Jason Maier Posted May 16, 2019 Share Posted May 16, 2019 Firebird is 10x better than Apocalypse. I will ride everytime that I go. Met to do a ride report last week, but decided to try a few more seats this weekend. I'll write it up this weekend. Got 11 rides in last weekend. Apocalypse, 1-2 times PER YEAR. Park opening and National Rollercoaster Day. Yeah, there were a couple of times on Apocalypse where on the break run, I did yell "ouch, my nuts!" But I'm liking the color of the trains/track. Whether it'll be as smooth as other floorless coasters is another matter (granted the Firebird/Apocalypse/Iron Wolf track in nearly 30 years old) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hershey_flags Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 So much media day footage has come out today showing off the new experience! You can tell from the rider cams that the only spot where there is headbanging is that corkscrew. Everywhere else just looks like some minor ratting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highridin Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 So much media day footage has come out today showing off the new experience! You can tell from the rider cams that the only spot where there is headbanging is that corkscrew. Everywhere else just looks like some minor ratting. The one love tap you get is coming out of the corkscrew. Only 1st and 2nd row; didn't even get tapped in the 1st row, left seat, just right. The tap is nothing compared to the Mike Tyson punch you got with Apoc. So happy they converted this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FocalRanger Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 (edited) Firebird Media Day Raindrops splattered against my windshield as my car cruised into the employee entrance of Six Flags America. The last time I had been to this park was in 2016. I recall riding Apocalypse one time and I could honestly say it made Mind Eraser seem smooth. I experienced some rough headbanging and never rode it again. I was very excited to attend Firebird's media day as it was a new experience for me and I was eager to see how the coaster compared after the floor-less train conversion. After signing in and receiving our media passes, my amazing girlfriend, Amanda and I hopped into the back of a black Chevy Impala and were driven through the park until we came to our stop at Firebird. Multiple tents set up shielded us from the gentle rain and the smell of bacon filled the air as a nice breakfast was provided for the event. Everyone was very excited and eager to ride. The coaster was essentially christened by two local firetrucks and their hoses. Then it was time to ride. The rain cleared up and out came the sun. We boarded the train and were rolling out of the station a few moments later. At the top of the lift I was ready to try this old but new B&M's layout but this time sitting down and with no floor beneath me. In my opinion, the coaster is much better than Apocalypse. It has gone from a try once and never again type of ride to a very re- ridable and fun coaster. I really enjoyed Firebird. There was only a couple moments of headbanging and it was very minimal. This is a great addition to SFA's coaster lineup and I am really looking forward to going back at some point this year. Edited May 18, 2019 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Peck Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 Looks great! Thank you for the pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneyislandchris Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 I am just shocked they actually opened up their new attraction before June this year. Maybe next year Six Flags Magic Mountain will try to do that...nah, what am I kidding. Well, it helps that their "new attraction" was already built to begin with. Can't say the same for anything out at Magic Mountain. And agreed with the poster above, those are some fantastic action shots! Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 Great photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 Great pics - the overcast, "moist" day really worked in your favor as the colors pop fantasticallyl! really loved seeing them, the ride looks so much better than it did previously. thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blk_mamba Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 This is a great addition, glad that this ride got the Rougarou treatment, as it is the closest park to me, although I consider HP my home park. Haven't been since 2015. This may make me make a trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.O. Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 Hi all! I used to have an account on TPR way back in middle school, but I hadn't touched it in years and decided to make a new account. I'm originally from St. Louis, but now I'm a college student in DC. I had the chance to visit Six Flags America for the first time today and had a really enjoyable afternoon. The park was nearly empty (one of the ride attendants mentioned having only ~3,000 guests in the park today) except for the handful of middle schools taking end of the year trips, so nearly everything was a walk-on aside from Superman and Joker's Jinx. The biggest downside of the day was multiple coasters running one train operations, which created lines for Superman and Joker's Junx. I also missed out on Batwing, which the website lists as temporarily closed. Anyone