Roller Coaster Thread

riverc0il · Jul 12, 2022

snoloco said:
The U bricks aren't the best, but I honestly don't mind them all that much. I try to hold the lap bar up once it is checked to avoid it tightening during the ride. Also, the red train is smoother than the blue train, and slightly faster.

Yea, I wish that worked for me. But, alas, my long legs throw a safety fault if the bar isn't full on pinned. Basically, I self staple and then they ram it down just a bit more during the check.

Brownski · Jul 12, 2022

Goliath was bat shit crazy.Way better than normal boomerang coasters.

snoloco · Jul 12, 2022

riverc0il said:
I never got to ride Goliath. I didn't miss much, from what I hear. Hopefully, SFNE trashes the other boomerang and drops a new coaster where they both used to be!

I always found it funny how they had 2 Boomerangs right next to each other. The other Boomerang is Flashback, which was relocated from Kentucky Kingdom in 2000 and replaced an Arrow shuttle loop called Black Widow. That's the only launch coaster SFNE has ever had. Flashback actually dates back to 1985, because before Kentucky Kingdom, it operated somewhere in China. I think it should be removed because it has to be nearing expiration date.

Goliath came from Six Flags Magic Mountain, where it originally opened as Deja Vu in 2001. It was moved to SFNE in 2012, where it replaced a shoot the chute type water ride. Unfortunately, it did not have a successful career at SFNE. The original Vekoma train provided a smooth ride, but the park thought the staggered seating was confusing to guests, so they ordered a new train from Premier Rides with regular 4 across seating. That train did not ride very well, and turned the coaster into an uncomfortable, jackhammering mess. The ride was also constantly breaking down and couldn't run in any rain at all, nor temps below 60 degress (both of which are very common in New England).

riverc0il said:
SFNE gets old quick since it lacks depth. The fall off after the RMC and Superman is pretty steep, and operations on many of the coasters are really slow.

SFNE is definitely "top-heavy". It's a problem at a lot of parks. They rely so much on their top tier attractions and lack depth. In case you didn't know, Six Flags went through a corporate merger back in the 90's with Premier Parks. The pre-merger Six Flags parks tend to be better than the pre-merger Premier parks, because their lineups have more depth to them. SFNE happens to be an ex-Premier park. Take Six Flags Over Georgia for instance, a pre-merger Six Flags park, which serves a similar market in terms of population. They also have a hyper + RMC top two with Goliath and Twisted Cyclone. But below that, they have a Batman The Ride clone, which is better than anything at SFNE other than their top 2. They also have 2 other B&Ms in Superman Ultimate Flight, a flying coaster, and Georgia Scorcher, a stand-up coaster. They also have a Schwartzkopf looper in Riddler Mindbender, and a Gerstlauer Eurofighter in Dare Devil Dive. While their top two isn't quite as strong as SFNE, their lineup has a lot more depth. I actually think it's harder to build a park that has depth to its lineup than getting a one two punch of elite coasters.

riverc0il · Jul 13, 2022

Flashback certainly rides like it has been around a long time and had a few relocations. I'm not a fan of boomerangs, but that one is particularly dreadful. Darien Lake's boomerang is probably the best one I've been on, that one actually rides really well! Dating myself a bit, but I rode Black Widow... I still have a hard time not calling the park Riverside.

Brownski · Jul 13, 2022

riverc0il said:
Dating myself a bit, but I rode Black Widow... I still have a hard time not calling the park Riverside

Me too. We saw one of those at a tiny six flags out west (Kansas maybe- Oklahoma?) on a road trip a couple years back. Might very well have been the one from Riverside I guess. Sno could probably tell us
edit: wikipedia says the the one we rode in Oklahoma came from the NJ park. Looks like Black Widow got scrapped.

snoloco · Jul 15, 2022

Black Widow sat in an empty lot in Indiana for a few years because Six Flags wanted to build a park there. That never happened and it was eventually scrapped.