EmmaUK
Mega Poster
So here it finally is. My daughter and I on our 7 night, 8 park journey across the North East of USA. With any luck I'll hit 200 Coasters here and she'll hit 100 (not bad for a 9 year old!). At the time of going my top 10 was 1) Shambala 2) Velocicoaster 3) Mako 4) Red Force 5) Hagrid's Motorcycle thingamabob 6) Nemesis 7) Icon 8) Manta 9) Shriekra 10) Furius Baco. There was high anticipation of a fair few coasters breaking into this list. My daughter's favourite, for reasons best known only to a 9 year old, was Wipeout at Pleasurewood Hills. One should never Judge I guess.
The flight out from Manchester to New York was fine. After spending too long trying to work out what the difference actually is between my seat in Economy Delight and the cheaper Economy Classic ones (spoiler - I couldn't see it) and wishing I was up front in business, I settled into my post WEURO 2022 win football everything obsession and read a few Chapters of Inverting the Pyramid. If you're into football history and the tactics of the game its an awesome book.
Anyway, after a too long queue at immigration, which ended up not mattering because actually the luggage still hadn't been unloaded, followed by a too long wait at Avis to rent the car, any hope of going up to have a quick stop at Lake Compounce went out of the window. Not that I'd really decided whether we were going there anyway as $59 per person plus $30 for parking seemed excessive simply to hope Boulder Dash was that good. That would have made it the second most expensive park on this trip after Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I mean sure, there's rumours online that they have a cheaper ticket after 5pm, but I couldn't find out if that was still the case and the twitter account decided not to reply.
So instead it was the 2.5 hour drive in our Mazda, that has a very unsettling shake at around 60mph, straight up to Six Flags New England. The thinking was that we'd heard of horror stories of people struggling to redeem their annual passes and we didn't want that to interfere with the chances of a decent rope drop. Driving into the car park at 7.30pm for a 9pm close, as an FYI, the car parking booths were abandoned. We had our annual pass tickets at the ready anyway, but good to know no one was going to charge anyway.
Re getting the tickets it was fine in fact. We showed the ticket on my phone, had a photo, got the physical pass, and off we went. Straight to a real competitor for that top 10 - Wicked Cyclone. My first RMC.
We arrived to see the dreaded no lose articles sign. So to the lockers we went. A word about these lockers. What kind of psycho organised them. You come to screen to book the locker. Pay your $2. What kind of psycho puts a key pad in this order.
But then you re enter. And it doesn't accept your 4 digit code as the key pad has changed. Eventually it accepts it. You then pass by the girl in the corner crying because she had left it too long and now couldn't open her locker or get her car keys to try to find your locker. The locker numbers made little sense. Some were rubbed off. The locker doesn't work first time and you have to re enter really slow. Eventually sorted you head to the ride to find out that everyone has ignored the warnings anyway and taken their bags in the queue. Sometimes it was enforced. Sometimes it wasn't. Welcome to Six Flags.
So with no phone in hand I couldn't take any photos. But it didn't matter cause it turns out that unlike her ride, Wicked Cycline is shy and retiring. She's camera shy. Its rather tough to get a decent photo of her.
The nearly 1 hour queue (I think - no phone to check) allowed night to fall, and we were treated to a wild, out of control, ride on her. The darkness meant we had no idea what was coming next. This throws you one way, then the other, sidewards forces that shouldn't exist over outward banked turns, ejector that actually didn't hurt despite the restraints, this thing is bonkers. Definitely a top 10 ride, but I wanted to re ride it in the day just to see where it sits.
Running to Superman, to find it shut for technical difficulties, and seeing the time at 8.56, we sprinted up to Batman the Dark Knight
It was fine. My daughter loved it a lot more than me. I felt it was a bit B&M by numbers, and whilst it was forceful in a "here's some Gs as you go through the inversion" kind of way. It wasn't going to trouble my top 10, or 20 for that matter, it was a perfectly fine supporting act.
