Throughout the week Sam and I were looking for something to do. We had talked about going to an amusement park, but the forecast was calling for rain and storms practically every day. We decided to just wait and do something in the coming weeks. As this week began to unfold, we did get some of that rain, but Friday ended up clearing up. Maybe we’d end up at a park after all?
Long story short, Sam and I decided to spend the day in Washington, D.C. instead. She had found an awesome looking King Tut exhibit at the National Geographic Museum. If you want to know more about it, I suggest Googling the museum just once and then you will get the ad for the exhibit every time you open up your Facebook app. Seriously, I’ve seen ads for this exhibit pop up over a dozen times in less than two days. Anyhow, it looked neat, so we decided to go check it out.
We began our visiting a lot of the popular monuments and memorials before making our way to the King Tut exhibit. Our timed entry ticket was scheduled for 3:45 p.m., so we had some time to kill and lots of miles to walk. It was nice getting to see some of these places I haven’t been to in a few years, or in some cases, at all.
When it came to the King Tut exhibit, we enjoyed the experience. It’s nothing like we’ve done before. Visitors walk though rooms filled with panoramic movies that fill entire rooms (including the floor), replica tombs and temples, as well as other items I don’t want to ruin. Just know, this isn’t a museum exhibit. There are no artifacts to be found – something many people in the comments below those Facebook ads apparently didn’t bother to read before going.
Since we took the subway into D.C., leaving from the New Largo station a few miles away from Six Flags America (SFA), we said if we got back in time, maybe we’d hit the park for a few rides to end the evening. Getting back to the station at 6 p.m., that gave us two hours at the park to get into whatever we wanted. Below is what we ended up wanting to do.
A Slow Evening at the Park
Being a Friday night at the park, I didn’t know whether or not to expect a crowd. So far in 2022, Friday nights have been a slow go at every park I’ve visited. SFA was no different. All the major coasters were running just one train and all of the ones we rode were walk-ons. We weren’t trying to get in every ride, just ride whatever we felt like doing while walking around. We had spent hours on our feet on a very hot, humid day. We were tired, but the call to ride some coasters is hard to pass up.
Renegade Rapids
Sam had never experienced Renegade Rapids before last night’s visit. It was closed on some past visits and then on others, we didn’t bring along spare clothes to change into. Although that was true yesterday as well, my recent rides on the rapids left me pretty much dry. That held true again. This time around, however, it may have only been the case because of the waterfalls being turned off. Sam would have been close to catching the tail end of that as our boat rolled along that area at the conclusion of the ride.
Superman Ride of Steel
After hitting up Joker’s Jinx, we made our way to Superman Ride of Steel. There were people in the station waiting for the next train, but Sam and I managed to find an empty row no one was waiting in – Row 3. When the gates open though, kids ran into our row and took the seats. The appeared to be with the family sitting in Rows 1 and 2. Thankfully Row 5 was roped off for Flash Pass, so we sat there instead. The staff didn’t either notice, or figured since we moved to Row 5, things were okay. I wasn’t upset. Not yet anyhow…
Wild One
When we walked into Wild One’s station, the ride crew was laughing hysterically, and having a grand time. Apparently someone had just dropped the funniest joke and one staff member was even hanging on the railing, appearing to be in tears . While I’ve seen very casual/playful ride crews before, this one irked me. For several more pressing reasons on top of just them having too much fun.
First up, the first row of the last train had the right side lap bar tied down and locked shut. The row was not blocked off, however, so people could get in line only to find out they can sit there. That is exactly what happened too. It made the staff look lazy. Thankfully the guy waiting in line for that row was able to move up since that row was also open.
And speaking of lazy, and dangerous too…
The guy who had to move up a row, boarded with a baseball hat and sunglasses without a strap of any kind. We figured that the ride ops would tell him to remove them and put them in the cubby. Nope! So right there we have two loose articles. Two that I’ve seen come off and hit someone before – sunglasses hitting Steven from Thrill Maxx on Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion last year, and a baseball hat hitting me on Comet at Hersheypark about a decade ago. Steven had a cut under his eye and I had a sore nose for the rest of the day.
If this wasn’t enough, as soon as the ride left the station, this amazing guy pulled out his cellphone and held it up to film what had to be some of the worst footage ever recorded. Both Sam and I held our hands and arms out in front of our face just in cases that phone was dropped. It wasn’t but he did have to grab his hat on the first drop from being pulled off his head.
Earlier this year, Chance, the Cheapthusiast, and I, were at SFA riding Wild One. On that ride a guy a few rows in front of us pulled out his phone too. There was two train ops that day, but the staff still saw it and stopped the train. They retrieved the phone, and had a talk with the rider afterward. Yesterday’s culprit, however, filmed the whole ride and had it up in his hand return to the station even. None of the staff saw, or saw him showing off his footage to his friends leaving the station and walking past the operator booth.
As he was walking out I approached the op at the booth and tried to mention what had just happened. It took a few seconds to even be acknowledged, but that wasn’t because the staff was busy doing their jobs. Nope. It was because they were busy talking to one another and laughing. When I explained what happened, I didn’t seem to get much of a response, so yeah, this whole ordeal didn’t sit well with me. Add in the fact that a young girl was recently hit in the face by a phone at Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) days ago, with allegations that her mother was ignored by staff when trying to inform them, I filed a complaint at Guest Services. I didn’t want to be that person, but it felt like it needed to be addressed so stuff like what happened to that girl won’t happen again.
(07.07.2022) New York Post – 8-Year-Old Hit in Face by Cellphone on Roller Coaster
Final Ride Counts
Joker’s Jinx (1)
Mind Eraser (1)
Renegade Rapids (1)
Superman Ride of Steel (1)
Wild One (1)
A Short Stay & Overall, Wonderful Day
Take away the issues with the staff and Mr. Loose Articles riding in front of us on Wild One, and yesterday couldn’t have been better. We didn’t stay long and I didn’t go wild with taking photos, but it was still a visit to a park. No matter how small of a park, or short of a stay, I will always give a trip report here on the site. Sadly, this one had to mention some sad truths, but that’s bound to happen from time to time.
Six Flags America Photo Gallery - July 8, 2022
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CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): n/a
