Six Flags Corporation announced their 2018 expansion plans for all of their parks today. For the first time in a few years we really have no leaks, just lots of rumors. We are very excited for a few of the announcements, kind of perplexed by a few based on what they were teasing, but overall happy that some parks are choosing to not just focus on new rides but overall park improvements. Hopefully with the new rides will also come general park improvements around those rides. As always we'll start on the West Coast and work our way east. Be sure to take our poll at the bottom of the article. Six Flags Discovery KingdomHarley Quinn's Crazy Coaster Time to get twisted! Opening in Spring 2018, an epic new thrill ride attraction is coming your way: HARLEY QUINN Crazy Coaster, the world's first dueling looping coaster! This exciting new figure eight coaster joins our Super Hero line-up of thrill coasters and family fun: SUPERMAN Ultimate Flight, The JOKER, WONDER WOMAN Lasso of Truth and The PENGUIN. Six Flags Magic MountainSix Flags Magic Mountain, the undisputed “Thrill Capital of the World,” today unveiled plans for a crazy fun 2018 when CraZanity, the world’s tallest pendulum ride, makes its debut in late spring. At a record-breaking 17-stories in the air, this impressive giant disk will reach speeds up to 75-miles-per-hour, as it whips back and forth—higher and higher to give riders a staggering view of the world below them. Six Flags Fiesta TexasWonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster Debuting in Spring 2018: WONDER WOMAN Golden Lasso Coaster, the world's first single rail coaster, joins our Super Hero line up of BATMAN: The Ride and SUPERMAN: Krypton Coaster to complete the trilogy. Six Flags Over TexasHARLEY QUINN Spinsanity features a unique futuristic triple box design that allows the gondola to spin around three separate axes while rotating forward, backwards and sideways simultaneously at up to 70 feet in the air. Seated 24 across with over-the-shoulder harnesses, riders will experience a thrilling combination of negative and positive gravitational forces. By night, the attraction promises to light up the North Texas skies beckoning thrill seekers from near and far. Six Flags St LouisTyphoon Twister Debuting in Spring 2018: Typhoon Twister, a new water thrill, is heading to Hurricane Harbor in 2018. Typhoon Twister is the latest addition to the 12-acre water park which is offered free with theme park admission.The hybrid coaster joins our other water park thrills of Bonzai Pipeline, and Tornado. Six Flags Great AmericaThis ride will have riders traveling in unique “face-off” seating. Thrill seekers will go through a whirlwind series of 360° revolutions suspended upside down for the most insane, inverted hang-time of any coaster in the park before reeling down in the opposite direction. Six Flags Over GeorgiaSix Flags Over Georgia—the Thrill Capital of the South—today announced the all-new Twisted Cyclone hybrid roller coaster will arrive in 2018. Twisted Cyclone will offer guests the best of both worlds—a classic wooden structure combined with a modern, steel track for multiple inversions and a smoother, more thrilling riding experience. Six Flags AmericaWahoo River In 2018, Six Flags America debuts the all-new Wahoo River! Wahoo River will be the new centerpiece of Hurricane Harbor Water Park, with a faster current and an endless array of watery surprises. Six Flags Great AdventureCYBORG Cyber Spin features a unique futuristic triple box design that allows the gondola to spin around three separate axes while rotating forward, backwards and sideways simultaneously at up to 70 feet in the air for intense and continuous movement. Seated 24 across with over-the-shoulder harnesses, riders will experience a thrilling combination of negative and positive gravitational forces. By night—this bold, new attraction promises to light up the New Jersey skies beckoning thrill seekers from near and far. The Great EscapePandemonium Debuting Summer 2018: Pandemonium, this sensational spin on a classic thrill ride will have guests catching maximum air delivering fun for families of all ages. This electrifying new attraction will be located in the popular Alpine Fest area in the center of our beautiful park. Six Flags New EnglandHarley Quinn's Spinsanity HARLEY QUINN™ Spinsanity, a colossal swing ride that will send guests screaming to new heights towering over 147 feet, is the newest attraction at Six Flags New England! Related Updates:
Yesterday Randy from Metro Atlanta Coaster Club was out at Six Flags Over Georgia for media day for their all new Justice League: Battle for Metropolis. This is the first of three such rides to open at different Six Flags Parks for 2017. Below we've got some amazing pictures, POV and Reverse POV video and some additional information on how you can ride the ride starting this weekend! Written by Randy Dewberry (All photos courtesy of Metro Atlanta Coaster Club) We'l start off with two amazing videos of Randy on Justice League. One a POV and the other Reverse POV. You can see just how fun this ride is! Time to get our Justice League on The all-important shade and misters are ready! About to join some esteemed company The walls look like real marble! Cyborg sends us on our mission, and looks great doing so! Eager to test out Six Flags' new Justice