Six Flags New England - June 7

I went to Six Flags New England June 7, and this was the second highlight from my recent east coast trip. My dad and I drove all the way from Wilmington, Delaware on June 6, hoping to get to the park that day. Unfortunately, we suffered a gross amount of traffic in New York and New Jersey, and it was also raining. We went to the Basketball Hall of Fame (a gem of an attraction that you can actually see from the top of many of the parks coasters) and then tried to get in the park on the 6th, but it was closed.  That turned out to not be a problem, as the park on Wednesday the 7th proved to not only be no more than a one day park, it also had perfectly tiny crowds. The park was also nice and small and packed a lot of rides into a small place. Compared to parks like Cedar Point, and even Six Flags Great America, this park had the rides way closer together, and I appreciated the lack of walking. That is, excluding the parking lot which was inconveniently on the other side of the road.

When we got into the park and got to our Gold Pass rope, we recognized someone that we had saw at a park before. His name was Ace, and he was a big time coaster enthusiast (way more than me at least). We had saw him in line to ride Kingda Ka first, and he had been the only person ahead of us that time in the morning. Likewise, he was the only one ahead of us to ride Superman The Ride, but I ended up riding front row first ride of the day with him. And let me say, this is a perfect coaster. This coaster has it all. It has the high speed turns, it has three or four massive air time hills, it has two tunnels, two helix sections, and an air time filled finale. It's fast, tall, long, and scenic. I love looking at the Connecticut river from the lift hill and looking back at the skyline of the city of Springfield. This coaster joins the other elite intamins in my top 5 favorite coasters because it really has no flaws. Probably second to El Toro making my new top 5 being 1. El Toro, 2. Superman the Ride, 3. MF, 4. The Voyage, and 5. Maverick.

When I rode Superman in the front, I wasn't sure if I preferred it to Millennium. Actually, I knew front row Millennium was my favorite ride experience anywhere. However, the back row, which I did twice right after my front row experience and a total of seven times throughout the day, was incredible. The air time on this Intamin was through the roof, and I even greyed out on the first helix. The restraints were a bit uncomfortable on my legs, but they weren't that bad. This coaster is simply elite. The red color of it is so pretty as well, and it's honestly one of the nicest looking coasters I've seen. I have no problems declaring this my top steel coaster.

After Superman, we decided to ride the Gothem City mouse coaster, and this was an awful ride. It became easily my least favorite mouse coaster, as it was rough, and riding in the front alone, the restraints murdered me. On every switch back I was thrown into the middle restraint or the side of the car. Honestly, the individual restraints found on the arrow models or the Dark Knight models are far superior, and this ride was very poor. One interesting thing about it is it's 6-3 height maximum. I was almost too tall to ride!

Then we rode Scream, as we were kinda just working our way back to Wicked Cyclone, and this S&S drop ride was good. It wasn't anything spectacular, but the final drop where it shoots you down is always fun. We noticed there was a 20 minute wait for Thunderbolt, the parks old wooden coaster, at this early time in the day while the rest of the rides were walk ons. We waited to ride Thunderbolt until later, and we also found ourselves confused on the popularity. 

Next was Wicked Cyclone, my first Steel RMC. And the only thing i can say is "Wow". This ride was fantastically smooth, it was air time packed, and it was intense. It definitely arrives in my top ten, probably near the back of it. The inversions were all great, and the air time was almost all ejector, and it was to die for. I found myself holding on for dear life on this coaster, while on Superman I had my hands up the whole time in the wind. While Wicked Cyclone does lack the speed and power of some other coasters, it makes up for it with it's flawless elements coming at you one after another. An odd comparison to this coaster is Maverick at Cedar Point. It just whips you through everything, and it does so in a way that is aggressive and effortless it seems. I rode this twice and then rode New England Skyscreamer.

The Skyscreamer here is a winner. Fantastic attraction that gives amazing views. I loved seeing the park, especially Superman, but the metro Springfield area and the Hall of Fame were all great. The ride wasn't as frightening as I anticipated, and it was just enjoyable and fun. It far exceeded Windseekers.