The park is really rather beautiful at night. We followed the throngs of people towards the exit, passed an area near to the Slushie sellers that had a lovely piquant like that smell you get when you're stuck being a bin wagon on a narrow street. That sweet but yet very gone off smell. We'd later realise that that smell was there all the following day. Lovely
Thank you Six Flags for a lovely evening
Back the following morning, the plan of attack was straight to Superman on the assumption it would build the biggest queues, but also we didn't want to risk it going down and spiting us.
Deciding to take the rope drop by Thunderbolt as it had more shade we were surprised how thin the crowds were for a Sunday in August.
The rope dropped and quick walked to Superman, went through the enforced non carrying of bags into lockers routine, and decided to wait the extra 2 trains to get a front row ride. And she's a beauty. So beautiful it seems I forgot to take a single photo of her. The first drop is awesome, the airtime hills are B&M esque in their beauty, and that end winding section, where it stays low to the ground but carried all of its speed were amazing. It was like the best bits of Mako and the best bits of a fast ground hugger like Rita put into one. Which means, sorry Mako, she drops you down to at least number 4. Maybe number 5 depending on where I put Wicked Cyclone.
We thought now was the time to hit as many creds as we could whilst the crowds were light.
Gotham City Escape from Whatever was notable purely because of the unusual number of abandoned baseball caps in the queue. And then turning the corner, there were 4 kippahs discarded and strewn across the pathway. What was this beast that discards headwear so wantonly across the pathways. It was a dull wild mouse, thats what it was.
Catwoman Whip lacked any whip.
And so we were on to one of my favourite ride types. I love a B&M inverted so we were off to Riddlers Revenge to... oh crap its an SLC. How had I convinced myself it was a B&M. SLCs are bad enough to begin with, even worse when you're expecting a B&M. And this was awful. The transitions were effectively chiselled. The comfort vests a necessity as the more traditional SLC over the shoulder restraints would surely cause concussion on this. I left feeling ill, but knowing we needed to get through more creds quickly, it was on to the Joker.
Now I've never done one of these before. Not liking anything that "Spins" and feeling a bit rough from the SLC, I was really concerned. I shouldn't have been. This was really rather good. 3 full inversions and 3 partial, including one that went on forever as we went down one of the drops, it turns out these are a lot better than I feared.
Knocking off the Great Chase kiddie ride, which it less embarrassing when you're with a 9 year old, we headed over to our first big wait of the day, Pandemonium. I've never been a big fan of spinners but this wasn't too bad. Not worth the 45 minute wait. But I've been on worse. And, it turns out, it was my 150th Coaster (I'd had a fear that it was in fact Great Chase, but I'd miscounted). Finding Flashback closed and not fancying the huge queue Thunderbolt was showing, we had a nice peaceful ride on the Skyscreamer.
I was surprised at how this feels so serene despite being so high on what looks like flimsy chain.
Oh look down there, Flashback is testing again, but that queue for Wicked Cyclone is looking a bit ominous.
So off to Flashback it was.
There was no seat selection so we were placed the back seat. And something happened to me that hasn't happened in a very long time, I think forever on coasters. I greyed out. I mean that kind of very dark grey that almost looks black. I know the Gs on this are high, and only 4 months ago I had surgery on my head and skull, but that grey out surprised me. I mean the coaster is awful. Even for a boomerang its bad. Millie hated it as well, and as Wipeout was her previous favourite that is saying something. Hideous ride.
Feeling a little ill now, I stumped up for 2 one-time flash passes to Thunderbolt and Wicked Cyclone, and headed for some lunch.
Thunderbolt it alright. I mean its above average in my woodies, but as a large proportion of my woodies are the abominations at BPP that probably isn't saying much. Truth is, as I write this the next day, I don't really remember much about the ride already. There was a chain lift, a drop which went across to make this lap a figure of 8 rather than an oval. It went up. It went down. There might have been a double down. I'd have been very disappointed if this was after a 45 minute wait.
