Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread

[neil009]

^This thread doesn't quite have the vast legion of regulars the SFMM thread has.

[JJLehto]

 

Is it just me, or is WC not getting as much hype as TC?

 

 

Nope, but I guess SFMM IS a "bigger" park, and for some reason (not bad or anything) this site has a crazy strong pull to that park/thread.

[Nwstone]

I know it amazes me, even though they have a similar amount of popularity, SFMMs thread has twice the amount of posts as CPs thread.

[Canobie Coaster]

I was just at the park today and had a great time! Wicked Cyclone was my first RMC and it certainly didn't disappoint; it's my new favorite coaster! I was at the park three weeks ago, but the Wicked Cyclone wasn't open yet. After anxiously waiting for the Memorial Day weekend crowds to pass, I was rewarded with the least crowded day I've ever had the park. I arrived a little before 10 am, and they started letting everyone into the park. We were roped off near Goliath and at 10:20 am, Gold Flash Pass users could have early entry and get in line before everyone else. I really like this perk, but I felt sorry for the Six Flags employee since it was one girl dealing with a mob of 30-40 people rushing up to her with season passes and single day tickets with the latter trying to sneak by.

 

So needless so say I ran to Wicked Cyclone and was on the first train of the day. The park did an amazing job with the area. The queue line gives some outstanding views of the coaster and the roar of the trains flying by builds anticipation. I wish we had the option to wait for particular seats, but with the station set-up, I understand why the park wanted to avoid a mosh pit inside. I got 6 rides in the back, 9th row, middle rows, and 3rd row. I waited two or three trains max for most rides.

 

The ride is relentless, mind-bending insanity from start to finish. It has perfect pacing, ridiculous air-time, crazy inversions, and powerful laterals. It's the complete package. The first drop is the best that I've experienced on a coaster. Even the seats towards the front and middle get crazy ejector air. My final ride in the back had this and then some. Think of El Toro's first drop in the back seat...in any seat on the Wicked Cyclone. The first turnaround consistently caused me to see some black and was really quick. Afterwards was a powerful little bunny hill with massive, sustained ejector air. Then came the 200 degree stall. The element looks like a squiggle from a child's coloring book and feels like doing a slow-mo Matrix flip in mid-air. Experiencing that much hang time in just a lap bar was really cool. The seats towards the front had more hang-time while seats towards the back have a powerful whip at the end of the stall.

 

After the turnaround comes the double down. Do you like two massive bursts of air-time? I thought so and Wicked Cyclone delivers. It's like a bucking bull tries to eject riders the first time and then doing it split seconds later while on steroids. Fantastic! The following small bunny hill is almost a carbon copy of the first and equally as powerful. The subsequent turnaround looks innocent (comparatively) but it features a hidden outward banked airtime hill. The hill is incredibly steep and combines the ride's strongest laterals with ejector air all while remaining comfortable. It's a controlled intensity. For the full effect of this hill, I recommend sitting on the left side.

 

The finale includes the first of two zero-G rolls. These zero-G rolls are graceful and are loaded with hang-time. It's like the world is moving in slow motion while stuck in a coaster enthusiast's utopia. This return leg includes a mix of hills with even more air-time and laterals. One hill of note is the one before the camera. I don't even know what to call this hill other than the super squiggle. While no taller than 15-20 feet, riders are launched sky-high and then juggled left to right. Again intense but comfortable. Of all seats, I preferred the back, but any seat gave a world class ride unlike anything I've ever experienced.

 

Outside of the Wicked Cyclone, I notched four rides on Bizarro. I waited a half hour for my first two rides to get the front seat. Wow! The past few visits have been in the fall or early spring, so maybe the coaster wasn't truly warmed up, but it was flying today. Excellent air-time on all of the hills and the audio was working for the start and finish of the ride (it kept bouncing out in the middle near the epic air-time hills). I had two later rides. The first was in the 3rd row and almost as good as my first two rides, but the final row in the back was a tad disappointing. The ride was just as intense, but the train was shuffling quite a bit during the spaghetti bowl portion. I'll still take a back seat ride each visit for the intensity, but rerides would be hard since it was a bit uncomfortable on my back compared to the other seats.

