2019 Adventures Photo TR

Okay, so maybe not everywhere on the entire coaster, but there are three spots on the coaster where the roughness and violence is so severe that I can't believe it's about to run an entire season like this. Namely, the turnaround, the "floater hill", and especially coming out of the Rolling Thunder hill.

I was a little surprised by this when I rode it a few years ago as well. It wasn't horribly violent, but it was anything but smooth — at least on the turnaround. Fun ride (I got a good 10+ rides in), but it wasn't my favorite at the park as Nitro unexpectedly took that crown.

^I ride it every year and that spot was jarring last September, but it was downright brutal this June.

I think I'm the only TPR member who hasn't been to Great Adventure. Thank you for the reminder to get my ass out to Jersey.

 

 

I haven't been either! so love reading the reports. .thanks for sharing.

 

How long was the drive from Dorney to Great Adventure?

 

I had absolutely no idea it was so close that you could leave Dorney and still spend a good chunk of time at SFGA. . .otherwise during our trip thru Penn. a few years ago (where we ended with a few days in Philly), we would have made an effort to go to SFGA

 

but yeah. .gotta get to SFGA.

You guys who haven't been should absolutely go! Like others have said, its about an hour and a half, sometimes even less. If you were in Philadelphia you were only about 30 minutes from the park.

I think I'm the only TPR member who hasn't been to Great Adventure. Thank you for the reminder to get my ass out to Jersey.

I've never been to SFGAdv (or New Jersey for that matter)

Continuing my trend this spring/early summer for the solo mini-trips, I caught a cheap flight, this time on Allegiant and without any delays or issues, out of Orlando-Sanford International straight to Trump Country. Oh yeah, I was going to hit up,

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

I last visited the park in 2016 when Storm Chaser was brand new. I enjoyed the park then and the park has continued to improve and grow since. It's really impressive that the park is now independently owned yet adds rides and attractions as frequently as a park owned by a major chain. Honestly, if the park were still under the Six Flags chain, I highly doubt they'd be adding/replacing rides this frequently at all. It really shows the commitment that Ed Hart and his team really have to this park, and when visiting the park this is clear as well.

I actually learned a lot about this park before/during this visit. For some reason I wandered to the Wiki page on the park and read a bunch of articles about it. For one, I knew I'd been on a former SFKK coaster, Chang, which now resides at Six Flags Great Adventure as Green Lantern. I also thought that the coaster was removed as part of the Six Flags break-up, but it was actually earmarked for removal a year prior for a water park expansion. Also, I had no idea that two of Six Flags New England's coasters that I've also been on, Flashback and Gotham City Gauntlet, also came from SFKK. The more you know! Regardless, this park has had a storied history and I hope the success and expansion can continue for years to come.

Upon parking, presented in front of you in all it's electric blue glory, is Lightning Run.

Now, for all you size queens out there, this coaster is exactly 100 feet tall, but you wouldn't know it. It's kind of like they just kept riding the ending of Phantom's Revenge over and over, and said "can you make this an entire coaster?"

Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Har...Bay.

This park sure has some interesting weather fetish that I'd like to know more about. It's about all they name sh*t after.

This visit actually took place over the course of two days, with Holiday World sandwiched in-between, but more on that later. I came up with a weird split-visit strategy that actually paid off quite well.

This photo was taken on Saturday around noon, and the park was was more crowded than I expected it to be, but it made me happy to see that this park is popular!

Lightning Run's entrance on Friday

Lightning Run's entrance on Saturday. They only ran one train both days I was there, with one sitting on the transfer track. Needless to say, I skipped it on Saturday.

The train for this coaster almost seems comically too big for it's own lift hill.

I have a question for those of you who know way too much about very specific things- I noticed this time around that Lightning Run's train interiors, namely the seat cushions, backs, and restraints, all look strikingly similar to those used on RMC trains. Is there some shared parts/familiarity here?

Lightning Run through, well...the trees.

An overview look at Lightning Run before we move on. Lightning Run is very good and I highly recommend going to Kentucky Kingdom to ride it! It's small but extremely fast with airtime usually found on large hypercoasters.

New for 2019, Kentucky Kingdom pranked everyone saying they built a new wood coaster, when really all they got was a swing ride! lollllll

But surely, it wouldn't be safe to twirl you around a tower in Timberliner cars attached to a bit of chain, would it?

