New England, A Second Look
Pt 3: Six Flags New England
Photo courtesy of Joe Campanella
|
Monday, Memorial Day, was kind of a bonus day for me. We planned to
visit Six Flags New England on Tuesday, figuring the holiday crowds at
this newly designated Six Flags park would be unbearable. So we made
a contingency plan: we decided to go first thing in the morning,
hopefully get two rides each on Superman and the Cyclone, and if the
park was too crowded we would return to Lake Compounce and spend the
day at a park where we actually stood a chance of having fun. We entered SFNE and immediately knew we would not be staying long. The place was already packed. When we walked into DC Superheroes, we were immediately told "it's closed for the day." We then saw a bunch of RRCers gathered in front of the closed entrance gate for Superman. They did not look happy. They looked like they refused to believe what they were told. They looked like they were going to stay there a long time. I was not about to do that, so off we went to ride Cyclone. The new PTCs on the Cyclone are SUCH an improvement! The coaster has the same kind of violence as before, only now it's much more tolerable, thanks to the padding in the trains. In addition, the straight drop (third one, I believe) now has a violence that was missing before, and it is odd because it occurs halfway down the drop!!! We made the mistake of riding first in the back. Not a good thing to do when you're hung over from Boulder Dash. We then opted for a ride closer to the front, and this was much more tolerable. We rode the inverter, Frisbee and Houdini, and that was it for this day. The inverter is a great ride, the Frisbee did not seem nearly as intense as the one at Six Flags Marine World, and Cindy was clearly disappointed. And Houdini was NOT impressive at all. What a big waste of money! We left Six Flags New England, but not before I put in a harshly worded letter with Guest Relations. I feel that guests should be notified that the park's premiere coaster won't be running *BEFORE* they plunk down forty dollars in parking and admission fees. I also feel they should have what coasters that can be running, runnning! And I don't mean one train operation on a holiday where lines are likely to stretch over two hours, all because operations is too messed up to put on a second train! Growing pains or not, there's no excuse for not running rides to capacity on a holiday, especially when the trains are just sitting right there! Cindy and I met Chris Lucht at Lake Compounce, and again we had a wonderful day. We rode Boulder Dash and all the other rides, and Chris took us to the Olympia Diner in Newington, CT! It was great, although had we known we could order breakfast in the afternoon, we would have gotten the corn beef hash which looked fantastic! I am so glad we spent the day this way. Lake Compounce is obviously not as big of a draw as SFNE, but I really hope in a few years they can give them a run for their money. They outclass them in every way. The next day, Tuesday, Cindy and I returned to the park. Uh-oh. "Superman the Ride will not be running today" was the sign posted outside the ticket window. Oh no. Not again. We rode some rides and they were pretty fun, but to be honest, the fact that Superman wasn't running cast a shadow over everything we did. I mean, let's face it, it's pretty hard to stand in line for Mind Eraser (running one train only by the way) when you've got a 220 ft. blue and red behemoth staring right at you! And to make matters worse, they were running a test train nearly all day. And to further worsen the situation, a lone rider was sitting in the front seat and he was clearly enjoying himself. Why rub it in people's faces, ya know? We rode the Nighthawk, a Huss Fly Away. Cindy and I both loved it!!! A lot of people have complained about neck pain and having their heads pushed down by the force of the ride, but I have to say, I felt none of this, and neither did Cindy. I was able to look around as much as I wanted, and at no time did I experience any pain or discomfort. I'm thinking a lot of the comfort or discomfort depends on where a rider positions himself within the restraints. In any case, I was happy to know this was not a bad ride as I had heard, and I look forward to riding it again! I hope they run it longer next time! We also rode Poison Ivy's Twisted Train. The girl in the prerecorded announcement sounds unintentionally funny when she says the name of the ride - it's a little too forced! The ride itself is a lot fun, and we were allowed to stay on for a reride! This coaster has an unnecessarily long queue! The Jokers Wildcard was next, and this was disturbing in that I have never seen so much graffiti on a ride. It made me want to get out my keychain and start carving! In fact, I've never seen so much graffiti, period, as I have at SFNE. Even the Cyclone's new orange lap bars were covered! I should also say something about the crowd. For a Tuesday, this park was surprisingly crowded. And the general tone of the crowd was...... scary. The vast majority of people - adults and kids alike - are tough and loud and have a very aggressive demeanor. I saw things on this day I have never seen anywhere, in or outside of a park. I'm not sure where these people are coming from, but I can easily see this place becoming uninhabitable for families and average park goers. This is beyond tough. This is scary. Speaking of scary, we met up with Steve O'Brien (just kidding, Steve!) for the early part of the day right outside DC Superheroes. At one point Steve walked up the exit ramp and spoke with a photo booth worker who told him they were going to try to open the ride sometime between 3-3:30! Allright! We decided to camp out near the entrance. A later chat with the photo booth worker resulted in a 4 o'clock opening. Poor Steve, he had to leave at 3:00 to pick up "the missus." It was nice getting to chat with you Steve, and I hope to see you again soon! Sure enough, Superman opened at four o'clock. Cindy and I were on the second train out, riding in seat two. OH MY GOD did it live up to the hype and then some!!! When I rode Superman at SFDL I said the scary thing is it could be even better. Well, they listened! It is PERFECT!!! We rode it five or six times - three or four in row 2 and two rides in the back. There is airime on EVERY SINGLE HILL!!! Even huge airtime going into and out of the figure eight!!! The airtime is extreme, the final bunny hops deliver depository airtime in the back and ejector air in the front, and all the rest of the hills deliver differing types of air but all are extreme. My favorite is the fourth hill - it is the second hill after the first turnaround and sits right alongside the first drop. It is INSANE and the photo spot is at the bottom of this hill. There will never be a better hill on any steel coaster! And I really don't believe there will ever be a better steel coaster, period! We rode Supeman twice before meeting up with Chris Lucht, Spatch and Fred Biederman. I also talked with Pete McCutcheon in the station. I met Pete when he was working at Lakemont and he is just a great guy who can only make this park better. We all got another three or four more rides (one of them thanks to Fred's exit pass - thanks Fredo!) and had some very interesting experiences! The line jumping got waaaaay out of control - three guys actually jumped over the rails, ran up to the back of the station staircase, and scaled the wall in a blatant act of defiance. The crowd was yelling at them, but ultimately they got through and into the station. I found a security guard and pointed them out to him, using my best imitation foul language anger possible. The guys were idiots - had they not gotten greedy and waited for the front, they would have never been seen by those of us still queing below the station! Instead the guard had plenty of time to make his way up there and bust them, and we arrived in the station just in time to see the three of them being escorted off the property. Ironically, they didn't seem the least bit embarressed, and flipped all of us off in a final act of defiance! The Superman theme plays non-stop in the queue, and it nearly drove Cindy crazy. As a film editor, I am used to playing clips over and over, hundreds, even thousands of times, and it never bothers me. But poor Cindy. She hung herself, shot herself in the head and committed all other forms of self-abuse. Finally, I made up these lyrics to the song:
We're gonna ride SUPERMAN! We're gonna ride Su-per-man, Gonna ride Superman, SUPERMAN! We all rode together for our final ride of the night, starting with the backseat and working our way up. By this time Cindy and I were posing, Superman-style, throwing our fists into the air over every hill. We just cut loose and had fun. SO much fun! So all is forgiven, New England. Go ahead, line jump all you want, throw trash all over the place, jump over fences, scale walls, threaten the white folks, be rude, get in my face, honk at me for no reason, be animals, act like savages, rage against the man. You've got the real deal in Superman. And I'll be back for a piece of that!
Mark-
|