 

I didn't ride Goliath today since the line was noticeably longer than anything else in the park (the entire first queue house was filled), but my ride three weeks ago was smooth. I find the new train slower than the old one, but the ride loads faster, is more reliable, and maybe I'm just lucky, but I don't find it any rougher; it's still smooth. Pandemonium had a great crew sending trains out rapid fire. Despite its small stature, I really love this spinning coaster's layout. The helices can generate some surprising forces and the drops are abrupt and satisfying. Batman was a bit disappointing. The coaster has gotten rough for a B&M. This is nowhere near Vekoma rough, but I'd have trouble riding it back to back. There was shuffling in the vertical loop and headbanging in the corkscrews. When combined with the ride's rapid fire pacing, which is a benefit, I just couldn't do it back to back. Still a fun coaster though.

 

In other news, Mind Eraser is still awful.

Wicked Cyclone was my first RMC and it certainly didn't disappoint.

Here is Friendly's presented by the Wicked Cyclone. The ride creates a Friendlysnado that rains down Friendly's on unsuspecting guests.

I spy a missing plane. It's not that hard CNN.

The ride is surprisingly well themed. There are random decorations scattered throughout the queue line and the station's walls are adorned with newspaper articles about the cyclone. The ride attendants also wear CHASE gear instead of the standard Six Flags dress.

The queue line offers some great photo opportunities. I loved seeing the trains roar by. It really helped build anticipation for the ride.

Those curves.

The 200 degree stall in all of its glory. So messed up and so awesome at the same time.

This would be one messed up coat hanger.

The best things come in pairs...except preteen film adaptations divided into two parts, Chris Brown and Rihanna, and wow there are a lot of exceptions. Rest assured, double downs are not an exception...except when talking about the KFC sandwich.

I had a hard time getting a good shot of the first drop from within the park. You should go visit the park to see it for yourself, doctor's orders.

What is the design on the front of the train? It looks cool, but I was confused by it.

Oh yeah, the park has other rides too.

Bizarro was running fast today.

Everyone has the money shot. The train entering the mist tunnel. How many people have the after shot?

Na na na na na na na I don't have a caption!

Batman was running a bit rough today, but was still fun. Hard to find a complete circuit coaster that can navigate 5 inversions that quickly.

The park has done a great job revitalizing the North End with the additions of the New England Sky Screamer and Wicked Cyclone.

Pandemonium may be small, but it packs a punch. It's one of my favorite coasters at the park.

I broke my three year streak of not riding this thing. #regret

Superman was fine as it was, but Thunderbolt really needed a new paint job and I'm glad the park showed love for the classic coaster.

[JJLehto]

Awesome report! Great pics!

Glad to hear WC was a beast. I was really getting nervous about those last reports but I am officially exploding with anticipation again.

[coasterbill]

The theming looks great. This is going to come off the wrong way but Six Flags is very good at theming things to look like crap on purpose. Any time they go with a theme of something being destroyed (like Apocalypse at SFA) and now the post-storm damage theming at Wicked Cyclone it usually looks pretty good.

 

I can't wait to ride this.

[Zand]

Cyclone is a walk on right now...some trains going out half empty! If you're on the fence come on down!

[Guy T. Koepp]

^^They purposefully choose those type of themes so that they don't have to maintain the ride. The older and more deteriorated the ride gets, the better it fits the theme. Look at Apocalypse, the ride's theming gets better with every damaging ray of sunlight that hits it. I think the only way they could upgrade the theming would be to have a chainsaw wielding madman walk through the que and hack s#!t up.

 

The next time a real Cyclone hits New England, Six Flags PR department will spin it as, "Due to the overwhelming success of Wicked Cyclone, We decided to theme the whole park to a storm ravaged town."

