Day 7: Six Flags New England

We left the hotel around 9:30, intending to use our early park admittance to our coaster riding advantage. Got into the park a good 20 minutes earlier than normal, non-season pass holders, immediately set out for Bizarro.

Six Flags has access to the DC licences, and they make full use of them. Bizarro is unsurprisingly themed after Bizarro Superman, and it does a pretty good job of making the queue somewhat entertaining. It was once Superman, The Ride of Steel, but has since gone to the dark side. The trains have speakers in the headrests that play thematic sound bites and music along to the ride, though during the day they weren't playing. The lift hill takes you up 208 feet before dropping you down 221 feet into a misted tunnel. You then pass over a pretty sweet zero g hump before going into an overbanked turn. You are then sent careening through building scenery pieces and up another two negative g humps before sending you through a series of fogged, light-up S-shield shaped rings. A bunny hop hill twists into a wide upward helix and then another small hill before helixing the other way, then another bunny hop takes you to a diving helix that goes through a misted tunnel under the main walkway, then over two last negative g humps and to the brakes. A very awesome, smooth coaster, tons of fun, thrills and negative g's, a total must-ride!

After Bizarro, we walked over to Mind Eraser. It is a venerable design, with other a dozen exact clones around the world. An inverted coaster, it leaves your legs dangling. After cresting the lift hill, you go down a curved dive into a speedy banked turn that leads into a sidewinder (half-loop, which straightens you out on top, before twisting you back around and down a second half-loop) followed by some banked turns that bring you around to two barrel rolls in a row. A few more twists and you hit the breaks and return to the station. Good coaster, somewhat standard for the type, but still a fun ride. Recommended.

Next up we rode Batman - The Dark Knight, a cool floorless coaster. After the lift hill, you go through a twisted dive back around and up through a giant loop, followed by a diving loop. The train twists around and arcs up through the center of the first loop and dives down, then up again into a zero-g roll. It is similar to a regular zero-g hump, except it twists you upside down at the top. You then go through a corkscrew, followed by a banked 180 degree turn that then flips you through a second, stretched corkscrew. One last turn takes you to the brakes and back to the station. Another good one, must-ride.

Next up we wanted to ride Goliath, a giant inverted Vekoma boomerang, but it was out of service all day. So we wandered over to Cyclone. Cyclone is an old wooden coaster (though not as old as Thunderbolt) and it is quite a rickety, screeching ride at times, the track drops and twists you around like crazy within the supports. Not too much air time, but a fun wooden coaster. If you have the time, I am sure you will enjoy it, but ride some steel first if the park is busy.

Thunderbolt was next on the list, the oldest ride in the park, having opened in 1941 and has been operating since. It has gone through several upgrades to the track, but the design of the ride is the same as it originally was in 1939 and the coaster had been declared an ACE coaster landmark. Thunderbolt actually offers a smoother ride than Cyclone, despite being a good 40 years older, though being able to feel the flexing of the long cars though the seats and sides is a little unnerving. You are taken around and back three times, over humps and bumps and a turn nested directly below the first turn. A good little wooden coaster, you should ride it, if only to say you have ridden a 72-year old coaster.

It was at this point that the weather was starting to take a turn for the worst, so we decided to get a couple more rides on our favourites in. Bizarro again, and Batman, but then the rain started. So we left the park for a late lunch and went back to the hotel to wait out the rain. The rain just got worse though, but it is OK, we rode what we wanted to, and got three rides in on Bizarro all together, the last being the best. I dunno if it was our position on the higher seats in the back of the car, or if it was just more mass to to the train, but we got when more air and speed on our final ride than any other. The same can be said for Batman, though that train was not full the first ride, so it makes sense that the increased mass would send us around even faster.

Tomorrow is a dead day, with very little to do as every park we could get to in time is closed. So we are thinking of going to Boston for entertainment. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey isn't open again until Wednesday, but we're going to head over Jersey way on Tuesday to try and avoid the same madness we experienced on the way to New England. After Jersey, we are going to go to Hersheypark in Pennsylvania for a real cheap day of cool coasters before we head back to Canada and Wonderland. Got some good stuff coming up! Really looking forward to the next three parks!

Golden Ticket Top 10 2012:
Bizarro, #2