*Yawn*. It's 6:30 AM at Six Flags New England. We're here at the ass-crack of dawn to do a VIP walk-back tour of Bizarro and Thunderbolt. It's gonna be a long day, y'all!
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| Here's how many of us are here right now. We're parked in VIP parking, which used to be Riverside's main parking. It sure beats the colossal parking lot for normal people! :} |
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| Good morning Six Flags New England. It feels like I was JUST here 7 hours ago. |
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| And good mooorning Bizarro. You sexy beast! |
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| Our tour began at the base of the first drop where the ride's first tunnel is. |
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| I never really looked closely at the tunnel entrance before, but I now see that it's Bizarro gripping some kind of.....um.....hole for us to....uh.....enter...........hmm..... |
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| Up close, the purple is a lot more mild-looking. |
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| Here's Jeff entering Bizarro's tunnel! |
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| Here we are inside the tunnel, peering out of the small opening. |
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| I had my hands ALL OVER Bizarro. :} |
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| It was pretty exciting! |
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| Here we are on the other side! |
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| It's a party under Bizarro! |
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| This ACEr positioned himself on top of Bizarro for a better view. :} |
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| When the concrete for Superman's tunnel was poured, a raccoon got stuck! |
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| Here's the backside of Catwoman. ;) |
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| Next we headed back to the ride's station. |
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| Does anyone know what the history is with this red & yellow cement pad? I can't figure it out. |
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| Light tunnels! |
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| And now.....the backside of Bizarro's station! |
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"And here's where that guy flew out of his seat & smacked into the fence."
(No, our tour guide did not say that. Someone in the crowd did.) |
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| Soon we filed into Bizarro's station to get back into the midway. |
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| Bizarro: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS |
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| Now for tunnel #2! |
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| This is the tunnel that everyone remembers! The first one is over before you know it. |
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| More hands-on Bizarro action! |
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| Looks like Superman is just being suppressed. Maybe we'll see the Man of Steel return someday... |
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| Now for something completely different. |
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| We got a bonus tour of Thunderbolt! |
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| XTREME THUNDERBOLT POV! |
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| There's just something tickling about seeing people stick their phones & cameras through the slats of the track. |
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| Morning inspections were underway. |
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| Six Flags New England repainted Thunderbolt for the 2013 season. It's probably the purest-white woodie I've ever seen. |
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| Here we all are under the 'Bolt! |
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| Surprise! Even MORE Bizarro! |
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| This time they set us free in the helix bowl! |
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| I dragged Jeff's ass out of bed this morning to do all this with me, but we really enjoyed ourselves. :} |
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| Tunnel dive! |
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| This ride's flow of elements is so perfect. It's a ride that's greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty good to begin with. |
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| The happy sun says "Hello!" |
After our tour, we headed over to Crackaxle Canyon for breakfast!
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"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
-A Tale of Two Boomerangs |
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| They have this really neat themed soda fountain featuring Fanta Birch Beer! |
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| Not to be outdone, the restaurant serving our breakfast features Coke Freestyle machines! |
Six Flags Souvenir Mug + Raspberry Fanta = Happiness.
After breakfast, we took care of our last-remaining credits in the park. Credit #29 was actually Catwoman's Whip last night, but I forgot to put that in the report. Oops. Credit #30 of my Year of 100 New Coasters was Flashback.
Flashback started life as The Vampire at Kentucky Kingdom. Oddly enough, it would be the first of two coasters to make their way up to Six Flags New England from SFKK. I suspect the ride's next location will be the city dump or some place of that nature. With its age & history of mechanical problems, I just don't picture Six Flags holding onto it much longer.
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| I like Boomerangs. I do. But not this one. This one is ew. |
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| Good ole Riverside Cyclone was also open for us this morning. |
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| Pandemonium too! |
Credit #31 & Credit #32 round out the park's collection for us!
