Park Review
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Austell, Georgia
The Place: Six Flags over Georgia The alarm felt a little early when it rang; I guess I still have not figured out why I wake up earlier on weekends for parks than during the week for work. It must be some sort of mental condition. The 3.5-hour drive to Atlanta from Nashville was uneventful, but I had some Bare Naked Ladies (Gordon), Beatles (Let it Be), Sinatra (Ring a Ding Ding) and Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street) to keep me company. I arrived at Bill�s (Atlantacoaster) door around 12:30, and after a short unloading time, it was a twenty-minute drive to the park. Unlike my native Six Flags St. Louis, this park is not far from downtown. Here, without infamous Atlanta traffic, it seems to be a 10-15 minute drive. My park as a child, built only a few years after this one, was stuck a good 30-45 minutes from downtown. One of the first things I saw from the highway was the classic Six Flags sign. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of this, but it says �traditional� Six Flags of another time, a time when the six flags actually had something to do with a majority of a park�s theming. Entering the parking lot, we passed the Georgia Scorcher, Mindbender and Batman, all of which are not far from the parking lot. We parked, walked back up to the gate and headed toward the Georgia Cyclone (Summers/Dinn Cyclone clone, 1990).
I had heard that this ride was one of Summers best
designs (as I remarked to Bill, he must have screwed
up and got it right for once). Of course, it must be
pretty hard to ruin a ride if you have such a great
model to follow (yes, Summers/Dinn again screwed it up
for the 1991 season on the Sigh-clone). The Georgia
ride has a very nice paint job, a cool logo, teal
flags lining the top of the lift and red & blue PTC
trains. The ride roughly follows MOM�s layout, so I
will not bore you the details. We crisscrossed back to the front of the park, walked up the hill and got on the Georgia Scorcher (B&M Stand-up, 1999). This was my fourth stand-up after sampling King Kobra, Chang and Mantis. Going into this, my favorite stand-up was the Kobra, and I did not know what to expect, since neither Chang nor Mantis did a heck of a lot for me. The GP still seemed to have a bit of a problem understanding exactly how the restraints worked, and this was the only coaster all weekend that stacked on a regular basis. After a ten-minute wait, we hopped in the back (since there was no one in line for the Q-bot) and were off. The lift is roughly 100 feet, and the ride is wonderful. I will not try to describe it in detail as the memories are fuzzy, but I can say there is a vertical loop, a corkscrew and little straight track, except for the brake run, station and lifthill. This tied the KK as my favorite stand up because it was fast, intense and was a much more pleasant experience than the larger B&M versions. This coaster definitely goes in the �why isn�t it talked about more?� file because I have hardly heard anyone say word one about it. I think this is as close as B&M will ever get to designing a stand-up that gets near the level of Batman. I will happily put �my feat to the fire" any day, I just hope that someday B&M makes their bicycle seats a little smaller, since they feel like straddling a bicycle built for two (lengthwise). A tunnel lead us below the railroad track and into Gotham City. I have always said I was not a huge fan of the Gotham city theme at my park because it really seems half-assed. At Six Flags St. Louis, the Gotham area only extends to ten feet beyond Batman�s gates, and the rest is what I consider the largest cop-out theme of them all, Warner Brothers Backlot. But at Six Flags over Georgia, the area is well done and actually provides a nice contrast to the cheery USA section you just left. You are in the Joker�s hands now. As I crossed under the bridge, I saw the Axis arena, a well-themed open-air performance center. All around the streetlights have great aging effects and Joker flags hanging from them. Though the theming was nice, I was here to ride. Bearing to the left, I walked under a large question mark to queue up for the Schwarzkopf masterpiece, The Mindbender (Schwarzkopf terrain looper, 1978). The first thing one notices about the black trains with green question marks is the absence of OTSRs! Our first ride was in the back seat, and after a five-minute wait, we stepped aboard this highly anticipated coaster. I pulled the lapbar down, the brakes disengaged, and we rolled out of the station and to the lift hill. The lift is taken at normal speed until the top, where it slows dramatically until the train disengages. An Allen-esque swoop turn flows into the first drop. A typical Anton loop awaits us at the bottom of the hill, well engineered to ride smoothly but intensely. Then it is up into a brake that merely kissed the train, another u-turn, and down a curving drop that skirts dangerously close to a support and waterfall. Another drop leads us down, up into a u-turn, another kiss by a brake, and down into another standard vertical loop. After the loop, most rider�s hands fall into the train as the coaster passes through a short concrete tunnel and banks to the right into a long brake run that glides above the midway. For more info, check out http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/ESmindbender-sfogGF.htm.
