SFNE - 6 July 2003

In the two and a half years that I've lived in Connecticut, I've never found the right time to make the 1.5 hour drive up to Six Flags New England. I finally took my first visit to the park today with a friend and fellow enthusiast of mine. If I were to sum up today's visit in one sentence, it would be this: My name should be changed from titanfan to srosfan.

We actually only rode 2 coasters in the entire park (S:ROS and B:DK). This is due not only to the fact that we rode S:ROS six times, but when we were in line (we were on the next train) for Superman, the centralized computer that controls all the rides of the park went down and did not reboot while we were still at the park. We also spent about 2 hours in the water park as it was quite hot and muggy today.

We got to the park at around 9:45 and headed straight for S:ROS where a decent-sized line had already formed. After a short while, they opened the gates and let us in to the queue, which was around 30 minutes. And off we go.

Superman: Ride of Steel

Number of Rides: 6

Wait Times: 30m, 1h 15m, 25m, 1 train, 1 train, 2 trains

Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (Simply because I can not bring myself to give a coaster a perfect score.)

Rows: Very Back, Very Front, Mid-Front, Mid-Back (3x)

As you could have guessed from the statement in my first paragraph, S:ROS has dethroned Titan as #1 on my list (considering the number of coasters I've ridden, that's not an incredible challenge). The ride is simply amazing: amazing views, amazing airtime, amazing g's; just amazing. The two extremes (very front and very back) are the best places to ride. The ride in the back is definitely the most intense, but overall I'd say the front delivers the better ride because the air is nearly as good as the back, and leading the train on such an amazing work of art is awesome. Grab the left seat of the front row, and head out of the station.

The lift hill is surprisingly fast and quiet considering that it's a standard chain, so you better get in your awesome view of the Connecticut River while you can because before you know it, you'll be screaming down the 75-degree first drop. As you head over the peak of the lift hill, it takes a few seconds before you can even see the track and the bottom of the drop because of the steepness. And you're pulled away from staring down to see where the track is because you're already being thrown out of your seat. We continue our Earth-bound plummet until suddenly, we go straight in to the Earth in a mist-filled tunnel. The g-forces while levelling out are quite nice but you're shooting back up the second hill before you know it.

And already we've coasted up the second hill and get an even larger dose of airtime while pulling up and over the hill and heading back down in to a 180-degree, rising, highly-banked turnaround. Before we head up another airtime-filled air, we make a high-speed left turn and a very small dip. After coming over the top of the hill and receiving ever more airtime, our photo is taken though most people don't even notice where it is. Heading up the next rise, you see that you're in for something truly awesome.

Coming over the next hill, while still out of your seat due to airtime, you begin to make a down- and rightward dive and before you know it you're turning right while banked nearly 90 degrees. While you begin rising up the hill, you need a little bit of time to recover from the most intense part of the ride. But that you do not get because you're already heading down and to the left in to the very nice, intense helix. Up and out of the helix and we make another rightward dive, this time heading in to the second misted tunnel and rocketing us back out and in to the final stretch of bunny hops. As if we haven't had enough airtime already, the masterminds at Intamin AG deside to give us three more large dosings of ejector air before navigating a fairly sharp turn in to the brake run, which slows you down very quickly, but also very smoothly.

Batman: The Dark Knight

Number of Rides: 1

Wait Time: 40m

Overall Rating: 4/10

I find it hard to even right a review of this ride as I did for S:ROS. The only comment I can make is that the reason it even got a 4 is that it had a good zero-g roll. Other than that, the ride did absolutely nothing for me and I can't even bring myself to bring you a detailed review for you because I would rather not relive the utter saddening I felt after realizing that I had waited 40 minutes in the blistering heat for that.

In between the two coasters, we rode Scream!, their S&S Space Shot. This one's unique in that each ride it shoots you up, then pulls you up and shoots you down unlike most that have one tower shooting you up, and one shooting you down. The actual ride is great, but the terrible capacity caused by that format is quite appalling.

After riding B:DK and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed for the water park to get a cooler-off. I don't feel I need to comment on the water park too much as that's not what this site is about and it was fairly standard. The slides (tube and body) were a lot of fun and relaxing in the lazy river was a nice way to get wet and lay back for awhile. The only thing I didn't like was that if you didn't rent a tube for the day, you only got to go through one cycle. Yes, it does make sense, but I'd never seen that before.

