Great America to Great America

I was just thinking of something I wrote in the thread on the 49ers stadium.

Not that I'm going to do it, but let's say I wanted to go from GAC (Great America Station) in Santa Clara, CA to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL. Separate ownership now, but they're linked by their common history as Marriott theme parks. They did remove the steam railroad that I rode as a kid.

As far as I can tell, the closest stations would be Glenview, IL or Sturtevant, WI. Or am I missing something like perhaps bus service?

If you're just looking for some sort of public transportation service to Six Flags Great America, then Pace (suburban Chicago bus service) Route 565 could get you from the Waukegan Metra station to Great America (or at least to the street near the park). Not sure how walkable that is, from street through parking lots to park, or whether there is a reasonable way to get from Glenview Amtrak/Metra station to Great America.

Never been there of course. My dad did visiting the Chicago area. And I remember it mentioned in Wayne's World.

Without actually looking at connection times and schedules and such (just sort of playing around), I suppose taking Amtrak to Chicago, walking the couple blocks to Ogilvie Station, then taking Metra UP-N Line to Waukegan and connecting to the Pace bus would be the way to get to Great America. Obviously you'd need/want to check the schedules for Metra and Pace to see how well they match up at Waukegan, not to mention need to spend the night somewhere as well.

For what it's worth, you can see Great America from the train (Empire Builder and Hiawatha), especially in winter when leaves on trees don't block the view quite as much.

There is a weekend, Fri - Sun, service 284 from Rosemont CTA, also. But it's just one bus, mornings to the park and after closing return. I would think if it were a daily service, it might have potential of serving employees.

Alas, I don't know if my namesake interurban or the pictured Electroliner train could have, perhaps, gotten you any closer had it lasted into the current era of transit.

The Metra + Pace route is the most direct way to get there. There are only three pace bus routes that goes there, two of them serves Waukegan Metra.