And then off to the biggy. Wicked Cyclone. Fear building that it would not meet my high expectations from the night before. Flash pass in hand, and all lose articles in the locker, except for my mobile phone which had the fast pass on, which rather defeats the whole no lose articles thing, especially because if you think I'm just leaving my iPhone on the side you have another think coming. No chance, its going straight into my bra.
Anyway, the quicker queue allows, in a weird way, to appreciate the theming a bit more.
I mean, it's not too bad. Sure its not Disney, but its better than we mainly find in the UK.
And the quick queue moves so fast you don't have time to wait for a train to get a better photo.
"Have you travelled far" asks the nice woman at the Flash pass meet point
"Well, England" I reply
"wow" she says, before giving us an English accent from when she was involved in amateur dramatics. Lovely. Anyway....
So, after persuading Millie to allow us to go into the back seats, we were again treated to the out of control totally bonkers ride that is an RMC. The ability to kind of see where you were going didn't detract from the night before, but then again it was still a bit of a maze and disorientating as to where you were at any time. Whilst its essentially part oval, part figure of 8, not unlike Thunderbolt, it feels so much more discombobulated on it. The only real downside was that the photo booth was shut both times, despite my having purchased a photo pass. So where does it sit? It didn't quite grab me like Velocicoaster did, or Shambhala. But it's a solid, and very close, number 3. I'm now really looking forward to Twisted Timbers later in the trip which seems generally to get better reviews.
Another ride on Superman, now only a 15 minute queue, ended up the day. Again rejecting the opportunity to blow $150 dollars just to see if Boulder Dash was actually that good, and noting that the good rides at Nickelodeon Universe were all apparently closed, and by the time we'd arrive we wouldn't have much time and again it was very expensive for what it is, we decided to just continue to our hotel near to Six Flags Great Adventure.
So there we are Six Flags New England. Some great rides. Some truly awful ones. An actually really nice park. Sure its not Disney or Universal, but its just so cheap. The Extreme Annual pass that we got, with a years worth at any Six Flags park, free parking, money off merchandise and food, was basically cheaper than a day at Disney or Universal. Its unfair to compare the two, so you just can't.
As I write this, we're about to get up, hit up the local IHOP, and head down to Great Adventure, which we're hoping isn't too busy (its a Monday, right?) as we have 14 coasters to get.
The flight out from Manchester to New York was fine. After spending too long trying to work out what the difference actually is between my seat in Economy Delight and the cheaper Economy Classic ones (spoiler - I couldn't see it) and wishing I was up front in business, I settled into my post WEURO 2022 win football everything obsession and read a few Chapters of Inverting the Pyramid. If you're into football history and the tactics of the game its an awesome book.
Anyway, after a too long queue at immigration, which ended up not mattering because actually the luggage still hadn't been unloaded, followed by a too long wait at Avis to rent the car, any hope of going up to have a quick stop at Lake Compounce went out of the window. Not that I'd really decided whether we were going there anyway as $59 per person plus $30 for parking seemed excessive simply to hope Boulder Dash was that good. That would have made it the second most expensive park on this trip after Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I mean sure, there's rumours online that they have a cheaper ticket after 5pm, but I couldn't find out if that was still the case and the twitter account decided not to reply.
So instead it was the 2.5 hour drive in our Mazda, that has a very unsettling shake at around 60mph, straight up to Six Flags New England. The thinking was that we'd heard of horror stories of people struggling to redeem their annual passes and we didn't want that to interfere with the chances of a decent rope drop. Driving into the car park at 7.30pm for a 9pm close, as an FYI, the car parking booths were abandoned. We had our annual pass tickets at the ready anyway, but good to know no one was going to charge anyway.
Re getting the tickets it was fine in fact. We showed the ticket on my phone, had a photo, got the physical pass, and off we went. Straight to a real competitor for that top 10 - Wicked Cyclone. My first RMC.
We arrived to see the dreaded no lose articles sign. So to the lockers we went. A word about these lockers. What kind of psycho organised them. You come to screen to book the locker. Pay your $2. What kind of psycho puts a key pad in this order.