This is a
Batman: The Ride is also in the area. Luckily, it was
only a twenty-minute wait, so I spent enough time in
line to see the nice theming (especially the traffic
lights), but did not wait in what I was told has been
called the �queue line from hell.� I must say this is
the best of the three Batmans I have been on (the
others being Six Flag St Louis and Six Flags Great Adventure), as it was still early
in the day but I felt a little light-headed getting
off. Fantastic.
We walked further into the park, back up to the USA
section. The Intamin Freefall stood silent with
Fright Fest materials all around it (the ride would
not open for the rest of the weekend, but no great
loss). We bore to the right and saw a ride that now
looks quite outdated, despite the fact it once on the
cutting edge of inverting technology - Intamin�s
Looping Starship awaited our visit. I had only been
on one other Intamin looping ride, the Phoenix at
Busch Gardens Tampa. This ran a little worse than
that one, part of the reason being the large, loud,
engines that are located in either end of the
ship. Does anyone know what these are for? The ride
itself features rows of five that sport individual
lapbars, OTSRs and headrests that looked like the ones
used in the first generation freefalls. After loudly
spinning us over, we hopped off. Fun, but for the
old-style loopers I still like the Huss Ranger better
than the ARM, Sartori or Intamin looping rides.
The transition area between the USA and Lickskillet
sections is just beautiful. Tall, lush foliage
surrounds the area, and the trees are tall and dense.
It is an absolutely beautiful area that has not been
sacrificed simply for space. This is a scene I never
thought I would see in a theme park, but am very happy
to report I did. Down through Lickskillet I saw the
new-for-2001 D�j� vu. After watching the ride cycle, I
knew I would catch it again the next day.
We walked on into Cotton States Exposition and came
upon the coaster I most dreaded coming into this
weekend. Vekoma coasters with Arrow trains (or Vekoma
sit-downs in general) have never been a favorite of
mine. I cut my teeth on Six Flags St. Louis�s Ninja
growing up. It was nothing spectacular, and I have only
heard horror stories about Goudurix at Parc Asterix.
Approaching this coaster, one has little choice but to
be impressed by the setting out on top of a lake. The
queue is a short walk and has some nice theming. I
do not know what a Ninja is doing in the middle of the
southern part of the park, perhaps it is
multi-culturalism at its best?
This ride operated for a few years at Hunt�s Pier
before Six Flags bought it for the 1992 season
http://www.joyrides.com/sfog/full/ninja.htm). The
coaster used to have headlights, but they were either
painted over or removed for fiberglass plates, as I
could not see them. After a few train wait we got in
the back seat. Right now you are probably thinking that
the back seat sounds painful! That is what I
thought when Bill suggested we head there. But I
relented, since he was the regular, and we pulled the
OTSR down. The lift hill attachment was not jerky
like many Aromas (Arrow/Vekomas), and in a little bit,
we were pulling over the top, down into a curving
first drop. After that it was two loop-like
inversions, a diving loop and two corkscrews. The two
things that stand out here are the headchoppers and
the brake run. This coaster probably has the best
collection of headchoppers I have seen. The track and
supports all combine to make several occasions where
riders cringe in fear, including one spot after the
second loop where I put my hand down on every trip
because it scared me so much. The brake run shakes
more than any other coaster I have seen. After the
brakes over the water grab the train, the entire piece
of track vibrates back and forth, intimidating
first-time riders. Overall, I found this to be a fun
and re-rideable coaster. Bill told me the front is
actually the rougher of the two parts of the train
because it goes through the elements too slow. Good
job Vekoma. I cannot believe I just said that.
We walked past GASM to one of the best-themed coasters
I have seen in a Six Flags park. At the back of the
park sat a coaster that ran at Six Flags Great America
from 1978 to 1991 and from SFOG from 1995 through
September 15, 2001. What can I say? Passing through
the entrance gate, you see the now-famous spot to take
a picture, the Viper logo perfectly positioned in
front of Anton�s box beam loop. Walking back past the
logo, would-be riders walk parallel to the coaster, but
there are so many trees and structures the ride
remains really well hidden. Riders walk between high,
swamp-like weeds and buildings like a doctor�s office
and barbershop that have long since been abandoned
(willingly?). Wonderful small props like an old
barber chair, pinball machine and old Christmas lights
lead up to a building that is supposed to be the bayou
outfitters. From the looks of things, the shop is
filled with a few shady characters that are making
margaritas with little-to-no lime and spinning some
Jesse Winchester or vintage Jimmy Buffett.
