DaveStroem Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 While I know that Six Flags America is in Maryland it was part of our Virgina trip. I was a bit worried about going here. I had never been to a Six Flags park and had not read much of anything postive about them. I was quite happily surprised to find a great park with friendly staff and a quality but limited collection of coasters. We started of the day getting our season passes processed. This was so much faster then KI the whole process for all 4 of us was less then 5 minutes. Once inside we headed to the far back of the park to get a ride on Batwing. This is the same as Firehawk but IMO is a bit smoother. They were only running 1 train but this was still just a 2 train wait. After Batwing we jumped on Superman: Ride of Steel. This is an Intamin Hyper that has a ton of air. You can see in one to the photos my park map floating away from my back pocket. Luckily I moved my wallet to a front velcro pocket earlier. I would have to rate this as the 2nd best hyper I have ridden behind Diamondback. Next up was Jokers Jinx. This is identical to Flight of Fear but with a longer train and it is outside. They do not trim this ride at all and it is soooo much better then FoF because of this. After Jokers Jinx we headed to Wild One. This coaster was built in 1917 and is by far my favorite vintage coaster (over 50 years old). The ride is quite smooth with a good amount of air. The helix at the end was great too. After several laps on Wild One we hit Roar which is a newer woodie and then on to Mind Eraser which is a Vekoma inverted coaster. It was now about lunch time so we decided to get a Papa John's Pizza Deal for $39,99 less the $10 coupon in our season pass book. The meal was included 2 refillable drink cups, salad, cheese bread and a pizza. I was really looking forward to the salad since we had been living on park food. The problem was that they didn't have any lettuce. The thing is we placed our order and got our drinks before they told us they were out and offered us fries instead. So I asked if any other of the pizza places had salad and she told me to go to the one up near the Wild One. They did not charge us or ask for the drink glasses back. We headed to the other place and they also did not have salad. They at least offered us 2 additional orders of cheese bread which we took. So now everybody had there own refillable drink glass. After lunch we went to the kiddie area to ride the Great Chase for the coaster credit. Since we had hit all of the coasters we started re-riding most all of them and picked up a few other flat rides as well. Skull Mountain was a unique flume ride that has 2 lift hills and a turn table at the top of the 2nd one. One of the last things we rode was the Penguin's Blizzard River. I was not overly excited to ride this water ride that looked like it would be kind of boring. I could not have been more wrong. This ride spins so much that I thought I was on a tea cup ride. We wanted to end our evening with a ride on Jokers Jinx, but when we walked over the ride was down. I asked the attendant if she thought is would be down long and she of course could not tell me. So I explained that we were from Ohio and were about to leave for the day and wanted to end with this ride. She smiled and told us to wait and that there was a bench to wait on. When we were walking back to the bench I saw the maintenance guys leaving so we ran back to the entrance just as they called down to her to open the ride. We got front row followed by a re-ride in the middle. This was a great day at a fun small park. If your in the DC area I would suggest hitting SFA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Wow. Perhaps the most positive report on Six Flags America I have ever seen! Glad you all had fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DropZone99 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 I really hope I get to go to KD/BGE/SFA next year. I have actually read a few PTRs of SFA saying how great of a park it is. From the photos I see, it looks clean, not crowded, and has great coasters. What more could I ask for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Six Flags has made remarkable strides under Messrs Snyder and Shapiro. Just a few short years ago, Six Flags America bore no resemblance to the park described above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveStroem Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 I know what you mean. I know that they have been trying hard to change their image and I think they have done what it takes just need to get the word out. It also helped that everything was a station wait or walk on. But other then the issue with the salad, I could find no faults with the park. Sure they don't have 17 coasters but the ones they do have are very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIfan1980 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Dave - I've really enjoyed reading all three parts of your Virginia PTR. Thanks for taking the time to document and share them with us. I can only hope that in a few years when my boys are tall enough to go ride with me I can create as interesting a summer as it seems that you have had and have planned! I may also need tips on how to convince the wife that this "year of the coaster" idea makes sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violakat03 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 What'd you think of Roar and Mind Eraser? I enjoyed Roar and will never ride Mind Eraser under my own free will again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveStroem Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 In liked Roar quite a bit and got 3 laps on it. Mind Eraser was fine but not as good as B&M inverteds. I would have to say that my favorite coaster there was Jokers Jinx. I could and did ride it all day long. I think we got 5-6 laps in most were walk on. For that matter, the only coaster that was more then a station wait was Volcano and this was just one time about 9:30 with a wait of 15 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Volcano at KD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnarkiller Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Great ptr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violakat03 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 I loved Jokers Jinx also, as Flight of Fear is one of my favorite coasters and it was nice to ride a spaghetti bowl coaster with no mid-course again. However, I still like Flight of Fear better because I actually do like riding it in the dark. Plus I remember FOF without the mid-course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersNSich Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 You rode Skull Mountain? You suck! (not really - it was closed the two times I got to visit). Seriously, nice TR, and I recommend visiting SFA if in the area. Even if you're doing more of a DC trip than a coaster trip, SFA is worth a visit - you can even get there using Metro rail and bus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveStroem Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Volcano at KD? Yes it is. What I was trying to say is that during the entire trip BGW/KD/SFA that this was the only one that was more then a station wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.