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Six Flags Great America! - 5/4/24

Finally decided to put together my post from going to Great America about two weeks ago lol. Sorry it took so long! With moving back home after college, I kept getting distracted by other things haha.

Here are some of my fav pictures I got! In-depth thoughts about each coaster I rode are below them!

So I went with a friend from college and rode about half of all the major coasters there (7 out of their total of 15) since lines were pretty long all day. American Eagle, Whizzer and Sprocket Rockets were closed all day (this was only the third weekend of the season so it was to be expected - you know how it is with Six Flags lmao), and then everything else we didn't get to ride was either a kiddy coaster (Little Dipper) or has a clone somewhere else that I've ridden before (Batman the Ride, Joker, Flash: Vertical Velocity, Superman Ultimate Flight). So not super bummed about missing any of those. Getting on American Eagle and Whizzer would've been fun since those are both classics, and even with clones, a credit is still a credit lol. My friend and I are hoping to go back when we come back to school in August, so we'll hopefully be able to ride what we missed then.

But enough about what we didn't ride, onto what we DID ride! (This will be in the order we rode them throughout the day, plus what number they are in my credits list)

Maxx Force - Credit #162! This was easily my favorite coaster in the park! I am a huge sucker for launch coasters, especially ones with powerful launches. With Maxx Force now having one of, debatably the, fastest accelerating launch on any coaster in the world, that did not disappoint! The funky inversions were a lot of fun and I really liked the high speed heartline roll in the middle. Of course the one downside to Maxx Force is that it's a very short ride in duration, in addition to the brakes kicking in while you're still going through the final element. But overall, it was still an absolute blast of a ride and I definitely wanna ride it again next time I'm at the park!

Raging Bull - Credit #163! I knew this B&M Hyper has gotten mixed reviews in the past, so I knew going in it wasn't going to be the best Hyper out there. I did really enjoy it's more unconventional layout for its model and the focus more on lateral and positive forces throughout the layout, and it was pretty smooth all the way through. What did disappoint me a bit though was the airtime. Like I said, I knew not to expect the 5+ second floater airtime hills you get on other Hypers like Diamondback or Candymonium, but I had heard that in the back row, the main first drop off of the pre-drop had some crazy ejector air in the back row. We rode in the back row and there was definitely some air, but not the crazy throw-you-out-of-your-seat type air that I was expecting. There were a few other good pops throughout the layout, but like I said, I liked it's focus on laterals and positives more. Definitely solid all around.

Viper - Credit #164! Viper I was slightly underwhelmed with. Going in, I had heard that Viper is one of the more underrated coasters in the park, both from other enthusiasts and locals who visit the park regularly. It was definitely smooth for a wooden coaster, it had clearly been well taken care of and looked to have gotten some recent re-tracking, which was very welcome. It also had some good laterals going around some of its turns, but similar to Raging Bull, I found it to be kinda lacking in the airtime department. Again there were some good floater hills here and there but not every hill hit like it should I felt like. This is one I wanna give another shake next time I'm there to see if I just missed something.

Demon - Credit #165! Demon was, not my favorite I'll say. Like it wasn't awful, I've certainly ridden worse Arrow loopers but this one was kinda middle of the road. I didn't think it rode as smoothly or had as much hangtime as the other Demon at California's Great America did. I liked the theming that this one had around it though, much like it's sibling in California. The rock work around the lift and corkscrews and the tunnel you fly through after going through the loops were both pretty cool. Other than that though, I wasn't huge on this one.

X-Flight - Credit #166! Opposite of Viper, X-Flight was better than I had expected! I had heard going in that it was the weakest Wing Coaster in the US, so I wasn't really expecting much, but really ended up enjoying it! We rode in the back row on the right side, so we really got whipped through some of the elements, especially the first wing over drop. I sat on the outside seat, so it was a little rattly there but that's to be expected with B&M Wings lol, and it wasn't really that bad. There were a lot of positive Gs that were a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the hangtime on the first drop and the final in-line twist through the tower (which was also a really cool visual moment both on and off the ride). Of the three Wing Coasters I've ridden, I put it in the middle. I liked it more than Wild Eagle at Dollywood, but not as much as GateKeeper at Cedar Point.