After entering Viper (Schwarzkopf weight-dropped
shuttle loop, 1978, moved to park in 1995), riders
notice the wonderful trains. Typical Schwarzkopf, they
have lapbars only. However, Six Flags added a nice 3-D
logo on the train�s front car and scales all over to
make this 1978 coaster come alive again. We first
headed to the back. The lapbars dropped, the pusher
connected, the air horn sounded and it was off down
the straightaway. The loop pulled some wonderful g�s,
up the spike (airtime galore), and now backwards, where
we pulled even more g�s. The brakes were applied
before the station, and then the rear spike had nice
air, too. I was flabbergasted and had to have more, so
we jumped in several other seats on the train without
walking around.
If anything, this coaster proves that Anton
Schwarzkopf was ahead of his time. This coaster is
just as thrilling and intimidating today as it was in
1978. It makes me wonder what riders must
have thought when they first saw a shuttle loop in
their home park 20 years ago. It must have simply
blown their minds! I cannot say enough good things
about this coaster, how much I hope that it remains
in the US, and (even more wishful thinking) that it
stays within a reasonable drive of me.
After getting our fill for the time (not the weekend),
we headed back down to one of the most beautiful
coasters in existence, the Great American Scream
Machine (John Allen out and back, 1973). To begin
with, I am quite happy that Six Flags kept a
single-locking lapbar here and went with one seatbelt,
something much easier than individual belts when seat dividers are in
effect. After a 20-minute wait,
we hopped in what is usually my favorite seat, 1.3.
The train squeaked a little as it rounded the turn out
of the station, and I was a little worried. The lift
goes at normal speed then, like other coasters in the
park, slows down and resumes full speed before
cresting the top. The coaster has a dogleg out and
back layout to the right. This ride had the
reputation as one of the best-kept Allen mega
coasters, so I as hoping for a smooth, fast ride.
Sadly, the coaster wasn�t running that well and the
trains were jack hammering a bit at the bottom of the
first two drops. In addition, the train just did not
have the pep I had expected. Overall, GASM was not
what I had hoped, but I reserved judgment for the ERT
when it would be warmed up well.
One of the main reasons I came to the park was just
up the hill from GASM�s station. The Riverview
Carousel is a work of art - and that is a major
understatement. I did not know whether to laugh or
cry when I saw this machine; I could only walk around
and stare in sheer amazement. It is a five-row
machine, one of the largest carved carousels built,
and stands as a proud testament to the years that PTC
made these creations. For someone who does not like
carousels this may seem like I am going
We walked down the hill, past where the famous bouncy
bridge stood, and got another ride in on the Cyclone�s
seat 1.2. With little-to-no line, we closed down
Mindbender, getting in about seven rides on this
fabulous coaster. I know you are probably getting
sick of hearing Schwarzkopf mentioned, but this ride
really blows me away.
To end day one, we had some beers and burgers at the
place reputed to be one of Atlanta�s best burger
joints - the Vortex. I must say they were wonderful,
especially considering the price. After beer, wings
and a burger, I felt fat and happy. After relaxing and
getting a good night�s, rest I woke up for day two.
Bill and I got to the park a while before it opened.
After waiting in a short line outside the park,
waiting 15 minutes for the chain to drop and a brisk
walk, we wound up under the green and blue structure of
D�j� Vu (Vekoma super inverted boomerang,
We took the skyride over to Acrophobia. Between the
height factor and the restraints, which put a lot of
weight on the fun zone, I was concerned about this
one. After a twenty-minute wait, we gingerly �hopped�
aboard the unique seats. The OTSR came down, the belt
(like Intamin�s hypers) was buckled and we were lifted
two hundred feet in the air. You definitely feel
vulnerable in this position, as there is not a whole
lot of seat. On a drop ride like this I do not mind
the seatbelts, as they give a lot more piece of mind
than on a sit-down version. The spinning was not
unique because I had been on PKI�s Dropzone, but it
gave a nice view of the area and the placement in the
park makes it seem higher than 200 feet. The tilting
action of the seats was not as dramatic as I had
anticipated, perhaps simply because standing up at 200
feet is a thrill in itself. The ride holds you up for
a long time, and I actually became a bit bored because I
waited and waited, and then finally, legs out and arms
flailing, we fell to the ground. What a rush!
Definitely some of Intamin/Ride Trade�s best work.
The crowd here reminded me of the audience at
Steeplechase Park. At Coney, they got off the
Steeplechase Ride and were ridiculed (and even
slightly shocked) as they went through the blowhole
theatre and onto the stage. Afterwards, they sat in
the audience and watched the next group come through
the gauntlet. At Acrophobia, riders are laughed at,
taunted, and ogled as they board (because many look so
nervous) by people waiting to ride. It is downright
funny to watch some of these people get on as groups
holding hands. My only complaint here came in the way
that the ride was boarded. However, it is problem
that is easily fixed. When the gates open, it is a
small dash to the rig. Of course, everyone wants to
sit with their friends, so there are some open seats.