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| We saved the best credit for last! |
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| The Great Chase gets applause from Ann! |
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| Great ride. Just LOOK how fast it goes! |
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| Now it's time to get wet! :} |
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| Still another tie between Six Flags New England and Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom is their rapids rides. By the time 1999 rolled around, Riverside and Kentucky Kingdom were just about the only parks in the chain without rapids rides, so both parks got Blizzard Rivers. |
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| Both rides were intended to relate to Gotham City super-villain "The Penguin", but for whatever reason, only Kentucky Kingdom's had direct references to the DC Comics character. |
What a GREAT rapids ride! It's fast, eventful, and has a unique feature: THICK fog! So thick in some areas that you can't see an inch in front of your face. This is what a good rapids ride looks like, Compounce! :P
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| Cyclone's queue is decorated with signs commemorating other classic Six Flags woodies. What's wrong with this picture? |
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| The ride may not be what it used to be, but it still packs a punch! |
The park's sky ride has long lines due to its low capacity, so we decide to get a ride on it just as the park was opening.
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| Face to face with Pandemonium! |
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| Here's the majority of Six Flags New England. |
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| Looking back at the rest. |
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| The ride's unique bubble-cars are quite striking, but low on space. |
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| Thunderbolt and Bizarro during our descent. Aren't you guys sick of having your pictures taken yet? |
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| Cyclone has some stupid-awesome airtime in the backseat on the first drop. |
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| Thunderbolt from the roof of the building upon which the sky ride sits. |
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| Six Flags put together a Museum just for Coaster Con! I hope this continues to be a thing. |
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| WHY do parks not sell tea trays?! I would totally buy one at every park. |
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| Here's a picture of the park from shortly after Premier Parks took over. I, for one, find the park almost un-rcognizable. It's amazing; the changes made here in just 15 years! |
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| And here we have a brief history of the Riverside Cyclone! Looks like they left out the part about the roll cages. lol |
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| SUPERTOM! |
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| This ride was weird. It's a big, slow water slide with boats that are filled with dirty shoe water. There's no real "splashwater" in effect here. |
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| I like this ride better. |
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| Batman's interlocking corkscrews feel more effective than other interlocking corkscrews for some reason. |
The boys and I split up for a bit to go do different things before going back to the hotel for a little while. I went back to Bizarro to take even MORE pictures! Then I went shopping. :}
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| This is my "miracle picture". I saw the train, scrambled for my camera, fumbled for the capture button, and ended up with this somehow. This is the entire picture, with no cropping or editing. I couldn't take a frame shot like this if I tried. I always miss the train! |
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| *These* kinds of pictures are more forgiving. I just take a bunch & then pick the one that has the train where I want it. Easy peasy. |
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| ORANGE ALERT. A guido has been spotted in your area. |
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| I ran into David at Bizarro's entrance, so we of course went for a ride. |
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| Okay, Biz. I think I'm spent. Thank you for your cooperation. |
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| Had to give Thunderbolt some love too! |
After depositing my purchases and taking a small catnap, the boys and I headed back into the park for our Hurricane Harbor Luau!
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| Look how festive we are! |
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| This Hurricane Harbor is twice as nice as Magic Mountain's and 100% cheaper! |
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| These family raft slides and water coaster were open for ERT. |
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| And so were these. |
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| "We're going to ride Banzai Pipelines! Quit your whining and come with us!" Said the Adams. |
Let's talk about Banzai Pipelines for a sec. If you're not familiar with the concept, it basically goes like this: You step into this little up-right capsule coffin, which is situated over a body slide deathtrap. The floor drops out from under you, & you careen down it at the risk of burning off your ankle skin.
For whatever reason, there was absolutely nothing in my mind that was more terrifying than this concept. Walking up to the slides, I felt weak. My knees were shaking. I was pale. Once we were at the top, I watched some other ACERs victims drop through their coffins & I shrieked with horror.
Adam, Tina, Adam, myself, and others were all herded into our respective coffins. I was convulsing at this point. The ride operator opened the glass door & I got in. She closed and locked the door. I wanted to cry. I folded my arms and tried not to fall over. The operators counted down our launch, but some of the launches were delayed by a few seconds. When my floor finally opened, I rocketed into the tube & down to the splash pool below. It was awful. I laid in the pool for a sec and gathered myself. I stumbled out of the water, trembling while wiping the tears & chlorine from my face. I yanked the wedgie out of my butt and shuffled over to the Adams and Tina. They saw the distress on my face and gave me hugs.
It was literally the scariest thing ever. Scarier than the SCAD Tower. And after it was over, I was STILL scared. It was exactly as bad as I was expecting it to be.
So naturally, I rode it again. :}
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