Goliath - Credit #167! Goliath was the longest line we waited in throughout the day at over 90 mins, but I would say it was worth it! I knew this was one of the shortest RMCs in duration, so that wasn't an issue for me but I really enjoyed the elements here. Great first drop and some really strong airtime moments. Both inversions were awesome too! The dive loop was really weird in a cool way, since I turned my head up while we were upside down to look through the structure as we dove down, which was a wild moment. And then the HUGE stall under the lift was soo cool as well. I'd only done prolonged stalls on Jersey Devil and Wildcat's Revenge (the one on Steel Vengeance is really quick and snappy unlike the ones mentioned here), but this one was just so big and so long that it was just a crazy moment. Easy number 2 in the park after Maxx Force for me!

Dark Knight - Credit #168! The last coaster we rode was Dark Knight, the indoor Wild Mouse. I know there are better coasters we could have ridden like Batman or Superman, but at this point, it was about 4 o'clock and we just wanted to get out of the heat and sun for awhile, so we chose to wait in the indoor queue of the Dark Knight lol. I knew what to expect since I had done the one at Great Adventure before, but I think this one was a bit better. The trims didn't seem to be hitting at all on the switchbacks, or if they were, they weren't hitting very hard. So lots of laterals all over, and it looked like more of the theming elements were either on or working than on Great Adventure's (at least from when I rode that one back in like 2018 lol). So it was fun, but in the end it was still just a Wild Mouse in a box lmao.

So that's my recap of my day at Six Flags Great America! I had a great time, at least until it started POURING as we were heading out at about 6 lmao. I'm definitely looking forward to going back, hopefully in August like I said. It definitely had similar bones to California's Great America, but I liked the charm of CGA a bit more, although Six Flags Great America has way more coasters lol. If you've been to SFGAm, let me know what you think of their rides or how your thoughts compare to mine! I'd love to know!

Here's all of the coasters I rode at the park from most to least favorite, along with where they landed in my overall credits ranking (plus which coasters are before and after them on my list for frame of reference):

Maxx Force (#20, between Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood and Thunder Striker at Carowinds)

Goliath (#30, between Volcano the Blast Coaster [formerly] at Kings Dominion and Candymonium at Hersheypark)

X-Flight (#46, between Magnum XL-200 at Cedar Point and Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure)

Raging Bull (#50, between Great Bear at Hersheypark and Impulse at Knoebels)

Viper (#65, between Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion and Comet at Hersheypark)

Demon (#101, between Iron Dragon and Wild Mouse, both at Cedar Point)

Dark Knight (#113, between Racer at Kennywood and Dark Knight at Six Flags Great Adventure)

Six Flags Great Adventure! - 6/17/25

Earlier this week, my sister and I went down to Great Adventure! It was the first time either of us had gone since November of 2021, and my first time going during their summer season since 2017! So needless to say, I was very eager to get back after such a long time haha. Of course, my main priority was getting on Flash: Vertical Velocity, their new coaster that just opened this year, but almost more than that, I wanted to get back on some of these great coasters that I hadn't ridden in so long. I'll go in depth about my experiences and thoughts with each ride below, as a bit more about my general experiences ^^

The pics here are in the same order we rode them, as listed below (Flash: Vertical Velocity, Batman The Ride, Nitro, Jersey Devil, Dark Knight, El Toro, Runaway Mine Train, Medusa and Superman - Ultimate Flight)

Overall, my sister and I had a very solid visit! Minimal lines almost all day, not super hot or humid, and we got on 9 of their 13 coasters, including multiple rides on some of our favorites! Since this was my sister's first time going since she really started to ride all the big stuff, everything we rode was a new credit for her, bringing her total credit count to 68! She had previously ridden Harley Quinn Crazy Train, Lil' Devil and Skull Mountain back in 2021, so we passed on all of those. The only major coaster neither of us rode was Joker, which was fine by me. She didn't feel ready to do a 4D Free Spin, and I think those models are kind of whatever and I didn't feel like waiting in the bit of a line it had when I could go get a re-ride on something else lol.

