Bizzaro in New England- 5/23/09

Like many who were/are in love with Superman: Ride of Steel, I was furious to find out that they were changing the name of the Golden Ticket #1 Steel. Bizzaro? Where did that come from? What a horrible idea and a HUGE waste of money. Basically my opinion beforehand was "Why fix something that isn't broken?"

So on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend I indulged my curiosity and went to SFNE before the park opened, hoping to get an early ride on what was still my #1 ride.

I got to the park at about 9:45 am. The park gates were open but they were holding people back at the Main Street section. We were patient enough to wait for the show to end, and at about 10:05 they let everyone go. But as we approached the gate to the DC Superheros section, the way was blocked again. A few security guards had to escort us down to the ride entrance, but they wouldn't let us in the quene line until about 11:00 a.m.!

They only had one train running so the it took another half hour before we got through the line. The quene line wasn't much different. They added a silly prop where they impose a live camera shot of you into a newspaper clipping about bizzaro attacking. Silly but distracting enough to keep the line waiting a little less boring.

Finally around 11:30-45 we got on the train. Right away I noticed that the seats slouched down a little lower, preventing me from sitting forward and creating a couple inches of "airtime float space". That was a bummer, along with the new restraints that crush whatever objects you have in your pocket.

Climbing up the lift hill you get a sneak peek of what the new audio effects will sound like. They are pretty silly and sound like typical comic book chaos. We sat in the back naturally so we could get pulled over the top of the hill.

Coming down the big hill I was instantly reminded how awesome this ride is. And as we hit the bottom I was surprised by the new "bizzaro" props at the entrance of the tunnel. What an awesome effect! Going over the hills, which is easily my favorite part of the ride, I noticed a few other props put up on the side and above the track. These added some head-chopper effects that never existed before on that part of the ride.

The pyrotechnics in the first helix are really awesome. You can see them from the quene line, and they look silly while you are waiting in line, but when you plunge down the helix into the fire....well lets just say I was very impressed.

Getting off, we couldn't believe that Six Flags actually pulled it off: they improved the best ride in the world. It truely was a better experience, even though the track itself was unchanged. Was it worth the money? No. I think there were dozens of other things that they could have done with the money that would be bette for the park. But it certainly made Bizzaro one of the best rides I'll probably ever experience.

So to those of you who thought they might ruin Superman, have no fear. Bizzaro really is the best ride on the planet. I'd be utterly shocked if it didn't win another Golden Ticket Award for #1 Steel.

Jeff Bachiochi said:
Right away I noticed that the seats slouched down a little lower, preventing me from sitting forward and creating a couple inches of "airtime float space". That was a bummer, along with the new restraints that crush whatever objects you have in your pocket.

I think that is exactly the point of the new trains and restraints!

Thanks for the review, SFNE is probably still my favorite Six Flags park for a number of reasons, Superman... er Bizarro being one of them. Hopefully I will get to ride again one day.

So just how similar are the seats to El Toro?; seeing as you have that ride on your track record. I figure that have to be pritty much identical. Anyways glad you had fun. I need to get out there myself this summer to try the improved superman; especially since I only live on hour away.

I've heard from several other people that the ride is slower and the audio is highly annoying. Two people claim it's not even a top 50 steel coaster anymore. But I've also heard the restraints are even more accommodating than El Toro's so for that I am very grateful. It's hard to enjoy airtime when you are beyond stapled. Hopefully the speed thing is just due to the new wheel assemblies needing to break in.

Acoustic Viscosity said:
I've heard from several other people that the ride is slower and the audio is highly annoying. Two people claim it's not even a top 50 steel coaster anymore. But I've also heard the restraints are even more accommodating than El Toro's so for that I am very grateful. It's hard to enjoy airtime when you are beyond stapled. Hopefully the speed thing is just due to the new wheel assemblies needing to break in.

When the train was doing test runs, I wasn't the only one who thought it looked slow. But after they loaded it for the first run, I thought it looked just as fast, if not faster than before. Being on the ride, I thought it felt just as intense as it used to. Obviously there are plenty of factors that determine the speed of any given circuit like load, temperature, time of day, wind, humidity, etc. So you can imagine a big steel coaster like Bizzaro would have a decent variation of speeds. Maybe I'm just lucky because both of my rides were fast.

The audio is silly. And way too loud. But it's entertaining in a stupid way. Unfortunately, by the time the train stops and the wind isn't blowing over your ears anymore, the audio is still blasting and it becomes hard to hear the person next to you. So I can understand that some people find it annoying. But to bump it out of the top 50 is pretty absurd. Sounds like they had a bad attitude going in.

So just how similar are the seats to El Toro?

Yeah they are the same. As for getting stapled down, to me that depends on the operator. In both rides, the restraints have potential to really strap you down, but I've had good experiences on both simply because the ride operator wasn't forcing it. It is a real bummer when you get stapled because El Toro and Bizzaro are the kings of airtime in the northeast.

So would you say the new trains are easier for us big guys to fit in? I could get in the older style trains, but it was a tad uncomfortable.

Could a larger person who may have not been able to ride before now possibly get on?

Danny Biggerstaff CoAsTeRDaN said:
So would you say the new trains are easier for us big guys to fit in? I could get in the older style trains, but it was a tad uncomfortable.

Could a larger person who may have not been able to ride before now possibly get on?

Hard to say. I saw a big guy pulled off the ride in front of me so I don't know if they are more or less lenient in that category. However I will say the new restraints certainly feel like they are much more secure than before. The man who was killed on this ride was pretty big so you have to imagine they designed these things to carry larger people.

Jeff, do you have pics of the trains up close or any at all that you would be willing to email me or post?

coasterdan@aol.com

Jeff Bachiochi said:

Danny Biggerstaff CoAsTeRDaN said:
So would you say the new trains are easier for us big guys to fit in? I could get in the older style trains, but it was a tad uncomfortable.

Could a larger person who may have not been able to ride before now possibly get on?

Hard to say. I saw a big guy pulled off the ride in front of me so I don't know if they are more or less lenient in that category. However I will say the new restraints certainly feel like they are much more secure than before. The man who was killed on this ride was pretty big so you have to imagine they designed these things to carry larger people.

Jeff, do you have pics of the trains up close or any at all that you would be willing to email me or post?

Didn't get any good pics of the trains yet but I'm sure I'll be back to SFNE soon. I'll try and get some good ones for you next time I go.