darrenhosker
Roller Poster
Made a visit to the U.S.A a few weeks ago, and decided whilst I was there to try a few parks out that i'd wanted to visit for years. I'd never been to a Six Flags park, only ever really done the Florida parks in the U.S.
I paid a visit to Six Flags Great Adventure whilst in New York, and Magic Mountain whilst in L.A. Also managed to throw in a few randoms whilst in Vegas.
Here are a few thoughts on the rides;
Great Adventure
Kingda Ka
I loved this ride, thought it was the ultimate extreme rollercoaster and really felt the adrenaline rush. I got more of a thrill off this than I did when doing a Skydive. Only criticism is the extreme vibration that shook you to pieces at the bottom of the hill just before the humpback. Feels much better at night in the dark too. 9/10
El Toro
This was my favourite ride this decade and the best woodie I have been on by far, the force when it flies over the crest of the hills at 40mph is fantastic. That was some mighty airtime there and also a great weightless moment. Loved the fast lift hill and the insanely steep first drop, the last airtime hill and sharp bends at full speed also shocked me. So wish we had one of these in the U.K, Flamingo Land should take note. 10/10
Bizarro
Not a bad ride although very similar to Kumba at Busch Gardens, cant fault a good smooth B&M even if a little tame. 7/10
Superman – The Ultimate Flight
Again, not a bad coaster and very comfy to ride. Loved the pretzel loop. But no more exciting or fun than Air. 5/10
Nitro
Another great ride at Great Adventure, thought this was well paced and a very fun ride. No discomfort whatsoever. Loved the length of the ride and setting within the trees. Much better than Goliath at SFMM. Thought the restraints were excellent too and very comfy seats, was a pleasure to sit there and ride. 9/10
Batman – The Dark Knight
Very disappointed with this ride, just a bog standard wild mouse ride but very tame. Was quite rough also and trimmed too much. The best bit of the ride was the brakes at the end. 1/10
Las Vegas
Manhattan Express
Thought this coaster was a huge disappointment, it never made it anywhere near the ground and was very rough. The restraints and seats were very badly designed although the trains looked nice. We asked the ride op if it was rough and she said not at all, I couldn’t wait to set her straight when we got off. I thought the loop and in-line twist was badly executed and had some awful vibrations when coming out of them, these caused extreme head shakes and back pain. 3/10
Speed
Not a bad coaster, probably the best in Vegas. Was quite smooth and fast paced, although the launches lacked that punch you get from Intamin coasters. 5/10
Desperado
This has to win the award for the roughest ride on the planet, makes any Vekoma seem like heaven compared to this. I thought the ride looked like it would be as fun as the Big One, however it was an absolute waste of 3 minutes of my life and a complete displeasure to ride. My friend thought it was purgatory and they should get one of these to torture criminals. Everytime it crested a hill it would nearly tear your legs off and then at the bottom of the hills would shake you to pieces. We were relieved when got to the brake run at the end. Baring in mind I disagree with most enthusiasts and think that the Ultimate at Lightwater is not that rough. 0/10
Magic Mountain
X2
Very strange ride that I thought was worth a visit to SFMM just to ride this. I thought it was well paced and very unique, scared the hell out of me at some points and that’s hard to do these days. The rotations seemed a bit jerky when turning but the strange angles at which you fly round the track produced some great thrills. This is the first On Ride Photo I have bought where I look terrified, and I have over 300. 8/10
Goliath
Another ok ride, started off good and then seemed to just loose its pace. The extreme brake run after the first two drops didn’t help as it wasted a lot of speed there. The helixes towards the end were very extreme though, it was definitely blackout territory on those. It was as if they decided to build a big coaster and then ran out of room when squashing it in around Colossus. 7/10
Colossus
A coaster I had seen in many films and always thought it looked like the Grand National but better, however I was very disappointed and thought it was very very rough and trimmed to hell. Makes me proud to have a really decent twin racer here in the U.K, the Americans might always like to think they can go one better than us by making everything bigger. But this goes to show that the quality of the ride is not always better. 3/10
Tatsu
This ride looked very high and extreme with it being on top of a hill, although it never actually used the height very much and didn’t pack a punch either. Slightly better than Air because it had more elements but still not much different. 7/10
Viper
Not a bad coaster, I’m sure it would have been thrilling and fun in 1990. 5/10
Déjà vu
This surprised me for a Vekoma, wasn’t rough at all compared to others and also packed a mighty punch. I was expecting the usual Boomerang experience but with a twist, and it was actually slightly better than that. Such a shame Camelot had to get rid of theirs before they were allowed to construct it. 7/10
Riddlers Revenge
Very fun and smooth fast paced coaster.7/10
Superman the Escape
Very disappointed with this, probably because of Kingda Ka. The launch seemed very tame and slow and it only went up 2/3 of the hill so wasn’t even that high. Made more noise than produced thrills. 3/10
Batman
Quite dated now and not too different to Nemesis Inferno, still rate Nemesis as better than this. 6/10.