One thing I will say, that I'm sure a lot of other people who have been to the park this year have also seen/said/felt: With the removals of so many rides this past year, it really does feel like the park has a lot of dead spots. The Boardwalk area down by Superman is particularly grim feeling. And man, I hadn't thought it would hit me so hard, but I miss the Golden Kingdom where Kingda Ka was so bad </3 It was such a neat vibe over there. The park's lineup without Ka, and Green Lantern to a lesser extent, really does feel incomplete, and the big plots of dirt and gravel where those were do look pretty unsightly. Looking over at where Ka was from the top of El Toro was probably the saddest viewpoint of what once was </3

But enough sad talk about awful decisions by Six Flags corporate that I'm still bitter about, let's talk about these coasters!

I'd mentioned this before, but any new credits I get this year will NOT be added to Tac Talks Coasters, just because if I did add them, it'd mess up all the previous posts numbered ranks and it'd just be a pain to re-edit all of them. Also, after getting my re-rides here, more or less all of these coasters shifted in their ranks a bit. The two I've talked about already in TTC (Runaway Mine Train and Dark Knight) will stay listed as they currently are, but I'll mention in here how much they moved. Everything else will get their own in depth TTC post at whatever new rank number they have now. Flash, since it was a new credit, will get a TTC bonus post after I get through my whole current ranking. But I will mention where I rank it in here :3

Anyways, on to the coasters! These will be listed in the order we rode them, as well as saying how many times we rode each one ^^

Flash: Vertical Velocity - Coaster Credit #171! - 1 Ride

I thought Flash was a neat ride and fun for what it was, but not necessarily a great fit for Great Adventure specifically. The ride had some really neat maneuvers, especially the stall, and the twisted turnaround before going into the corkscrew. Going through the twisted turnaround and the corkscrew both forwards and backwards felt very whippy and sort of disorienting in a fun way, especially in the backwards pass. Easily the best part of the ride was the hangtime in the stalled immelmann. You're really up there for what feels like a long time and it's strong and sustained on both the forwards and backwards pass. What makes it not a great fit at Great Adventure really is the capacity. In the end, this was the only new credit I picked up at Great Adventure, and it landed at 48 in my ranks, between Switchback at ZDT's and Steel Force at Dorney Park.

Batman The Ride - 1 Ride

One of the rides I was most interested in doing was Batman, since I hadn't ridden a Bat clone since 2017 and I wanted to see how they held up compared to a lot of the other bigger B&M Inverts I've done in the time since. I will say, maybe I had my expectations in the wrong place, but it wasn't quite as intense as I had remembered. It still pulled some good forces for sure, but it wasn't the like gray-out level intensity I was expecting going in. It was also kind of shaky, which surprised me as well. It was still a fun ride that I'm glad I got to do, but for the time being at least, Batman (along with it's clone Chubacabra at Fiesta Texas) will stay as the lowest ranked Inverts on my list.

Nitro - 2 Rides

Nitro was another ride I was eager to try again. I rode it during my visit in 2021, but given how that was in November, A) it wasn't running at it's fastest, and B) I was distracted by how cold it was rather than focusing on the ride experience lmao. But we ended up liking Nitro enough to get two rides in on it. Our first was a bit closer to the front, I think row 3, and our second ride was further back. I definitely thought it was better towards the back, but still Nitro overall I thought was just kind of okay, as far as B&M Hypers go at least. I didn't think the airtime was as pronounced as a lot of the newer Hypers, and similar to Batman, I found Nitro to be kinda rattly. Also the ride just has an ugly color scheme. Yellow track with pink rails and cross ties and blue supports, plus now looking faded after so long, it just does not look good. The ride could definitely do with a good repaint. But my nitpicking aside, Nitro is a good fit at Great Adventure, especially as a contrast to the crazy airtime on El Toro (we'll get to that, trust me lmao), so I can see how it's a big fan favorite among park guests.