After all was said and done, I actually enjoyed my day at SFNE as I was introduced to the wonder that is Superman: Ride of Steel. Plus, when they had the computer/power problem, my friend and I got in some wonderful Six Flags taunting. Nothing better to cure a bored minute than to make fun of Six Flags.
*** This post was edited by titanfan 7/6/2003 10:52:41 PM ***

Hmmm....

After going there and having SROS closed because of the crash 2 years ago I was very dissappointed. The park was nice...and they have an amazing collection of flat rides. The entire day "LOOK THERE IS A TOP SPIN! LOOK THERE IS A HUSS FLYAWAY! LOOK THERE ARE S&S TOWERS!!! LOOK THERE IS A CHANCE INVERTER!!! LOOK AT THIS LOG FLUME WE "FOUND"

Going to this park I felt like the GP. Yea I knew they had some cool coasters but I had no idea at the amount of other rides they had as well.

I'm surprised Batman wasn't good, the ride looks like fun. I wish SFDL would get one.

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I go to the point each year to have their new coaster break down, thats my life. Dragster and WT may have been closed, but MF is always there to fulfill my thrill needs

You didn't like Batman? Well, I like it. Sure it's short but it's pretty fun. Maybe I'm saying this because I've never waited for more then 10 minutes for it.

Was Shipwreck Falls and Timewarp running on Sunday because they were closed on Monday.

Heres a review of the rest of the coasters.

Mind Eraser- A Vekoma SLC. It's very rough and not worth more than a 10 minute wait. It has five inversions with headbanging on each one.

Rating-3/10

Thundebolt- A small wooden coaster from 1941. It's worth a ride but it's nothing special.

Rating-6/10

Cyclone- An average size wooden coaster built in 1983. It's an okay ride but very rough. This ride was awesome before SF messed with it. It is very violent with those annoying trims.

Rating-6/10

Flashback-A vekoma boomerang. For some reason I like these. They are pretty fun. This ride was a walk on Monday so I rode it 4 times.

Rating-7/10

I give Superman-10/10

I give Batman-8/10

I've never ridden Poison Ivy or Great Chase (Two Kiddy Coasters).

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Top 3
1-S:RoS @ SFNE
2-Boulder Dash
3-Yankee Cannonball

I agree with your views of Superman except I give it a 10 because I'm unable to find one fault in the ride. I'm surprised you gave B:TDK such a low rating... The drop in the back row is great because it whips you around and the first loop has some amazing floater air. The zero-g roll is the best part of the whole ride; it's executed perfectly. The only disappointment on this ride for me was its weak turnaround and the headbanging in the last corkscrew.

I think that SFNE is one of the best parks in the chain because it's run pretty well, the employees are normaly friebdly, and its tidy.

The only problem I have with SFNE's employees is that I can't understand their foreign accents.

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Top 3
1-S:RoS @ SFNE
2-Boulder Dash
3-Yankee Cannonball

SFNE Dude: The wait might have effected my view of B:DK, but I doubt it did that much. If you ride any other B&M floorless, you get what B:DK has and then some. As far as the staff goes, they were decent, what you'd expect but nothing more. However, there was one operator on S:ROS who stapled you every time you rode. On his side, everyone was moaning because their genitals were being crushed where as on the other side, the rider barely tapped your lap bar.

lilspike333: I did say I would give it a 10 as I couldn't find anything really wrong about S:ROS, I just can't bring myself to say that a coaster is perfect. I rode B:DK in the back row, far left because I thought I would get a nice whip-and-hang effect on the drop, but I got none of that. It seemed to sort of roll to the drop and once it got there it really didn't feel like accelerating. The loop had decent hangtime air, but again it wasn't special and if you ride any other floorless roller coaster, there's nothing more that B:DK has to offer.

titanfan said:
SFNE Dude: The wait might have effected my view of B:DK, but I doubt it did that much. If you ride any other B&M floorless, you get what B:DK has and then some.

Yes, I know this but it still is a pretty fun ride in my view and worth a ten minute wait.

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Top 3
1-S:RoS @ SFNE
2-Boulder Dash
3-Yankee Cannonball

But not a 40 minute wait.

Yes, definatly not a 40 minute wait. I hate to even wait 40 minutes for Superman but I will if I have to.

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Top 3
1-S:RoS @ SFNE
2-Boulder Dash
3-Yankee Cannonball

You are lucky you live 1.5 hours away. I live like 3.5 hours away. but i went 3 times they year. I cant wait to go back, but next week iam going on vacation, DP and SFGADV, anyone going there too, next week?