Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread

[eddie200330]

I just thought to myself....a tunneled helix would be frikkin sweet.......

[alilstronger]

^ I agree! That helix is why I love that ride.

 

I agree though, the whole area needs new paint and lots of work. They added that small pond a few years ago and of course the first year it was there it was well kept but this past season it was dirty and had all kinds of trash floating in it. The whole queue line for Tower of Doom needs to be refurbished. It is leaning and falling apart. Also they should switch the entrance and exit queues for Falling Star. The line sometimes goes out into the walking path and there are times where butting and things happen. They should use the queue because it goes back and forth I believe once.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Honestly, most of the park could use a refresh. It's not what it was like in '05, but it still has potential to be a nice park. Once they get this Mardi Gras retheme done, they should really move over to that empty space between Batwing and Superman. That's a nice sized area and they really should make the most of it.

[alilstronger]

^ I agree. The potential for this park is beyond great. I am glad things are finally being done.

 

Water is the draw for this park and they need to capitalize on that. They should add more water rides to the dry side. There are times when their Penguin and chute the chute rides have longer lines then the coasters. I would love to see a new flume added. I miss skull mountain.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Skull Mountain was a fantastic ride. It was one of my favorite rides in the park. I never understood why they decided to close it. It was such a unique attraction.

[frozenflames]

Skull Mountain was closed because it was constantly breaking down, and the multiple turntables on it were a maintenance nightmare. Given that SFA is my home park, I am glad to see it getting some new attractions, but I would like to see the operations throughout the park improve. Last time I was there, the coasters all had two-train waits (if that), but the dispatch times were terrible.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

^ I agree. The potential for this park is beyond great. I am glad things are finally being done.

 

Water is the draw for this park and they need to capitalize on that. They should add more water rides to the dry side. There are times when their Penguin and chute the chute rides have longer lines then the coasters. I would love to see a new flume added. I miss skull mountain.

 

 

They can always add a Twist N' Splash or that New Mack Water/ Rock N' Tug Ride

 

I also hope they expand their waterpark with some more tube slides and bowl slides.

[alilstronger]

^ I agree. The water park there is so generic. Nothing really stands out from what else is in the area. If I want a good water park I am going to Water Country USA.

[coasterfreak101]

^To be fair, I'm pretty sure Six Flags America installed their Tornado five years before Kings Dominion did, and they added Bonzai Pipelines at the same time that Busch added Vanish Point. Hurricane Harbor keeps up with the industry as much as most corporate chain waterparks do, they don't go too far ahead and they aren't falling behind the competition in terms of slide types either.

[vacoaster09]

Personally, I think that if SFA does a huge water park expansion similar to what Great America did (with a racing mat slide, one of those tantrum slide, a surf rider, and a toilet bowl slide).... then the park will see a huge increase in their attendance. I agree that the park should also bring in some new water attraction to the dry side of the park as well. I remember typhoon sea coaster was marketed as a water coaster.. .so perhaps a real water coaster like DiVertical would be nice for uniqueness sake. I'm sure those are quite expensive though. A Twist n' splash would suffice as well or even a splash battle.

[alilstronger]

^ I agree. I barely go to the water park when I go the park. Nothing of real interest there. The amazon slides were awesome years ago when you used tubes on them and

flew up on the sides of the slides.

[eddie200330]

Congrats to Six Flags America on winning the IAAPA Brass Ring Award for Best Sports Show at the annual IAAPA convention in in Orlando, FL on November 20.

[larrygator]

Skull Mountain was closed because it was constantly breaking down, and the multiple turntables on it were a maintenance nightmare. Given that SFA is my home park, I am glad to see it getting some new attractions, but I would like to see the operations throughout the park improve. Last time I was there, the coasters all had two-train waits (if that), but the dispatch times were terrible.

 

So true, I think I finally found it open on my fifth visit to the park.

[Vonni]

Are the trains on Apocolypse the same trains that were used at SFGAm, or are they new trains that were put on after the move?

[RideofSteel]

^They are the same trains.

[jray21]

I definitely see a water park expansion being needed. It's not as expensive as a massive coaster, and you usually can get a few attractions. Maintenance is a lot cheaper as well.

[pixelated85]

I got to visit SFA for the first time last month. To be honest, I was very much underwhelmed. I guess I was expecting more, but I don't know why. The park was pretty much vacant and every ride was a walk-on, so that helped. We were able to ride the grown up coasters, with multiples on Superman and Batwing, in a little over 2 hours. Quick notes on my visit:

 

Superman: biggest disappointment of the night, probably because I was expecting much more out of it. Perhaps it was the chilly weather, but the air and speed weren't really there. I did enjoy the never-ending helix and the subsequent lonely airtime hill. More forceful than I anticipated. It ended up reminding me of Mamba- smooth, but... yeah, not really that interesting.

 

Batwing (my first Flying Dutchman): better than I thought it would be. Not rough at all, but the shin restraint made the ride feel awkward. Still, a pretty fun ride.

 

Mind Eraser (my first SLC): let me say this about that- I can think of many, many rides that are more rough/painful than this. Again, perhaps it was the weather, or perhaps they just really maintain it well (as if), but it was not at all the death machine I was preparing for. I encountered maybe two small bumps to the noggin, but otherwise it was fine. That being said, it was forgettable. Moving on with my life.

