My niece, Dalila, was visiting this past weekend. She mentioned to me that she wanted to go to Six Flags America (SFA) before school starts in a couple of weeks. With Labor Day approaching and parks in this area changing their hours this time of year, I clicked open the app to see if the park was open on Monday. It was, from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. I then clicked on my membership perks to see if I had any discount tickets to use. Low and behold, I had something better – a free bring a friend ticket for use anytime during the week.
I contacted Dalila’s parents to see if they had any issue with her going to the park, but they both said to go for it and to have a good time. I hit up Sam and Kaylee to see if they wanted to go with us. Sam was game and Kaylee was already planning on being at the park that day with a friend of hers and her grandfather. We made plans to meet up once we arrived and catch some rides together.
Coasters: Some Ridden, Some Skipped, & Some Closed
Monday’s trip to SFA marked the third different amusement park that Dalila and I would visit together, with the first two being Dutch Wonderland and Knoebels. During those visits I was able to ride Kingdom Coaster, Phoenix, Twister, and even Impulse with her. She really loved the wooden coasters, but Impulse wasn’t for her at the time. It made her feel feint, so I had a feeling going into to SFA that she might prefer riding Wild One and Roar over any other coasters.
Long story short, Dalila had no qualms over riding Ragin’ Cajun or Wild One. She had no desire to try Firebird or Joker’s Jinx, however. With Mind Eraser and Batwing being closed, neither were an option. That left just Roar and Superman for her to contemplate.
Ultimately, Dalila, along with the Sam and Kaylee declined riding Roar. I think Dalila could tell from the two of them that the ride was not good, so she changed her mind. As for Superman, more on that in a bit.
Ragin' Cajun
We took two rides on SFA’s crazy spinning coaster on Monday. The first came immediately following a ride on the Flying Carousel swings. The line was short, so we jumped into the queue. All four of us were allowed to ride together, which hasn’t always been the case when I’ve had groups of four or more at the park in the past.
Having a full train really got us spinning hardcore. The four of us slid into each other for the entire finale of the ride. This happened on both rides too, with the second ride being much more intense. I’m not sure if it was because the ride was warmed up, or our weight was distributed differently. We also hit the bunny hill portion of the ride backward the second time, which was neat.
After our second ride, I asked Dalila which coaster at the park she liked the best. She replied, “I don’t know. Not this one though.”
Wild One
Now, for the coaster that Dalila did ultimately pick as her favorite – Wild One. Knowing how much she enjoyed Phoenix and Twister back in 2019, I had a feeling that this one might be her favorite. Maybe she prefers wooden coasters as some of us enthusiasts do?
When I was Dalila’s age, Wild One was one of the coasters my Aunt Cheryl took me to ride. We used to visit Wild World in the 80’s before it became Adventure World, and finally, SFA. I touch upon those memories in the blog, “Influential Coasters of My Childhood – Wild One.” It was nice to be able to take Dalila on this ride all these years later. Now I just need to get her up to Hersheypark for Comet. I think she’ll love that one too.
Like Ragin’ Cajun, we rode Wild One twice. Both rides had good pops of airtime and man, that helix was bringing the intensity. I had told Dalila about it before our first ride. Since the park was only running one train, we watched it go around the helix a couple of times before it was our turn. I told her to get ready to be pulled up against the train the whole way through.
During our second ride, I looked down to see her smiling as we made our way out of that helix. I think she really enjoyed that part of the ride, which might have influenced her decision to ride the park’s biggest coaster.
Superman Ride of Steel
Before our ride on Superman Ride of Steel, Sam and Kaylee took a ride on Joker’s Jinx. Dalila didn’t want to ride it, so the two of us went down to the spaghetti bowl portion of the ride to watch. While we were there, the two of us also talked about Superman. At the outset of the conversation, Dalila had no desire to ride the Intamin hyper coaster. I explained to her that although it’s tall, it doesn’t go upside down, it’s smooth, and also has a few of the big circles she liked on Wild One. “Big circles” being helixes, of course.
Nothing much came of the conversation and I figured Dalila and I would be waiting for Sam and Kaylee just as we had done with Joker’s Jinx. Between the two coasters, however, we took a quick ride on Penguin Blizzard River. During that time, something changed Dalila’s mind.
As Sam and Kaylee began walking toward the entrance, Dalila looked at me and said, “I want to ride it too.”
I was surprised, but this is the same thing that happened at Knoebels with Twister and then later, Impulse. On that day I think it was seeing Mindy and Mailyn wanting to ride it too that changed her mind. Maybe it was seeing Sam and Kaylee excited to ride it along with all I told her while watching Joker. I’m not really sure, but she wanted to give it a go.
When our ride was finished, I asked Dalila if she liked it and she shook her head no. I asked her if it was too tall, but she said no, that it was just, “too much.” The more we talked about it going to the ride store, it sounds like the ride’s speed might have been what she didn’t like. She even said, “I couldn’t even move to look at the camera,” when we went to get our ride photo. Still, she looks like she’s smiling, so maybe she’ll give it another try one day.
Flats & a Water Ride
As you’ve already read above, our day wasn’t only coaster rides. Nope. We managed to get in a few flat rides as well as that ride on Penguin Blizzard River – our lone water ride of the day. I can honestly say that this trip might have been the first time I’ve ridden the Coyote Creek Crazy Cars or the Zydeco Zinger. And while I’ve ridden High Seas, the pirate ship, it’s been ages. Just like my previous visit to SFA, “Six Flags America – Wet Not Wild,” it was nice getting riding some of the park’s non-coaster rides too.
Sadly, neither Shipwreck Falls or Renegade Rapids were open during our time at the park. Renegade Rapids opened shortly after Sam, Dalila, and I left for the evening. Kaylee sent us photos of it opening up after we left. It would have been nice to hit that before leaving since it was such a hot day with no breeze to speak of.
Final Ride Counts
Coyote Creek Crazy Cars (1)
Flying Carousel (1)
High Seas (1: Patrick, Kaylee, Dalila)
Joker’s Jinx (1: Sam, Kaylee)
Penguin Blizzard River (1)
Ragin’ Cajun (2)
Superman Ride of Steel (1)
Wild One (2)
Zydeco Zinger (1: Patrick, Dalila)
Going to Have to do This Again Sometime
I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that as 2021 begins to wind down that things don’t take a turn for the worse with the ongoing pandemic. I’d love to be able to get Dalila up to Hersheypark one of these days, hopefully on a day a little cooler than what we had on Monday. I think she’d love that park, especially with its mix of rides, zoo, and Chocolate World. Fingers crossed!
Six Flags America Photo Gallery - August 23, 2021
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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
Kaylee
Lieutenant
New Credit(s): n/a