Next, because i saw how fun it looked from the Skyscreamer, we rode the arctic themed rapids ride. It was a gorgeous day, and we had absolutely no waits for anything basically all day, and riding this was a great idea. It doesn't have as much sheer wetness potential as other rapids rides, but the theming is great, and I enjoyed it. I didn't get soaked, and that's good.

Then we went all the way back to the car to discard our sweatshirts and get out drink cup. This was a mid 70's and sunny kind of day, and we had came expecting low 60's.

Next, we conquered the Joker. This was my first 4D free spin, as I haven't been to Great America since theirs open and when at Great Adventure it was closed. I loved this ride! I have no problems with Six Flags installing these. These are way more enjoyable cloned coasters than anything Vekoma has made, and the unpredictably was awesome. It was very short, but I got off laughing just like the Joker would want. Next, however, we rode the park's Mind Eraser SLC, and this ride was a piece of garbage. It was rough, unenjoyable, and disorienting. My dad was worried about this for the joker, but it ended up giving it to him on this attraction, and he ended up having to sit out a bit after it.

After Mind Eraser, I rode Batman the Dark Knight floorless coaster twice. I thought this ride was "meh". It was nowhere near as good as any of the other B&M sitters and floorless coasters I've rode. My dad rode it once and thought it was mediocre as well. It's still fun, but it's nothing to get super excited about. Perhaps that's because B&M has such high standards, but this certainly isn't an elite coaster. Still, i enjoyed the dive loop and zero g roll, and it was nice and compact. 

Then, i got another back row ride on Superman and boy was it still amazing.

Then we rode Catwoman for the credit. I thought it was kinda bad, but my dad ended up getting dizzy on it.  I'm not sure why, but it ended his day for the most part in terms of coasters. He didn't ride another until our last ride on Superman.

After that, we decided to head back to the other side of the park so we could ride all that we could more. Or at least so I could. I got another lap on Superman, and then we went all the way to the western themed area with Houdini and Goliath. Near there was a rare sighting: Mr. Pibb at a western theme "fill up station" for drink cups. That is the best soda in the world, and parks rarely have it. Then we rode Houdini. I enjoyed that it was different than the one at Great Adventure. The story and ride was slightly different, but the illusion was just as good.

After Houdini, I refilled on Mr. Pibb and then rode Goliath. Early in the day, Goliath had been stuck face down on the backwards lift. I heard how poorly this ride was running, but to my surprise, it didn't suck that much. I had front row, and I thought it was rough, but not too bad. For some reason, I like these Vekoma giant boomerangs more than other Vekomas.

After Goliath, I got a few more rides on Wicked Cyclone, and like usual, it ran great. Then I rode Pandemonium as a single rider and a very sad thing happened. I was pair with two high school aged kids, and one of the kids was super fat. He fit into Pandemonium, and he was like "thank goodness I can fit! I'm so mad I can't ride Superman". We spun like crazy, as our car was very off balance. These two kids, which one of was the fat kid, also looked like high school outsiders. They probably didn't have many friends, as their schools where here, and it was only them together. I went back to Wicked Cyclone, and I saw them in line for it, and right before I was gonna get on, the fat kid got kicked off of that too, and it looked like he was gonna cry because there were other kids from his school on that train, and they all knew why he was having issues. I know it's at least partially his fault that he can't fit, but I still feel miserable. To see someone's amusement park day ruined like that because of your weight must be traumatizing, and he was in high school probably in puberty. There was also a public humiliation factor. This made me sad.

Anyways, I got two more laps on Wicked Cyclone, and I love the way it just effortlessly whips you every air time hill. Then I rode Skyscreamer again and got my last view at the basketball Hall of Fame. Then I rode the Vekoma boomerang, Flashback, and it was unexciting and uninteresting. I wasn't much of a fan.

Finally, I ended my day with Superman the Ride. I rode it four times, all near the back. My dad finished his day by riding it with me on the last ride of the day. This is simply a scenic coaster, so brilliantly looking and so intense and fun, and all of you need to get out here to ride it. Overall, I loved this Six Flags park. It had more Vekomas than I would prefer, but Wicked Cyclone, Superman, and Skyscreamer make the park definitely a must visit if you're in the area. Don't forget to check out the basketball Hall of Fame as well.

