Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread

[sammmmmy]

Hi guys! Sorry to change the subject, but as long as I've lived in new england, I've never been to SFNE during october (which is happening this weekend!) I'm just wondering if the park will be busy this saturday, since I usually only go in June/July.

 

 

During FrightFest? From my past experience, absolutely packed on a Saturday.

 

 

wow really?! In the day? more packed than a summer day?

[Geauga Dog]

Since the idea of LIMS/LSMS was brought up couldn't they retrofit the ride to have the cable lift to start the ride off like usual but have the LIMS/LSMS replace the catch car on the reverse tower ala Mr. Freeze to avoid the risk of miscatching and valleying of the train?

[VinTheAttendant]

^^I've noticed that crowds simmer down a lot in late October. I've been to the last three Halloween weekends and the park ranges from mild crowds to dead (no pun intended). I think it's mostly due to the colder temperatures, but with nice weather and a holiday weekend coming up, I'd anticipate crowds for now.

[coasterfreak101]

Since the idea of LIMS/LSMS was brought up couldn't they retrofit the ride to have the cable lift to start the ride off like usual but have the LIMS/LSMS replace the catch car on the reverse tower ala Mr. Freeze to avoid the risk of miscatching and valleying of the train?

 

Thing is, at that point you're looking at having two different systems installed on the train, which is either a) expensive/heavy and/or b) too space-consuming to be feasible. At least, I would imagine that would be the case.

[linearinduction]

^That's kind of dumb. Premier has redefined trains in the last ten years and made some amazing developments! I can't wait to see what they come up with for Deja Vu!

So did Premier Rides Design the Trains that were manufactured by Spectrum for the Flight of Fear Coasters & Backlot Coasters, or the Wood Coaster Trains for SOB & Wild Wild West, the Six Flags Spaghetti Bowls, & Speed Manufactured by Schäfer?

 

Didn't Premier design & manufacture the LIM bowls at both KI & KD as well as their two outdoor counterparts in the SF chain? As far as I know no third party was involved in the design of those rides.

All Track and Support Columns for Premier Rides Coasters are manufactured in Springville, Utah by Intermountain Lift, Inc.

 

^http://premier-rides.com/parts.htm

 

They have an entire parts-manufacturing department...and not only for their own rides, they design trains for other coasters as well.

This doesn't answer the question....did Premier Design the Roller Coaster Trains that were Manufactured by Spectrum and Schäfer?

[David H]

So, with a new train AND a new location, who's gonna be the first credit whore to count it twice?

 

Not me!

 

(And, no I didn't count Flashback again either after riding it at SFKK.)

[coasterfreak101]

^http://premier-rides.com/parts.htm

 

They have an entire parts-manufacturing department...and not only for their own rides, they design trains for other coasters as well.

This doesn't answer the question....did Premier Design the Roller Coaster Trains that were Manufactured by Spectrum and Schäfer?

 

I wasn't trying to answer your question. I was correcting a completely different person.

[RollerCoasterSmi]

^ Cheers for correcting me, Premier always confuses me. The trains and track are manufactured bye external companies... I'm just excited to see what these trains will look like. I hope they don't just rehab them and bring the outer seats forward and keep the restraints.

[coasterfreak101]

^By Six Flags saying that the new train will have four-abreast seating and offer faster loading, I imagine that they'll be moving the seats up and having a real four-wide train!

[_koppen]

Hopefully if this goes well, som more Six Flags SLC's well be getting new premier trains!

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Hopefully if this goes well, som more Six Flags SLC's well be getting new premier trains!

 

They would need to be two abreast for the SLC as the structural clearances won't allow for a four abreast model.

[acq10uaz]

SF did say that the chances of any SLC or boomerang getting the new trains are slim to none. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't SF and Vekoma still mad at each other because of the whole Deja Vu situation. I think thats why SFNE went to Premier for a new train instead.

 

Oh and I found a cell phone video of the ACE Q&A last weekend, some interesting things are said. They talk about the plans for the new finger print scanning system. Plus they answer what we all have been wondering, "Why put two boomerangs next to each other?" Lol, they even know that everyone is wondering it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7jfMPf0xVc

[osm]

Crowd expectations for tomorrow?

[sammmmmy]

^ I went today and the lines weren't bad at the beginning of the day but it got ridiculous by the end. The line for the friggin skyride was 2 and a half hours long. But I had some GREAT rides on bizarro today! (Plus I took the seven year old bro on Bizarro and Batman for the first time!)

 

I got on ..

 

Bizarro (twice)

Escape from Arkham Asylum

Batman

Flashback

Scream

Tomahawk

Brain Scrambler

 

Not that many but I still had a fun day

 

The construction site for Goliath looks so bizarre and empty, its amazing how fast they tore shipwreck falls down...they're advertising for goliath like crazy.

[liftsifter]

I think Goliath will be a phenomenal addition to the park, and might boast some surprises!

[sammmmmy]

^So do I, they space they are putting it in is awesome. Its going to look MONSTROUS next to everything else in that section of the park! The only thing I was wondering while there was...when are they going to get a legit 'new' ride? I mean sure, Goliath will be great...but Its still not a 'new' ride. I feel like SFNE is lacking some love! The only two real amazing custom coasters there are bizarro and batman!

