Six Flags Great Adventure’s Coasters Ranked By A First Time Visitor

Being a coaster enthusiast in New England, Six Flags Great Adventure was always a park just out of my reach, but I’m happy to report I made it there this month to check out their Fright Fest event and ride some coasters. Six Flags Great Adventure is home to fourteen roller coasters, including the tallest in the world and the fastest in America, Kingda Ka. The park also has one of the only new-for-2021 coasters, Jersey Devil, the newest from fan favorite manufacturer RMC. So, how do these coasters rank against the rest of the park’s lineup? Read on below to find out!

Note: this list will unfortunately not include El Toro, which has been closed for a majority of the season. It will also not include The Joker 4D free spin coaster or the two family coasters, since I did not ride them on my trip. Since it was raining almost constantly on the day of my visit, I wasn’t able to take many photos, so many photos in this article will be from RCDB.

Alright, enough housekeeping, let’s get to the rankings!


10. Runaway Mine Train

This Arrow mine train is the park’s oldest operating coaster, opening in 1974. At every park I go to, I am never impressed with the mine train, and while this one has some unique qualities, it falls into this category as well. I think part of the issue is at 6’1”, I am not the ideal height to experience this ride. My knees consistently hit the seatback in front of me, and I always get nervous that I won’t be able to stand up out of the car. However, these issues aside, the coaster is very rough in places, and has some particularly jerky spots that fling everyone in the train back and forth.

The setting of the ride is the highlight of the experience in my opinion, since it is situated right next to the beautiful wooden skyway station, and over a lake. There are a few decent airtime hills, but depending on how the restraint is locked, you may not get the intended effect. The layout is also very long, and tends to meander through unbanked turns and straight sections.

Overall, Runaway Mine Train is a typical Arrow with not enough redeeming qualities to elevate it above the last spot on the list.


9. Skull Mountain

It’s important to note that just because Skull Mountain comes in at the penultimate spot does not mean it is a bad coaster, it just struggles to hold up to the many great coasters at this park. Skull Mountain is an indoor family coaster, using two tire lifts to propel riders into the layout.

This is a fun indoor coaster, but if you ride during the day like I did, keep in mind that there are places where the light from outside shines into the structure, making the track visible. This is not a negative per se, just takes away from some of the intended light and theming effects.

The layout is longer than I expected, and has some great sudden drops and turns that I was not anticipating. The queue is also unique because it is situated inside the mountain, and is surrounded by rock and water features. It’s a great family coaster, and offers a distinctive theme and setting, putting it in a different category than other family coasters.


8. The Dark Knight Coaster

Another indoor coaster takes the number eight spot on our list, this time it’s The Dark Knight Coaster, the park’s Mack Rides wild mouse. This is the most comfortable wild mouse I’ve been on thus far, thanks to the padded seats and individual lap bar. I am also a big Batman fan, and the Dark Knight film in particular, so seeing this theme for a coaster appealed to me specifically.

The theming on the coaster was also higher quality than average, specifically for a wild mouse, and there are some fun effects and sets. One of the effects caught me off guard, and gave me an extra thrill towards the end of the ride experience.

The ambience in the queue was very good, and even though we were able to walk right up to the station on this particular day, it looked like there was enough theming where I wouldn’t have minded waiting a little longer. The pre show was not running due to the ride being a walk-on, but I have seen video of it and it adds to the ride’s theme in a fun way. The trains for the ride are also very unique, and are built to look like detached subway cars, which fit with the ride’s theme.

The layout is fairly standard for a wild mouse, but the track is smooth throughout except for the bottom of a few of the dips, and it’s significantly improved thanks to the comfortable trains. Unlike Skull Mountain, the ride is pitch black inside except for the theme lighting, so the black track is virtually invisible, and I did not see a few elements coming because of it. Thanks to the theming and above average wild mouse trains, The Dark Knight coaster lands at a solid supporting spot among the park’s lineup.


7. Green Lantern

The park’s B&M standup coaster comes in at number seven on our list. I will be upfront about this, it’s difficult for me to really judge this coaster because when I rode this ride, it was raining fairly hard, so I was mainly focused on the pain of that during the ride as opposed to the ride itself.

However, I don’t find standup coasters as uncomfortable as some, and thought this was a good addition to the park’s collection. There are some fun elements on Green Lantern, the inclined loop is a highlight as well as the huge vertical loop.

The ride was faster than I expected, with its top speed passing sixty miles per hour. The coaster also has some fun interactions with Superman, the flying coaster next door. Overall, Green Lantern is decent fun, but not quite enough fun to rise above the middle of the pack.


6. Superman- Ultimate Flight

Not only is Superman right next to Green Lantern at Great Adventure, it is just above it on my list as well. With its all-red track paint, Superman stands out visually in the park as well as in its lineup. The ride is gorgeous to look at, and looms over the parking area so guests will see the twisted layout before entering the park gates.

The ride gets off to a stellar start with the swooping first drop and extremely forceful pretzel loop, but after those two elements, the ride loses momentum. There isn’t a lot of speed, which is okay for a flying coaster because the fun comes in the form of the flying sensation, but it’s never used to full effect beyond the first two elements.

The multiple sweeping turns are a good use of the terrain, but the elements aren’t as interesting as some other flying coasters. The extreme 3 Gs pulled on the pretzel loop is enough to solidify this ride at number six, but the rest of the layout isn’t enough to put it any higher.


