|
Six Flags America Largo, MD Weather: Warm, humid, low 80s Crowds: Light As is common for adults of a certain age, wedding attendance finds us crisscrossing the country to be a part of the special day for friends and family alike. Seemingly they come in waves, and this summer alone found us with two on the east coast. If you’ve dared to read any of other my trip reports, you’ll know I’m not one to let a plane ride go to waste when it comes to visiting parks new and old. This particular trip found us heading to New Jersey for a cousin’s wedding, and considering we had traveled all that distance, it made good sense to ride down to Washington, D.C. given the growing number of friends and family that seem to have taken up residence in the area. The bonus, of course, would be a couple side trips to two of the Mid-Atlantic’s major parks. We’d be off to Kings Dominion the next day, but on Monday morning I’d make the trip on my own to another one of those maligned Six Flags parks – Six Flags America. Here was the Six Flags modus operandi that we’ve become accustomed to: a small, local park chugging along with decades of history getting swept up with the mass purchase by Premier Parks in the mid-90s, and suddenly getting thrust into the general public’s consciousness as a newly-branded Six Flags park. This has not gone over very well in many places, whether they made the conversion decades prior or in their more recent history. The unfortunately typical result is a once unique park trading in charm for corporatization: suddenly fun is commoditized. Now, I’m all for efficiencies in operations, but at the macro level that Six Flags has installed it, it becomes entirely about share price. No more is it about one park providing a unique experience for each guest, instead everything from rides to the less-than-inconspicuous advertising has been given a cookie cutter treatment. If only uniformity was the lone charge against Six Flags. Granted, most Six Flags guests will probably never set foot in more than one or two of their parks in their lifetime. But what they offered uniformly for many years was a painfully shortsighted focus on thrill rides, mega coasters, and attractions almost solely aimed at what are typically cash-strapped teens. Offering cheap season tickets will certainly help attendance numbers, but what resulted given their in-park investments and their ticketing strategy was a summer-long babysitting service. Perhaps that may be a bit of an overstatement, but it’s hard not to notice a less than ideal guest experience. In the end, that may be more to do with Six Flags’ priorities (or lack thereof) with respect to what had been the recipe for amusement park success: a clean, inviting setting, friendly and efficient employees, and well-run and exciting rides. It seems as though they have settled for only that last one. My harsh criticism has come after years of visits to these parks (I used to be one of the thrill-starved teens they so aggressively pander to) and I must admit there is the occasional exception to the rule. But even when I find it suitable to provide some praise, it’s usually qualified by “…for a Six Flags park”. Some parks are better than others, some days are better than others, but there’s been little evidence that things will change overall anytime soon. All that said, if there’s one thing I’ve learned putting these critiques together, either written out in a trip report or just mentally, it’s important to keep an open mind. I don’t judge a ride before it’s ridden, and I won’t judge a park before I’ve visited. I feel the need to say this considering not only my personal opinion of the chain, but also based on what I’ve heard of Six Flags America itself. I wouldn’t assume any particular overzealous abasement to be 100% true, but I’ve heard the park consistently regarded as one of the lowest of the chain. Now that I finally had a chance to visit, it was time to see for myself. It was just me on this excursion, so I wasn’t planning a particularly extended day. I was out a bit after 9:00am and made the drive from Alexandria to Largo thankfully without incident (mostly because I was borrowing our host’s car for these two days). I paid the ridiculous $15 parking fee, and got an especially close parking spot – a good sign. Having purchased and printed out a discounted admission ticket, I was good to go right to the front gate. With about 30 minutes until the 10:30 opening, I studied the map, planned my route, took a quick marketing survey (10 out of 10 for interest in thrill rides, 1 out of 10 for interest in shows, natch), and started to take in my surroundings. The summer camps were in full swing, and the kids had a ton of energy, what with it only being June. Fortunately, there were only a few people ahead of me in my turnstile line, and I was ahead of the small crowd as we passed through the metal detectors and into the park. Predictably, it was coasters or