NOTE: UPDATE COMING SOON! Information on Superman Ride of Steel, Batwing, and more is coming soon!
BATWING
©2001 Six Flags
HISTORY: Batwing opened in June 2001 as the first flying coaster on the East Coast, and the 2nd flying coaster in the world! Riders sit in a normal seated position the the seats rotate back to a lying down position exiting the station in reverse. At the top of the lift riders are flipped to the flying position.
TYPE: Steel, flying dutchman
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Vekoma
YEAR BUILT: 2001
HEIGHT:115 feet
DROP: approx. 100 feet
LENGTH:3340 feet
TOP SPEED: over 50 MPH
RIDE TIME:2 minutes 20 seconds
TRAINS: Three 6 car trains with 4 persons per car, 4 wide rows, lap bars with ankle bars and vest shoulder restraints
COMMENTS: Soar through the air with nothing but blue skies above and the ground racing below, this unbelievable flying roller coaster gives riders the phenomenal sensation of free flight. The new sensation on Batwing is nothing short of incredible! It is one of a very select group of "gimmick" coaster where the gimmick actually works. I highly recommend a ride on this smooth and extremely intense coaster. A ride on the back row features some of the highest G moments of any coaster in the USA.
SUPERMAN: RIDE OF STEEL
©2000 Six Flags
HISTORY: Superman: Ride of Steel opened in May 2000 to worldwide acclaim as one of the best steel coaters in the world. It is one of three SRoS coasters in North America, with a mirror image brother at Six Flags Darian Lake in New York State. There is also a slightly larger model with a different layout at Six Flags New England.
TYPE: Steel, hypercoaster
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Intamin
YEAR BUILT: 2000
HEIGHT:200 feet
DROP: 205 feet
DROP ANGLE: 70 degrees
LENGTH:5350 feet
TOP SPEED: 75 MPH
RIDE TIME:3 minutes 20 seconds
TRAINS: Two 8 car trains with 4 persons per car, lap bars and seat belts
COMMENTS: Superman: Ride of Steel is one of the finest roller coaters in thw world featuring high speeds, extreme G's and airtime, and a 205 ft drop at an angle of 70 degrees with a top speed of 75 MPH. This is a wonderful ride surpassing all other hypercoaters in my opinion, save for its bigger brother at Six Flags New England. This coaster is a "do not miss" attraction, get to SFA for no other reason then to ride Superman: Ride of Steel. Night rides are special treat too, it is very dark and the ride runs very fast after dark.
HISTORY: Joker's Jinx open in May 1999. It is the first outdoor full circuit LIM launched coaster in North America, similar to the Flight of Fear coasters at the Paramount Parks. In 2002 Joker's Jinx was retrofitted with new lap bar restraints turning the ride into a world class launched looping coaster.
TYPE: Steel, Multi-element LIM Launched
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Premier Rides
YEAR BUILT: 1999
HEIGHT:approx 70 feet
LENGTH: 2705 feet
TOP SPEED: 60 MPH
FORCE: +4 G's
INVERSIONS: 4 (boomerang, sidewinder, corkscrew)
RIDE TIME:approx 90 seconds
TRAINS: Two 5 car trains with 4 persons per car, over the shoulder harnesses
COMMENTS: Joker's Jinx will launches the train from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds. A severely
convoulted track with 4 inversions subject the passangers with up to 4G's excites the heartiest of coaster riders! The
launch is incredible as is the high speed ending with a surprise corkscrew near the end of the layout.
TWO FACE: THE FLIP SIDE
©1998 Six Flags
HISTORY: Two Face: The Flip Side opened in May 1999 as only the 2nd Vekoma Invertigo coaster in North America, the first on the east coast. Two Face is a wonderful twist on the classic boomerang design featuring a nice smooth and intense ride.
TYPE: Steel, Multi-element Inverted Shuttle
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Vekoma
YEAR BUILT: 1999
HEIGHT:137 feet
LENGTH:1000 feet
TOP SPEED: 55 MPH
FORCE: approx +4 G's
INVERSIONS: 3 forward, 3 backward (boomerang, vertical loop)
RIDE TIME:N/A
TRAINS: 7 car train with 4 persons per car featuring face-to-face seating with, over the shoulder harnesses
COMMENTS: Two Face: The Flip Side riders are pulled up a 137 foot lift and released. The riders
experience a heart-pounding boomerang and 72 foot veritcal loop before encountering a second lift, thus repeating the
experience in reverse! Riders can watch the faces of their friends since the coaster features face-to-face seating.
HISTORY: Roar opened on May 2, 1998. It is the second coaster built by the new wood roller coaster company, GCI (Great Coasters International). Roar features a classic twister layout, with numeous banked turns and swooping drops making it a true twister rollercoaster. GCI's first rollercoaster, The Wildcat, opened in 1996 at HersheyPark.
TYPE: Wood, Twister
DESIGNER/BUILDER: GCI
YEAR BUILT: 1998
HEIGHT: 90 feet
DROP: 85 feet
LENGTH: 3200 feet
RIDE TIME: approx 2:10
TRAINS: Two 2 bench PTC trains with 6 cars per train, with indvidual racheting lap
bars, headrests, and seat dividers.
COMMENTS: Roar has lots of great twists and turns, a very twisted first drop
with good air, a wonderful ending similar to the Texas Giant and a smooth ride. No other
coaster combines the unique twister ride with a smooth ride like Roar. As the 1998 season
progressed Roar's ride quality increased tremendously. The night rides during October featured
increased speed and much more airtime, especially in the back seat.