But then you re enter. And it doesn't accept your 4 digit code as the key pad has changed. Eventually it accepts it. You then pass by the girl in the corner crying because she had left it too long and now couldn't open her locker or get her car keys to try to find your locker. The locker numbers made little sense. Some were rubbed off. The locker doesn't work first time and you have to re enter really slow. Eventually sorted you head to the ride to find out that everyone has ignored the warnings anyway and taken their bags in the queue. Sometimes it was enforced. Sometimes it wasn't. Welcome to Six Flags.
So with no phone in hand I couldn't take any photos. But it didn't matter cause it turns out that unlike her ride, Wicked Cycline is shy and retiring. She's camera shy. Its rather tough to get a decent photo of her.
The nearly 1 hour queue (I think - no phone to check) allowed night to fall, and we were treated to a wild, out of control, ride on her. The darkness meant we had no idea what was coming next. This throws you one way, then the other, sidewards forces that shouldn't exist over outward banked turns, ejector that actually didn't hurt despite the restraints, this thing is bonkers. Definitely a top 10 ride, but I wanted to re ride it in the day just to see where it sits.
Running to Superman, to find it shut for technical difficulties, and seeing the time at 8.56, we sprinted up to Batman the Dark Knight
It was fine. My daughter loved it a lot more than me. I felt it was a bit B&M by numbers, and whilst it was forceful in a "here's some Gs as you go through the inversion" kind of way. It wasn't going to trouble my top 10, or 20 for that matter, it was a perfectly fine supporting act.
The park is really rather beautiful at night. We followed the throngs of people towards the exit, passed an area near to the Slushie sellers that had a lovely piquant like that smell you get when you're stuck being a bin wagon on a narrow street. That sweet but yet very gone off smell. We'd later realise that that smell was there all the following day. Lovely
Thank you Six Flags for a lovely evening
Back the following morning, the plan of attack was straight to Superman on the assumption it would build the biggest queues, but also we didn't want to risk it going down and spiting us.
Deciding to take the rope drop by Thunderbolt as it had more shade we were surprised how thin the crowds were for a Sunday in August.
The rope dropped and quick walked to Superman, went through the enforced non carrying of bags into lockers routine, and decided to wait the extra 2 trains to get a front row ride. And she's a beauty. So beautiful it seems I forgot to take a single photo of her. The first drop is awesome, the airtime hills are B&M esque in their beauty, and that end winding section, where it stays low to the ground but carried all of its speed were amazing. It was like the best bits of Mako and the best bits of a fast ground hugger like Rita put into one. Which means, sorry Mako, she drops you down to at least number 4. Maybe number 5 depending on where I put Wicked Cyclone.
We thought now was the time to hit as many creds as we could whilst the crowds were light.
Gotham City Escape from Whatever was notable purely because of the unusual number of abandoned baseball caps in the queue. And then turning the corner, there were 4 kippahs discarded and strewn across the pathway. What was this beast that discards headwear so wantonly across the pathways. It was a dull wild mouse, thats what it was.
Catwoman Whip lacked any whip.
And so we were on to one of my favourite ride types. I love a B&M inverted so we were off to Riddlers Revenge to... oh crap its an SLC. How had I convinced myself it was a B&M. SLCs are bad enough to begin with, even worse when you're expecting a B&M. And this was awful. The transitions were effectively chiselled. The comfort vests a necessity as the more traditional SLC over the shoulder restraints would surely cause concussion on this. I left feeling ill, but knowing we needed to get through more creds quickly, it was on to the Joker.
Now I've never done one of these before. Not liking anything that "Spins" and feeling a bit rough from the SLC, I was really concerned. I shouldn't have been. This was really rather good. 3 full inversions and 3 partial, including one that went on forever as we went down one of the drops, it turns out these are a lot better than I feared.
