New 6-flags Superman Roller Coaster

[kal1484]

Okay, I know this is a Disney forum, but has anyone seen the commercials for the new Superman ride at Six Flags Great America. It's like the batman ride, EXCEPT they tilt the seat so it's like you are flying! How weird is that?!

 

[DisneyCP2000]

I'm assuming you're from IL or WI

At least you'll have a great view every seat, unlike batman. I keep thinking off all the things that out of peoples pocket's this year...Hmmmm (dentures, glasses, cameras, shoes...).

I've seen a disposable camera fly and hit the snack shop by the entrance once. Funny at first-scary when it settled in :lookaroun .

 

[DMC-12]

*ok... note to self... no eating taffy when riding "Raging Bull" *



Toooooootally J/k That was sad... poor girl

 

[AliciaLuvzDizne]

i thought that new superman ride was at great adventure?

well i mean there IS the same ride at great adventure... i didnt think that Six flags made duplicate rollercoasters at their parks...

it looks totally scary! eek

 

[DisneyCP2000]

They did!

Superman Utimate Flight has been duplicated all over the country. I believe they did this for V2 and DejaVu too. Shockwave (Gurnee) was an almost exact duplicate of the Viper (san fran). So it's not too unusual. I'm ready to ride!

:sohappy:

 

[Captain Cab]

Superman: Ultimate Flight was exclusive here at Six Flags over Georgia last year and was a smash hit. The track layout is great, the ride is incredibly smooth, and the pretzel loop is simply amazing! Six Flags is known for cloning their good coasters, so within a year or two most of the Six Flags parks will probably have a version of this awesome ride.

 

[Bairstow]

I rode ultimate flight at Georgia and it wasn't nearly as amazing as I thought it would be. The only part where the "flying" aspect really comes into play is during the inverted loop where you ride the outside of an inversion, so you get the negative-G feeling from a Cobra roll but it lasts twice as long. Other than that it was kind of short and the theming was below dismal, which is par for the course at Six Flags over Georgia. Don't get me wrong, it's still a very intense coaster and easily the best ride at the park. Flying coasters are neat and all but I don't think they're really worth the extra cost and load time over a good B&M freeform hanging coaster.
Then again my experience on Superman may have been marred by the fact that when the attendent lowered the harnesses onto my row the restraint fell over my pocket and crushed my favorite pair of fake Oakleys.

 

[Captain Cab]

Originally posted by Bairstow
The only part where the "flying" aspect really comes into play is during the inverted loop where you ride the outside of an inversion, so you get the negative-G feeling from a Cobra roll but it lasts twice as long.

That part is known as a "pretzel loop", and it's known for giving the riders a brief sensation of negative G's followed by strong positive G's. You're also riding on the inside of the inversion, not the outside. The only odd thing is that you feel the strong positive G's on your back while facing straight up at the bottom of the loop. Also, cobra rolls don't really offer riders that many negative G's. They're more focused on positive and lateral G's than negative ones. Large/steep drops, zero-G/heartline rolls, and bunny hops usually offer the riders more negative G's than a cobra roll.

Other than that it was kind of short and the theming was below dismal, which is par for the course at Six Flags over Georgia.

Actually, the theming appears to be above average for a SFoG coaster. The line queue plays the appropriate Superman movie/tv themes, the track and coaster are colored appropriately and the whole Superman area (line queue, ride station, and immediate surrounding area) have quite a few decorations and great landscaping to fit the ride's theme. The previous coaster (Viper) was also relatively good with the whole snake and swamp theming, and the only other coaster as "heavily" themed as Superman is Batman: The Ride. All the other coasters are pretty much lucky to have a themed station and colored trains. That's pretty much it for theming as far as Six Flags and their guests are concerned.

a good B&M freeform hanging coaster

Those are called inverted coasters. Examples would be Batman: The Ride here at SFoG, and the Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure.

I also agree with you that it's not really worth the time for parks to invest a whole lot into flying coasters. The flying experience is pretty cool, but by laying down the coasters are very limited as to what inversions and maneuvers they can perform. As much as I'd love to see Disney or Universal stand up to the challenge, it's probably going to be a long time before we can find B & M flying coasters as thrilling or intense as B & M's other inverted/floorless/sit down/stand up coasters.

 

[Bairstow]

Oops, you're right Cab. I'm very rusty on my coaster manuever terminology. The Cobra Roll, which I claimed induces negative Gs, actually generates a feeling or weightlessness, right?

Oh, and I really miss the Viper. It was the only linear-acceleration ride SFoG had and its theming was easily the best in the park. I loved the swamp queue, with the slow creek, shacks littered with mason jars filled with something and the delightfully out-of-place Christmas lights. It always made me watch my feet as I walked towards the boarding platform, because I just knew there was something limbless and poisonous waiting coiled in the reeds to bite me as I walked through. Speaking of Superman's queue, I agree that it's not the worst in the park, but it's certainly a lost opportunity. Sure, the plywood cutouts of Superman characters are nice and it's interesting to read the little biographies, but I consider that sort of thing to be decoration, not true theming. Oh, and I had great satisfaction in seeing that the Viper queue line WILL NOT DIE, as you can see the reeds and cattails from the old attraction defiantly bursting through the manicured lawn of the new Superman queue.

 

[Bairstow]

Now that I think about it, the only SFoG that even has a themed queue in the Disney sense of the word is Mindbender. The track and cars are painted in the scheme of the Riddler's costume in Batman Forever and everywhere you look there are Nygmatech logos, a reference to the innoculous-looking front corporation the Riddler used for his scheme in the movie. The ride attendents even are dressed in Nygmatech lab coats, implying that the Riddler's company is setting the guest up for some sort of adventure which turns hazardous, ala Alien Encounter.

 

[pocahontas79]

I am heading this weekend to ride Superman. Looking forward to it as long as the weather gets better. Where's summer?:veryconfu

 

[DisneyCP2000]

sum-mer? What's that? I only know of cold rainy and windy days over here in Chicago :lol:.

They officially open on weekdays...THIS WEEK! Yay! I need to go soon before all the kids get out and make a mess of the park.

 

[Captain Cab]

Originally posted by Bairstow
I'm very rusty on my coaster manuever terminology. The Cobra Roll, which I claimed induces negative Gs, actually generates a feeling or weightlessness, right?

Not a problem at all. It doesn't help learning the terminology though when different coaster companies use different names for the same general maneuver. For example, a boomerang designed by Vekoma is basically the same maneuver as B&M's cobra roll. The B&M boomerang for its inverted coasters is called a batwing. Here's a website with a ton of pictures of every element in the world or roller coasters.

As for the cobra roll, I'm quite certain that its purpose is just to have a unique and thrilling way of having the coaster trains make a 180º turn. The only coasters I've been on with a cobra roll are Deja Vu and the Ice Dragon, and I have yet to experience any weightlessness feeling on either of them. There's a major difference between that and the feeling you get while going through the Hulk's opening zero G roll maneuver.

Yeah, I really miss the Viper too. It was a blast riding in the front seat at night and the back seat any other time of day. The launch was great, and it was just a simple, yet highly entertaining coaster. It's too bad that they couldn't just relocate the coaster instead of getting rid of it completely.