Jealous of all the rides you got on Superman. I went a long ass time ago and only got two rides on it, then back again a few years ago and only got one. I think it's perfect in every way except for it being inside a Six Flags park :P

I don't get all the Six Flags hate. Many Six Flags parks have some great coasters, and you can talk all you want about their flaws, but I don't think being a Six Flags park makes a coaster bad by definition.

Bad? Your words not mine. I said it was perfect in every way but one.

Thanks for the great TR. A few comments based on our last visit 2 years ago.

The Mouse coaster: One of the worst rides I've ever been on. I don't know if it's different from others I've ridden, as it looks like a standard model, but the last 2 bunny hops sent my stomach into such chaos that i was nauseous for the rest of the day. Yes, it was hot, and I was tired, but that really ruined me.

Superman, or whatever they are calling it these days: Like you, I always thought that this was the perfect coaster during my many visits in the early 2000's. Pretty much MF and SROS were always fighting for my #1 spot. Until 2 years ago, though, I'd never ridden it in it's new incarnations. The trains they had on the 2 years ago version were horrible. The giant headrests blocked the view, and the older style T-bar lap bar had been replaced by a new bar that was more of a "shin bar" and came up around the outside of your legs and rested on your shins. Much reduced legroom, for one. But more importantly, for all of the air that CoFoKASROS (heh heh) gives, the shin restraints hurt like hell! So much so that they were doing double rides, but I elected not to take a 2nd ride... On one of my favorite coasters of all time.

Nice TR. SFNE is a nice little park. Last visit was opening day for Wicked Cyclone. That's an exceptional ride. Way better than the different versions of Cyclone I'd ridden in previous visits.

Superman was still Bizarro on our last visit. Thats still one of my favorite steel coaster. Tommy is right the restraints suck now, but that doesn't effect the likeability to me.

I skip the Vekomas because I already have the credits. Love their Schmeck, B&M floorless, spinning coaster, and S&S tower. Never been in their water park, but that would look to get too crowded in the Summer. Always visit off season.

I understand the complaints about the restraints, but it really did not bother me. And I am even a man with long legs, as I stand at 6-1, and I have a small upper body. However, I knew this would be an issue, so I strategically moved my body up in a way that the restraint wasn't as tight. It provided for more air, and the restraints were bearable. The only time I felt huge discomfort was when we sat on the brake run for like 5 minutes as they were trying to get a fat guy to fit in the ride.

Why was that uncomfortable? Do you mean the restraints, the heat, or something else?

SFNE is the only Six Flags park I've visited that I didn't like, b/c staff was rude and the place looked dingy. For that reason I haven't been back there in quite a while although I'd like to ride Wicked Cyclone and make up for skipping Goliath on previous visits. Sorry to hear that Mind Eraser is as dreadful as ever. This is at the top of my list of worst coasters I've ever ridden and I was hoping that the new restraints would result in an improvement, but from what you say this is far from the case. As to Superman, agreed that it's superlative although I liked Bizarro's purple color scheme better. upsdownsandupsidedown.com

Andy, the restraints were not dreadful during the ride, but when sitting there still for awhile, they made my legs feel confined, and I felt claustrophobic. They didn't necessarily "hurt", but as someone with long legs, I didn't like the constrictive nature of them. That is my only complaint about that ride.

Bobbie, Mind Eraser's new restraints did reduce head banging, but it didn't matter. It was brutal. And with what you said about the parks staff, that was one thing I did notice. For example, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Great America would gladly allow re-rides on major coasters if there was no waits, but Six Flags New England was strict about making you go all the way around to the entrance to get back on. As for the park looking gloomy, perhaps that is purely a New England thing. I loved the feel of the park, but I get what you mean by it looking a bit dingy. It may have improved since you last went there, as the plaza with Wicked Cyclone and Skyscreamer looks simply beautiful.