Knocking off the Great Chase kiddie ride, which it less embarrassing when you're with a 9 year old, we headed over to our first big wait of the day, Pandemonium. I've never been a big fan of spinners but this wasn't too bad. Not worth the 45 minute wait. But I've been on worse. And, it turns out, it was my 150th Coaster (I'd had a fear that it was in fact Great Chase, but I'd miscounted). Finding Flashback closed and not fancying the huge queue Thunderbolt was showing, we had a nice peaceful ride on the Skyscreamer.
I was surprised at how this feels so serene despite being so high on what looks like flimsy chain.
Oh look down there, Flashback is testing again, but that queue for Wicked Cyclone is looking a bit ominous.
So off to Flashback it was.
There was no seat selection so we were placed the back seat. And something happened to me that hasn't happened in a very long time, I think forever on coasters. I greyed out. I mean that kind of very dark grey that almost looks black. I know the Gs on this are high, and only 4 months ago I had surgery on my head and skull, but that grey out surprised me. I mean the coaster is awful. Even for a boomerang its bad. Millie hated it as well, and as Wipeout was her previous favourite that is saying something. Hideous ride.
Feeling a little ill now, I stumped up for 2 one-time flash passes to Thunderbolt and Wicked Cyclone, and headed for some lunch.
Thunderbolt it alright. I mean its above average in my woodies, but as a large proportion of my woodies are the abominations at BPP that probably isn't saying much. Truth is, as I write this the next day, I don't really remember much about the ride already. There was a chain lift, a drop which went across to make this lap a figure of 8 rather than an oval. It went up. It went down. There might have been a double down. I'd have been very disappointed if this was after a 45 minute wait.
And then off to the biggy. Wicked Cyclone. Fear building that it would not meet my high expectations from the night before. Flash pass in hand, and all lose articles in the locker, except for my mobile phone which had the fast pass on, which rather defeats the whole no lose articles thing, especially because if you think I'm just leaving my iPhone on the side you have another think coming. No chance, its going straight into my bra.
Anyway, the quicker queue allows, in a weird way, to appreciate the theming a bit more.
I mean, it's not too bad. Sure its not Disney, but its better than we mainly find in the UK.
And the quick queue moves so fast you don't have time to wait for a train to get a better photo.
"Have you travelled far" asks the nice woman at the Flash pass meet point
"Well, England" I reply
"wow" she says, before giving us an English accent from when she was involved in amateur dramatics. Lovely. Anyway....
So, after persuading Millie to allow us to go into the back seats, we were again treated to the out of control totally bonkers ride that is an RMC. The ability to kind of see where you were going didn't detract from the night before, but then again it was still a bit of a maze and disorientating as to where you were at any time. Whilst its essentially part oval, part figure of 8, not unlike Thunderbolt, it feels so much more discombobulated on it. The only real downside was that the photo booth was shut both times, despite my having purchased a photo pass. So where does it sit? It didn't quite grab me like Velocicoaster did, or Shambhala. But it's a solid, and very close, number 3. I'm now really looking forward to Twisted Timbers later in the trip which seems generally to get better reviews.
Another ride on Superman, now only a 15 minute queue, ended up the day. Again rejecting the opportunity to blow $150 dollars just to see if Boulder Dash was actually that good, and noting that the good rides at Nickelodeon Universe were all apparently closed, and by the time we'd arrive we wouldn't have much time and again it was very expensive for what it is, we decided to just continue to our hotel near to Six Flags Great Adventure.
So there we are Six Flags New England. Some great rides. Some truly awful ones. An actually really nice park. Sure its not Disney or Universal, but its just so cheap. The Extreme Annual pass that we got, with a years worth at any Six Flags park, free parking, money off merchandise and food, was basically cheaper than a day at Disney or Universal. Its unfair to compare the two, so you just can't.
As I write this, we're about to get up, hit up the local IHOP, and head down to Great Adventure, which we're hoping isn't too busy (its a Monday, right?) as we have 14 coasters to get.
Please don’t fight me.
They do have too much good stuff on the menu to choose from though!
