USA 04/19 – Six Flags New England

Day 6

Six Flags New England

It surprised me (and ultimately gave me a cold), just how different the climates can be between states in the US. 4 park days of mid 20s and mostly sunshine would quickly change to early 10s and moderate rain on and off all day, just by driving 4 hours north from New Jersey to Massachusetts.

We were a little worried as we got to the park, it was cold, it was raining, the car park was deserted and this was Six Flags. Luckily though while we parked we noticed that the tram that takes guests from the car park to the park entrance was approaching.

Things were already off to a much more pleasant start than Great Adventure. The friendly tram driver amused us, the staff at the entrance were very welcoming and everything looked in much better condition.

Another reason things were going to be much more pleasant than Great Adventure is the park was deserted, which meant unlike yesterday, we’d get to go at our own pace, instead of running around and getting stressed about re-rides.

I made this statement just after we arrived, “it’s awesome that they’ve got everything open, I wouldn’t be surprised if they reduced opening hours though, which I completely understand and we’d have easily done everything as many times as we’d like with these crowds, so no big deal.” Oh how Six Flags would make me eat those words but that’s for later…

Great Chase

First up was the park’s E&F kiddy coaster. How come Six Flags let adults ride these and Cedar Fair don’t? Either way, another plus for Six Flags New England.

Pandemonium

Pandemonium was surprisingly good fun and the staff running it were very friendly too.

Wicked Cyclone

Much like Twisted Timbers, Wicked Cyclone on paper acts as a back up attraction beneath a monster Intamin. Also like Twisted Timbers, Wicked Cyclone blows the park’s so called icon coaster away at each and every turn.

I have to mention the coaster’s colour scheme first, RMC’s seem to always auto default to unpainted wood supports and dark red track, which looks awesome, but Wicked Cyclone wanted to stand out and it really does with gun metal grey supports and striking orange track.

Then there’s the theming, which I wasn’t expecting from Six Flags. Themed signs, storm chasing vehicles and equipment in the queue and weather alert videos in the station. This all helps to make Wicked Cyclone stand out a bit more than just another kick ass RMC.

And it really does kick ass…

Wicked Cyclone starts with a straight not far from vertical first drop which provides awesome ejector but from there I’ve no chance of explaining the order of the madness that happens next. The best I can offer is, it’s a long ride with a perfect mix of ejector air and inversions, with very little way of knowing what’s going to happen next thanks to the coaster diving in and out of the structure.

While I slightly prefer Twisted Timbers, because it was has stronger airtime moments, I could completely understand someone saying they prefer Wicked Cyclone.

I was 2 “proper” RMCs down and I was already struggling to rank them, yeah the RMC hype is still real, apart from Wildfire of course…

The very friendly ride team allowed us stay in the back row for 3 rides back to back, I had insisted to Heartline that we got 3 in the morning because I regretted not doing the same with El Toro yesterday. This plan would end up being a very good one…

Thunderbolt

1940’s woodie but she ain’t no Comet, fun enough though. What I did enjoy strangely, was watching engineering reassuring the newly hired ride staff that it wasn’t an issue after they noticed sparks from the coaster’s oldschool friction brakes.

Superman the Ride

A coaster that’s intriged me for a few years now, not because of what it is but because of how it’s ranked so highly by so many, despite, in my opinion, it looking undeserving of praise that high. Maybe I’m wrong though, let’s find out.

I’m sad to say though Superman didn’t do much for me and is in my opinion not a patch on Expedition GeForce or Walibi’s Goliath. I’d rank it about the same as I rank Thunder Dolphin, a quality coaster that doesn’t really ride like an Intamin Hyper should. In my mind, with GeForce being the benchmark, Intamin Hypers should be all about the airtime and all moments that aren’t airtime are moments wasted. GeForce has some of these dead spots, Goliath has more, Dolphin and Superman are more dead spots than anything else.

Also, probably because of a previous accident on another Six Flags Intamin Hyper, Superman has big clunky lap bars that kill the few moments of airtime that could have been really good if they were the standard T-bars.

While taking photos after our 2 laps of Superman, a parkwide announcement went out informing guests that due to inclement weather conditions rides would close today at 4pm, instead of the original 7pm. No issue, predicted it, was prepared for it, thanks for letting us know.

Catwoman’s Whip

Next up was the park’s Tivoli coaster, it felt nice riding this knowing we had plenty of time left for re-rides on Wicked Cyclone.

Joker

Now knowing what to expect from the US verion of the Free Spin, it made today’s Joker a rather fun experience, especially in the rain.

Batman – The Dark Knight

The best B&M Floorless so far this trip but still nothing special. This version was also much smoother than the last 2.

Riddler Revenge

Possibly the best SLC I’ve ridden thanks to the vest restraints but did it make it a good ride? Hell no.

Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum

The longest name on a Wild Mouse in the World? The ride team were once again very friendly here.

The park’s regular and giant inverted boomerang were both down all day, no massive loss but this makes 2 GIBs that have spited me now…

So with the mouse done and those closed, we had completed the park, with re-rides, with plenty of time to spare before our final hour with Wicked Cyclone.

We went on a picture lap of the park, which produced some of the lovely photos you are seeing now and we went for some lunch, which produced awful pizza that I’m still regretting now. We also went on a search for some decent merch but to no avail.

Buzzing with excitement we hired a locker and ran to the entrance of Wicked Cyclone at about 3pm. On route we noticed a man was standing at the entrance and the chain was across. Oh no, Six Flags New England you were doing so well, please tell me this isn’t what it looks like…

The man, a member of security, spoke to us as if he knew everything he was saying was wrong on many levels, his voice broke and he looked everywhere but in our direction.

“Ride’s closed.” “What do you mean? The announcement said rides will now close at 4pm.” He looks around looking nervous. “Yeah… well… we’ve gotta clear the area…” “So we can’t go on the ride?” Bear in mind the coaster is still cycling laps with the same people on, with loads of free seats. “No…”

What an utterly crushing and disappointing way to end the day. Me and Heartline were defending the park’s decision to close early, enjoying our day at the park, saying how nice all the staff were, now because of this crap everything was soured. We planned around the new closing time, which we understood the reasoning for, in order to get a last hour with Cyclone but now it’s closed another hour earlier and we’re leaving in disgust.

As we left the coaster continued to cycle with the same people, the same empty seats we should have been in, right until we assume park close at 4pm.

Heartline was right, you can never have a properly good day at a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park, they will always do something to ruin it for you…

Thanks for reading, click here for my next report, where we visit one of the best parks in the World, Dollywood.