Terminator Salvation
Quite a fast paced woodie, although very short and not worth all the hype it received. Not sure if I was being too harsh because I had ridden El Toro not long before this. 6/10
Revolution
A fun little coaster, very dated and trimmed to hell. But it was worth a go and nice to ride. 5/10
I paid a visit to Six Flags Great Adventure whilst in New York, and Magic Mountain whilst in L.A. Also managed to throw in a few randoms whilst in Vegas.
Here are a few thoughts on the rides;
Great Adventure
Kingda Ka
I loved this ride, thought it was the ultimate extreme rollercoaster and really felt the adrenaline rush. I got more of a thrill off this than I did when doing a Skydive. Only criticism is the extreme vibration that shook you to pieces at the bottom of the hill just before the humpback. Feels much better at night in the dark too. 9/10
El Toro
This was my favourite ride this decade and the best woodie I have been on by far, the force when it flies over the crest of the hills at 40mph is fantastic. That was some mighty airtime there and also a great weightless moment. Loved the fast lift hill and the insanely steep first drop, the last airtime hill and sharp bends at full speed also shocked me. So wish we had one of these in the U.K, Flamingo Land should take note. 10/10
Bizarro
Not a bad ride although very similar to Kumba at Busch Gardens, cant fault a good smooth B&M even if a little tame. 7/10
Superman – The Ultimate Flight
Again, not a bad coaster and very comfy to ride. Loved the pretzel loop. But no more exciting or fun than Air. 5/10
Nitro
Another great ride at Great Adventure, thought this was well paced and a very fun ride. No discomfort whatsoever. Loved the length of the ride and setting within the trees. Much better than Goliath at SFMM. Thought the restraints were excellent too and very comfy seats, was a pleasure to sit there and ride. 9/10
Batman – The Dark Knight
Very disappointed with this ride, just a bog standard wild mouse ride but very tame. Was quite rough also and trimmed too much. The best bit of the ride was the brakes at the end. 1/10
Las Vegas
Manhattan Express
Thought this coaster was a huge disappointment, it never made it anywhere near the ground and was very rough. The restraints and seats were very badly designed although the trains looked nice. We asked the ride op if it was rough and she said not at all, I couldn’t wait to set her straight when we got off. I thought the loop and in-line twist was badly executed and had some awful vibrations when coming out of them, these caused extreme head shakes and back pain. 3/10
Speed
Not a bad coaster, probably the best in Vegas. Was quite smooth and fast paced, although the launches lacked that punch you get from Intamin coasters. 5/10
Desperado
This has to win the award for the roughest ride on the planet, makes any Vekoma seem like heaven compared to this. I thought the ride looked like it would be as fun as the Big One, however it was an absolute waste of 3 minutes of my life and a complete displeasure to ride. My friend thought it was purgatory and they should get one of these to torture criminals. Everytime it crested a hill it would nearly tear your legs off and then at the bottom of the hills would shake you to pieces. We were relieved when got to the brake run at the end. Baring in mind I disagree with most enthusiasts and think that the Ultimate at Lightwater is not that rough. 0/10
Magic Mountain
X2
Very strange ride that I thought was worth a visit to SFMM just to ride this. I thought it was well paced and very unique, scared the hell out of me at some points and that’s hard to do these days. The rotations seemed a bit jerky when turning but the strange angles at which you fly round the track produced some great thrills. This is the first On Ride Photo I have bought where I look terrified, and I have over 300. 8/10
Goliath
Another ok ride, started off good and then seemed to just loose its pace. The extreme brake run after the first two drops didn’t help as it wasted a lot of speed there. The helixes towards the end were very extreme though, it was definitely blackout territory on those. It was as if they decided to build a big coaster and then ran out of room when squashing it in around Colossus. 7/10
Colossus
A coaster I had seen in many films and always thought it looked like the Grand National but better, however I was very disappointed and thought it was very very rough and trimmed to hell. Makes me proud to have a really decent twin racer here in the U.K, the Americans might always like to think they can go one better than us by making everything bigger. But this goes to show that the quality of the ride is not always better. 3/10
Tatsu
This ride looked very high and extreme with it being on top of a hill, although it never actually used the height very much and didn’t pack a punch either. Slightly better than Air because it had more elements but still not much different. 7/10
Viper
Not a bad coaster, I’m sure it would have been thrilling and fun in 1990. 5/10
Déjà vu
This surprised me for a Vekoma, wasn’t rough at all compared to others and also packed a mighty punch. I was expecting the usual Boomerang experience but with a twist, and it was actually slightly better than that. Such a shame Camelot had to get rid of theirs before they were allowed to construct it. 7/10
Riddlers Revenge
Very fun and smooth fast paced coaster.7/10
Superman the Escape
Very disappointed with this, probably because of Kingda Ka. The launch seemed very tame and slow and it only went up 2/3 of the hill so wasn’t even that high. Made more noise than produced thrills. 3/10
Batman
Quite dated now and not too different to Nemesis Inferno, still rate Nemesis as better than this. 6/10.
Terminator Salvation
Quite a fast paced woodie, although very short and not worth all the hype it received. Not sure if I was being too harsh because I had ridden El Toro not long before this. 6/10
Revolution
A fun little coaster, very dated and trimmed to hell. But it was worth a go and nice to ride. 5/10
