To say that Chance the Cheapthusiast has been itching to ride roller coasters for months on end would be an understatement. It’s not my place to explain why, but now that he is cleared, he’s looking to make up for lost time. His recent visit to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW) saw him earn that coveted Pantheon credit he clamored for, just like so many fellow enthusiasts. That one visit, however, wasn’t going to fill the void left by months of missing out on airtime, inversions, launches, and all the other awesome elements there are to experience.
Thankfully, for the last few weeks, Chance and I have tossed around a few ideas to meet up. About a week ago we settled on hiting Six Flags America (SFA) on Sunday. Sunday being yesterday. We had some good weather and thankfully the park wasn’t crowded. We did all but two of the coasters and even managed to get Chance on a flat ride in Harley Quinn Spinsanity. Not sure if he’s going to be wanting to do one of those again.
'Minding' My Own Business
Chance told me Saturday night that he wouldn’t get to the park until around noon. With the park opening at 11 a.m., I decided to arrive at park opening and film some off-ride content. I made my way over to Mind Eraser, hence the “Minding My Own Business” heading above. I shot so many videos and stills of SFA’s inverted coaster, and from every which angle I could imagine. My hope is to use this footage in a ride review once I figure out what kind of microphone I should buy. I have a headset, but the more I read about mics, the more I doubt which kind would work the best. Obviously I’m not looking to do Hollywood voice over quality stuff, but I don’t want whatever I record to sound horrible either.
If anyone reading this has any advice on a decent microphone to do voice over work, please reach out to me. It would be greatly appreciated.
Mind Eraser
After shooting more than a dozen clips of Mind Eraser, I worked my way underneath the ride’s lift hill. Chance was still about 30 minutes away so I decided to go ahead and get in a quick ride. Filming all that content had me wanting to jump on. For the most part, none of the trains ever dispatched more than half-full during filming. Why not take advantage of the short lines? I put my phone into my zippered pocket and boarded the back row. I mention my phone here because phones will come up again later in this trip report.
The back row had some good pull through the inversions. While SFA’s Mind Eraser does shake back and forth throughout the ride, I still don’t get head banging like so many other experience. All in all, it was a good ride. After exiting, I stood on the exit ramp and began filming again.
Eventually Chance arrived and he caught up with me just after finishing some footage of the ride’s brake run area. We walked into the station and decided to go for the front row. It was only a one train wait, so why not?
Aside from Chance getting some grease dripping on his pants from the overhead train components and motors climbing the lift hill, the ride wasn’t too much different in the front than it was in the back. There was a little less whip, but the visual of the track so close overhead, the numerous supports flying by, and constant turns made it feel so much faster.
Chance wasn’t the only person to be hit by grease in the front seat either. One of Chance’s friends, who rode after us in the front row, also experienced the same. Sadly, this is something many of us enthusiasts have heard of and some have experienced. Keep that in mind when riding any amusement park attraction. Perhaps it’s best that you don’t wear your favorite clothes.
Roar
Next up on the day was Roar. Chance’s friends had already rode prior to running into us at Mind Eraser. They had positive things to say about the ride experience with its off season re-tracking, which you can see in the photo above. I envisioned a majority of the ride having re-tracking work done, but that is not the case at all. We were hoping for the best just like we have every year the ride has been patched up with new track. And just as soon as we prepared to ride, the coaster went down. A blessing in disguise? Time would tell.
Not wanting to take any chances, we rode in the front row. Chance’s friends took rode in the front prior to meeting up with us and this time they took the back. By time our ride was over, Chance and I agreed that it’s better, but it’s still kind of blah! Chance’s friends, however, recounted their earlier praise from their front seat ride saying the back was not good at all.
Moral of the story, RMC this coaster. SFA can use it and Roar is severely outclassed by Wild One. An RMC of Roar would give the park a much needed new coaster and something that vastly different than every other coaster in the park.
Wild One
After splitting up with Chance’s friends, Chance and I grabbed a ride on Batwing and then made our way to the historic, Wild One. I’ve sung the praises of this coaster since I launched We Were Inverted. It was featured in my Influential Coasters of My Childhood series. There isn’t a visit to SFA when I don’t ride this coaster. Yesterday was no exception.
With so many rides on Wild One I could have easily left it out of this blog and talked about one of the other rides. I probably would have if it hadn’t of been for the ass hat in Row 3. Our train was stopped about three quarters up the lift hill. We didn’t know why, but when Chance saw an employ walking up the ramp, he figured that someone had pulled out a phone. Sure enough, that was the case.
Once the phone was confiscated and the staff member made it back to the station, our ride continued. We sat up there for a good 5-10 minutes, but it was good to finally get going. Well, until we stopped again. When our train pulled into the brake run following the helix finale, we were stuck again for about 10 minutes. What I gathered was the ride went into a funk due to the initial stop on the lift hill. We could see the staff tell everyone in the station and already on the next train that the ride would be going down. When we finally did make it back into the station, it was empty and the entrance ramp blocked.
All this for a dude pulling his phone out to film some crap-tastic footage on TikTok, Instagram, or whatever other social media platform he uses. I swear if someone’s phone ever ends up in my lap on a ride, I’m either tossing it over the side, or acting like I know nothing and tossing it in a trash can.
Great Chase
After seeing the long line for Ragin’ Cajun and both of us being severely hungry, we decided to call it a day and head to a restaurant. That’s when I remembered Chance earlier saying that he never rode the Great Chase. Me being me, I detoured us into the kids section of the park. The line was short, so we jumped on. Now Chance has completed the park. I made sure to tell the ride op how much he was looking forward to the ride as we took our seats in the back too. Why does Chance like me? I don’t know.
Final Ride Counts
Batwing (1)
Great Chase (1)
Harley Quinn Spinsanity (1)
Joker’s Jinx (1)
Mind Eraser (2: Patrick, 1: Chance)
Roar (1)
Superman Ride of Steel (1)
Wild One (1)
A Sappy Conclusion
Chance, I’m glad you’re feeling better my friend. It was great catching up again. Thanks for being my wingman on all the coasters yesterday and being my dinner date afterward. The coaster hobby and running this site have allowed me to meet a bunch of great people like you and Aaron. And although Aaron’s lame butt didn’t tag along yesterday, I just want to know it’s always a good time getting out with the both of you. I can’t wait to do it again and I know Sam, Greg, Chris, and Kaylee can’t either.
Six Flags America Photo Gallery - April 24, 2022
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
Josh
Ensign
New Credit(s): Great Chase