In all reality, they just want you to take the scenic route past the swing ride in order to find the coaster entrance. Now, I'd be extremely confused if I was really trying to find the swing ride and ended up at this coaster instead, but as I don't like swing rides, that really isn't my problem.

This was the only other photo I got of Kentucky Flyer.

The coaster is a cool "kid's first coaster", but otherwise is really nothing memorable or worth going out of your way for. There's a few little pops of air here and there, but I think GCI makes a way better junior woodie with something like White Lightning at Fun Spot.

Oh, I remember one thing about it- like Mine Blower in Kissimmee, even when brand new, these coasters have a weird roughness to them, which I'm not sure is going to age very well. Maybe the word "rough" isn't appropriate right now, more like...coarse. There's just a weird grinding to them, and Mine Blower was exactly the same when it was new, and I haven't been on it again since.

I know people seem to really heap praise on these small Gravity Group woodies, but I personally just find this unacceptable. The competition has figured out ways to really smooth out wood coasters. I feel like Gravity Group is stuck in the early 90s, still making old CCIs.

The line for this POS was longer both days than for Storm Chaser, which just blows my mind.

Then again, Trump won Kentucky by 30 points, so there's that.

I don't have the "credit" for this, because f*ck. that.

Continuing the weather theme, the park also has Thunder Run, an older Dinn Corp woodie. It's also pretty forgettable, but they take good care of it

Continuing the long walk back to Storm Chaser, you walk past evidence of the park's Six Flags past with this generic big shoot-the-chutes ride, complete with splash-down pool to ensure all riders come down with Ebola.

As only the strong make it in this long walk of hot, humid, and stagnant Kentucky air, you're essentially guaranteed a short line for this fantastic RMC.

Serving up contrast realness with the bright neon trains and red track

And. This. Ride. Delivers.

This hill is one of the single best moments on any RMC out there. There are certain elements that different RMCs have that make them memorable, like Iron Rattler's cliff dive, Steel Vengeance's double inversion, Wicked Cyclone's nah-inversion, this is Storm Chaser's. This sustained ejector airtime hill kicks a$$

Storm Chaser also sports these low-ground roll inversions that are as quick and snappy as an old B&M corkscrew

This is the most WTF moment on the coaster. I almost don't like this spot, but it's crazy unique. It's like a double-down with a directional change in the middle, plus you go up before the second down...if that makes sense. If you had something in front of your face on this element, you'd smash your nose into it.

The following few photos are just going to speak for themselves

Ride smart- don't vote for Trump again!

Of course, I'm going to compare Storm Chaser to Twisted Timbers. It was the OG inversion drop, but it does it better, as it whips into it faster. Which is better overall? I honestly have no clue, they're actually pretty similar. They're both repetitive airtime machines with low-ground inversions. I think Twisted Timbers may have a higher quantity of elements. They're both amazing, as are all RMCs.

One final look at the airtime. If you haven't been to Kentucky Kingdom, what are you waiting for? It's conveniently located RIGHT next to Louisville Airport. Like, seriously, I don't see how an Uber between the two could cost more than $2-3. The park is well-kept, the employees friendly and mostly efficient, and you literally have a walk-on RMC all the time, even on a Saturday when the rest of the park is slammed. I'll definitely be going back to this park again as soon as I can!

Another Great Trip report! (Sharing, like all of your opinions helps too ).

Does Kentucky Kingdom still have that deal for out-of-state guests?

Great report! I'm glad you were strong enough to resist T3. It's not worth the pain.

Awesome report! I haven't been to Kentucky Kingdom since it was a Six Flags park but it is on my list of places to go - even though I have to bring my gay ass to Kentucky to get there

Nice report! It's an interesting little park for sure. When I visited, the weather was grim (scorching heat and hideous humidity), so the place was fairly empty. Lightning Run was running one train then as well so throughput was miserable. My visit was quick as I split the day between Kentucky Kingdon and Holiday World (I found that you can easily do both as long as you have the stamina and you're okay with rushing, and I managed to get a ton of rides on both parks' major coasters). I'm guessing you did the same?

Speaking of rough, that triple/up down section of Storm Chaser you mentioned was such a bizarre design choice. I liked parts of the ride, but I'm not as big an RMC fan as others around here, and that section was a good example of what I don't like about their designs. When watching trains pass through, you could see riders slamming back and forth pretty violently. Overall I found it to be a thigh crusher kind of ride, but I still rode it a bunch since there was no line.

