Photo TR: Six Flags New England

[Token Yankee Guy]

So today after work, I decided to drive over to Six Flags New England to check out the park since it's been over a year since my last visit, plus get my season pass processed. Overall the park looks great, very clean and maintained. Tons of characters out and about for photo opportunities, the employee's are very friendly.

 

I will admit that the locker policy does help create less congestion in the stations. Superman dispatch times were alright since every dispatch while i was waiting in line, there was one person holding up the train from

leaving. But for The Dark Knight, dispatch times have improved significantly. I didn't use the lockers this trip since all i brought was myself and my camera with a camera bag that can go on my belt.

 

Anyway, onto the photos.

 

First thing before heading to SFNE, I had to put a few hours into work at Stop & Shop.

 

Driving down Route 159. Yay, about 1 more mile till SFNE.

 

YAY, I missed you so much! *loves*

 

Park signage for the main parking lot

 

Walking down into the lovely entrance

 

First things first, I had to get my season pass & parking pass processed.

 

Now I can get discounts by using my season pass in the park. But I neglected to find out where I can get discounts. I hope food is included.

 

The very enthusiastic employee behind the camera told me to look sexy and she managed to take my picture while I was puckering my lips.

 

Woot, I can get into SFGAdv now without paying parking since I have the parking permit addition to my pass.

 

The crowds were moderate today, major coasters had an average wait time of 15-20 minutes.

 

The original Batman: The Dark Knight is still labeled (since 2006) as Batman: The Ride on the directional signs.

 

The beer garden changed their patio. I like it when it had the trees.

Take that Millennium Force . hehe

Nice banner on the Main Gate

Skycoaster was open...Blizzard River was open during the day, but closed later. Kontiki was sure enough close..And well, Dark Knight...that's kinda a given that ride will never open.

They relocated Park Re-Entry and Exit to the side now so that the main gate can be used for entry only

Looking into Thomas Town

if I'm correct..it's been about 10 years since we've had a train in the park. The old train used to run in a circle around the north end of the park before the park became Riverside: The Great Escape

Thomas Town was added in 2007, another nice kiddie section for the park. This is located right next to the entrance plaza.

rawr, I'm a tiger

If you don't want Cold Stone, we also got a New England favorite... Ben & Jerry's

Signage in the park talking about some of the concerts at the park

Screw funnel cakes...we just bake a whole blob of dough in New England. Delicious

This used to be the kiddie bumper cars. But they removed it out of the park

Kontiki was another ride up for removal, but they decided to leave it in the park

Our Catapult was originally on the chopping block for 2008 but they decided to keep the ride

Another new restaurant in the park. This replaced the subway shop that was there

Hey SFGAdv, our Houdini is operational.

Where Double Trouble once stood is now a basketball game. If you get a score of 15, you win a 37" plasma TV

Much needed canopy for the queue

The coaster is still labeled as Dark Knight, but the station recording says Batman: The Ride

Our Flying Swings got relocated in 2007 and got a very nice paint job.

One of two new Cold Stone's in the park. The other one is in Crackaxle Canyon

new restaurant in the south end. It's nice how they use the New England name for a sub sandwich.

Mind Eraser's sign got a nice new coat of paint. Now how about touching up the coaster with a little paint?

Another shot from wiggles world of the Dark knight structure. Which will be taken down.

Well, they finally got rid of the bridge that was here to the south end. The bridge was closed for the past few years because it became structurally unsound

I'm curious why they excavated the hill. For being able to transport building materials for The Dark Knight? Or something in the future for the park?

They excavated the hill around Catwoman's whip and Mind Eraser

Looking down towards DC area from Wiggles World

Wow, after so many years, they reversed the direction the cars go.

They got rid of the queue bridge for Route 66.

One of the few remaining pre-SFNE rides, Route 66, which got a nice paint job.

SFNE offers a Family Flash Pass now

2007 addition to the park..Wiggles World

We got a Samuel Adams Brewhouse at the park. Because we're special

In the discussions about Dark Knight, the building was talked to having be moved 10ft away from a warehouse. There's your 10ft in the picture.

Another shot off the former dark knight coaster

the closed off section of the midway so they could get trucks for construction of the coaster

Superhero Grill is now a Johnny Rockets.

Woo, Superman: Ride of Steel now has a single riders line

They relocated the Flash Pass lane so you have to pass by the lockers first.

One of the new signs stating about the loose article policies for major rides

One of the advertising signs for the "Glow in the Park" parade.