The problem was that most of the time the rig went up
with 2-5 seats open. I think they should follow PKI�s
lead and number the seats, simply put the numbering on
the headrest. Then, just assign numbers as people
pass through the gate. This will help keep empty
seats to a minimum (they could even ask for single
riders like at Dorney or PKI), keep groups together
and keep the line moving a little faster.
The Dahlonega Mine Train (Arrow mine train, 1967)
called us next. It is an average Arrow mine train
with several bunny hops (what a horrible idea, but not
as bad as SFGAdv) and a very nice finish that uses two
tunnels. We sat in the middle of the train.
Monster Plantation lured us through its gates and we boarded after
15 minutes of waiting.. Now, this ride seems to be
monster plantation in name only, because there are
plenty of monsters, but very little plantation. There
are some fun stunts here, but very average from a dark
ride standpoint. The second half, which I was told
was reworked, has a lot of black lights and some more
unique things. What I must say is that whomever
dreamed this up really whacked storyline needs to
puff, puff, give and pass that stuff to me, because
there is some tripped out *#% in here that definitely
seems induced. BTW, my favorite monster was the one
with the spinning beanie.
We walked down to Gotham, but Mindbender was closed and
the crowds were heavier today, so we did not try
Batman. On our way through USA, we sampled the Great
Gasp, an Intamin parachute drop similar to the one
found at SFGAdv. It gave a nice view of the area and
I must say I feel more uncomfortable in this basket
than on Acrophobia - at least there I am strapped in.
Down through Lickskillet, we sampled Wheelie, a
Schwarzkopf Enterprise that does not have the head and
brake lights like the one at SFStL. A fun ride, I
like them better than the Huss versions. This was the
only time where I saw lethargic operators all weekend,
but we did not let it spoil things. We got in rides
on Ninja (last seat), GASM (1.3�still painful, moving
faster than yesterday but shuffling just as much) and
a couple on Viper.
For lunch we ate at the Miner�s Cookhouse, and I got a
BBQ sandwich that was good. We walked back to the
front of the park, got a ride on Georgia Scorcher in
row seven (still a great ride), and Bill left to do duty in
the ACE booth. I chose to endure the full queue on
Acrophobia (a little over an hour), and enjoyed being
one of the few people, perhaps the only one, to have
me arms and legs out and ready for the drop. Another
fifty minute wait for Mindbender. After the morning�s
problems, they had taken off one of the trains so,
though the line was short, it moved very slowly
(through no fault of the ride ops). I chose to wait
for the front seat (as it was only a few trains more
than anywhere else) and had a great, fast ride.
I met Bill at five and we decided to brave the
backseat on the Cyclone one more time. A short wait
let us in, the ride ops did not staple us, the kicker
tires squeaked (they love their kicker tires in this
park�even on woodies) and we got a ride that was as
rough as yesterday, but the coaster was also running
faster and meaner. Those drops were long and there
was plenty of �sans seat� time. I would love to get
this thing on a brakeless day; it must be a mean (in
that good way) machine.
Not having a lot of time to spare, we ran to the back
of the park for the ACE event. I got some nice pics
of GASM�s back half and, after a short while, it was
time for Viperthon. The coasters behaved as they had
been all weekend. We got plenty of wonderful rides in
on Viper that were fast and full of forces. GASM was
still running a bit rough so I, not generally a wheel
snob, opted to ride in 1.2 and 4.2 to enjoy the
coaster sans some of the shaking, and it greatly
improved things. However, the coaster was moving
quite fast and that brake at the end really grabs the
train if the other train is still in the station. I
am looking forward to my next SFOG visit because both
of their wooden coasters have been rated as some of
the better cared for in the SF chain, and I feel all
they need is some slight off-season care to return
their tracking abilities and punch. Our last ride of
the night was in Viper�s front seat. As the sun
dipped in the sky, I reached for air as I sat out of my
seat on the front spike. All I can say is thank you
to SFOG for hosting this wonderful event and Anton
Schwarzkopf for his genius. As usual, he saw past his
contemporaries and created rides that are intense, fun
and loved by everyone. What else can a coaster do?
Weekend wrap up:
Thanks, SFOG, for keeping your
doors open and hands in the air. Finally, a huge
thank you goes out to Atlantacoaster for his time and
hospitality last weekend. I could not have done this
trip without his help, and it made for a wonderful
time. Thanks, Bill, it was nice to get �away from it
all� for a while.
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