8/27 Superhero Celebration SFNE! Part 1

After putting it off for too long our family decided that it was time to make the trip to New England to see what all the hype is about 2 coasters in particular. The two coasters in question are Superman Ride of Steel, and Boulder Dash. There is no better time to go then when there are 2 hrs of night ERT on SROS. Superhero Celebration and the ERT alone were worth the trip, and Lake Compounce was the bonus. What a bonus it was.

Six Flags New England

We woke up at 6:30, and ate the delicious breakfast buffet offered at the Radisson Inn Enfield, CT. I’d recommend that hotel to anyone by the way. Nice place, and 10 minutes from SFNE.

We got to the park at 8:45, and a few cars were lined up waiting to enter for the Superhero Celebration. After about 15 minutes we had in hand our wristbands for ERT, meal tickets, and a coupon for $3 off a Q-bot. We decided not to get the Q-bot because of the ERT.

We got into the park a little after 9, and went directly to the Thunderbolt. I took 2 front seat rides on it. A decent older woodie, but nothing really spectacular. It does have one really powerful moment of airtime, and makes it a little better than average. 6 out of 10.

We then proceeded to Scream, and took two rides on the Combo mode tower. I wish more parks ran theirs S&S towers that way. Getting both feels on 1 ride is nice. I really enjoyed it.

By that time everyone else had gathered at the entrance to the Superhero section of the park to catch the first rides of the day on SROS. We went over to join the crowd, and within a few minutes were heading for our first ride on the “#1 rated Steel Coaster on the planet.” Our 1st ride was a backseat lap. Simply incredible! It wasn’t even warmed up yet. I’ll get back to Superman later.

I just want to touch on the park itself. It is by far the best Six Flags park that I have visited. Everything is very well maintained, and they keep the park really clean. As soon as I stepped foot into it blew me away. The landscaping is beautiful, the theming overall is very well done, and all the walkways had been freshly washed. This is the way that all Six Flags parks should be ran. If they were all ran the same manner Six Flags probably wouldn’t have the financial problems that they do. I was thinking is this a Six Flags?

After our lap on SROS I decided to skip out on the exclusive slide time in the waterpark, and ride all the coasters I could before it got crowded. We went directly to Batman- The Dark Knight.

I rode this in the backseat left side, and I must say a pretty decent little floorless. I enjoy B&M’s, but they just don’t do it for me like Intamins do. To me their layouts for the most part are too predictable, and I know what its going to be like before I even ride it. Batman wasn’t any different, but given the compact layout it was a little more intense than most. 7 out of 10.

Next up Mind Eraser – Standard Vekoma hang and bang. A little better maintained than the others I have ridden. 6 out of 10.

We then proceeded over to the other side of the park to ride Flashback, and the Cyclone.

Flashback – Standard boomerang. Again a little better maintained. 6 out of 10.

Cyclone – Can you say ouch. Man this coaster was painful, and I took a lap in the front seat. I can only imagine what the back seat was like. It wasn’t an enjoyable coaster for me at all. It had a bad speed bump on the 2nd drop, and it felt similar to the one on Williams Grove’s Cyclone. Painful, and I actually re-ride Williams Grove’s. I would only suggest riding for the credit. ;) 4 out of 10.

Another thing that was nice to see is that all of their flat rides were in operation except for the Chaos (may have opened later in the day.) I never made it back to that side of the park. Why can’t the closer Six Flags parks to me have ride operations like this?

I got through all the coasters except for Poison Ivy’s tangled train, rode a few flats, and it was only a little after noon. ERT is a wonderful thing. We decided to eat lunch, and had a burger at the Riverboat Café. Nothing special, but it was filling.

Travelling with our one year old daughter isn’t easy, and since it was getting pretty hot out we decided to head back to the Radisson to relax by the pool. I was hoping for cooler weather, but I’d rather be hot then have it raining all day.

We left our hotel room at 6pm to head out and eat dinner before heading back to the park. We wanted to try something new, and since we were in New England we figured seafood would be a good thing. We had seafood alright. Shrimp and crab Ravioli at the Olive Garden. ;) Everytime we go to a new park we say we are going to try a good local restaurant, but always end up at our favorite chain restaurant.

We got back to the park a little before 9, and hit a few flats before heading to Poison Ivy’s Tangled train.

What a decent little coaster. I like the long train. Took 2 laps I liked it that much. Especially in back seat. 6 out of 10.

We then sat down by entrance to Superman to wait for ERT. About 10:20 the station was cleared, and we were in. Being that there really weren’t that many people in attendance for the ERT you could reride as much as you wanted to as long as no one was waiting for your seat.

Superman Ride Of Steel.

At the start of ERT I went directly to the front seat line. Within 3 laps I was on board. With the CT river off to the right going up the lift hill it sort of reminded me of Millennium Force, but that is where the similarities end. Everything about Supes is just right on. With all the airtime, and lateral changes in direction it does really live up to the hype, as announced over the loud speaker it is truly the, “#1 coaster on the planet.” At least that I have ridden anyway. What a ride! There isn’t a bad seat on the ride.

I didn’t think that any coaster could beat MF for my top spot, but this coaster just did it pretty easily with my 1st front seat ride. As far as rides go you can’t really compare the two. MF is all about speed, and really no air. SROS of is all about everything. Speed, airtime, lateral, and positive g’s. I had never thought that I’d ride a coaster that had every element packed into it, and still have the pacing like Superman does. It’s an easy 10 out of 10.

I don’t know how many rides I got on it during the ERT. I was too busy enjoying the ride to keep track. ;) What a day! Thanks to everyone that made the Superhero Celebration possible.

Part #2 Lake Compounce will be coming soon.