Another shot

This is how far they got with construction of The Dark Knight before construction got halted. The park did have all coaster parts on site in the back parking lot (no photos of that sadly)

Where'd THIS come from?!? I never noticed it before...

[coasterdude5]

Nice trip report. It's sad to see Dark Knight. I noticed they had begun to landscape the path leading from the bottom of the building. All that for nothing...

[upfrontjwash]

great TR!!! To bad about Dark Knight.

[robbalvey]

Other than the trouble with Dark Knight, that looks like a LOT of improvements for that park.

 

I'm really impressed so far chain wide with the amount of "cleaning up" that has been going on.

 

--Robb

 

ps. Next time could you resize the pics to 800x600 so they fit on the screen? Thanks!

[kennywood!007]

The park looks great. Sad to see that Dark Knight didn't make it throught this year though.

[SharkTums]

Wait, so was Catapult actually running with people!?!?

[supermanrosfan0810]

I was at the park today too, it was a very nice day to be there. It seemed really crowded at first but it wasn't all that bad. I got on S:RoS 5 times!

[Token Yankee Guy]

Wait, so was Catapult actually running with people!?!?

 

Yes it was, i saw a few riders on it while I was in the queue for Cyclone.

 

ps. Next time could you resize the pics to 800x600 so they fit on the screen? Thanks

 

My bad, next time I'll remember, Robb.

[odene497]

I'm SO glad Catapult is staying, I really wanted to try it, and now I can this summer!

 

 

Thanks for the pictures.

 

 

 

-Nick

[alpengeist04]

Great TR. IMO, SFNE is one of the nicest looking parks in the Six Flags chain.

[DejaVu The Ride]

What exactly is the "Family Flash Pass"?

[Token Yankee Guy]

What exactly is the "Family Flash Pass"?

 

I didn't read fully into it, but from what I saw, it looked like a simple flash pass ticket system for families with kids in the kiddie areas only.

[ghost007jas]

Wow! This park looks absolutely phenomenal! I'd love to see the other Six Flags parks eventually get to this level.. and I'd be especially pleased if Magic Mountain got a healthy dose of flat rides like Six Flags New England has.

 

Great Trip Report!

[Token Yankee Guy]

sorry for the mess-up last night in the thread. Robb and I ran into difficulty trying to re-size the photos, then the photos managed to get out of order. But everything is fixed now. Turns out when you go and update a new version of a picture, the updated version goes to the bottom of the pictures. It doesn't replace the original spot it had.

[SFjunkie2010]

Great Photo TR! I absolutely love how clean the pak is looking as well as SROS

[sixflagscoasters]

Very Nice Trip Report.

 

 

As for the parks train ride, I am not sure if they had one. I think they had a monorail back in the day.

 

 

The park is looking good so far. I like the improvements.

 

I thought Crime Wave was moved to its current location a few seasons ago, not just last season.

 

 

Also I think the landscaping near Mind Eraser, is about getting ready for a new pathway. I think they might be opening up the RiverSide path that was originally part of the plan when they made the DC SuperHeros Adventures land. They built a DC Comics logo in the path at the beginning of the path, and you can see it through the gate that is never open. So you could always tell they had intentions of making a real public path along the river.

 

I have contacted SFNE, and they told me if was part of the original plan, and they are not sure if they would open it. But it looks like they now might open part of it.

 

I always thought it would be a nice walk because it travels along the river, and S:ROS, and also under Mind Eraser, and some of Batman: The Dark Knight. If you look at an aerial view of the park, you can clearly see the path starting at DC area, and then in travels along the river to Batman.

 

 

Thanks For the Update Token Yankee Guy.

[Token Yankee Guy]

I thought Crime Wave was moved to its current location a few seasons ago, not just last season.

No, it was moved when Wiggles World was built between the seasons of 2006 and 2007.

 

As for the parks train ride, I am not sure if they had one. I think they had a monorail back in the day.

 

They did. The original train station is even still standing, but they put in some food vendors into it. The building is located just to the left of the Steeple Chase if you're walking from the north end toward Main St. On the right.

 

http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/198x/rs198x_1.html

That's a link to a early 1980 park map (before cyclone was built) showing the railway. And that's not the original route of the train, the original train went out and back through the north end which had a little river, woods and had a frontier type scenery. That station was located where the present day gift shops are right next to thunderbolt.

