I had my first visit to SFNE yesterday (and also my first visit to a Six Flags park...) and was pleasantly surprised.
To start, it was Fright Fest, but my family and our exchange student are not ones to be scared, so we were out of the park by 6pm. We also only went on four of the coasters and none of the flat rides, but of the rides we did do, they were all much better than I had anticipated.
Thunderbolt was a really classic ride that did not feel old at all. I was surprised at how smooth it was for a wooden coaster of it's age. There weren't many forces on it, but it was still fun nonetheless. The only drag about it was that they were running one train, so the wait was around 40 minutes; a wait we could have spent somewhere else!
We headed over to Bizarro where they said the wait was 1 hr 30 min, but it was actually about 45 minutes. The line never came to a dead halt as we were always moving, and we sat mid train. The view of the river and the surrounding countryside in the fall was beautiful for the ride up the lift. The first drop was good, and everything up to the building fly by's was okay as well. The real highlight of this ride for me was the two airtime hills heading back along the course next to the lift. Man, those were AIRTIME hills! The rest of the ride was okay for me as I am not one for helixes, and the few airtime hills were mediocre compared to other hills that I have been on *cough* Skryush *cough*.
Batman was next for us as we opted out of Mind Eraser. We did not want any head-banging on this trip. Anyways, Batman was also another surprise. I expected your average, run-of-the-mill B&M coaster, but this was pretty forceful! The first drop offered some bizarre airtime, and the zero-g roll literally threw me out of my seat. This was short, but very sweet and every element was effective. I really enjoyed Batman.
Finally, we closed out our park tour on the new coaster for the park - Wicked Cyclone. My brother was really anxious to ride this one since it was an RMC makeover, and myself as well had never been on an RMC coaster. I was unfamiliar with the layout, the stats, everything (which is odd for me), so everything on this ride was a surprise.
WOW. RMC needs to expand into other parks as well! The first drop was incredible, great airtime, and FAST. The little bunny hills were total ejector air, and the inverted stall was the weirdest ride element I have been on. The outside airtime hill was explosive, and the trick-track hill before the final zero-g roll was amazing as well. I do have to say though, the final zero-g roll was the highlight of the ride for me because it was about three seconds of hang time out of the seat. I felt like I was just hanging there upside down laughing waiting for it to end. After that, the ride works it's way back to the station with less airtime than before, but it was an amazing ride nonetheless.
Wicked Cyclone was definitely the best coaster there, then Bizarro, Batman, etc. If you're going to the park, definitely do Wicked Cyclone first as that was our longest wait around 50 minutes; however, very worth it.