Thunder Run was my favorite coaster there, and the Enterprise was still there when I visited so I rode that a bunch of times as well. T3 was my first SLC and, yup, it was bad. The ride itself wasn't as unpleasant as I expected, and I found it less of an endurance test than some of the park's other rides. But it was the seats and restraints were horrible; the ride's gs forced the lap bar down so tight that it cut off circulation. This was made much worse by the fact that the train sat on the brake run for over a minute. It was like the Skyrush effect, only worse.

Looking forward to the next installment, and these little cheap-flight visits are great!

^Yeah, you definitely get jerked forward after an abrupt pop of airtime in that spot, just to get yanked back again with more airtime. I found it borderline between being fun and unpleasant, but after several rides it wasn't the kind of thing that made me want to stop riding or anything like that, so I'm cool with it. But, I do think the coaster would flow a little better without it. And yeah, I basically did a morning/early afternoon Friday at KK, Friday afternoon/evening at Holiday World plus took advantage of the 1 hour gain time change, then Saturday morning/early afternoon I did KK again before my flight.

Another Great Trip report! (Sharing, like all of your opinions helps too ).

Does Kentucky Kingdom still have that deal for out-of-state guests?

They sure do! I believe it was something like $40 plus tax, but then you also got the next day free plus a wristband for free soda. I'm not a soda drinker, so I didn't use that, but I did take advantage of the next-day-free deal.

Awesome report! I haven't been to Kentucky Kingdom since it was a Six Flags park but it is on my list of places to go - even though I have to bring my gay ass to Kentucky to get there

The good thing about Louisville is that it's actually a small liberal bastion in otherwise blood-red Kentucky, so you'll be fine! The park is within the city limits, so the crowds were reassuringly diverse and typical of what you'd see at parks in medium-sized cities. You do see some of the backwoods types, but honestly I even see that here in Orlando at the parks.

Great report! Your description of Lightning Run is spot on. I visited at the same time last year and that stagnant, humid, heat is so gross but at least it makes the coasters run on another level, haha. Can you believe people were complaining about Storm Chaser being sluggish at one point? That last jerk to the left into the brake run is taken at such speeds I felt like I was experiencing a Roller Coaster Tycoon coaster that 1998 me made that has an unbanked turn after the first drop.

Great photo report and commentary! Does not look too busy.

Good analysis on the rides and great photos! I haven't been to KK since before Storm Chaser was built and I'll hopefully be going back next year.

It's so odd how they run two trains on Storm Chaser but only one on Lightning Run when the latter seems to pull bigger crowds due to its placement. It's possible the extra capacity on SC alone explains the difference, but then why not do the same on LR?

really great report and pics.

Lightning Run certainly looks like a ton of fun.

Storm Chaser looks so naked tho. . surprised there's not more landscaping around it.

^Storm Chaser definitely gets the "ugliest RMC" vote, as it also has a steel support structure, much of which is pretty old and rusty-looking. The ride, though, definitely not ugly at all

Welcome and thank you for taking the click-bait! Did you think I was serious that they should RMC Voyage? Of course I was, and they really should.

So, obviously, the next place I went was,

Holiday World

At risk of everybody pounding away at their keyboards for my blasphemy, I'm actually going to offer a somewhat critical opinion in this report. Of course, Holiday World is an outstanding park with Disney-level hospitality, great food, incredible atmosphere, and with free parking, soda, and sunscreen to boot.

But, let's be honest with ourselves, we don't go out to rural southwestern Indiana for free soda and sunscreen. We go for a park that is known for it's legendary wood coasters. Sadly, none of these wood coasters are in great shape right now. This was my first visit since 2016, and while there were definitely some rough spots on Raven and Legend back then, both of these coasters have gotten much worse. I've read this online and didn't want to believe it to be true, but it is.

The Voyage is another story entirely. I actually really mean it when I say they should RMC it. Maybe not turn it into a steel RMC (though I really wouldn't complain), but I'd love it if they did something like tear all the track out and replace it with topper track, then convert to run RMC trains. I know this would require all new ride systems and all that, but it'd honestly be worth it. It really does have a brilliant layout, but the combination of awful rough Gravity Group track combined with PTC trains just makes it a giant pile of sh*t. Sorry not sorry!

