Great America tickets start at $45 online for Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, before taxes, fees, parking, and add-ons.
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Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, is the Great America most price searches mean, and the useful ticket number is $45 online before taxes and fees. A family pricing how much are tickets for Great America should budget more than admission: general parking starts at $39, gate admission is listed at $90, and date choice can change the final checkout total.
California’s Great America in Santa Clara is a separate park with a similar starting online price, so double-check the park name before buying. The breakdown below focuses on Six Flags Great America near Chicago, with a short note where the California park changes the math.
Once you know your visit date, compare the ticket options before you build the rest of the day around it:
Great America Ticket Prices: What You Pay Today
Great America tickets currently start at $45 for a date-selected online park ticket at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. The posted gate price is $90, so buying online can cut the listed admission price in half before taxes and fees.
The $45 price is the starting point, not a fixed all-in cost. Six Flags uses date-based pricing, so weekends, holidays, and high-demand summer days can price differently at checkout.
The most common ticket choices fall into three buckets:
- Single-day park ticket: the lowest simple admission option for one chosen date.
- Bundle ticket: admission plus a drink perk, which can be worth it for a long hot day.
- Pass or membership: better for repeat visits, parking value, and season events.
Price reality: The cheapest number on the ticket page is not the whole visit cost. Parking, Fast Lane, meals, lockers, games, and taxes sit outside the base ticket unless your selected product says they are included.
What’s Included With A Great America Ticket?
A standard Six Flags Great America park ticket covers one-day admission to the theme park on the selected date. Great America tickets do not automatically cover every extra inside the park, so read the product name before paying.
For a simple day, the base ticket gets you through the gate and onto the rides that are open that day. The ticket does not usually include parking, Fast Lane access, food, drinks, midway games, merchandise, or separately ticketed events.
Hurricane Harbor Chicago is handled as its own ticket category on the Six Flags site. If waterpark time matters, choose a ticket or pass that clearly includes the waterpark rather than assuming a theme-park ticket covers it.
Six Flags lists the current daily-ticket products and prices on its official Six Flags Great America daily tickets page, including the online starting price, gate price, and ticket restrictions.
Ticket Types Compared
The best Great America ticket depends on whether you need the lowest one-day admission price, a drink bundle, a passholder guest deal, or repeat-entry value. The table below shows the current ticket math most visitors compare first.
| Ticket Or Add-On | What It Includes | Current Posted Price |
|---|---|---|
| Park Ticket | One-day admission for the date selected | From $45 online; $90 gate price |
| Ride & Refresh Summer Ticket | Admission, all-day Coca-Cola fountain refills, and one Dasani water | $65 online |
| Celebrate America Bring-A-Friend Ticket | Guest admission on select dates with a valid passholder | $17.76 online |
| Gold Membership | Year-round perks across Midwest Six Flags parks, with monthly billing terms | $8 per month after a $20 initial payment |
| Daily General Parking | Standard vehicle parking bought online before arrival | From $39 |
| Daily Preferred Parking | Closer parking area than standard general parking | From $59 |
| California’s Great America Park Ticket | One-day admission to the Santa Clara park, not the Gurnee park | From $45 online; $85 gate price |
For one adult driving alone to Six Flags Great America, the practical floor is about $84 before taxes and fees: $45 for admission plus $39 for general parking. A family sharing one car pays parking once, but every person still needs admission.
Extra Costs That Change The Total
Great America gets more expensive when you add speed, food, parking upgrades, or waterpark time. The base admission price is only one piece of the day.
Fast Lane is the big variable for ride-focused visitors. Six Flags sells line-skipping products separately, and prices can swing by date and tier, so the right call depends on crowd level and how many coasters your group wants to ride.
Food and drinks can also shift the day from cheap to pricey. The Ride & Refresh ticket costs $20 more than the lowest posted park ticket, which can make sense if your group would otherwise buy several fountain drinks and water bottles inside.
Parking is the most common surprise. General parking starts at $39 online, while Preferred Parking starts at $59. If two adults visit once and drive one car, their pre-tax floor is about $129 with online park tickets and general parking. Four people in one car start around $219 before taxes and fees.
- Lowest simple day: buy date-selected tickets online, bring only allowed items, and skip paid line upgrades.
- Hot summer day: compare the drink bundle against what your group would buy inside.
- Short visit: skip paid upgrades unless the park is crowded and your ride list is tight.
- Repeat visit: compare passes against two separate ticket-and-parking days.
When A Pass Beats A One-Day Ticket
A Great America pass can beat a one-day ticket if you will visit twice, need parking value, or plan to attend seasonal events. A single short visit usually favors the cheapest online park ticket.
The Gold Membership is listed at $8 per month after an initial $20 payment, with posted perks such as general parking, bring-a-friend discounts, Midwest Six Flags park access, and Fright Fest admission. Monthly billing terms matter, so read the checkout page before treating it like a one-day bargain.
Passes make the most sense for people who live within driving distance of Gurnee, plan a second summer visit, or want fall event access. Vacationers passing through once usually do better with a date-selected ticket and the lowest parking option that fits their group.
Where To Stay Near Great America
Staying near Great America helps most when you want an early entry, a late closing, or a two-day Chicago-area theme park stop. Gurnee hotels near Grand Avenue and I-94 are the practical base because they keep the drive to the parking lot short.
Families often pick Gurnee for convenience, while adults pairing the park with Chicago may prefer a Lake County hotel for the park night and a downtown Chicago hotel for the city part of the trip. If the park is the main reason for the stop, staying near Gurnee beats crossing Chicago traffic before opening.
Use the map to compare nearby Gurnee hotels against your visit date and parking plan:
Which Great America Ticket Should You Buy?
The right Great America ticket is the cheapest online park ticket for a one-time visit, the Ride & Refresh ticket for a long hot day, and a pass or membership for repeat visits. The gate price is the option to avoid unless you have no other choice.
Use this simple pick list before checkout:
- One visit, lowest cost: choose the date-selected Park Ticket from $45 online and buy parking online if you are driving.
- One visit with heavy drink needs: compare the $65 Ride & Refresh ticket against buying drinks inside the park.
- Traveling with a passholder: check whether the $17.76 Bring-A-Friend ticket applies to your date.
- Two or more visits: price the Gold Membership or season pass against separate admission and parking days.
- Wrong park risk: confirm Gurnee, Illinois, for Six Flags Great America and Santa Clara, California, for California’s Great America before paying.
For most visitors, the cleanest move is to choose the visit date first, check the official daily ticket options, then add only the extras that solve a real problem for your group.
Compare current Great America ticket choices here before the gate-price gap gets expensive:
References & Sources
- Six Flags Great America.“Daily Tickets.”Lists current posted online admission prices, gate price, ticket bundles, and restrictions for Six Flags Great America in Gurnee.