 

Image from Agawam Historical Association

 

Image from Agawam Historical Association

 

Image from Agawam Historical Association

 

If you look at an aerial view of the park, you can clearly see the path starting at DC area, and then in travels along the river to Batman.

 

Yeah, I remember hearing about that path being used as a walkway along the river, but they never went with it. I know the wide path that you are talking about. It's being used by maintenance to get to/from Superman: Ride of Steel

[sixflagscoasters]

Thanks for the info.

 

 

Nice Find with the Pictures.

 

 

The water where the boats are, must use part of the Conn. River that goes around the Picnic Area behind Thunderbolt.

 

 

I google the Agawam Historical Association, and went to there Image museum, and saw a lot more Riverside pictures, which were nice too see. You can also see their old Monorail they had.

 

I wonder where the old Greyhound Roller Coaster was located. The wooden roller coaster looks like an Out & Back style coaster, but its hard to tell with the few pictures of it.

 

 

On the old park map you showed, the Pirates area now looks like it is where Shipwreck falls and CrackAxel Canyon is now. Also the old Frontier place with the old train and boats, might be the kiddie area now, but not sure.

 

 

Again, Thanks for the pictures and information Token Yankee Guy.

[Token Yankee Guy]

The water where the boats are, must use part of the Conn. River that goes around the Picnic Area behind Thunderbolt.

 

No actually. That is down the hill behind Thunderbolt. You cross that little creek when you go to the picnic grove. That water area is where the present day midway is now.

 

I wonder where the old Greyhound Roller Coaster was located. The wooden roller coaster looks like an Out & Back style coaster, but its hard to tell with the few pictures of it.

 

Yeah, when you look through the old photos of Riverside Park, it is very hard to figure out where they were taken.

 

Here's the picture of the Greyhound you were talking about

 

Now in this picture, you can see the Greyhound to the left and the Giant Dip on the right. Lake Takadip is where the present day waterpark is now and this picture would be looking towards the main entrance. The Main St area of the park has always been the main entrance to the park as you'll see in this picture below.

 

there's Giant Dip and from what I can figure out, that is located around the area of the six flags emporium. So I believe The Greyhound is located around the area of the present day Maintenance building.

 

I know someone here has a lot of history of Riverside I believe, if I'm incorrect, please correct me. I'm so infatuated with Riverside history, it's a shame no one has written a book on the park yet.

[crazydaveh]

Nice trip report.

 

I do have one question, how does the Sam Adams Brewhouse serve Bud Light? I know it's a business thing, but come on! Why ruin a quality brew with Crud Light? That's what SeaWorld and Busch Gardens is for!

 

I also liked the banner saying they will remove you from the park for smoking in non designated areas. If only the Orlando parks would follow Six Flags for once! Just for the smoking thing though!

[vedved82491]

Great PTR! SFNE seemed to have some great flats in the past; too bad they didn't run that often.

 

Weren't there rumors not too long ago about S&S coming in and attempting to create new restraints for Catapult?

[angryemobeaver]

With the exceptain of Batman and Superman, SFNE doesn't look that great. Nice TR though!

[Guest]

I used to goto SFNE when it was Riverside and it had a ride called The Rotor you stuck to the wall and the floor drops out.I also remember the racetrack that was there before Superman it was in the same spot as Superman.I also remember Tunderbolt used to go backwards.Ia also remember a big tent that showed an IMAX film near The Cyclone those were the days.

[Guy T. Koepp]

Excellent TR Craig. I'm hoping to get back up there this year during my NY trip. I love this 6F park. It has a much more peaceful feeling than most parks in the chain.

 

Greeat job of documenting the older park stuff as well.

 

Guy "Mmmmmmmmmm SRoS! Best steel in America!" Koepp

[Evan1127]

Now in this picture, you can see the Greyhound to the left and the Giant Dip on the right. Lake Takadip is where the present day waterpark is now and this picture would be looking towards the main entrance. The Main St area of the park has always been the main entrance to the park as you'll see in this picture below.

 

I know someone here has a lot of history of Riverside I believe, if I'm incorrect, please correct me. I'm so infatuated with Riverside history, it's a shame no one has written a book on the park yet.

 

I don't know if you're referring to me from the other thread (this one), but from what I understand in all of my research, The Giant Dip was located approximately where Thunderbolt is now and Lake Takeadip was next to it in the general direction of the DC section & Scream. One of these days, I'll try to dig up the article that leads me to believe that.