 

Joker's Jinx- I just love these rides. So cute. I did have words with one of the attendants though. While they joked, laughed, and made under-the-breath comments about people in line (that we could all hear), people were sitting in the train still waiting for their restraints to be checked and the other train had been on the brake run for quite some time. Not cool, guys.

 

Apocalypse- I always did enjoy Iron Wolf. I hadn't ridden it in years though, so I was kinda stoked about getting to ride it out here. Needed an Excedrine afterwards. The theming was ok though, looked pretty nice.

 

Roar- not too bad, not too good. Some surprise air, coupled with some bone shaking curves. Next.

 

Wild One- better than I expected. Good speed throughout, especially through the final helix.

 

Only non-coaster ride we did was their junior-sized Giant Drop. Quite fun. For me, it's that first second or two of the drop that make the ride, so the difference in height of these rides seem to only add to the view from the top.

 

In all, I always make the best out of a bad (or boring) situation. We had fun, but probably won't be back unless something serious happens out there.

[Dr. M]

Superman: biggest disappointment of the night, probably because I was expecting much more out of it. Perhaps it was the chilly weather, but the air and speed weren't really there. I did enjoy the never-ending helix and the subsequent lonely airtime hill. More forceful than I anticipated. It ended up reminding me of Mamba- smooth, but... yeah, not really that interesting.

 

Isn't it really surprising just how boring it is? There are stretches of that coaster that came the closest to "highway driving simulator" of any coaster I've been on. Anyway, I had a really terrible time with Mind Erasor when I went (maybe three years ago), I'm glad it wasn't as bad for you. And I agree about Batwing, I found it to be far more fun than Superman at Great Adventure. Easily my favorite ride there, though Wild One is also pretty fun.

[pixelated85]

Superman: biggest disappointment of the night, probably because I was expecting much more out of it. Perhaps it was the chilly weather, but the air and speed weren't really there. I did enjoy the never-ending helix and the subsequent lonely airtime hill. More forceful than I anticipated. It ended up reminding me of Mamba- smooth, but... yeah, not really that interesting.

 

Isn't it really surprising just how boring it is? There are stretches of that coaster that came the closest to "highway driving simulator" of any coaster I've been on. Anyway, I had a really terrible time with Mind Erasor when I went (maybe three years ago), I'm glad it wasn't as bad for you. And I agree about Batwing, I found it to be far more fun than Superman at Great Adventure. Easily my favorite ride there, though Wild One is also pretty fun.

 

I felt like Superman could've been so much more. Maybe another hill where that long straight section is? I don't know. And yeah, biggest surprise of that evening was being battered to death by Apocalypse, and then walking away unscathed from Mind Eraser.

 

Concerning flyers, I had only ever ridden Superman and Manta, and while I think Manta is pretty fantastic, Superman is fairly blah to me. Batwing was a great surprise. We kept cracking up during the loop because the forces were just way more than what we were expecting.

[alilstronger]

^ I am glad I am not alone with Superman!! I find it so boring. The best part for me is the 3rd hill because of the pop of air time you get. With the amount of land it sits on it could have been so much more. I wish we could have gotten a version like the one at Six Flags New England.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Strange to hear these type of comments about Superman. I havent't ridden it in 4 or 5 years, but last time I did, the airtime was definitely still there. It was getting rough in some of the turns and helixes, but for me still a good ride from the Intamin ejectors. From what I remember about the ert we had on the Darien Lake one (again 5 years ago on TPR's Behemoth Trip), the ride took one or two rides to warm up, and then it was ejector city. Everyone talks about that third hill, but the last three hills (the one twisty hill and the two small bunnies) diliver solid ejector air in my book.

 

Everyone always complains about the straightaways, but at least you are going at a high speed. I think they go by pretty fast when your actually on the ride and are more disturbing to look at than actually ride. This ride is 1999 technology and compared to anything else we had seen at the time, state of the art. It was kind of the step-up to rides like EGF and SFNE's Superman for Intamin. Sure I would rather have the SFNE version in my back yard rather than the Darien Lake clone, but it's certainly better than nothing! Much better than any other manufacturer like B&M and Morgan at the time as well.

 

Well, at least from your report, it is running fairly smooth. Maybe I will need to check it out next year. I've been avoided SFA for several years as much of its market still seems to be doing.

[Dr. M]

Magnum is lightyears beyond Superman in terms of excitement (of course that's not really a fair comparison, Magnum's like my third favorite coaster ever), and I like Steel Force a lot more as well. I got two rides on Superman on a hot day in the middle of the summer, which should be ideal conditions, right? I don't remember any ejector airtime, all I remember is being so bored during the second helix I started watching the long hair of the woman two rows ahead blowing in the wind. Seriously, not one but two giant helixes? What were they thinking? (It was butter smooth, though.)

 

BTW I'm really starting to think the term "ejector airtime" is seriously overused.

[cal1br3tto]

I thought Superman was way more rideable than Bizarro, but I will agree that it was a bit underwhelming. The airtime was decent, but not copious or extreme. The helices aren't at the intensity level of a Giovanola, but they're pretty fun.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Superman is a pretty good coaster, but definitely not one of my favorites. When I first rode it back in 2005, I thought it was boring. Last year, I found it running pretty well. The one at Darien Lake is better though.

[eddie200330]

It may not be the most insane extreme ride, but it is a good ride for speed and I really like the good shots of air on all the camel backs.