bust, and the main collection of thrill rides is at the very back of the park, beyond what is the pretty obvious original (i.e., pre-Six Flags) border. In the prototypical example, Six Flags expanded the park with tons of concrete, a passing attempt at themeing, and dumped in some cloned, though admittedly high-quality rides. What results is essentially a dead end, where you first come to Joker’s Jinx, then find Superman: Ride of Steel, with Batwing at the back. My personal target was Superman; I greatly enjoyed its mirror image at Six Flags Darien Lake a few years back. Having put some distance between me and what couldn’t even be called a “crowd”, and without seeing Superman test yet, I made a quick visit to Joker’s Jinx. Here we have a Premier launched coaster, basically an outdoor copy of the original Outer Limits: Flight of Fear rides that made a big splash back in 1996. Without anyone else even in sight, I was quickly in the station, greeted personally by the ride ops, and climbed into the front seat. Looks like I was going solo. The LIM launch here is fun, nothing that hasn’t been outdone a dozen times over with the latest and greatest in launch technology, but 0-60 in 3 seconds is still an intense way to start your day. After the long, straight launch track, the train pulls up into a sizable and forceful boomerang, and then directly into a third inversion. What follows is a gradual and increasingly intense decent into the tangled Christmas lights of a layout, capped by a final corkscrew. One thing I should have mentioned was that this model has a bit of a history – specifically around some pretty violent roughness. A critical modification was the replacement of the shoulder restraints with lap bars, and I was beyond pleased to see a considerably smoother ride than I had anticipated. Granted, it was the first ride of the day, and I was comparing it to the absolute thrashing I have received on Outer Limits of a decade ago, but its roughness was completely bearable and entirely appropriate considering the intensity of the ride. Not quite the sadly defunct Batman and Robin level, but nice and disorienting for sure. After refusing the nice offer for a repeat ride and being invited back anytime, I was ready for the highlight. As I entered the queue for Superman, I again saw that I was the only guest around, and this time I went right for the back row as I eagerly put another beloved Intamin hypercoaster under my belt. After a U-turn out of the station, the train climbed the lift and was down the 200 foot drop, and immediately went into a hard banked 90 degree right turn. A big hill doesn’t give a ton of airtime, but sets up nicely the first helix, this one providing some pretty crushing G-forces as the 540 rightwards degree maneuver has the train heading back towards the lift. The next hill gives major airtime, and leads into an upward 450 degree leftwards helix. It’s not quite as forceful as the first, but does a nice job of “unwinding” riders in the other direction. Now heading right towards the station, a short series of bunny hills finishes things up in typical hypercoaster fashion. The first includes a diving jog to line up with the station, a little on the jarring side – but the others provide the wonderful thigh crushing we all love from Intamin. Trains hit the brakes with a lot of momentum remaining, but no one is left dissatisfied. I know that for sure because, again, I was the only person on the train. It was kind of nuts. Overall the ride was not especially rough but not particularly smooth, either. Intamin coasters have a bit of a reputation for being on one end of the extreme or other, though this one was right smack in the middle. Like Joker, it was pretty much what I would expect for coasters of its ilk. Back in the station, I was finally joined by a couple additional riders, though I didn’t need to move from my spot for a second ride. Continuing on afterwards, I exited and headed for the dead end towards Batwing. Right at the beginning of the path, however, was an employee giving folks (i.e., me) the news that it was down, and that we should try again later. It being the last real highlight, I was disappointed, but mostly because I had no intention of waiting the day out to see if it would open. The good news was I hadn’t really gone that far and I zipped back into the Superman queue and gave it two more rides. Figuring it was time to move on, I confirmed that Batwing was still down and made my way back into the heart of the park. With Joker still absurdly quiet, I got two quick rides in on my way. Back under the Wild One, I headed to the West side of the park, and walked on Roar. Unofficially known as East Coast Roar, I was eager to compare it to its cousin at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, back home in the Bay Area. My expectations weren’t super high – I’m always optimistic about GCI, but Six Flags doesn’t have the best track record