Sidewinder Safari Opens at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, And It’s Their Best Themed Coaster

Sidewinder Safari, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s newest coaster, opens today! We joined the park for a media preview yesterday to take in the new ride, as well as the all new snake exhibits opening with it.

Drops and Spins

The coaster is a spinning Wild Mouse ride from Zamperla, their Twister Coaster model. Like all Wild Mouse coasters, the ride features lots of sharp turns, and some quick drops. For the second half of the ride the cars spin freely. And, if you do a good job unbalancing the car (like, put two people on one side and zero on the other), it can spin quite a bit.

There are a few small differences from the average spinning Wild Mouse, including a moving station to hopefully help keep operations moving. It also has a pretty robust sound and lighting system. The cars have detailed “snake face” designs on them, like we saw on our construction tour back in April, and the top of the ride has a pretty good looking Sidewinder Safari sign. But, what really makes Sidewinder Safari stand out from most Wild Mouse coasters, and the other coasters at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, is the amount of theming that went into it.

For Snake Lovers

The ride queue features a stone building filled with new snake habitats, all featuring snakes that have never been on regular public display before. The park’s snake expert, Amy showed off their rainbow boa during the media event, and several of the exhibits already had their snakes moved in.

Discovery Kingdom’s snake expert Amy showing off their Rainbow Boa.

The building is designed to complete isolate the habitats from the noise, vibrations, and weather of the outside, to keep the snakes happy. Digital signs on the exhibits give facts about the snakes, and presumably can be updated if the park rotates which animals are on display.

The building in front of the coaster houses both the covered queue and the snake habitats.

Aside from the snakes, the queue also features lots of details, like the giant snake sign over the entrance, and little Easter Eggs, like safari equipment boxes with names of park employees on them. Trees and greenery line the front of the coaster, and the queue is fully covered (with fans and misters installed!).

Some of the new snake residents of Sidewinder Safari!

Queue theming with Easter Eggs.

It even features a few little queue gags, classic “Don’t put your hand in here” spots with a surprise for guests who ignore the warning. Andrew from Park Journey (find him @GatorAndrew on Twitter for more Sidewinder photos) demonstrates!


Sidewinder Safari Fills a Coaster Need at Discovery Kingdom, And Does it Well

Sidewinder Safari is a coaster the park badly needed, filling in the missing “middle” level of thrills. After Roar was converted to Joker, the park didn’t have any coasters without inversions that weren’t kiddie rides. There was nothing for anyone who maybe didn’t want a full on B&M or RMC, but wanted to graduate beyond the Zierer family coaster, Cobra.

And yes, the ride is a standard spinning Wild Mouse, so for most coaster enthusiasts it won’t be anything ground breaking. But, while Discovery Kingdom could have easily just dropped the new ride onto a concrete pad and called it a day, they really put the effort in to make it a full on attraction.

Small improvements to the ride operation, a big detailed animal exhibit, and a thoughtfully designed queue really does make it stand out. I’m not kidding when I say it’s the best themed coaster at the park. I love seeing the park get the freedom to put their own touches into things. It makes me hopeful we might see more of this type of theming at the park in the future!

Sidewinder Safari is open to the public today! Check out the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom website for more info. And, if you get a chance to ride it, let us know what you think of the ride and the snake exhibit in the comments below, or on our Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram!

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