know if this is a maintenance issue or if they're just waiting until the summer to open it? I started the day at a morning job training that wrapped up earlier than expected. Since we finished around 12:30, I decided to finally get out to Six Flags America for the first time. I just bought my Season Pass for Six Flags St. Louis while I was home for less than the price of a day ticket at Six Flags America, so my only cost was to take the Metro out to Largo Town Center and then get an Uber to and from the park. All in, the whole trip cost me just $30! I arrived at the park just before 2pm and decided to take a lap of the whole park, leaving Superman: RoS for last so it could be my 70th credit. Mind Eraser (4/10): This was my first SLC; maybe I expected worse because of the model's reputation, but I actually didn't think it was too bad. Definitely not worth riding again, but I didn't think the head banging was too painful. Walked right onto the train, which dispatched with only 6 people. Roar (2/10): Owwwww. I didn't have high expectations for a 20-something year old GCI at a Six Flags, but this hurt. Sat near the front and still left in pain. Got the credit though! Firebird (7/10): This was fun! Firebird was my first B&M floorless ride and I thought it was pretty enjoyable. It sounds like it's much, much better than Apocalypse was. Trains were comfortable and the course was fairly smooth given the actual age of the ride. There's a bit of headbanging on the transitions to watch out for but it's not bad. I rode in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th rows - naturally, I enjoyed the first row the most. There's really nothing like seeing the track directly below your feet, it's a really odd experience! Joker's Jinx (7/10): I've wanted to ride one of these Premier "Spaghetti Bowl" coasters for a while and I'm glad I finally got the chance. The launch is fun but nothing too intense, the real fun is up in the jungle of track. Lots of really fun, forceful manuevers with lots of headchoppers, and the last 1/3rd that travels close to the ground provides a lot of fun, positive forces (especially the last corkscrew). Overall the ride is fairly smooth for its age, I just wish the ride could get a new coat of paint since the current coat is very faded and chipped everywhere. Wild One (5/10): I had no idea how old this coaster was until I saw the signage in the station. Despite its age, it rode fairly well in the 2nd row. The transitions and unbanked turns were a bit painful, but there was some nice airtime and the ride was fairly smooth when it wasn't turning. Superman: Ride of Steel (8/10): I had high expectations for the park's Intamin hyper, and my expectations were mostly met! Lots of fun airtime throughout the ride, but not quite as strong as I expected, even in the back. Helixes gave some strong positive forces, but I really wish they did something more fun with all of that track. Despite my complaints, this ride was great and made a visit to the park worth it all on its own! Overall, I thought Six Flags America was a decent small-to-medium sized park. It was clean for a Six Flags, had a decent selection of coasters, and the staff were generally nice and got trains moving at a decent speed. With it being a slow day on a Friday before schools are out for the summer, I managed to get through the entire park with re-rides on Joker's Jinx, Firebird, and Superman in just 3 hours. I probably won't revisit over the summer while it's hot and crowded, but it will definitely warrant another trip in the fall once the weather cools down and kids go back to school so I can get the Batwing credit! "New" Hotness 2019! A very fun, mostly smooth addition to the lineup. The new coat of paint really looks great! Happy riders! Loop-de-loop! View from the station. I will say, I rode multiple times throughout the day and experienced hit-or-miss ride ops. My first ride I sat on the train in the station for 5 minutes - not entirely sure why. Joker's Jinx! I just love how cool the "spaghetti bowl" of track looks. This is the only photo I have of Wild One, it's sprawled out over various sections of the park and I didn't see any good photo ops near its station. The New Orleans themed area was surprisingly nice. My first flyer! It was pretty fun, although I couldn't figure out how to get it to snap. Ragin' Cajun was my 69th credit. I have no further comment. The drop tower was fun (although much, much too short for my liking), but I passed on the Fireball model - they normally make me feel a bit motion sick. Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth looked like fun, but I passed on it since I was trying to wrap up in time to avoid Uber's surge pricing on the ride back to the Metro. My selfie in front of Superman doesn't agree with TPR's website - I get an error message when I try to upload it! I guess it's trying to tell me something... Happy riders returning from their ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hershey_flags Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 Great trip report! I would recommend visiting on summer weekdays because the park does not usually get crowded during those days. Especially since most people tend to go to the waterpark! I went last year at the end of July on a Tuesday and Wednesday and did almost all of the rides and slides I wanted to with many rerides. Anyways, glad you enjoyed the park and hope Batwing is open on your next visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 glad you had a good time, and some great pics. surprised you didn't have much to say about Ragin Cajun. . . as i thought it was a really fun spinning coaster, and it was among my favorites in the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hershey_flags Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 Ragin Cajun is a very enjoyable ride if you are okay with spinning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.O. Posted May 18, 2019 Share Posted May 18, 2019 glad you had a good time, and some great pics. surprised you didn't have much to say about Ragin Cajun. . . as i thought it was a really fun spinning coaster, and it was among my favorites in the park. Must've gotten deleted! I had this problem when posting - every time I saved a draft and left the page a part of my draft was deleted. I normally like spinning coasters but I ended up riding alone in my car, so I was violently thrown from one end of the seat to the other! Also the seatbelt that goes under the lapbar was jammed, so I very sketchily was told just to slip underneath it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JG-77 Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Just finished a fun day at SFA! Probably going to put up a TR at some point, but I’ll post the key takeaways here for now: Firebird is fun in the back and a great improvement over Apocalypse Batwing is still down Everything was running two trains (even ME) Wild One is perhaps a bit bumpier than usual, but is hauling like mad New bathrooms are open, men’s room has two urinals, two stalls, two sinks (didn’t check women’s obviously) Wild One, Roar, and Firebird each had technical difficulties that required both trains be emptied and cycled a couple times before resuming operations Significant crowds, but line still manageable Red train seems to be running best on Superman, but I only tried the Blue train in 2nd row whereas I rode the red train in 1st row Tip: The fries and onion rings at Jonny Rockets are snacks on the dining pass, and have good portion sizes. Also, the trick to minimize sliding on RC (and I assume other spinning mice) is to put your feet on the metal diagonal footrest thingy in the front of the car, and press hard on it with your feet (like your trying to push it with your legs). I’ve found that very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Farmer Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Late to the party, but nice pics from the media day (and the 5/17 update). Firebird looks fantastic! I greatly enjoyed this coaster as a Stand Up at SFGAm, and was happy to catch a few last laps on Apocalypse before it closed in 2018. I think it has a great layout, so I'm glad it got the refurb rather than getting scrapped. Hopefully it'll stick around for many years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FocalRanger Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 Awesome trip reports and great pictures C.O.! Batwing is so love/hate for me because I enjoy the coaster but cannot stand how slow the dispatch times are along with the reliability issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hershey_flags Posted May 25, 2019 Share Posted May 25, 2019 Wahoo River has gotten some tropical trees added as well as another bridge to get over to the pool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterBrow Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Wahoo River has gotten some tropical trees added as well as another bridge to get over to the pool. NEW TREES!!!!!! We not only got the bathroom but even more trees? This is getting to be too good to be real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hershey_flags Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 There is also a new R&B show that they just added to the show lineup. It is located in the Grande Theatre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highridin Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 There are more trees planted in several areas. In a year or two, they will have some height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Maier Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 There is also a new R&B show that they just added to the show lineup. It is located in the Grande Theatre! I like that they have Grande Theater shows in the summer Gives me something to do if it done get too hot (Maryland summers can sometimes get brutal). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JG-77 Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Not sure if/when I’ll submit a full TR of my trip last weekend, but for now, check out this video I made on SFA’s latest addition: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarienPoint Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 ^ Joker's Jinx really didn't want you talking lol. What an awesome tour!! I sure do love the cleaning supplies on the sink, awesome theming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterBrow Posted May 26, 2019 Share Posted May 26, 2019 Not sure if/when I’ll submit a full TR of my trip last weekend, but for now, check out this video I made on SFA’s latest addition: YES! My favorite part is the people coming out of the ladies room like WTF? I think the SFA Superman bathroom credit is on par with the Knoebels Super 8 credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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