Six Flags America was yet another park I'd previously visited on the 2006 holiday and another park I could take at a gentle pace, which was essential in the ridiculous heat and humidity levels that greeted us.
The morning began with an ERS on Roar, was running well but the ride is a bit of a twister for my liking. I have no idea how others were able to ride this with their hands up. It's not an easy ride to photograph but to the left of the entrance ramp there's a wooden staff gate you can stick your camera through.
Instead I chose to entertain myself by taking photos of birds cooling off in puddles.
The park was looking extremely clean with the majority of the staff armed with those grabber things, nice idea. Park staff were friendly with lots of high fives realising my slapcoaster concept had been taken on board.
One thing that I did find a bit odd with the park was the abundance of "no trespassing or you'll die" type signs. Either they're lying or there is a major issue with exposed electricity wires in bits of the park you're not supposed to enter. Why not just say "If you jump this fence and the coaster hits you then it's your own stupidity" and be done with it.
In an attempt to generate more advertising revenue the Six Flags chain has come up with some novel things to put adverts on. But hanging this massive poster for chocolate was just a shame! The ironic thing is if they sold the chocolate in this park it'd melt before you got it out of the wrapper.
The last time I was here I didn't get to ride the kiddy coaster, in fact I didn't bother trying as I was fed up asking to do so. This time we were allowed to.
Jokers Jinx was excellent and as with the Outer Limits, the ride is excellent with the OTSRs removed. We rode this countless times, especially as there was hardly any queue.
Something the park would need to take note of. People prefer to leave their bags on the floor than put them into a paid locker. A sign that the idea is deemed one of making money rather than practicality. I'm not sure why the bags couldn't be left on the platform, it was a one-train operation after all.
Wild One offered some lovely pops of airtime and still running well despite its age. Personally I find it much more enjoyable than Roar.
Mind Eraser was the typical hang-and-bang. Excellent!
Batwing suffered from a single train operation, the second one having been taken away for a service. We know this because we saw it being brought back on the truck.
We volunteered Mick to take part in the stunt show and being the thespian that he is (he's in the new Harry Potter don't you know) he was more than happy to go up and give it a go!
The park has really come on since my last visit but still needs some additional shade. One of those arches with vines would have offered the perfect respite from the heat today. I did mention it to the park manager but he was under the impression there were lots of trees already offering shade. I'm not sure they're mature enough to do that just yet.
Unique point about the park was the massage chair sofa which had been decked out to look like a living room modelled here by my glamorous assistant. A little bit of surrealism in another wise very corporately run park.
If you're probably hungry you could probably do better than eating one of these.
The main reason for visiting the park has to be for Superman Ride of Steel, a large Intamin coaster with lovely airtime. Powerful helixes and a support coming out of the helix that is just too close to your arms to scare the bejesus out of you. Special mention should be given to Will, Kevin and Ever in the Superman station. They were brilliant with impromptu singing, impressions and all round entertainment making sure the people had a good time. If they're running the ride when you're there ask for the Stevie Wonder impression. By far the best ride ops on the trip.
Six Flags had come on a long way since my last trip but with a few minor tweaks could be something special. The main downer had to be the lack of shade.
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