League 4D dark ride? You have two chances to ride it before the grand opening on May 26. If you're a season passholder, you can try it out next Saturday and Sunday (May 20-21) just by showing your pass. For an even earlier crack at it, purchase a special-edition souvenir T-shirt in the park and you can ride it THIS WEEKEND (May 13-14) between noon-6pm each day! Some additional images courtesy of Six Flags Over Georgia Related Updates: Tomorrow marks the opening of the 50th season for Six Flags Over Georgia and to celebrate not only are they creating another world class dark ride (to go along with Monster Plantation) but they are also ushering a new era of VR attraction and the first in the chain to do it on a drop tower. We all think this suits VR much better than on a coaster. Check out Randy's update and be sure to check out Metro Atlanta Coaster Club for all your deep south coaster and theme park needs. Written by Randy Dewberry As Six Flags’ initial virtual reality experiment continued through the end of the 2016 season, many of the parks that had a VR coaster and hosted Holiday In The Park got a Christmas-themed VR overlay. Oddly, one that didn’t was the one that was the first to actually roll out the whole thing in 2016, Six Flags Over Georgia. In hindsight, it seems that the reason may have been future plans for the VR hardware. As we discovered a week or so ago, Six Flags has moved the headsets off Dare Devil Dive and over to the Peachtree Square section of the park. Using Six Flags’ one-of-a-kind-in-North-America Gyro Drop tower, Acrophobia, Samsung VR is presenting a first-of-its-kind-in-North-America experience, Drop of Doom VR. While the name of the overlay borrows from its sibling drop towers at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great Adventure, the rest is very unique, but not in the way you might think. Since Acrophobia’s debut in 2001, many park guests oddly refer to the ride as “Arachnophobia”. I guess because they’re more familiar with a certain campy horror movie by that name than they are with the actual ride name. I have to give whoever decided on this theme huge props for taking that malapropism and working it into the experience. After you’re seated on the 30-person gondola, the ride attendants will assist in fitting the VR goggles to your head. The Samsung Galaxy S7 phones mounted in Samsung Gear VR goggles return for this use, and are still quite comfortable and easy to focus. While you’re waiting, you’ll be able to gauge just what’s going on … you’re rigged up on a helicopter mounted gondola with a high-powered gun that aims wherever you look as a city is overrun with gigantic (and not so gigantic) spiders. “Spiders … why did it have to be spiders?” you might say. As you go aloft, you’ll be besieged by spiders on nearby buildings and flying insects, all perfectly good targets for your unlimited ammo. You’ll cheer as giant robot warriors take the fight to the arachnids. You’ll gasp as an equally-giant black widow takes out one robot, then cringe as you see its offspring crawl all over your virtual self. Then, you’ll scream as your gondola gets knocked off the helicopter and enters a 100-story virtual freefall, timed with the ride’s actual 16-story drop. Fortunately, instead of crashing to the ground below, you’ll land in a handy spider web … wait, that can’t be good, and as you might expect from giant spiders, it isn’t. Only a well-timed robotic stomp keeps us from re-enacting the finale of “The Fly”. The tech involved in making “Drop of Doom VR” happen is similar in concept to that used for Dare Devil Dive last season. There are wi-fi boxes mounted to the gondola, about the size of a paperback book, which communicate the ride experience to the VR headsets. Markings have been placed on the tower for sensors to confirm exactly where on the 212-foot-tall tower the gondola is, making sure the VR content is synced up with the ride. Fortunately, in the event it does decouple, the sensation is not as disorienting as it would be on a roller coaster. If you cannot or choose not to use the VR headset, you can still ride, as they can handle a mixed loadout of riders with ease. If there is one concern heading into this season, it’s how quickly they can dispatch the ride on each cycle. If you do intend on going the first couple of weekends, please be sure to pack your patience, as they want to cycle the ride as quickly as you want to ride and blast spiders, and may well change some things up from time to time if something is or is not working. 2017 marks Six Flags Over Georgia’s 50th anniversary season, and while the park’s big present – Justice League 4D: Battle for Metropolis – won’t open for another couple of months (May 26, to be specific), there’s still plenty besides Drop of Doom VR to entertain guests. Justice League’s new home, Metropolis Park, will be ready, complete with a gussied-up Superman Ultimate Flight. Metropolis Park will have new food/drink options for this area of the park, although we’ve been told the food service won’t be ready for opening weekend. Anniversary signage is appearing throughout, and a photo retrospective wall occupies the pavilion at the end of the Promenade. We’re looking forward to checking out the rest of the changes as we explore the park this weekend. Related Updates: |
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