounce or Six Flags Great America?

Which is better, Lake Compounce or Six Flags Great America?

If you are judging on queues, Lake Compounce: it averages about 16 minutes a ride on a typical day against 33 at Six Flags Great America, roughly 17 minutes back on every queue you join. Lake Compounce has 25 rides with recorded waits against 21 at Six Flags Great America. Six Flags Great America also runs its rides more reliably - 78% of opening hours against 67%.

Which has shorter queues, Lake Compounce or Six Flags Great America?

Lake Compounce, by about 17 minutes a ride. On a typical day Lake Compounce averages 16 minutes against 33 at Six Flags Great America. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Lake Compounce best time to visit and Six Flags Great America best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Lake Compounce 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 Lake Compounce and Six Flags Great America for the full ride lists.

Is Lake Compounce bigger than Six Flags Great America?

By rides we track waits for, Lake Compounce is the bigger day out: 25 rides against 21. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Lake Compounce is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

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

Six Flags Great America calendar