I love Holiday World as a park. But unless they were getting something new or it were to be reported that they were doing some significant re-tracking and TLC to the wood coasters, I likely won't go out of my way again any time soon. If I was doing the same trip to Louisville again, I’d likely go north to Kings Island instead.

Welcome to Indiana, the state that gave us Mike Pence. Hopefully someday they’ll apologize for that.

Walking up to the Holiday World entrance, you’re greeted by what is, or should be, a world-class coaster. I personally love the coaster and think it’s the best at Holiday World, I just wish it could still be enjoyed without being jackhammered to death.

Welcome to The Legend! Cool layout, great setting, and just an all-around beautiful ride...except again, you’re jackhammered to death and there’s one long turn that seems like it’s never going to end while you get smashed into the seat divider like 26 times

Just look how beautiful the setting for this ride is!

Happy thanksgiving!!!

Sooo many enthusiasts swear by this ride. Every time I’ve been to the park I always *want* to love Voyage.

It’s tall, it’s beautiful...but I’m sorry, it just sucks. PTC trains and Gravity Group’s washboard track have no business going this fast at all

This huge drop is so awesome. It’s the best part of the ride before the pain and suffering begins.

I subjected myself to a few rides in both the front and back of the train. The double-down in the dark is the best and most OMG part of the ride, and if this coaster was bearable I’d love it.

I’m not a wood coaster p*ssy either. I love coasters that others find rough, such as Boardwalk Bullet. But Voyage jackhammers, has fast laterals that just slam you into the sides of the train and seat dividers over and over, and even the lap bars beat you up. Every time I rode I was just begging it to end.

Another thing I didn’t understand whatsoever is how enthusiasts compare these large hills to El Toro’s large hills. El Toro has ejector airtime at the top of its large hills. Voyage doesn’t even have floater. Maybe people count the “bump” at the top of this hill where you can watch the car in front of you violently skew to a weird angle from the track being mis-aligned?

I can’t imagine riding this thing without trims. That has to hurt so f*cking bad.

This spot is undeniably awesome with the Thunderbird head chopper.

Imagine doing an abrupt airtime hill into a low-ground inversion right here on Steel Voyage! Or Twisted Mayflower. Or Iron Pilgrim.

Speaking of Thunderbird, it’s still pretty rad. If there’s one coaster worth visiting Holiday World for, it’s this one.

It begins with a surprisingly forceful and sudden launch, right into this floaty inversion

Going through a vertical loop while riding a wing is great! Tbh, it’s better than a keyhole or slow roll inversion

They definitely have awesome food. Thanksgiving turkey in June at a theme park! Ok, I’d gladly come back for this

After doing another lap of the park, I made one last lap on Raven, which is a coaster I really love, especially for the surprise large drop into the trees. If I could enjoy it without constantly bracing, this would be top ten wood material for me.

Raven is complete with a “Batman the Ride” entrance tunnel

And I’ll end with a photo of the beautiful entrance area buildings. Holiday world is beautiful, scenic, and a great experience. Just please fix the woodies.

Another great report! It's a shame HW's great wooden coasters can go downhill so quickly, but we all know they take care of them as much as they can. Initially I thought RMC'ing Voyage was blasphemous, but honestly look at what HW has done to try and improve the experience - Timberliners tried and failed, added trims, constant maintenance. RMC'ing would be a one time fix, right? Other than normal upkeep. Voyage is so good when it's tolerable, and I've been lucky to only have great rides on it, but I know that's not the case for many others.

Great report!

I thought Voyage was running fantastic during Holiwood Nights. Most people seemed to think it was running the best it has in years. I've never found it to be too rough, but I can certainly see how people could find it rough. Then again I ride Boulder Dash a ton and apparently that ride is rough too.

I really really wanted to love Voyage. Watching it be built and everyone calling it a bigger badder Shivering Timbers. I liked parts of it. It has a great layout. Sadly I found it rougher then Boss at SFSTL. I love intense rides. I like rough rides. I love fast rides. I love long rides. Sadly I did not completely love an intense rough fast long monster of a ride called Voyage. The drop, the outward overbank and the double down were great though!

^^I'm also a big Boulder Dash fan as well, and while I haven't been on it since maybe 2015 or 2016, I've always found it to be a great ride and mostly tolerable, save for maybe a few spots.