HISTORY: The Wild One was orginally built as the Giant Coaster(1917) at Parragon Park in Massachusetts. In 1932 Herb Schmeck redesigned much of the ride after it was partially destroyed by fire. When the park closed in 1985 Wild World, the old name for Adventure World, bought the coaster and moved it to Maryland and where it re-opened in 1986. The move/re-build was perfomed by Charlie Dinn. When the ride was re-built the helix was restored which was destroyed by fire in the 60's. The coaster was closed for the 1991 season and John Pierce was hired to raise the bottom of the first drop by 9 feet. Debuting in 1997 was a slightly reprofiled 2nd and 3rd hills due to the opening of the Typhoon Sea Coaster which stands over top of the Wild One! A new jog in the track was added after the 2nd hill also.
TYPE: Wood, Out and Back
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Miller/Schmeck/Dinn
YEAR BUILT: 1917
YEARS MOVED/REPROFILED: 1932 reprofile, 1986 move/reprofile, 1992 reprofile, 1997 reprofile
HEIGHT: 98 feet
DROP: approx. 85 feet
LENGTH: 4000 feet
RIDE TIME: 2:30
TRAINS: Two 3 bench PTC trains with 4 cars per train. One train operation only!
COMMENTS: The Wild One is an excellent coaster with lots of airtime and a couple of
great direction changes. Highlights include a good first drop, descending turnaround, and helix.
When this coaster is running all out, it skips over its hills and offers a somewhat rough
ride and is considered a top ten wood coaster by many. For 1996 the turnaround has been
re-tracked and the helix painted. The 1997 season saw the slight reprofiling and retracking of
the 2nd and 3rd hils. The new seciton is very well done...fast, smooth, with an extra added jog in
the track. The Wild One is runs great most of the time but, like many wood coasters, is finicky!
MIND ERASER
Photo: ©1996 Joe Schwartz
HISTORY: The Mind Eraser is one of about 20 production model Vekoma SLCs (Suspended Looping Coasters) built thus far worldwide. The first was built in Europe in 1994. Five more opened in North America and one in Japan for the 1995 season. The Mind Eraser opened on May 20,1995. Several more Vekoma SLC model coasters have opened in the USA over the last couple of years..
TYPE: Steel, Inverted
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Vekoma
YEAR BUILT: 1995
HEIGHT: approx. 108 feet
DROP: approx. 92 feet
LENGTH: 2172 feet
INVERSIONS: 5
RIDE TIME: 2:14
TRAINS: Two trains with 10 cars of 2 abreast seating.
COMMENTS: The Mind Eraser offers a very intense inverted looping coaster ride. The
Vekoma SLC coasters introduced several firsts for coasters. They are the first coasters to
include the double inversion heart-shaped "rollover" and "double spin" elements. They are also
the first inverted coasters to include a "sidewinder". I find all of the elements on the Mind
Eraser a nice change of pace from the norm. The "camelback" hill right in front of the station
has some nice airtime. The first drop is both steep and fast with some strong positive G's at
the bottom. The ME is smoother then most arrow loopers but has an annoying shake through
some parts of the ride. The proximity of the supports offers an excellent leg-chopping effect in
several spots. I found, contrary to convention, the smoothest ride was in the back row. This
is one of the most thrilling rides in the region and appears to be a big hit with the public.
The Mind Eraser features new soft rubber shoulder restraints for 1996. During the park conversion
to Six Flags in 1999 two new rows of seats were added to each train.
THE GREAT CHASE
HISTORY: The Great Chase is a new family coaster debuting in 1999 in the new Looney Tunes Movie Town.
TYPE: Steel, Junior
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Zamperla
YEAR BUILT: 1999
HEIGHT: N/A
DROP: N/A
LENGTH: N/A
RIDE TIME: N/A
TRAINS: N/A
COMMENTS: The Great Chase is a great new family coaster anchoring Looney Tunes Movie Town!
Coasters removed after the 1998 season...
HISTORY: The Python is an Arrow shuttle loop coaster which was moved from Six Flags Great Adventure in 1993. At SFGAd it was one half of the Lightin' Loops coaster and the other half went to Adventure World's sister park, Frontier City, in Oklahoma. The coaster was orginally built in 1978. The ride retains the large orange "Six Flags type" grips on its restraints.
TYPE: Steel, Shuttle
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Arrow Dynamics
YEAR BUILT: 1978(1993)
HEIGHT: 65 feet
DROP: 47 feet
LENGTH: 635 feet(one way)
RIDE TIME: 1:08
TRAINS: One train with 6 cars, 4 riders per car.
COMMENTS: The Python has a short but thrilling ride. Trains are literally pushed
off the two platforms with great force which causes extreme airtime in both the forward and
backward directions. One drawback is climbing all the steps up to the 65 foot platform, but I
guess the climb can help burn off all that theme park junk food!
HISTORY: I don't know any history on the Cannonball. If anyone knows when this coaster was built or how long it has resided at the park then please let me know.
TYPE: Steel, kiddie oval
DESIGNER/BUILDER: Molina
YEAR BUILT: ??
HEIGHT: approx. 12 feet
DROP: approx. 6 feet
RIDE TIME: Varies depending on number of ride cycles.
TRAINS: One train with 5 cars, 2 riders per car.
COMMENTS: The Cannonball is a kiddie coaster with a little kick! It is not
as thrilling as Knoebel's "High Speed Thrill Coaster", but it is fun to fly around the small
oval. The operator gives about 4 cycles per ride. The back of the train offers the best ride
with some air on the speed bumps on the far side of the track. I suggest that every one try one
of these little coasters.