*** Edited 8/29/2004 9:37:42 AM UTC by Coasterfantom2***

I don't really understand why people say MF has no air. I got plenty on the three hills it has. A decent amount, and a great all around coaster. But, I must admit, Superman does have a better layout!

We were there too and I gotta say your daughter is absolutely adorable! Too funny that she knows to put her hands up in the air already, I was talking to your wife (I believe) while you were riding. And hands down, SRoS beats MF by a 10-1 factor for me. Total of 20 laps total and I'm still recovering, what an insane airtime machine. Great event!

Mark

Ahhhh MArk what were you wearing? Im trying to remember who you are.....since we got to ride it so many times I am absolutely not sure what lap that was! :0).

We were definatley expecting there to be well more coaster lovers there. Im not sure how many people actually were there, but it was definately to our advantage.

Thank you for saying Josie is adorable. She was really a trooper this weekend. She was so excited to stay up wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy past her 8 pm normal bed time. I think we have another coaster lover on our hands "Weeeeeeee" .

Oh we also met some very very nice people on the ERT and they made our 1st experience on Superman quite fun. The cheering and chanting. My husband and I were on the front seat for the second to last run....as we "landed" back in the station they announced that the next train would be the last of the night......the hooten and hollerin made me wish I was on that train. I am definately loving coaster events with ERT. It makes traveling with our daughter much nicer for her and us. Although...other than the ERT it was very stressful. I'm sure my husband would agree..

SROS by far is wonderful. I never laughed so hard on any coaster I was actually choking on my 1st ride. Air time makes me giggle hysterically if that gives you any idea of what that ride did to me.

I love MF but I can't even compare the two. MF is my favorite, but I would have to say that SROS steel is tied . They are two different rides and I actually love both equally but for different reasons. MF's first hill , speed height, and the view. SROS's AIRTIME....and layout....it's pop after pop after pop of airtime. I especially loved right when you come out of the tunnel and then you get that next pop right after the tunnel.

*** Edited 8/30/2004 2:05:38 AM UTC by Heatherw***

Iwas also there Iwas wearing the SUF tanktop. That has to be the best ERT that I have ever had and I attend a lot of events. I stayed on the red train the whole time that was 19 rides in 1:50min and also got to stop on the hill for about five mins. It was so cool when they strarted turning the lights off in the park and riding in the dark. Hi Marko, I was the one talking to you at the parking lot gate in the morning. I didn't stay at the park all day because I had to work. Did any one go to the concert in hurricane harbor there were 3 bands playing? I got back to the park at 7pm and only go to see the Tool tribute band and it was pretty good.

MF is all floater, and hitting the bunny hop at 60+ mph next to the station is absolutely heavenly compared to Superman's last 2 bunny hops.

I personally think that Superman was lacking g force when I went. It had plenty of hills, the tunnels with mist are awesome, but the g forces weren't the best and the overbank wasn't as good as MF's. MF's overbank pulls 4.5 g's for a good 7-8 seconds.

I think that they are both great rides. For me the thing that I really liked about Superman was how out of control the ride experience is. Its easy to see how someone could have been ejected from the train with the old restraints.

Millennium Force is a great ride too, and it does have 3 good spots of air. The ride itself is more about flat out speed, and positive g's. I didn't think I'd ride a coaster that would take MF out of my personal #1 spot. Its actually a close competition. I'll know better in a few weeks when I get to CP for Coastermania.

My post on Sunday was courtesy of the Holiday Inn Express in Wauseon, OH. Made it home Sunday night around 10:00 PM - I am very jealous of you east-coasters! Still without a doubt a truly amazing and unique event and we'll do everything possible to attend next year.

Heatherw - It was my 16-yo son and I, he has longish blond hair and I was wearing a tan ACE shirt (my pic is here on CBuzz). We talked outside the queue where you mentioned Josie puts her hands in the air even when she sees coaster shows on TV, too funny/cute. Then later we talked again when we were waiting (all of 2 minutes) for the back row. I can't believe how much your daughter was into the event. You'd think most little ones would be frightened by the noise and sights but she was one of the most enthusiastic people there! We left a little before midnight because quite simply put we were unable to take another lap. As my son said the announcement should have been "You have 2 hours of ERT, or until your heart explodes, whichever comes first." Un-freaking-believable.

Ajrides, it was good to meet you too. We went down to LC for the day and didn't get back to SFNE until right before the evening ERT. I thought I heard it was a Rush tribute but Tool would have been great too (but I'd take Boulderdash instead any day!). It was definitely an interesting/diverse bunch and we really, really enjoyed ourselves. Nice to meet Sam Marks too and to make fun of SFA in person with him ;).

Huge thanks to Dave, the event coordinator. He definitely puts in the extra effort which we greatly appreciated. I imagine it's a bit of a battle to convince park brass that the event is worthwhile. And big kudos to the ride ops who made the absolute best of checking the new restraint systems. Does anyone else though feel less safe/secure in the new restraints than in the original Intamin T-bars? Sure they snug you into the seat but the whole arrangement struck me as a bit high-school metal-shop, definitely a rush job and in my opinion overly complicated/cumbersome (especially after riding Nitro the day before). The seat-belt buckle is especially worrisome and uncomfortable as it is somewhat smashed between the lap-bar and one's belly. The tendency is to want to move the buckle up or to the side so it isn't digging-in, at one point I was sure I had accidentally unbuckled it during the ride (thankfully not). Hopefully they'll at least migrate back to the gold-clips style buckles like on SR and MF. Also by accident I discovered it's very easy to put one foot in the middle rather than under the shin-restraints. When it happened I was amazed my foot didn't get pinched or stuck, instead I managed to wiggle it back to right place under the already-closed restraint.

And finally thanks for the great TR Coasterfantom2 - look forward to your LC TR too.

Mark *** Edited 8/30/2004 4:51:05 PM UTC by Marko***