If you’ve been keeping up with the trip reports this summer you know that Jen and I have been quite busy visiting parks all over this region. We’ve been to Hersheypark, Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW), Dorney Park, Carowinds, and now the park that is closer to us than all of them, Six Flags America (SFA).Ā
Both Jen and I have been to this park plenty of times, but it has been a very long time since Jen’s last visit. I haven’t been since 2022 myself, deciding not to go last year with Coyote Creek and Whistlestop Park being entirely closed. While Whistlestop didn’t really factor in to my decision all too much, Coyote Creek housed Mind Eraser and Renegade Rapids – two rides I enjoyed.
So when the park announced in the off season that Coyote Creek would undergo a makeover into SteamTown, which included improvements to both Mind Eraser and Renegade Rapids, not to mention the addition of a Zamperla Nebulaz, I was intrigued. A 2024 visit was a must.
Feeling the Park's Strange Atmosphere
With SteamTown open and breathing new life into the park, I didn’t expect such a contrast to exist throughout the rest of the park. Numerous rides scattered throughout the rest park are either sitting but not operating (SBNO) or have been removed outright. Here are just the ones I noticed:
- Penguin Blizzard River (SBNO)
- Shipwreck Falls (SBNO)
- Bourbon Street Fireball (Removed)
- Zydeco Zinger (Removed)
- All 8 attractions in Whistlestop Park (Removed & SBNO)
Add in items such as Capital Railways only operating on weekends (which has been the case for years) and there are a lot of dead spots throughout the park. Having to walk past closed rides or empty plots on a regular basis is not good.
And then there were ride operations…
In years past SFA has gained a reputation for lackluster operations. Since 2019, however, I have found SFA’s on an upward trajectory. On July 29, however, that was not the case. Let me be up front here and say this had nothing to do with the staff or how fast they were dispatching their rides. This had to do with the park running single trains on all their coasters and in one case, not even a full train. Needless to say, things were moving at a snail’s pace.
Ride staffs did the best they could with what they had. Hopefully this isn’t how rides such as Superman Ride of Steel, Wild One, and Professor Screamore’s SkyWinder, to name a few, will run with for the rest of the year.
As for which ride wasn’t even running a full train, that would be Joker’s Jinx. The middle four rows were all blocked off. I figured they were being saved for ADA and/or Flash Pass riders. Nope. Just closed. I’m not sure why, but we did notice that the coaster rode so slow while traversing the top of the course. I even wondered if we were going to valley during our single ride. It wasn’t just our ride either. I saw it moving around super slow while on Superman’s lift hill too. I wonder what that is about?
The Rides That Remain & We Rode
Okay, enough about the depressing atmosphere and onto the rides. We rode all of the coasters once, minus Great Chase, and a few non-coasters as well. My idea for this trip report was to discuss all the rides in SteamTown since I’ve covered this park and its rides many times over the years. Things didn’t play out as I had hoped though. SteamWhirler closed due to someone getting sick. We hoped to return later to ride it and ElectroDerby (bumper cars), but a massive thunderstorm had us leave the park 45 minutes prior to close.
Oh, and while I’m here. What’s up with all the ride names being two words jammed together, Six Flags? SkyWinder, SteamWhirler, ElectroDerby, QuantumCanyon, all in SteamTown. And that’s leaving out RipQurl Blaster in Hurricane Harbor… or is it HurricaneHarbor now? Man, my spell check is underlining everything red in this trip report.
Professor Screamore's SkyWinder
This was the ride I was most looking forward to riding. In recent years I grew to enjoy Mind Eraser more than I previously did. Head banging for me was rare when I rode Mind Eraser and if you go back through some of my prior trip reports, you can see I rode it several times during most of my visits. With all that being true, I was still eager to experience the ride with new trains and restraints. I hadn’t experienced them on other Vekoma SLC’s yet either. I elected to skip Riddler Revenge at Six Flags New England (SFNE) a few years ago for more rides on Wicked Cyclone. I had ridden it before when it was still Mind Eraser. Then the Great Nor’Easter at Morey’s Piers was closed a couple of years ago when I visited with Sam, Greg, and Renee. Talk about a major bummer for an otherwise amazing trip.
So, how was it? Honestly, not great. While the seats and vests are so much more comfortable on my body, they allowed for something I did not expect – the back of my head banging into the seat numerous times. With the upper half of my body now more free to move throughout the ride, this happened over and over. I did try holding my head back and then forward, but it didn’t matter. This never happened on the old trains. On those I’d occasionally get some side to side head banging due to the thick over the shoulder pads, but the impact from those was so minor in comparison.Ā
Having only one ride on SkyWinder (I’m not typing the full name out every time) I will say that I would like to try it again in the future to see if I can figure out how to ride it more comfortably. I hate to have to ride a coaster defensively though. I hoped these new trains would have been as much as an improvement as the new trains on the Boomerangs have been for older Vekomas.
QuantumCanyon Rapids
The former Renegade Rapids now has dinosaurs! I’m all for some theming, but how does this fit the steam punk aesthetic now running throughout SteamTown? Perhaps the theming added to the station does, but I don’t really understand how it ties to the dinosaurs. It’s weird. Perhaps it’s some kind of time displacement portal? Who knows? Either way, I’ll take it. It’s still an improvement.
Oddly enough, even without the waterfall finale not running, everyone was drenched coming off our boat. I don’t know how or why, but every little dip and bounce off the wall threw water up and onto someone. People leaving the ride prior to us didn’t look wet at all. Not us, though. Squishy shoes, soaked butts, and wet hair for everyone!
Roar
Okay Six Flags it’s time. It’s time to give this ride the RMC treatment. As much as I’d like to see a ride be reworked with GCI’s Titan Track, it looks like parks are just using that as band aids for track portions right now. Please don’t do that here. RMC this ride and give the park its new star attraction! It’s beyond rough and it’s time to go.
Final Ride Counts
BatwingĀ (1)
FirebirdĀ (1)
Joker’s JinxĀ (1)
Professor Screamore’s SkyWinderĀ (1)
QuantumCanyon RapidsĀ (1)
Ragin CajunĀ (1)
RoarĀ (1)
Superman Ride of SteelĀ (1)
Wild OneĀ (1)
Wonder Woman Lasso of TruthĀ (1)
What Does the Future Hold?
With the recent merger of Cedar Fair and Six Flags, so many people ask if parks such as SFA will be around much longer. While far from the best park in the region, I don’t want to see it go. I’d love to see more improvements made to the rest of the park to be on par with SteamTown. Repaints are in order for rides such as Batwing and Superman. Joker’s Jinx got a refresh a few years ago and it stands out against the dull, faded paint of it’s Gotham City partners.
I’m hoping all the ride removals I mentioned above add up to future improvements as well. Perhaps Whistlestop becomes the home of a future stand out ride? Maybe the removal of Fireball and Zinger give way to new, flat rides?
What I don’t want to see either is rides being moved to other parks in this new massive chain. That will give me the impression that the park’s days are indeed numbered.
Only time will tell, but I’ll be keeping an eye on this Maryland park – one I’ve gone to so many times since my childhood – back when it was called Wild World and Adventure World.Ā
Six Flags America Photo Gallery - July 29, 2024
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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
Jen
Lieutenant
New Credit(s): Firebird, Ragin Cajun
1 thought on “Six Flags America – Tearing Down or Rebuilding?”
Was a good trip even tho half the rides hurt lol š and it was hot hot š„µ
Iām curious to see if their numbers went up or down with the separation between water park and ride park bc that seems like it would hurt business too
Hopefully the merger means better things for this park but who knows
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