Six Flags Worlds of Adventure
Aurora, Ohio
By Nate Kohlrusch
August 30, 2001
Note: I use the Griswold rating scale of �3 to +5, with 0 being slightly favorable
THE PARK: General Impressions. +3
Despite it's large number of coasters, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure fails to impress me. Four
of their coasters are cloned and a couple just plain suck. However, the
park is home to a few gems which make the visit quite worthwhile.
We went on a day when the park wasn't supposed to be open - Six Flags
extended the season by a week, and apparently very few people got the
message, as the place was almost completely empty. This worked really
well for me and my friend, Andrew, as we got in several rides on S:UE
without any waits - and we're used to waiting more than an hour for
Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great America! Due to the lack of any crowds, the "Wild
Life" side of the park was closed, as was Raging Wolf Bobs & the boomer (below ratings are taken from a previous visit).
I was looking forward to seeing what Six Flags has done with an animal
park, but that will have to happen on another visit. And of course
there's no loss in RWB and the boomer being closed. :-)
The theming and landscaping issues here still haven't been completely
fixed, but they're a little better. There are a couple of really nice
fountains throughout the park. The smell around the B:KF/Serial Thriller
swamp wasn't noticeable during this visit, though the area is still
littered with garbage. The new theming around X-Flight, though very
minimal, works really well and looks a lot better than if the ride had
just been plopped down in the former parking lot without anything. I'm
still not a fan of the layout of this park - the half circle gets
annoying, but that may be really improved now with the Sea World side. I
still think the area around the Villain station, picnic areas, Roadrunner
Express, and the rapids ride is unnecessarily confusing, but enough with
that - on to the coasters.
Batman: Knight Flight - 2000 B&M 5-inversion floorless coaster. +4.5
Still a fantastic coaster - this is not only Andrew's favorite coaster at
the park, but his favorite overall. I think a zero-g roll would improve
the ride somewhat, but only by just a bit, as I love the layout as is.
While I hear that both Medusas are relatively forceless, B:KF is
completely the opposite. There are a few great pops of airtime, lots of
positive G's, and those fast turns after the vertical loop are awesome.
This ride really deserves its place in my top ten list. I didn't notice
the weird catwalks following the track during the second half during my
last visit...anyone know why they're there???
THE VILLAIN - 2000 CCI steel-structured out and back woodie. Gerstlauer
trains. +1.5
The one ride we got this trip wasn't enough to knock this coaster down
from it's #5 spot in my top ten list, but it was one ride I did not
enjoy. We sat in the back - my favorite seat from last time - and I was
horrified at how this has changed. Any airtime was almost non-existent,
the laterals hurt like heck, and the ride was rough as could be.
Hopefully this ride will improve before my next visit. Maintain your
coasters, Six Flags!!!
SUPERMAN: ULTIMATE ESCAPE - 2000 Intamin inverted impulse coaster. +4.5
For what it is, this coaster is near perfect. There are some awesome
visuals in the front seat, but the back is definitely the place to be.
And as I said above, it was so nice to ride without a major wait! I
would give it a +5, but Great America's V2's location gives it the edge.
DOUBLE LOOP - 1977 Arrow looper (2 vertical loops). +1
I've cut and pasted here from my last review, as I still feel the same
way:
Standard Arrow. Good first drop, tight fast vertical loops, and a jerky
Helix - with plenty of bumps and bangs, of course.
SERIAL THRILLER - 1998 Standard Vekoma SLC. +2
Not as rough as I remember. I still think SLCs are pretty darned
thrilling, but Vekoma needs to work out the pacing issues! If the train
didn't almost come to a dead stop at the top of every inversion, you
wouldn't bang into the restraints so much. Is anyone excited for the
200' version??
BIG DIPPER - 1926 John A. Miller out and back woodie with trains built
in-house. +4
This ride was closed last time I was at SFWoA, so I was really excited to
ride it this time. Before I say anything else, let me stress that this
is a beautiful coaster. Everything about it, from the layout along the
lake to the gorgeous trains make riding this coaster a wonderful
experience. Thanks, Six Flags, for maintaining his coaster as well as
they have! The bottom of the first couple of drops jackhammer really
badly, but not enough to ruin the rest of the ride. This thing is an
airtime machine in every seat! I'm really thankful this ride is still
around, since we've lost too many classic coasters in the past - riding
the Big Dipper reminds me of what Chippewa Lakes' Big Dipper must have been
like.
X-Flight - 2001 Vekoma standard Flying Dutchman. +2
If I ever find a coaster that's a bigger letdown, I'll be really
surprised. The couple of good moments in this ride don't make up for the
fact that the rest of it is just plain boring! There are some nice
positive g's at the bottom of the first drop, the horseshoe turn is nice
and the loop is fantastic - but the rest really sucks. The ride just
feels really slow, and aside from the two moments I mentioned earlier,
it's very forceless. Perhaps PGA's version is slightly better with the
inside corkscrews, because the barrel rolls are just dumb, and the helix
is very forgettable. I'll be patiently waiting for a B&M flyer in the
US, because Vekoma's version is crap. I'm really glad I didn't go all
the way to California to ride this thing!
RAGING WOLF BOBS-1988 Curtis D. Summers wooden twister. PTC trains. +1
Rated based on a visit in August of 2000
There's some nice air on the first two drops, but then the ride dies and
becomes sluggish and uneventful. The last half is too rough for my
taste, too. The ride is very hard to photograph as it's on the far end
of the park, which was frustrating for me.
MIND ERASER-1997 Vekoma boomerang. +1
Rated based on a visit in August of 2000
Ouch! This was the worse of the two boomerangs I rode. I still like
going backwards, though. And the location of this one (the lifts hang
over the S:UE station) is kind of neat.
-Nate
The above park review, and all other reviews contained on this site, are property of Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Geocities and their respective owners. See Yahoo's Copyright Policy for more information.
|
