While standing in line for Gobbler Getaway last weekend at Holiday World, Kaylee shared some photos with Sam and I of Six Flags America’s (SFA) brand new Wild One and Roar t-shirts. I knew right then and there, I’d be visiting the park to grab one of the Wild One shirts soon. With no plans Friday evening, I decided not to wait and just go grab one. Yes, I really wanted one of these shirts.
I've Been Waiting a Long Time...
Some of you might remember back in February when I published the editorial, “Six Flags America Wish List – One Enthusiast’s Hopes.” In that extensive piece, I covered some improvements I would like to see come to the park under new Park President Richard Pretlow. I talked about rides and quality of life improvements. One thing I also talked about was the park offering better merchandise – namely items that say “Six Flags America” or feature some of the park’s rides. I said that if the park began selling such items, I would certainly buy it.
Earlier this year new shirts began popping up that read “Six Flags America” and weren’t your average Justice League shirt with the park’s name listed below. These featured rides and coasters on them, albeit generic ones not found at the park. Still, it was something I could wear to promote the park and I bought one just like I said I would.
Well, here in October, the park is now offering two new coaster shirt designs. The first one, for Roar, I really have no interest in since it’s a ride I hope gets retrofit with either Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) or Great Coasters International (GCI) Titan Track. It just needs a change, which I did cover in that same editorial.
The second shirt, the one I was after, features a favorite of mine and a coaster that played an important in the early years of this hobby – Wild One. Wild One was also featured in my Influential Coasters of My Childhood series (I’ll leave the links below). Not only did I purchase one for myself, but for Chris D. as well.
I Wasn't Going to Just Buy Merch & Leave
SFA didn’t open until 5 p.m. on Friday. The park was running their Fright Fest event, but was only open for four hours. I figured that would be plenty of time as I wasn’t planning on being at the park until close anyhow. I thought I’d hit a few rides, head back to Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth to say hello to Kaylee, but my merch, and head home. What I didn’t expect, however, was to meet two new friends and end up riding coasters with them all night long. More on our meet up in the Superman Ride of Steel section below.
Wild One
Wild One was the first place I went following the gift shop. There was no line and the park overall was pretty empty. I walked right up and got a front row ride to start the day. And talk about one of the smoothest rides I’ve ever had on Wild One. It rode so good and offered some good airtime pops, especially after the turn around on the double down and portion going into the structure. I walked down and right back up again for a back row ride.
The back row, while a little bumpier, was still not rough at all. I experienced even more airtime, with some strong moments leading into the turn around, as well as after. I’ve always enjoyed Wild One, but yesterday’s rides have me wanting to go back and marathon this ageless classic.
Both those rides came during the day and if I stayed long enough, I was going to grab at least one night ride before leaving. That ultimately did end up playing out and I got to do it with my two new friends too.
Superman Ride of Steel
After a ride on Joker’s Jinx and Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth, I got in my first ride on Superman Ride of Steel. The sun was starting to go down and they were only running the blue train with the lighter crowds. I got in a second row ride, my first of four rides on this Intamin hyper coaster of the day, From there, I snuck off to Batwing for a couple of rides before coming back for a back row ride and then to do some night time photography.
When I was done shooting photos, I decided to get in a third ride on Superman. I jumped in line for the back row again and that was when I met Maya and her daughter, Taliyah. We struck up a conversation about coasters and how much we love them. By time the train returned and was ready for us to board, we having a blast and were excited to ride together. When that ride was over, however, Taliyah was stuck on the train with a seat belt that would not unlatch. She tried, I tried, Maya tried, as did other guests waiting to take our row. When the ride ops couldn’t get it off, the ride was shut down for a short time.
Instead of walking away, I hung out with Maya by the ride’s exit. After a few minutes, Taliyah was able to free herself, but the ride did stay down for a while longer. All three of us were given skip the line passes to use throughout the rest of the day on a ride of our choosing. We decided to use it on Batwing since the line stretched down into the queue with a lot of guests leaving Superman deciding to go to Batwing.
When we were done with Batwing, we saw Superman was up and running again with no one in line. We decided to get on it real quick before leaving the area, giving me my fourth ride on it for the evening.
Batwing
As you can see in the photo above, when I first approached Batwing, the sun was going down. The ride was a walk on. As usual, they were running just one train, although the second train is now in the second loading station. That side of the station hasn’t been used in years and that train has been nowhere to be found during my visits. I assumed it became a parts donor for the one train in operation, but who knows?
My first two rides on Batwing saw the station running without any lights inside. The only lights were out on the walkways and lift hill. I could barely make out the ride ops giving the thumbs inside the station. How the lead op could see them from the switch board is beyond me. Later at night, when I returned for my third ride with Maya and Taliyah, the lights had finally been turned on.
After three fun rides in such a short timeframe on Batwing, I’m honestly considering moving it ahead of the two Superman: Ultimate Flight Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) flying coasters I’ve experienced. While they are smoother, the intensity and feeling of flight are more enjoyable on these Flying Dutchman models. Well, maybe not Nighthawk at Carowinds. That one was always my least favorite of the trio by far, with Batwing always running the best in my opinion.
Final Ride Counts
Batwing (3)
Firebird (1)
Joker’s Jinx (1)
Ragin’ Cajun (1)
Superman Ride of Steel (4)
Wild One (3)
Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth (1)
Trying for the Rest
After our night ride on Wild One, Maya decided that she wanted to try Ragin’ Cajun for the first time. It was a walk on and she expected it to ride similar to Apple Zapple at Kings Dominion. Once that spinning kicked in, however, she got her ass kicked and she was a wreck getting off the ride. She swore that she’d never ride it again as she stumbled all over the place. It was quite comical… sorry Maya.
After Ragin’ Cajun we tried to squeeze in both Firebird and Mind Eraser before the end of the night. None of us wanted to ride Roar. We went to Firebird first, but I kind of wished we had done Mind Eraser first as by time we made it back there, they were turning people away since it was close to closing. Firebird ended up being my last right of the night and Maya and Taliyah rode it twice, while I elected to take some photos of Wild One, like you can see above, covered in the fog and neon lights.
When I went to SFA yesterday, I fully expected to maybe stay for a couple of hours after a ride or two on some favorites and saying hello to Kaylee. What ended up playing out made the night so much more memorable and fun. So if you find yourself in line for a coaster, strike up a conversation with a stranger from time to time. You’ll never know who you’ll meet and what fun could result. Thanks for riding with me last night ladies. It was a blast! We’ll have to make sure to do it again.
Six Flags America Photo Gallery - October 22, 2021
If you would like to use any of the images in the gallery above for your commercial and/or non-commercial projects, feel free to do so. I ask that you credit We Were Inverted whenever they’re used. I also ask that you do not alter the image or remove the watermarks. If you need any images/video resized or without the watermarks, please contact me directly.
CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): n/a
