My Crazy Quick Trip to Six Flags America

Recently I had a chance to make a trip to our nation’s capital and visit Six Flags America for the first time. I’ve always wanted to check out the park, especially Joker’s Jinx. Despite many people telling me it wasn’t worth it, I decided to make the drive and get some more use out of my Six Flags Membership.

I live six hours from the park and only had a small window of opportunity to make the trip. I didn’t really know what to expect once I arrived at the park. The lines could be short or maybe I’d find myself waiting in queues all day. So with that in mind, I planned to leave my house at 4:30 AM in order to get to the front gate just in time for rope drop.

After a beautiful drive through the foggy mountains of Maryland in the wee hours of the morning, I found myself in line at Six Flags America.


My Day at Six Flags America

At 11:00 AM the gates opened and I headed in. I hung a right into the Looney Tunes Movie Town to snag a ride on their kiddie coaster The Great Chase before the rest of the crowds ventured that way. I was the lone first rider of the day and definitely didn’t get strange looks from the ride operator.

I was able to get some tips from the Coaster101 team as well as Adam (IG @adamigram), a local who we met at Coasterstock the weekend before, so I knew that Ragin’ Cajun is known to get a longer line later in the day. Since it was located very close to Movie Town, it was still a walk-on. I’ve been on a lot of wild mouse type coasters and I have never spun as much as I did on Ragin’ Cajun! It was absolutely crazy.

Just around the corner from the wild mouse is Wild One, one of the park’s two wooden coasters. I was told by several people that Wild One was the best coaster at Six Flags America. They weren’t wrong, the 98 foot tall coaster is a blast! Plus it was another walk-on.

Wild one has a simple out and back design with a helix finale. What makes it special though is its double-up, double-down turnaround that provides some great airtime. This coaster may have only been at Six Flags America for 35 years, but is actually over 100 years old! Originally it found its home at Paragon Park in Massachusetts before being reassembled in DC in 1986.

 

At this point, I quickly realized that the park wasn’t that busy and most of the early arrivals were in the water park. I was able to relax a little and headed towards the back of the park. Next up was my most anticipated coaster of the day, Joker’s Jinx.

On the surface, it is just a Premier Rides LIM launched coaster, along the likes of the Flight of Fear rides. What sets this one apart is that is doesn’t have a ride building, the spaghetti bowl is in full sight and is really mesmerizing to watch. I feel like it was always a ride I’d see in books growing up so it has always been on my coaster bucket list. Joker’s Jinx did not disappoint—it was the smoothest of the models I’ve been on and the fact that it doesn’t have a mid-course brake run added to the second half of the ride’s speed. I was able to grab two quick rides here before walking back to Superman: The Ride.

Six Flags America is a relatively small park, but the Gotham City section behind Wild One is very long and spread out. Superman: The Ride is way back and Batwing is even farther back all by itself. It seemed a little disjointed trying to find my way around the park.

The entrances for Batwing and Superman: The Ride are over half a mile from the main gate. (Google Maps)

Superman: The Ride is an Intamin coaster with a 205 foot drop that opened in 2000. Despite the odd layout and basic elements on the ride, it is quite intense through the large helixes and has some nice ejector air. The coaster could use a little work and has a bit of a rattle in the back of the train. With no line yet in the queue, I was able to get a ride in the front and back.

Unfortunately, as I was getting off of Superman, Batwing went down. So I made the trek back around the the front of the park with hopes it would open later on.

Firebird, the B&M floorless coaster was my longest wait of the day at 10 minutes. The 31 year old ride (it operated at Six Flags Great America as Iron Wolf from 1990 to 2011), was exactly what I expected to be. A little rough in the transitions, but overall not terrible.

While I was in the front of the park I snagged quick rides on Roar and Mind Eraser before trying my chances with Batwing again. When I made my way back to the Vekoma Flying Dutchman, it was running! So with all nine coasters under my belt, I checked the time and to my amazement it was only 2:00 PM. I decided to ride Wild One again, then hit the road and beat the 95 degree heat of the afternoon!


I was not expecting to get everything in at the park so quickly, so my plan to get a hotel and drive home the next morning was now irrelevant. With most of the afternoon now open, I made the choice to drive home the same day.

I told myself that if I had time I was going to make a stop at Adventure Park USA in Monrovia, Maryland (about an hour north of DC). So after a very fast pitstop there, my coastering for the day was over by 3:30 PM—I couldn’t believe it. If you would’ve told me I would be home the same day by 9:00 PM, I would’ve said you were crazy. But that’s just how the coaster enthusiast life goes, you never know where it will take you (or how far you’ll have to drive in one day)! I woke up the next morning and the whole day felt like a weird dream.


Ranking the Coasters at Six Flags America

  1. Wild One
  2. Joker’s Jinx
  3. Superman: The Ride
  4. Ragin’ Cajun
  5. Firebird
  6. Roar
  7. Batwing
  8. The Great Chase
  9. Mind Eraser

six flags america trip report review

If you are in the DC area and you are a coaster enthusiast, definitely make the quick stop at the park. Even if you don’t have a ton of time, Wild One and Joker’s Jinx are worth the trip. Also check out Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth, a 242 foot tall swing ride that is pretty thrilling! If you are traveling with kids, Six Flags America has a great collection of children’s attractions.

Have you been to Six Flags America? What was your favorite coaster?

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