[ejot]

The theming looks great. This is going to come off the wrong way but Six Flags is very good at theming things to look like crap on purpose. Any time they go with a theme of something being destroyed (like Apocalypse at SFA) and now the post-storm damage theming at Wicked Cyclone it usually looks pretty good.

And when they neglect to do any sort of upkeep, the effect only gets stronger. Brilliant! No seriously, I really think this must have crossed their minds. edit: ^Guy beat me to it, lol

 

There's one sign on the station that they absolutely just beat the crap out of, with a ball-peen hammer or something, to look like hail damage. That must have been fun.

 

And actually they are still finishing up the themeing I guess. The black paint on the building where the airplane is crashing into it wasn't there opening day.

Actually I think it's better w/o the paint.

[JJLehto]

LOL all this is hilarious because it's true.

Hey, kudos they are giving some great theming and done so in a way where they need minimal effort and no upkeep, it really is brilliant.

 

 

Cyclone is a walk on right now...some trains going out half empty! If you're on the fence come on down!

Nice. I know it's a Weds but I'm hoping I get a day like this.

[Paradox]

NESS is also running a longer cycle this year.

[saweetdude05]

^thats really good to hear. Last year you were up there for barely a full rotation before they brought you back down.

[Canobie Coaster]

NESS is also running a longer cycle this year.

 

The cycle is still really short. Honestly it seemed the same to me as it was last fall. I prefer the Windseeker rides at Cedar Fair since they have longer cycles. Their larger capacities affords them this luxury.

[Paradox]

NESS is also running a longer cycle this year.

 

The cycle is still really short. Honestly it seemed the same to me as it was last fall. I prefer the Windseeker rides at Cedar Fair since they have longer cycles. Their larger capacities affords them this luxury.

The Sky Screamers are suspended with chains though and this really ups the fear factor. The height of this ride definitely contributes to the short cycle.

 

It stays up there for like 3-5 swings before bringing you down.

[Canobie Coaster]

For whatever reason, I found the Windseeker ride at Kings Dominion scarier even though they have arms as opposed to chains. Maybe it's because of all the issues the rides had during their first year or two at the Cedar Fair parks along with the longer cycle.

 

The theming looks great. This is going to come off the wrong way but Six Flags is very good at theming things to look like crap on purpose. Any time they go with a theme of something being destroyed (like Apocalypse at SFA) and now the post-storm damage theming at Wicked Cyclone it usually looks pretty good.

And when they neglect to do any sort of upkeep, the effect only gets stronger. Brilliant! No seriously, I really think this must have crossed their minds. edit: ^Guy beat me to it, lol

 

There's one sign on the station that they absolutely just beat the crap out of, with a ball-peen hammer or something, to look like hail damage. That must have been fun.

 

And actually they are still finishing up the themeing I guess. The black paint on the building where the airplane is crashing into it wasn't there opening day.

 

I agree, Six Flags can nail that theme every day of the week.

[sspaz1000]

Was just at the park yesterday, lines were about an hour for most major coasters. I actually waited longer for a locker at Batman: TDK than the actual ride line.

 

Wicked Cyclone is amazing. Got a front row and a back row ride. I enjoyed both, I think I did enjoy back a little more. I thought I saw some other people mention at one point in the back there was a rattle. I did notice it slightly, but it definitely didn't take away from the ride.

 

Music at the Park was there yesterday and I expected crowds to be awful, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I had more issues with a security guard at bag check than anything else all day.

[JJLehto]

Rattle also doesn't bother me at all, I was more concerned about those couple of reports saying WC randomly started running poorly and the airtime was lacking, hoping that was a bad run/it got ironed out!

[canobiefanatic]

Wicked Cyclone was definitely really good, but it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. My first ride was just meh, there weren't many good airtime moments, and I got zero airtime after the second zero g roll. And this was in the back. Luckily my second ride made up for it, but it definitely wasn't what everyone hyped it out to be at media day. I feel like everything WC does, El Toro does bigger and better (except for the inversions).

