Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[CoasterGuy06]

^Nighthawk at least got a lot of parts from Firehawk's closure, although Cedar Fair  is more likely to put a big new ride into Carowinds and they could easily replace Nighthawk with one. How about Batwing closes first but Nighthawk is actually removed first 

[jconsolmagno]

56 minutes ago, CoasterGuy06 said:

^Nighthawk at least got a lot of parts from Firehawk's closure, although Cedar Fair  is more likely to put a big new ride into Carowinds and they could easily replace Nighthawk with one. How about Batwing closes first but Nighthawk is actually removed first 

I would agree with that, but Carowinds top 3 doesn't include Nighthawk.... SFA's does IMO (Batwing, Superman, Firebird). And I don't rank them based on my enjoyment, I do it based on what I see as far as lines when I'm inside the park. I think Batwing is a key piece of the park for SFA, whereas Carowinds if it closed, noone would care.

If SFA puts in a 15 million $ coaster and removes Batwing, my above point is now void

[bill_s]

^^-- That's definitely not SFA's top 3 even by line length on average, but going by lines, I'd say Nighthawk might be the most popular ride at Carowinds. Throughput is poor on the awful, but funny, things though. Anyway, due to SFA being SFA, they'll run Batwing until it dies or they close the place. It may even outlast Mind Eraser as it's a few years younger. 

[jconsolmagno]

31 minutes ago, bill_s said:

^^-- That's definitely not SFA's top 3 even by line length on average, but going by lines, I'd say Nighthawk might be the most popular ride at Carowinds. Throughput is poor on the awful, but funny, things though. Anyway, due to SFA being SFA, they'll run Batwing until it dies or they close the place. It may even outlast Mind Eraser as it's a few years younger. 

What would you say is? 

[bill_s]

^^-- By quality, Supes and Wild One are the stars. Your personal choice for #3. I might take Roar but Jinx is more popular and good. Batwing for somebody. I enjoy Firebird sometimes but started riding it for shorter lines first. 

[jconsolmagno]

I wasn't saying quality, I am simply saying what the GP would view as top 3. I don't think Wild One is an attractive marketing ride. As much as this forum may love it, Wild One is just another wooden coaster with a one train wait.

Personally - I put Wild One in my top 3.

[JG-77]

I'd say JJ is more popular than Firebird.

[disownedpear]

Harley Quinn announced to be opening in May!

[alilstronger]

I have not been to the park in two seasons due to getting really bored of going all the time. However, I was going every year for years. I seem to notice the staff in the beginning of the season is pretty good... its later in the season that it starts to fall off. I get its hot and you are working in the elements but don't take a job you truly don't want. 

Just Google mapped the park and I think Harley Quinn looks good where it is. Definitely better than the smaller swing ride they had.

[disownedpear]

Yeah I've never been to a park who's staff quality doesn't decrees by the end of the season, I think it's pretty inevitable as the work becomes more familiar and mundane and the temps rise.

 

I've been going since 2012 and have always hated on Superman for what I feel is it's wasted penitential. Last Sunday though, it was hauling absolute ass like I've never seen before. The first helix felt like i305, the 3rd hill had sustained ejector, and even the second helix pulled some crazy lateral forces. If it always ran like this, I think it would be a top 10 for me. People were clapping at the end of every cycle, which does not happen often at SFA. 

[Jason Maier]

Well I'm looking forward to Harley Quinn Spinsanity opening this weekend!

 

[disownedpear]

I get to help film its commercial tomorrow! It was running for passholder preview last weekend and looks absolutely fantastic. 

[JG-77]

Great to hear, let us know how the shoot goes.

[disownedpear]

The shoot went pretty well. I was a complete idiot and forgot to bring my phone so no pictures unfortunately. They were shooting on Wild One and Firebird as well for some reason.

What was interesting is they pretty much had all of Gotham City linked up, so when they started Harley Quinn, the round up, JJ and Wonder Woman would all start staggered so they would line up perfectly for the photos. Was very cool and I've never seen a park do this. 

The ride was fun, pretty forceful, a great fit for the park. Something I noticed is it feels very, like, bumpy when starting and stopping if that makes sense? Anyone experienced something similar on it's clones?

[Jason Maier]

Yup, glad to see this opening up. Of course it did have good lines throughout the day (May 16th); and it did have a few minor technical issues.

Got 5 rides on this, took the sting out of Superman: Ride of Steel being down all day (while Batwing was open all day; which is something I thought I'd never see!)

And already there is a broken phone beneath one portion of the sliding platform!

[xVicesAndVirtues]

^Any idea what is/was causing the downtime on Superman? And was your visit the same day you posted this? Going this weekend and hoping Superman is open!

[Jason Maier]

12 hours ago, xVicesAndVirtues said:

^Any idea what is/was causing the downtime on Superman? And was your visit the same day you posted this? Going this weekend and hoping Superman is open!

My visit was this past Sunday, but didn't get around to posting until last night.

Well I saw the Blue train for Superman was on the transfer track (they usually don't put the second train on Superman until Memorial Day weekend; though Wild One and Roar were both running two trains) and the Red train was stuck in the station all day. I think the ride op side some kind of power issue or chain issue let to them not be able to do any test runs so the ride didn't open.

[JG-77]

Just fyi Superman was running two trains on multiple occasions earlier this season.

[disownedpear]

Superman went down on the 9th and hasn't run since, I would message the park on Facebook if you want to ride it this weekend they are usually pretty responsive. 

Once they put the second train on Wild One for the season they don't usually take it off, the transfer track setup makes it very difficult, so that's why you'll see Wild One as the only coaster in the park with two trains occasionally. 

[xVicesAndVirtues]

Thanks, guys! I commented on one of the park's posts so hopefully they respond. Fingers crossed about Superman. I was really looking forward to that coaster and haven't been on it in 5+ years but I guess we shall see!

[disownedpear]

[disownedpear]

Sorry that posted without comment. This is good but why such an arbitrary date the park opens back up on the 21st ha.

I'll be there tomorrow I can check on Superman's status. I honestly don't think it's that big of a deal to miss it though, not one of my favorite hypers and if you really like it you can just drive 7 hours up north to the better version! Still a really fun ride no doubt though, especially on a hot day.

[coasterbill]

Eh... Superman being closed would totally be a dealbreaker for me on SFA. It's not that great of a park and it's clearly the best thing there.

[coneyislandchris]

^ My vote for best in show goes to Joker's Jinx, personally. But yeah, there's a pretty dramatic dropoff from the good to the bad to the ugly in this park.

[bert425]

^ that's what SFFT did for the shoot for the Joker Pendulum (which I got to participate in).

they started up the swings (think it's called Super Villain Swings these days) and split the folks there for the shoot among the two rides, so they could get both moving in the shots.