Associated parks:
None
After two years of going to other parks, I finally returned to this park at the age of 15 to check out Batman, ensure Superman's place on my top 10, and to investigate the changes they made to the Cyclone. We arrived at about 10:45, and left the park at 4:45. I didn't go on the flat rides, of which they had a relatively decent selection.
My ratings go from -3 to +5, with 0 being slightly favorable.
SFNE: Rating +1
Summary: A park with 2 good rides and an assortment of otherwise mundane or painful coasters. They charged us 10 dollars for parking and $1.60 for 2 aspirin (quite annoying). There were few bathrooms, and no visible water fountains. In other words, I will come here only to ride Superman and Batman.
The Coasters:
The Cyclone: Rating -1
I had been on it 2 years ago before the reprofiling, and, although somewhat exciting, came to the conclusion that retracking would help it greatly. Back then, it was on my top 10. No longer. The ride was still painful, and rough. It was breaked to heavily, offered little if any airtime, and was the cheap way out of actual maintenence. I wish I had ridden this ride when it first openned, for now it is a 'neutered' coaster, with no thrill.
Flashback: Rating +2
Last time it had Arrow trains; they have since replace them with new vekomas. It was an actual improvement, and I like Vekoma Boomerangs for what they are; small coasters that give a small thrill. Well maintained for a vekoma, with good seating, and a nice paint job.
Mind Eraser: Rating -3
Disgusting ride. I hate SLCs, with the exception of Serial thriller at WOA (when I went on it, it was almost as smooth as a B+M). There is NO hope for this ride. I have ridden it on 3 different occassions, and have NEVER had a good time on it. I don't know why I bother anymore. They should have torn it down to let B:TNK to be bigger. The only good thing I can say about this coaster is that it a good Eraser of time and available space. It also lives up to its name, i bet people have lost their marbles from all the headbanging.
Poison Ivy's Twisted Train: Rating +2
I know it's a family coaster, but it has a great concept. First of all, it is the only part of the park with enough trees. Second, its actually well themed (Poison Ivy=Lots of trees). Worth taking your kid on (unless he's my age).
Thunderbolt: Rating: +1
My biggest gripe with Six Flags (with the notable exception of SFA) is their inability to maintain wooden coasters. The thunderbolt is no exception. It is a little painful, and should be redone in that respect. However, my biggest problem is the single train operation: they had a crash a coupla years ago and refuse to update it to allow both trains to run with the pnuematic brakes. A grievious error, for I waited on what would have been a 10 minute line at Dorney for at least 40 minutes. The attendents were slow, incompetent, and with the single train nothing got done. Even the thunderhawk runs two trains when it needs to. However, the coup de grace is the LO-Q system. Although I can sympathize, and concur, with efforts at Disney to regulate crowds (with a FREE system), I have no respect for Six Flags on this matter. You have to pay 7$ extra to get preferential treatment all day. I refused to give the money grubbing system my 7, and so waited on lines. However, it was particularly aggravating on the Thunderbolt, where the line was not moving at all (exagerration).
Batman: The Dark Knight Rating:+3
A wimpy B+M (by Alpengeist and Medusa standards) but, for the space it occupies, an acceptable ride. There are MANY problems I hve with it however. First, they should have torn down Mind Eraser and built part of it over there to make this a GOOD ride. Second, the coaster had no track other than the inversions. On Talon, there were helices, drops, and a view. It was too short, had a HORRIBLE view and theming (though i must give them Kudos on the queue line I didn't wait on). Ironically my father, who does not keep up to date on coasters, commented 'It's like they built it in a parking lot', which is precisely the point (it was). Still, a great thing to do with the space they had.
Superman: Ride of Steel: Rating +5
This is the only reason I would ever come back here. This is the best steel coaster I have been on (save Millenium Force) with the best view (save Millenium Force) and the worst lift system (save Millenium Force). Although it doesn't really matter, they run the lift too quickly. It doesn't really matter, but I prefer the slow lift. besides, the trains wouldn't stack as much thiss way. With the popularity it receives, however, it could have used the Millenium Force stations layout, but I doubt they had the room. Now, to the good points:
1. that first drop is INSANE. Like MF, it really pulls you down into it.