I really, really wanted to love Voyage as well. I was really looking forward to riding it on this trip, especially after experiencing the brutal spots on El Toro a couple of weeks ago. I thought, "since El Toro has these killer spots, how bad can Voyage be?", then realized why you should never ask yourself that question.

After visiting Holiday World, I feel like everything at El Toro is a-okay.

Sorry to hear that the woodies weren't running well. A shame to hear bad things about them, especially considering they just did so much retracking on Voyage (and hadn't Legend somewhat recently been worked on too - GCI?). I feel like that is damning proof that unfortunately HW will never be able to win over everyone with those. It seems like there are very few people that walk away from this park liking all three. Usually not more than 2 out of 3. Either they hate Raven, Legend but love Voyage, or hate Voyage but like Legend and/or Raven, or don't like any of them at all.

For me I'm a fan of Voyage and Legend, but Raven I've always just to be quite underwhelming, with short and rather uneventful layout...

As for what I think about the thought of Voyage going RMC. Don't get me wrong. That would probably amazing, and if there's anything that would have immediate chance of topping Steel Vengeance, that would be it. But similar to the Beast, retracking 6600-7400 ft of track to make a still very popular ride better (as opposed to an unpopular ride better), for obvious reasons just wouldn't be worth it.

They'd be better off either building something new altogether (or Rmcing one of the other woodies)

On that note, I personally disagree with HW being just about iconic wooden coasters. For me, thats only half the reason I go- the other half being the waterpark. Splashin Safari imo is worth the price of admission alone so even when the woodies aren't running well, there is that to fall back on. You haven't been to Holiday World without a trip on either Mammoth or Wildebeest!

But anyways great report though, and glad to hear you at least enjoyed the food and Thunderbird.

Yeah I agree it’s a shame to hear about the woodies. I was only here about a month ago and I thought all three were running great. So I have to completely disagree with you about the Voyage. I personally loved the Voyage so much that it’s my new number one favorite wooden coaster ahead of the Beast and El Toro. I don’t think it’s needs the RMC threatmeant either nor should it ever. Same with the other two woodies as well. Now an ground up RMC woody would be amazing. With that said st least we both loved Thunderbird. Also I hated that helix at the end of the Legend as well. The Raven was my second favorite of the three because of that.

I don't know if RMC can do regular steel wheels, but rubberized -- like El Toro -- may be needed to make a large coaster like that not get rough fast. But then you have to radically reprofile the entire ride. El Toro valleys sometimes as it is, and is down to small coaster elements by the end while still being a shorter coaster. RMC conversions raise the lift and still require sharp little bunnies by the end to keep up the pacing. E.g. Twisted Timbers hits the final brakes slower than Hurler did in its worst days. If anyone's rating Voyage above Toro it's because it's still a traditional wood coaster with steel wheels. Fans talk about how it almost magically maintains momentum. Rubber and Metal Conversion is not a real option.

Continuing along my 2019 Adventures, the next trip was a visit up north to see family in New York. As part of this trip, I also visited two parks, the first of which is a park I make a point to visit at least once a year. The park I visited was:

Six Flags New England

People tend to say that Texas, Six Flags' home market, is the best place to go for Six Flags parks. I wholeheartedly agree with this, but if there's a runner-up region for good Six Flagsing, it'd have to be the Northeast trio of Great Adventure, New England, and Great Escape.

New England in particular has always been a favorite of mine. If I had to name a "favorite Six Flags", I'd logically say Fiesta Texas, but New England is a close second. It's a pretty small park but they really fit a lot into their space. The park is located right alongside the Connecticut River so it has some natural scenery in addition to some nice older buildings from its pre-Six Flags days when it was called Riverside Park. Their admission-included water park, Hurricane Harbor, is actually one of the nicer Six Flags water parks despite not being a separate ticket. Oh, and this park also has the kick-ass one-two punch of Superman and Wicked Cyclone.

The park has also always had pretty consistent operations. However, I'm very disappointed to report that that couldn't be farther from the truth on this visit. On this visit, not only were operations the worst I've ever seen here, but honestly the worst in the chain right now. This wasn't isolated to one area, this was park-wide, with the exception of an otherwise consistent Superman crew. Rather than typing it out all over again, I'm just going to quote myself from the SFNE thread.

