Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 5A-6

By Kevin Pang Tribune staff reporter Did you find it? With memories of white knuckles and deafening screams, nearly 200 At Play readers solved our first Find It! clue: the Tornado ride at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Gurnee. Our hints last week should have tipped you off. We alluded to the fiberglass and steel structure that stands 75 feet tall and is shaped like an old-fashioned phonograph. We mentioned we mean a physical lake, we meant Lake County. Sneaky, eh? Alison Liska, an 18-year-old from Berwyn, helped us get an up-close sense of the ride.

Careening down a pitch-dark tunnel, Liska shot out at 30 m.p.h. into the bright sun. She gripped the handlebars and got whipped back and forth, through the blue and yellow checkerboard cone, before coming to a smooth stop in the pool below. a lot faster than it she said. She waited 30 minutes for the water ride and would have just as quickly lined up again.

Tornado, the newest addition to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, was launched with much fanfare over Memorial Day weekend. This is how riders experience the Tornado: a group of two to four people are given a yellow, cloverleaf-shaped raft. They climb 82 stairs to the top. There, a new group is seated at the entrance every 45 seconds. The lifeguard gently nudges the raft away, off the ledge.

Riders go through a 132-feet-long tunnel in darkness before suddenly dropping into a funnel 60 feet wide, spinning back and forth through gravity and inertia. Imagine a snowboarder making a run down the half the motion riders go through on the Tornado. About 20 seconds later, they slide under a curtain of water and arrive at the bottom, into a wading pool. As one of 26 waterslide rides at the park, the Tornado is already one of the more popular attractions at the park, Six Flag officials say. At its busiest, more than 1,000 people ride the Tornado each hour.

Jim Taylor, a Six Flags spokesman, described it as two rides in one: elements of a family raft ride, but then, it turns into a thrill ride of a The Tornado, made by Ottawa-based Pro- Slides, is the 12th funnel ride in the Six Flags chain. The ride won a new water park award from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in 2003. Long lines our visit on a 94-degree day, wait times were up to 45 said the relatively short ride was a good tradeoff. The 5,500 gallons of water circulating through the ride each minute was cooling things off. water splashes in your face said 10-year-old Karla Valencia of Chicago.

the ride is a Tribune photo by John Dziekan The new Tornado slide at Great Hurricane Harbor shoots riders into a 60-foot-wide funnel. On a busy day, more than 1,000 people ride the Tornado each hour, Six Flags officials say. the Tornado! 1st clue is a fast cool-off Hurricane Tornado at Six Flags Great America 542 N. Illinois Highway 21, Gurnee 847-249-4636; www.sixflags.com Open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily through Aug.

20, noon-6 p.m. Aug. 21-25, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Aug. 26-27 and Sept.

2-4. Tornado riders must be at least 48 inches tall. This 10 T-shirt winners: Darryl Thompson Powell, Donna Trenda, Dorothy Wodrich, Tom Dunn, Joe Morrow, Joan Graham, Rob Mowry, Laura Dragin, Thomas Osgood, Christine Lipuma 123456 6 CHICAGO ATPLAY Remodel your home without demolishing your budget. Adding more excitement to your home have to be a project. With tables starting as low as $1,499, our home design store is filled with quality furniture like poker tables and home bars to games like air hockey and you need to entertain family and friends.

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Call for details. 847.897.5030 NORTHBROOK 1300 TECHNY ROAD www.fiveseasonsnorthbrook.com FIVE SEASONS SPORTS CLUB ANNOUNCES A $1,000,000 EXPANSION Quadruple the Fitness Equipment Programs Contemporary Cafe Sports Bar Expanded Family Changing Areas MoreYoga, Pilates, Other Classes Same Extraordinary Pools, Comfortable Club House Top Tennis SPECIAL EXPANSION OFFER JOIN NOW WITH FAMILY INITIATION AS LOW AS 299 NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. begins 06 and ends at 12 p.m. (CT). ELIGIBILITY: You must be 18 years or older at time of entry and a legal IL resident.

Employees of Chicago Tribune Company or its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, partners, attorneys and each of immediate family or household members are not eligible. Void where prohibited. All federal, state and local laws apply. HOW TO ENTER: E-mail with your name, age, address, telephone number, email address, your answer to the destination clue, and the date the clue ran in the Chicago Tribune. You can also mail your entry to At Play-Find Chicago Tribune, 435 N.

Michigan Chicago, IL 60611. All entries must be received by 12:00 p.m. on the first Monday after the destination clue was printed in the Chicago Tribune. Limit one entry per person per week. FOR COMPLETE RULES AND PRIZE DETAILS go to chicagotribune.com/findit draw 10 correct entrants who will receive a Find It! T-shirt.

Send us a photo: For more fun, visit the destination and e-mail us a digital photo of yourself it to your e-mailed contest entry, and include the names of everyone in the picture. post the best photos on chicagotribu- ne.com. Grand prize: Anyone who correctly guesses all six of the weekly clues (and gets the answers to us on time) will be entered into a drawing for an Odyssey dinner cruise for four people. ummer goes fast around Chicago, so make the most of it with At Find It! contest. Join us as we discover a few of the most destinations.

If clever enough, you could win some great prizes along the way. how it works Read the clue and examine the accompanying photos (page 1this week). Deadline: You have until noon Monday following the publication to submit your best guess on the destination. Send us your guess via e-mail to with in the subject line (be sure to include your full name and phone number in the e-mail). You also can mail us your best guess.

Mail your guess to: At Play, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Chicago, IL60611. Be sure to mark on the envelope and send it by Friday so that it will arrive in time. Entries received after noon Monday will not be considered. Each week, How to enter At contest Official rules for Find It!.