2. The mist filled tunnels. A great concept that goes well with the theming.
3. the queue theming: I like their concept of putting comics out, but they could use so many more. The only thing is too much of the line is in the hot sun (luckily I did not have to wait that far back, nor would I. sunstroke isn't as fun as S:ROS).
4. Staff: Unlike the rest of the park, the staff here was great. The guy at the front (who was bored, but who could blame him) played around with us by holding the stick up above the ground and saying we weren't tall enough. It was great that he would even bother to entertain both us and himself. The loaders worked pretty quickly and were ok.
5. Airtime: I have NEVER seen more ejector air on a coaster. I left the restraints loose on my last ride, and it almost hurt.
Although I had a good day, much work needs to be put into this park to truly fulfill its potential. A B+M inverted instead of Mind Eraser and a retracking of the Cyclone and Thunderbolt would make this park truly a great one.
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105 coasters, and the Cyclone still tops 'em all.
*** This post was edited by CycloneWacko on 9/7/2002. ***
Good TR. I agree with you about ME. They should just get rid of it. Why don't you like Cyclone? I think it's good but it was twice as good before Six Flags messed with it.
Why should Thunderbolt be retracked?
Once again another happy S:RoS rider.
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Thanks
I like the Cyclone for what it once was. It has been so badly breaked by trims that it doesn't give me that 'out of control' feeling. It has little airtime because of this, and to run smoother should be retracked to its original design. This will never happen (heaven forbid SF spends extra dollars maintaining a wooden coaster) but it should, cause this used to be a top ten ride.
Thunderbolt could use some minor TLC, I exagerrated a bit (sorry). Thanks for the praise.
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105 coasters, and the Cyclone still tops 'em all.
Batman has good theming i think, with the characters, and the big logo, and when you go up the lift you see Conneticut river etc.
Cyclone is awsome in the back seat
Thunderbolt was fine to me, but 1 train op. gets cumbersome...
Superman is awsome
ME isnt that bad but not great, Lean forward for an above average ride.
Flashback is fun and smooth.
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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK
*** This post was edited by MikeMir87 on 9/8/2002. ***
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It's now college football season. The only thing that makes coasters take a back seat. This also means Rollergator is the enemy again... for 4 months.
Mike, a couple of things:
It has a well themed queue line, but it needs trees to looke better. It is built over a parking lot, and all you can look at is asphault. BTW, with Superman and ME in your face on the lift, you don't really notice the river unless you try.
I didn't try Cyclone in the back seat (someone was sitting there already) but in the middle it was horrible. It needs to be retracked.
I have tried ME every way imaginable;it's still a bad ride.
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105 coasters, and the Cyclone still tops 'em all.
. It's for the GP. They think Mind Eraser and Batman are great because they go upside down. They probably don't even notice it's short or rough in that matter.If that's true, how come it never has more than a 10 minute line while I am there, even though Batman, T-Bolt, Flashback, and Cyclone all had at least 30 minute waits?
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105 coasters, and the Cyclone still tops 'em all.
*** This post was edited by CycloneWacko on 9/8/2002. ***
Uhhh MikeMir, you wrote Flashbook, lol.
On ME I think leaning your head to one side of the restraint is a lot less painful then leaning forward.
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I lost my hat on Poison Ivy. How pathetic.
If Six Flags made a mistake it was in not chalking up a couple million more and letting B&M put in something like Medusa or even Superman (Madrid). B:TDK is great, just too short. I don't really think space was the limitation, they could have taken more of the parking lot.
I personally don't think Mind Eraser is an enjoyable ride, but it usually has a line and people seem to like it. As Kid of Steel mentioned, when Mind Eraser opened it was Riverside's signature ride.
Superman:Kid-of-Steel, when ME opened it was not that rough. It was an enjoyable ride. It gets rougher and rougher each year. It put Riverside on the map because it wasn't that bad when it opened. But now it's just a rough eyesore.
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