for wooden coaster maintenance. It also lacks the slick Millennium Flier trains that West Coast Roar sports. I tried to keep an open mind, but this is definitely a class below what I’ve come to love about GCI. There were vague reminders of their impressive twister-style efforts, but mostly it was overshadowed by a solidly jarring ride experience. Not the worst out there as far as roughness goes, but more than enough to overwhelm the modestly interesting layout. In the end, it wasn’t all that fun, and definitely not pleasant to ride. Knowing it was probably going to go from bad to worse, I sucked it up and walked around the corner and into the front row of Mind Eraser, your standard Vekoma SLC. Hey, some aren’t all that awful, and if there was any place I would be able to see that, it would be up front. Nope, this wasn’t the rare exception I was naively hoping for. It wasn’t the absolute worst one, but certainly nothing I’d consider a repeat ride on. If nothing else, it holds the dubious distinction of being the tenth SLC in my count. There’s a milestone for ya. I enjoyed the stroll across the front of the park, and confirmed my suspicion that there was no late morning horde headed into the park. The weather was balking a bit, but at this point I was getting the worst of it, which was a sad little sprinkle. Not sure if it was the threat of thunderstorms, or the humidity, or it just being a weekday in the early summer, but it was easily the quietest I’ve ever seen a park this time of year. Thank goodness. Making my way to Wild One, and eventually finding the entrance (hint: that’s the entrance on the left and the exit on the right), I settled in for a ride in the second row. This classic wooden coaster is the real heart of the park – old photos show it thrilling riders with nothing but fields on either side. Ah, progress. Not knowing what to expect even in the slightest, I was thrilled to find a particularly great coaster. It takes your typical out-back-layout, puts a kink in the middle, and throws an absolutely absurd helix at you as the finale. Between double dips, great placement, and some solid airtime, you’re a definitely given a wild and wildly enjoyable old fashioned thrill. It’s got a good bite to it, far from smooth, but still in the category of what I call “character” for a wooden coaster, especially for one of its age – let alone one at a Six Flags park. And if you do one thing, don’t underestimate the helix. Lateral G’s are an understatement. This 450 degree spin is taken at easily 40mph, and has what must be the bare minimum amount of banking allowed by law. Think Himalaya spinning carnival ride or scrambler. Larger riders might want to sit on the left, is what I mean here. Across the way I walked on Tower of Doom, a modest second generation freefall. It’s nice to throw a non-coaster in here and there, especially when there is no line. I had been keeping an eye as best I could (i.e., from the top of lifts) on Batwing, but hadn’t seen it going yet. I took the opportunity to get some lunch and generally head back in that direction. It’s a relatively small park (think on par with Dorney Park or Lake Compounce, for you east coast people), so it was pretty quick to get into the Gotham City area, and I found a few food counters just inside the entrance. I got a combo, but was annoyingly not given the combo discount. Pointing that fact out to the cashier was met with absolutely no help. A co-worker came over to explain that only when customers ask for it as a combo (which I had), you press a certain series of buttons to get the dollar off. In something of a long shot, I asked if that meant they were going to rerun my card. Apparently that meant calling someone else to reprocess it, which, based on her tone, was as though I had asked her for a kidney. I guess that “Manager On Duty” sign was just for show. Say it with me now: typical Six Flags. The lunch itself was passable fried chicken strips and French fries, a wonderfully beige meal as I often say. I enjoyed it with a slight rush; I wanted to get back to check on Batwing. I took the fries on the road with me and as I came upon the dead end, I indeed saw it running. One train operation had been the standard so far, so with the line coming a little bit out of the station, it would be my first wait of the day. I had the fries to keep me company, and after about two or three cycles, I was granted a single rider reprieve. There was miraculously a line attendant at the station entrance who was meting out rows one cycle at a time, so I would be on the next train. Six Flags almost made up for my poor lunch experience right there. Batwing is one of only three Vekoma Flying Dutchmen, the first series of flying coasters. It’s the only installation that’s operating in its original location, built surprisingly long ago, in 2001. I’ve been on X-Flight at the former Geauga Lake (now Firehawk at Kings Island) as well as BORG Assiminator (now Nighthawk though still at Carowinds. Previously it was Stealth, at what was then Paramount’s Great America – and was the world’s first flying coaster). Getting on this incarnation made it three for three, and considering the vast difference in quality between the previous two, I was curious where it would land. X-Flight was a hoot, intense, exhilarating and pleasant to ride. BORG was at the other end of the spectrum: still intense for sure, but far too jarring to be enjoyable. Having been the oldest and having moved across the country, I should have known better. It was a disappointment, and it stands as the only time I’ve ever left an ERT session early. Batwing had a little of each. It was in its original location, so it had that going for it. But it was now in its 11th season, age was not on its side. Without too much surprise, the ride it offered was right in the middle. There was a fair amount of jostling, though nothing too painful. The circuit itself is a good mix of high sweeping turns, intense inversions, and a couple low to the ground maneuvers. The vertical loop is intense as anything (anything except Tatsu’s pretzel loop maybe) though the in-line twists are kind of bothersome. Overall the jolt was worth the thrill, as you spend half the ride hoping you don’t lose the contents of your pockets, and the other half hoping the ridiculous restraint system was worth all that effort during loading. I still prefer the B&M loading system for flyers, but this original layout seems more thrilling to me than the Superman models. Then again, there’s something to be said for a glass-smooth ride. I circumvented park rules as I saw a threesome in the row I had just ridden in. I slid down to the last seat and got an immediate re-ride. The repeat was definitely desired but I didn’t have too much interest in looping around and waiting a few more cycles. Besides, the seat would have been empty anyway. The second ride was as disorienting as the first, and I decided that was about all I could handle. Having hit everything I wanted, and most things multiple times over, I figured I would make a final loop for the highlights. It was barely 1pm, so I knew this wouldn’t take too much longer. Working my way back to the main park area, I started with a couple rides on Superman, loving the Intamin hypercoaster action and what is easily an upper-echelon coaster. I also did a pair on Joker, as eager to see how the indoor version would compare tomorrow as I was confused why this park would build a clone of a ride just three years later that’s all of 80 miles away. Sadly, the only unique (i.e., non-clone) coaster in the park is Wild One, and seeing how it was the surprise of the visit, I made sure to get two more rides on it. Feeling a bit brave, I thought I’d check out the kids’ area for the elusive junior coaster credit. All prepped with the excuse of riding by myself before my (secretly non-existent) child would ride, I was on and off Great Chase with little incident, and with a triple cycle. Having enjoyed the brief return to childhood, I rode the Great Race car ride as a lark, and tried to ignore the kid tailgating me the entire time. So that would conclude my visit. In three and a half hours, I had gotten six rides on Superman, five on Joker’s Jinx, five on Wild One, two on Batwing, endured one each on Mind Eraser and Roar, and gotten the credit with that triple circuit on Great Chase. I was glad to get that bonus seventh coaster, yes to pad my count, but I’ve got an outside shot at hitting 300 coasters this season, and I already missed out on Journey to Atlantis Sea World San Diego and Speed in Las Vegas has was demolished before I would be there this coming October. This one put me back on track, so to speak, and I was at 274 after the day. Oh, and this was also my 50th park overall, and my 10th Six Flags. Milestones all around. If nothing else, Six Flags America is a perfect example of a Six Flags park. The park itself is exactly what I expected. There was the core of the original, pre-SF park that was interesting, unique, and not without its charm. Then there was what Six Flags had brought in: A sudden and awkward expansion including thrilling but carbon copy coasters, sub-par park operations, unruly guests and disinterested employees. Fortunately for my visit, I was able to enjoy the charm as well as the coasters, and given the remarkably light (i.e., non-existent) crowds, all the negative things really went with little notice. Just like how I don’t hold it against a park for being crowded, I try not to praise a park too much for being empty. I did enjoy my day, but that should be attributed less to the park itself than how quiet it was. Perhaps the biggest irony was that if Six Flags had never taken over and dumped in a few coasters, I probably wouldn’t have bothered visiting. I sure hope that doesn’t mean I just proved their entire business model effective. Back to Trip Reports
|