5. Batman: The Ride

This was my second Batman B&M invert clone, with my first ride being at Magic Mountain, and I am consistently impressed with what these coasters are able to do with the space they are given.

The compact layout makes typically standard elements into head choppers and foot choppers for each other, and some of the shrunken elements make for elevated forces and a more intense experience. The drop on this ride is also a highlight, swinging over into the curved drop with your feet dangling is always fun, but it’s especially great when you can see so much tightly packed track ahead.

The only real downside with Batman is that the queue is very claustrophobic, luckily I did not have to stand in it long, but being inside a narrow metal tube with no windows or foreseeable exit would make me uncomfortable after an extended amount of time.

However, this is a small detractor, and doesn’t take away from the enjoyable layout and typical B&M smoothness.


4. Nitro

Nitro brings us right up to the cusp of the top three at Great Adventure, but doesn’t quite make it onto the podium. I’ve been impressed with all three B&M hypers I’ve experienced so far, Canymonium, Intimidator and Mako, and Nitro is a similar experience for me, albeit not as good as the others. I think one thing Nitro does very well, however, is the speed, it feels the fastest of this group of hypers (probably because it is).

The floater airtime is classic, and to be expected with this model, but the hills are almost too sustained to get any real pops of airtime, it’s just a solid few seconds of buildup with no discernible beginning or end.

The helix was my favorite part of the coaster, as well as the twisted hill and the turnaround. This is a great long layout, and the camelback hills at the end gave me the style of airtime that I was really looking for from this ride.

The out and back layout benefits this coaster well, and it is truly scenic, with trees zipping by, and the yellow color scheme really makes the track pop. So, while I enjoyed this coaster, it was not quite as great as I was hoping, and is just shy of the bronze medal as a result.


3. Bizarro

This will likely be the surprise of the list, and it was certainly the surprise for the trip for me. I wasn’t sure where Bizarro would land in my rankings, because while I enjoy floorless coasters, none of them have ever made a lasting impression on me, until Bizarro.

This is a standout coaster at the park because of just how fun this ride is, from beginning to end. Both of my rides were at night, and even without having ridden during the day, I think this is the optimal way to experience Bizarro.

The fire effects were unfortunately not working on the day I visited, but the other elements on the ride really impressed me. From one of the tallest vertical loops on any coaster to the fantastic near miss element with two interlocking corkscrews over a giant buzzsaw, this ride keeps the pace up the entire time.

There is also a surprising amount of theming during the ride, and I liked seeing some similarities with the Bizarro theme that was previously found on the Superman hyper coaster at my home park of Six Flags New England.

The inversions on this ride each count, which is rare for a floorless coaster, but each one offers something unique. The cobra roll is massive as well, and pulls some Gs going in and out of the element. Something that impressed me both times is just how large this ride really is, the lift hill seems to last forever, and I almost wish this ride opted for a traditional drop rather than the classic B&M pre-drop and twisted drop.

Minor complaints aside, the size and scale of Bizarro coupled with a fun theme and impressive elements make this a solid number three at an already large park.


2. Jersey Devil Coaster

Jersey Devil is Rocky Mountain Construction’s newest single rail creation, and is the first custom layout for their Raptor coaster model. The coaster has a beautiful orange track color with a unique front car modeled after the titular devil.

Though it may be surprising to some considering this is an RMC Raptor model, for me the stars of the show on Jersey Devil were the inversions.

I expected rampant ejector airtime so strong I was barely in the seat, but that’s not the experience of Jersey Devil. In fact, aside from the first drop, there is not much airtime to be found, as many of the hills are taken at a much slower speed than I anticipated.

Now, this ride is still my pick for number two in the park, so while it may seem like I am complaining too much, that’s not the case. I just got a different ride experience than I anticipated, which is a good thing to keep in mind before you ride Jersey Devil. The stall was probably my favorite element on the coaster, as well as the first inversion.

Concept rendering

It’s possible that because I was sitting in a middle row due to the strict seating assignments on the coaster, I did not get the optimal airtime experience, however from talking to others, the forces are not significantly different in the back aside from the first drop.

If you go into Jersey Devil expecting an airtime machine, you are likely to exit the station disappointed, but for the novelty of being on a single rail and some fun and wonky inversions, the coaster holds a solid second place at the park.


1. Kingda Ka

With the current lineup of attractions at Great Adventure, it’s almost impossible not to place the world’s tallest coaster at the number one spot. A ride in the front row on a sunny day with a full train is an unparalleled experience as the wind rushes by at 128mph.

The launch alone is enough to land this ride at the top, but the 456 foot plummet straight down the vertical spiral is a thrill in and of itself. Even though the back row is extremely rough and not my recommended seat for riding, it does feel like you are about to roll back as you crest the top hat, which is an added thrill.

There’s not much else I can say about Kingda Ka because the ride feels like it’s over not long after it even begins, which is almost true because the entire experience is only around thirty seconds. While the hill on the return trip does not add much, it is fun to traverse another hill at a breakneck speed, and just makes the experience a few seconds longer.

So, for the intensity of the launch alone more than the incredibly huge elements that follow, Kingda Ka towers over the rest of the list just as it towers over Great Adventure and the surrounding area.


Do you agree with our list? What would be your ranking of the coasters at Great Adventure? Let us know in the comments section below!

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