[osm]

Brief TR from yesterday-

I had a pretty good time at SFNE, while the park has some obvious flaws, it has a decent coaster collection with one standout. We arrived at the park five minutes prior to opening, and through some er...maneuvering , I was able to get to the front of the human mass headed straight for Bizarro, and was on the first train out in the second to last row. And I got back to the station feeling a little disappointed. It was a great ride, but it didn't seem to be too much more than say a typical B&M hyper. I chalked it up to the ride not being warmed up and also getting stapled, so we decided to ride again. By this time, the line would have been 20-25 minutes if this was Cedar Point. But at SFNE, simply terrible operations turned it into over an hour wait. They were running two trains, but when one train hit the breaks, it would be almost five minutes before they returned to the station. But I finally got on, and avoided being stapled, thanks to a cool trick I figured out. And the difference was huge. Bizarro was running much faster, and I was being ejected on every hill. Definitely not as good as Maverick, but pretty close to El Toro to become my certain #3 coaster. After this, we headed to Mind Eraser. Let's just say I'm no longer baffled as to why enthusiasts hate SLC's. Next was Batman. The line was very short, and I was excited to try a B&M floorless in the front for the first time. Except that they were assigning seats. I get the logic of this when the line is long, but come on SFNE, it's not helping anyone in this instance. The ride was fun, but short, and also a bit rougher than I expected. Still a solid 7/10. We crossed to the other side of the park and had lunch at Panda Express. After lunch, I finally lost my Boomerang virginity with Flashback. Very rough, but it was fast and forceful enough to still be enjoyable. I planned to ride Cyclone next, but both it and Catapult were down, and Pandemonium had a 90 minute wait as a result. So we headed back to the middle of the park to ride Thunderbolt, hoping that the other two would reopen later. The line for Thunderbolt was the slowest moving line I've ever waited for in my life. But this time, I don't blame the ops. IT'S A FREAKING SEATBELT NOT NUCLEAR PHYSICS, YOU DON'T NEED A RIDE OP TO BUCKLE IT FOR YOU AND SLOW DOWN THE LOADING TIME BY 5 MINUTES EVERY TRAIN (end rant). But I finally got on, and you know what, Thunderbolt was completely awesome! It had a ton of ejector air all over the place, was fast, and was actually really smooth! My #2 woodie (out of 7) and my second favorite ride at the park. Why doesn't this classic woodie get more love? Anyway Cyclone reopened, so we checked that out. I had heard that there was great airtime in the back, so we sat there, but I didn't know when it was coming. So I was completely caught off guard when I was launched at least a foot up in the air on the first drop. The ride had some nice drops and a few other pops of air, but it didn't do too much else. Still a good ride on the whole. My parents were about to lose their minds by now, so we only had time for one more ride. The line for Pandemonium was still too long, so we rode Catapult instead. The restraints were truly awful, but the ride itself was very fun, especially the ridiculous amount of positive G's at the bottom. We were at the park a little over five hours. The main area the needs improvement is the operations on some rides. To have such bad operations on your main attraction with the longest lines is just inexcusable. The park layout was also very annoying, as it required a lot of doubling back. But other than that, I felt SFNE is a solid park that Six Flags should definitely invest some NEW rides in (not a used coaster that the park already has). Well...that ended up being not so brief. I'd definitely like to return for the missed credits and lots more rides on Bizarro.

[Schotcher]

Wow That is one massive wall of text. :S Painful to read. But you didn't get a chance to ride Pandemonium? Have you ridden one of the clones before? It's definitely fun, has a few moments of nice airtime, and glass smooth.

[osm]

^Yeah sorry, I didn't mean to be so long-winded, but sometimes it happens. I didn't get to ride Pandemonium though I wanted to, however I figured I'll get to ride one of the clones at some point, so it could be worse.

[liftsifter]

I think that the park will really make Goliath a great experience. cannot wait to ride!

[VinTheAttendant]

@osm, loved reading the report. I must say that I'm a little disappointed that the ride operations were not up to par (when I worked at Bizarro, my goal was always to finish my part of the train before the second train hit the brakes). I'm guessing the reason for the slow attendants is because many of the seasonal employees had to go back to school, so a whole bunch of new people were hired to finish the season, meaning quite a bit of understaffing and new trainees. So, it's a shame that that was the case, but at least you had a good day. Oh, and don't worry about missing Pandemonium. You didn't miss much

[jzoole]

^Every time I went to SFNE this summer, Bizarro crew was on point with no stacking.

[osm]

^^Thanks! Interesting about the Bizarro crew, I certainly hope that's the case. I guess that makes it understandable, though still unfortunate. But yeah, I had a good day.

[thewoundedholdon]

Hi everyone! I know this is straying from the current topic, but...

 

I was just wondering if anyone has ever been to the park during Fright Fest this year that could tell me a bit more about the haunted attractions. Things such as: What the "additional fee" is per attraction? Are they worth the extra cash/wait time? Are the attractions actually scary (I know people have different tolerance levels, but work with me) or are they geared more towards children? I've been scouring the internet for recent reviews, and have been unable to find any. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance!

[Wes]

^ Not sure what the charge is per attraction, but generally the Haunted Attractions are walk-through mazes where actors in costumes try to scare you as you navigate through different scenes. The actors are not allowed touch or grab you, but will try to scare or intimidate you through various methods. The spaces in the mazes are somewhat claustrophobic and special effects like loud noises and flashing lights are used as well. I would not recommend it for kids (most Halloween events usually have an unofficial PG-13 tag). If you are easily startled it is probably not a good thing either.