Maxx Force opens for Great America members Wednesday, to the public Thursday

Six Flags Great America members will get an early chance to ride the Gurnee park's newest roller coaster Wednesday, just before Maxx Force makes its public debut on the Fourth of July.

Six Flags members will get to test their intestinal fortitude during the park's Membership Appreciation Day celebration on Wednesday.

Like so many of the coasters at Great America, Maxx Force provides an experience riders can't find anywhere else. After being strapped in, riders will be launched from zero to 78 mph in under 2 seconds, which park officials say is the fastest launch of any coaster in North America.

"Maxx Force is absolutely revolutionary, taking Six Flags innovation to an all-new level of extreme," Great America Park President Hank Salemi said.

And unlike many of the other coasters at Great America, the speed doesn't come courtesy of gravity. Instead, the ride utilizes a giant air cannon to blast riders up and out of the station.

The coaster also features the world's tallest double inversion at its highest point of 175 feet above the ground. And it has a 60 mph zero-G roll, also a world record.

Maxx Force is the second-tallest coaster at Great America after Raging Bull, which is around 200 feet at its peak. It's in the Carousel Plaza area, near where the old Pictorium theater once stood.