Living in North Carolina, a majority of my theme park visits are predominantly are within a 4-5 hour drive. When I had the opportunity to drive to New Jersey for work, I knew that I would have the chance to visit some parks that I don’t normally have on my “shortlist,” including three parks I had never visited before.
After leaving North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon, and spending the night outside of Washington D.C., the first park on my journey was Six Flags America, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Originally proposed by Ross Perot as a wild life preserve, and then later opened by ABC Television drive-through safari known as Largo Wildlife Preserve, the park was later purchased by Jim Fowler’s “Wild Kingdom,” and evolved into a theme park. In 1992, Premier Parks acquired the park, known as Adventure World at the time, and in 1999, Six Flags America was designated as the 10th Six Flags park in the chain after Six Flags purchased Premier Parks.
The park is divided into several themed areas; Main Street 1776, Looney Tunes Movie Town, Mardi Gras, Gotham City, Coyote Creek, and Whistlestop Park. Six Flags America also has an in park water park called Hurricane Harbor. As far as roller coasters are concerned, Six Flags America has a decent catalogue, with 8 larger coasters, and one kiddie coaster.
I got to the park a little after park opening (Thanks for nothing, Washington D.C. traffic.) I grabbed a park map, studied it for a second, but just decided to approach the park in a counter-clockwise loop, with the intention of riding any roller coaster (and any other Six Flags ride that I thought would be fun) and making my way back to the park’s main entrance. It worked out better that way.
I walked past Looney Tunes Movie Town to the Mardi Gras area, and came upon my first ride of the day, and coincidentally Six Flags America’s newest coaster, Ragin’ Cajun, a spinning wild mouse from Zamperla. Back in January, I rode “Primeval Whirl” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which was my first spinning coaster. Compared to Primeval Whirl, Ragin’ Cajun was as fun, but a much more disorienting experience, constantly spinning in the second half of the ride, which was something I don’t necessarily remember at Disney.
Also located in the Mardi Gras area is a fairly unassuming wooden coaster named “The Wild One.” It’s not the tallest coaster in the park, standing under 100’ tall, and its white paint has definitely seen better days, but this only added to the nostalgia factor of the coaster, which originally opened at Massachusetts’ Paragon Park as “Giant Coaster” in 1917. This may be an unpopular opinion, but “The Wild One” was actually my favorite coaster at Six Flags America. There was a ton of great ejector air throughout the simple out-and-back layout, and the helix at the end of the ride provide some great side-to-side jostling, without being super forceful.
Located next to The Wild One is The Bourbon Street Fireball, a Larson Superloop that opened at Six Flags in 2015. The last time I rode an attraction like this was about a dozen years ago at the North Carolina State Fair, and it terrified me to the point where I never wanted to ride any attraction like that again for a long time. There was no line, so I decided to give the Super Loop another try. I sat in the middle, which was the perfect seat to experience the “stall” at the top of the loop, hanging completely upside down. For thrill seekers, the Bourbon Street Fireball is a great flat ride (yes, most certainly a flat ride), especially if you like the feeling of being upside down.
Exiting the Bourbon Street Fireball, I headed into Gotham City, home of Six Flags America’s super-hero (and villain) themed attractions. My first stop inside Gotham City was the Premier Rides launched coaster, Joker’s Jinx. Flight of Fear at both Kings Dominion and Kings Island has a similar layout to Joker’s Jinx, with the main difference being that Joker’s Jinx is outdoors (and there’s no mid-course brake run).
The lines were minimal, so I decided to wait (two trains) for the front row. As soon as I got in line in the front row, the ride closed momentarily. (The current train got stuck in the final brakes before the station.) The ride operator came over the speaker and told everyone that the ride would be down temporarily, and we could either wait in the station, or come back later. Her comments caused a mass exodus from the queue, except for one person.
No seriously. The queue has emptied. I'm currently the only one here. pic.twitter.com/ZyklLUkGt1
— Coaster101.com (@Coaster101) June 1, 2016
Yep. Me.
Six (Yes, Six) minutes later, the train slowly rolled into the station, released from the brakes by Six Flags’ Maintenance team. The train cycled three times, just to ensure that the brake issue wouldn’t happen again. Once the all-clear was given, there were only three people in the station, me, and two other guys waiting for the front row. The gates opened, and I was the only one riding Joker’s Jinx. So I can scratch “ride a roller coaster completely alone” off my theme park bucket list.
Tucked in a corner of the park is Six Flags America’s own version of Batman vs. Superman, with the Intamin Mega Coaster, Superman: Ride of Steel, and Vekoma Flying Dutchman, Batwing, located adjacent to each other.
In a few days (actual dates: June 10 for Passholders, June 11 for everyone else), Superman will receive the Virtual Reality Treatment, that is also happening at several other Six Flags parks this year. While I didn’t get to ride the attraction, (the test seat – the only one I recall seeing today at any ride — is out front for a reason, folks. Remember that.) it looks impressive, and has some great airtime hills.
Batwing is another attraction I’ve technically ridden before, though it usually has the word “Hawk” in it when I ride. (Nighthawk at Carowinds and Firehawk at Kings Island) Like Firehawk, Batwing has a dual loading station, though only one train was in operation. This was a pretty standard Flying Dutchman experience, though I feel like I only ride these when it’s completely sunny outside, and have to stare into the sun during the ascent up the lift hill.
Another transplanted coaster, the former Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America has received new life as Apocalypse at Six Flags America. For a coaster, Apocalypse was actually really well themed in the queue as well as during the attraction. At one point, a giant fireball erupted from a crashed plane near the ride’s track. Unfortunately, being a guy, my personal preference is to avoid stand-up coasters for obvious reasons, so I can say when I go back to Six Flags America, Apocalypse wouldn’t be near the top of my-must ride list.
After Apocalypse, I headed over to Roar, which is a Great Coasters International wooden coaster. Roar has a much more complex layout than The Wild One, and was constantly leaving me guessing what the ride was going to do next. While I usually prefer steel coasters to wooden coasters, Roar was a close second behind The Wild One for my favorite coaster of the day.
I ended my day with Mind Eraser, a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster, and my seventh new coaster of the day. (Personal Count is now at 126.) It was my first SLC, and I now understand the reputation that they have among roller coaster enthusiasts. I will say that I think the addition of extra padding on the restraints is a great idea, and cushioned a lot of the elements of the attraction.
Following Mind Eraser, I had a four hour drive north to make, and I decided to call it a day on my first trip to Six Flags America.
Overall, I think that Six Flags America is a decent regional park. I have heard several negative comments in the past about the park’s operations and staff, but I didn’t feel these to be true opinions based on my experience today. All of the staff I encountered were very friendly and helpful, and while one-train operation on every roller coaster is a bit frustrating, the park’s attendance on a Wednesday (consisting of me plus a bunch of field trips) didn’t warrant much more than that.
Obviously, I would have liked to experience Superman, but that just means I’ll have to make the trip to Six Flags America again in the future.
Six Flags America Coasters, Ranked
- The Wild One
- Roar
- Joker’s Jinx
- Ragin’ Cajun
- Batwing
- Apocalypse
- Mind Eraser
NR – Superman: Ride of Steel
NR- Great Chase
Thanks for reading! You can read more about Six Flags America at the park’s website — https://www.sixflags.com/america. Stay tuned as our road trip continues tomorrow at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ!
I can see why you don’t like Apocalypse.Ouch!