[CPmillenia94]

Alright, so today gave me a lot of insight on how this ride runs. I got around 20 rides in, and had the FULL spectrum of types of rides this can deliver. It was not in my head that this ride was running much more insane on Media day, this ride is indeed very temperamental. Thankfully, today I got some rides that were EVEN FASTER than media day. I spoke to maintenance, they said that the typical time is 55 seconds, and they were getting runs in at 45 seconds today. When it was a full train and sprinkling a bit I was getting runs at 50 seconds about and it was still absolutely crazy. I was not even getting hangtime on the first zero g roll, it almost positive gs. On the 6 or so rides I got at this intensity, the final sequence quickly became my favorite part of the entire ride . Then entire portion following the barrel roll when running up to speed feels SEVERLY underbanked, with solid lats sustained the whole time and ejector on all the hills, including the one into the brake. I also got to ride the last couple rides after it had stopped raining, and the train was completely empty, where it was riding like it usually does (squeaking through transitions and little to no airtime at the end).

 

Its too bad this ride is so temperamental, but personally I still find the hangtime very fun that you dont get when it is running at full intensity. Hopefully the change to the new wheels will make it a more consistently intense experience so everyone can get the experience that Schilke designed this ride to offer.

Edited June 2, 2015 by CPmillenia94

[neil009]

^Aren't the ones in Texas also supposed to be very temperamental?

[Password121]

I have yet to ride any RMC creations, but here's how I look at it...

Wicked Cyclone is a very compact, snappy coaster with tight transitions and small radii for the turns/airtime hills. The pullouts are tighter than larger coasters like the Texas RMC's.

The ride is designed for a specific range of speeds through each of the elements. The design of course allows for variation under different conditions, but in general, the ride is designed to reach 55mph and slowly decrease through the course. If the conditions are right and the ride is running, say, 5 mph faster through an element than average, it will be much more noticeable due to the design of ride with tight pullouts/transitions. Comoared to a ride the New Texas Giant which has much more pronounced transitions, 5 mph wont make nearly as noticeable a difference. You'd have to be 10 mph (filler numbers--just for explanation) faster than average to notice the same change in intensity as a 5 mph increase on Wicked Cyclone.

This works in both ways, as a slight decrease in speed theoh an element is much more pronounced than the same decrease in the New Texas Giant.

Basically, because the ride is so tight/compact, small variations make large differences.

[CPmillenia94]

^I understand and agree that it has a large effect. I still think think 10 second variations in the time from the lift to brakes is a pretty large variation for the small length of the course. That is considerably more temperamental than other rides ive heard about. I know flying turns at knoebels has maybe 2 or 3 second variations at most, and to me that seems like a far less precise and weight based ride.

[Password121]

To be perfectly honest I have a hard time believing this '10 second' variation thing. 5 seconds? Maybe. 10? For a 55 second ride, that's about 10 mph slower overall, and since the speed at the base of the drop isn't affected as much as other elements, it would have to be immensely slower than the average run. Not saying for sure he's wrong (he knows more about the ride than I do), but I think it's possible there was miscommunication/misinformation.

[CPmillenia94]

^Agreed, I mean I had to ask him to repeat the time because I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly. He did say 45 seconds, but that seems like it would have had to be like launched into the ride to get that.. It was not a ride operator but i'm not 100% sure he was maintenance so who knows. I timed it the times that I rode it when it was running what I would say is as intense as I would WANT it to be without being physically uncomfortable, and it was only at 52 seconds. Then clocked 55 seconds again later when it had gotten drier and emptier. (I had a lot of time on my hands to do this since the park was so empty)

 

The only way I think in my mind that it could make sense is that when its running quickly it was not spending ANY time hanging in the rolls, whereas the typical runs the train slows down quite a bit and hangs for a moment during the roll. Like there certain elements where the speed entering them is not perfectly proportional to how fast it maneuvers it, where there is a certain point where a low speed would have it pause a lot longer than it should, even though it does pick up pace again after returning back down..

[Superbatboy]

I just hope WC is hauling ass whenever I get a chance to ride it. I'm not flying 3,000 miles for it WC to be on her period that day