Six Flags Great America
vs
Universal Studios Florida Park

Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park queue about the same on a typical day - 24 minutes against 23 minutes across 23 and 15 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.

Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Six Flags Great AmericaUnited States	Universal Studios Florida ParkUnited States
Average wait per ride	24 min	23 min (best of the two)
Rides with recorded waits	23 (best of the two)	15
Longest typical queue	Wrath of Rakshasa48 min	Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™42 min
Shortest typical queue	Rue Le Dodge6 min	Ollivanders™ Experience in Diagon Alley™5 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	75%	84% (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.

Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park compared on live queue times
Right now	Six Flags Great AmericaUnited States	Universal Studios Florida ParkUnited 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 Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park queue about the same on a typical day - 24 minutes against 23 minutes across 23 and 15 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 Six Flags Great America if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 24 minutes a ride
You want more to do: 23 rides here have recorded wait data against 15 at Universal Studios Florida Park
Wrath of Rakshasa is on your list - it is Six Flags Great America's longest typical queue at about 48 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

Pick Universal Studios Florida Park if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 23 minutes a ride
You would rather not find rides shut: Universal Studios Florida Park's rides run 84% of opening hours against 75% at Six Flags Great America
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts™ is on your list - it is Universal Studios Florida Park's longest typical queue at about 42 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Universal Studios Florida Park's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

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

Universal Studios Florida Park

Universal Studios Florida is one of two major parks at the Universal Orlando Resort, themed around film and TV. Highlights include Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Revenge of the Mummy, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Fast and Furious, and Transformers: The Ride. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Diagon Alley connects to Universal's Islands of Adventure via the Hogwarts Express.

Universal Studios Florida is busy year-round, with peak crowds during US school holidays, Halloween Horror Nights, and the Christmas season. Mid-January and early September are the quietest periods. Check live wait times across both parks on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a lower-crowd date - the extensive Wizarding World areas regularly top 60-minute queues.

Universal Studios Florida Park live queue times

05 · Questions

Six Flags Great America or Universal Studios Florida Park?

Which is better, Six Flags Great America or Universal Studios Florida Park?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 23 minutes a ride on a typical day. Six Flags Great America has 23 rides with recorded waits against 15 at Universal Studios Florida Park. Universal Studios Florida Park also runs its rides more reliably - 84% of opening hours against 75%. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Six Flags Great America or Universal Studios Florida Park?

They are level. Six Flags Great America averages 24 minutes a ride on a typical day and Universal Studios Florida Park averages 23 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Six Flags Great America best time to visit and Universal Studios Florida Park best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park 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 Six Flags Great America and Universal Studios Florida Park for the full ride lists.

Is Six Flags Great America bigger than Universal Studios Florida Park?

By rides we track waits for, Six Flags Great America is the bigger day out: 23 rides against 15. 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.

Six Flags Great America calendar Universal Studios Florida Park calendar Compare other parks