Visited the park today (Sunday the 15th), came away believing that this is the worst park in the chain right now in terms of operations, which is a real shame because up until now, I've never really had a bad experience here ever, and I actually really love this park. The only exception was Superman, which was the only place where there seemed to be any sense of urgency or employee training.

 

Wicked Cyclone was running sluggish in the orange train in the morning, but I got some pretty great rides later in the day, especially in the blue train. This is definitely one of the better steel RMCs in my opinion. The Sunday evening crew, however, should all be either terminated or re-trained. They were more focused on going up to the operator's booth and standing around to have personal conversations than with getting the trains dispatched. Restraint checkers on the left side of the platform were unnecessarily crossing over the train to go joke around with the employees on the other side, including the booth operator. At one point, someone who was either just friends with some of them or was an off-duty employee out of uniform went through the exit, crossed the train, and was chatting with them all in the operator's booth.

 

Same with Batman. The train would be in the brake run for so long that you'd think they went down for maintenance. I walked from the teacups/in front of Joker to the entrance without seeing a train go, made it all the way behind the coaster before they finally dispatched. Again, same thing. Personal conversations/general joking around happening between the staff and not much working going on. One of the girls who was a restraint checker was also literally jumping off her feet and putting her full body weight against every restraint she checked, which every guest was complaining hurt.

 

I could go on and on with more examples but I won't. Luckily, this is simply a matter of employee training, accountability, and oversight. I really hope that they can get their act together soon and correct this, because they're better than this and from my previous experiences, they've always been better than this.

Anyway, I hate to post a negative report because this is a hobby that we all love and enjoy! So now, onto the photos

Heading in, I knew this was going to be a busy day, as the parking lot was full all the way back to their farthest-back overflow lots.

One other issue I had, and this wasn't really a SFNE issue but a chain-wide problem right now, is that every time I try and enter any Six Flags park, my membership comes up as "wrong park", every single time.

I'm not sure if any of you have had this issue, but apparently it's such a widespread problem that now the parks are keeping stacks of "wrong park comp tickets" on hand instead of directing guests to GR to get one every time, which is what I've had to do up until now.

But...wouldn't it be much easier to just identify which guests' memberships are causing this error and correct it? Oh, Six Flags.

Oh, wow! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this pile of sh*t running. This is my first visit in 4 or 5 years in which I've seen it going.

In case any of you were wondering, Goliath (formerly Deja Vu at Six Flags Magic Mountain) makes Top Thrill Dragster look very reliable.

The "main street" (or whatever its called) area of SFNE is very pretty and very New England, leading up to an iconic S&S triple-tower complex proudly wearing Six Flags' logo

More nice buildings, this time showcasing the remnants of SFNE's old gondola ride. To this day I still think it's a shame that it was removed.

It was still running, but I decided back in 2014 or 2015 that I'd had my last ride on it ever. I want to say I rode in the back or towards the back at that time, and it was totally brutal.

Six Flags New England trying some Busch Gardens Williamsburg up in here

My friend I was with on this visit made me do this thing once. It truly was 400 feet of a$$-clenching terror.

Oh, don't tell me...

Luckily, by the time I located and placed my belongings in the newly-inconvenient fluffy bunny, they were back up and running.

Before, there was a set of these fairly close to the ride entrance. Now, you have to walk back down the hill to where they're shared with Blizzard River.

Back up and running!

Wicked Cyclone was running a little bit sluggish at the beginning of the day. However, by the evening, it was running mostly at it's normal pace. One thing I really love about Wicked Cyclone is how true to it's original layout it is. You pretty much follow the old Cyclone's path to a T, just with a lot less pain and a lot more excitement and airtime.

This is one of my favorite spots on the ride. To those who are unfamiliar with either WC or the original Cyclone; in it's original form, Cyclone would "sway" back and forth when the train traversed this hill, which was both terrifying and entertaining to watch from the queue. I absolutely love how RMC turned the spot into a fake-out inversion, as it essentially has the train do the "sway" the same way it used to.

This was also one of the most necessary RMC conversions, right up there with Mean Streak in my opinion. The original Cyclone was a huge pile of sh*t.

And with that, it was time to head to the DC section of the park to ride this absolute masterpiece.

Remember that time when Six Flags bought a custom Intamin Megacoaster and built an entire section of a park with it as the centerpiece?

