Six Flags Great America · Yukon Territory
Goliath
The 2014 Rocky Mountain hybrid — a wooden coaster that inverts twice, drops 85 degrees, and out-forces most steel loopers.
Ride facts
- Type
- Roller coaster
- Height
- 48in (122cm)
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Motion sickness
- High motion risk
- Getting wet
- Stay dry
- Indoor / outdoor
- Outdoor
- Air conditioned
- No
- Rider Switch
- Available
- Inversions
- Yes
Last verified July 2026
What it is
Great America's Goliath is a Rocky Mountain Construction hybrid on a wooden structure, and when it opened in 2014 it set records for the type: the steepest drop on a wooden-structure coaster at 85 degrees, plus two inversions — a zero-g stall and a barrel roll — that wood was never supposed to carry.
The ride is short and ferocious. The drop is a wall; the stall inversion hangs the train sideways over the structure; the finale dives through a tunnel and rolls. It is the most forceful coaster at the park and the one enthusiasts travel for.
At 48 inches it shares the family-threshold tier with American Eagle despite being dramatically more intense — the height bar and the intensity bar are different instruments, and this ride is the proof at this park.
What riding it is actually like
The lift is quiet and the crest arrives fast. The drop is 85 degrees — looking at the ground, not the horizon — and the speed at the bottom feeds straight into the stall: the track banks until the train hangs sideways, holds, and releases.
The middle alternates airtime pops and laterals through the wooden structure, then the barrel roll flips the horizon without warning. The tunnel finale compresses the roar and brakes arrive at just past a minute.
Re-ride capability is high because the cycle is short and the shaded queue moves. Two laps, back-to-back, is how most enthusiasts do it.
Is Goliath scary?
A wooden-structure coaster that inverts twice, dives 180 feet at 85 degrees, and holds the stall-hang feeling twice. It behaves nothing like a traditional woodie, which is the trap for riders who queued expecting one.
Scores are editorial, on a 1–5 scale, judged against what frightens a typical four- to seven-year-old rather than an adult.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair
- Must transfer to the ride vehicle
- Audio description
- Not offered
- Handheld captioning
- Not offered
- Assistive listening
- Not offered
- Sign language
- Not offered
- Service animals
- Must use a kennel or wait with a companion
Transfer into hybrid trains with lap-bar restraints.
Tips that actually help
- Ride early afternoon when the Raging Bull crowd is elsewhere — this queue ages better through the day.
- Back row amplifies everything; ride mid-train first.
- If anyone in the party expects a gentle classic woodie, recalibrate them in the queue — this is not that.
Timing
- Best time to ride
- Early afternoon; the shaded queue makes it the hot-day big coaster.
- Typical wait
- 25–50 minutes in season.
- line-skip passes
- Covered by a line-skip pass
Goliath: common questions
Does Goliath go upside down?
Twice — a zero-g stall and a barrel roll. It looks like a wooden coaster and rides like a steel looper, which is exactly the hybrid pitch.
What is the height requirement for Goliath?
48 inches. The intensity is well above that bar — judge your rider on tolerance, not just height.
Goliath or Raging Bull?
Goliath for force and intensity, Raging Bull for scale and comfort. The honest day does both, Goliath first while the tolerance is fresh.