Superman is 208 feet tall but it seems way bigger than that. The unique park layout has most of the park on a hill with the DC area downhill next to the river with Superman along the edge. Everything else around it is small, so the perspective of it all makes Superman seem more like 300 feet tall when you're standing next to it

With all that said, let's talk about the ride...which at this time, I was about to get 5 rides on within about an hour, as everyone was in the water park.

The name...Superman the Ride. Ehh, Superman Ride of Steel was a much better name, but they can call it whatever they want and it'll still be great.

Just going up the lift on this coaster is awesome. They put the catwalk on the right hand side so your left side is exposed to the Connecticut River.

The first drop...at 75 degrees isn't all that steep by today's standards, but a 9-car train gives a unique hang in the front and great pull and air in the back, then you're straight into an underground tunnel.

The second hill treats you to some pretty strong, sustained floater air, especially in the front. I'm happy to be able to say this, as apparently a wheel change is responsible for an injection of life back into this coaster.

While I'm still not a fan of these trains and I really wish they'd order a new set of the originals again like Darien Lake did, Superman is currently giving it's best rides in years.

The third hill gives you some mild ejector air, while this fourth hill seen here launches you directly into ejector air heaven

One last look at the ejectorgasm.

The verdict: Superman is still one of the best steel coasters anywhere. Train/restraint issues aside, this ride is seriously amazing and I always look forward to riding it. In my opinion, this is probably the "best coaster layout" ever drawn-up. It really has it all. Setting, midway interaction, 2 underground tunnels, strong airtime, and great positive lateral G force in the helices. There are newer, stronger, faster, and more intense coasters today. But Superman is so re-rideable and the fact that it can still hang with the best when it's in it's 20th season is a true testament to Intamin's brilliance.

Which begs the question: when you have a reliable, thrilling Intamin Mega with consistent uptime, which guests run around to re-ride and is generally loved and considered one of the best...why are parks still building B&M hypercoasters en masse? We're about to get Candymonium, half the Cedar Fair chain has a B&M hyper, Six Flags even went on it's own B&M hyper spree...yet, it's exceedingly rare to see an Intamin mega/hyper get built. Don't get me wrong, B&M hypers are fun, but not a single one of them can touch a ride like Superman. I guess the other side of the coin is that these rides are special, a reminder that we have a pulse.

Moving along down to the south end of the park, we have Joker, which is now a pretty ubiquitous ride among Six Flags parks.

We also have Batman the Dark Knight down at this end as well

Complete with a hangtime-filled vertical loop, Batman has a snappy, compact layout and makes it one of the more underrated B&M floorless coasters

I waited a minute or so wanting to grab a photo here before stowing my phone away, but the glacial, zero-f*cks-given attitude of Batman's crew meant it'd be a while before another train was to be dispatched.

Mind Eraser is now excessively green. And apparently these people thought I was taking their photo

Dinner was to be had at the understaffed JB's, but the food quality and portions here were still good.

In Massachusetts, every home and business is required BY LAW to have a shrine honoring Tom Brady.

I can respect the fact that Six Flags wears the fact that they're trash with pride.

Crackaxle Canyon is a quiet, well-themed area of Six Flags New England. It's exceedingly dead here ever since the park closed off the path from the entrance to this area a few years ago, but Houdini is still going strong.

I used to love these 10 years ago. But now if I rode one I think I'd be sick for days.

Six Flags New England also seems to seems to be the park of twos. Two Boomerangs, two frisbees, two spinny Wipeout-style rides. Now if only they could tear out the Boomerangs and become the park of two RMCs, that'd be great.

It was getting towards the end of the day and my friend left a little early, so I decided to close out the night with some rides on Wicked Cyclone, which was running pretty strong at this point.

So far this season, I've done Twisted Timbers and Storm Chaser. While both of these are more powerful rides than Wicked Cyclone, the more interesting layout, headchoppers, and general awesomeness of Wicked Cyclone makes me prefer it over the other two.

And that's all from SFNE. Still a great park that I love to visit, just please, please fix the operations problems.

Thanks for reading!

Great report! Unfortunately Cyclone tends to have one of the slower staffs in the park, but I agree the ops at Superman are consistently great.

While I'm in the camp that I'd love to see more Intamin hypers, I do understand why parks build B&M ones since they're also 200 foot tall, incredibly reridable rides with better reliability.

Great report of a park I don't read about, too much. Beautiful photos, too!

Thanks for taking the time to post your trip there, here!