Jersey Devil - 2 Rides

Again, similar to Nitro and Batman, I was really looking forward to getting on Jersey Devil again, since I had only ridden it once before back in November of 2021. Like Nitro as well, since that was in November, so the ride wasn't running at its fastest. I still enjoyed it then regardless, but I was really interested in getting a full speed ride in the warmer weather. Ironically, on my one ride in November of 2021, I was put in the front row with the assigned seating, and that's also where I got put for my first ride on this visit lmao. On our second time around, I got much closer to the back in row 10 of 12, and I definitely think this is a back row ride. All of the elements are super whippy and forceful and it has some great airtime. This also ended up being my sister's favorite ride at the park :3

Dark Knight - 1 Ride

Dark Knight was perfectly fine for what it was: a Wild Mouse in a box lol. Since I just recently talked about this one for TTC, I'll keep this fairly short. During the switchbacks for the first half of the ride, the trim breaks weren't hitting at all, and the ride was just flying through them. That was definitely good and gave a lot of laterals, as Wild Mouse coasters are known to do. The second half of the ride was more trimmed and was just kind of whatever, your standard Wild Mouse fare. The main thing that disappointed me about my ride this time was that it seemed like a lot of the theming elements were either turned off or not working. I know that's typical for a Six Flags coaster, but I remember a lot of the theming being on the last time I rode this back in 2017, as well as on its clone at Great America in 2024, so that was a bit disappointing. This one didn't end up moving in my ranks at all, other than being pushed down one spot from the addition of Flash.

El Toro - 2 Rides (2 for me, my sister only rode once)

Of all the rides I was excited to re-ride this visit, El Toro was easily the one I was most excited to try again. And my god, this thing did not disappoint. El Toro is one of the most insane rides out there, there is almost nothing else in the world like this thing. This ride is RIDICULOUS. There are very few coasters that, at least in my experience, have truly a "Holy Shit" blow your mind kind of moment, and El Toro has THREE of them, back to back to back. It's the first drop and those first two airtime hills. These three elements have some of, if not THE most powerful and sustained ejector airtime I have ever seen. Since it had been so long since I last rode it and my memories of my last rides in 2017 weren't the clearest, my first ride on this felt as though it was my first ride ever. I don't think I've been that floored riding a coaster since the first time I rode Steel Vengeance or Fury 325. And the rest of the ride after those first two hills is still insane and relentless. The Rolling Thunder hill is another amazing airtime moment, and then the ride mixes it up with that crazy twister section at the end. I was worried as to whether the ride might be on the rougher side, given the track problems its had over the last few years, but I am very happy to report that it was running fantastically. It wasn't glass smooth but it was probably smoother than just about any other wooden coaster I've done. El Toro was already in my overall top 10, but I bumped it up two spots because yeah, it's THAT good. I cannot wait to hopefully go back to Great Adventure later this summer and get some more rides on this beast.

Runaway Mine Train - 1 Ride

Talk about a change of pace to follow up El Toro lmao. Runaway Mine Train was pretty much what I had expected going in based on what I remembered from my last ride in 2017, and what I said in its TTC does still generally hold up. It is not the smoothest ride in the world, with some particularly jarring moments during the ride's two helices. The layout for the most part is fairly weak sauce with the exception of the last bunny hill before the final turn over the water. This hill, for reasons that are beyond me, gives a very sharp, sudden and powerful pop of ejector airtime that completely caught me off guard. It came completely out of left field for me, especially with the ride leading up to it being so tame. That was enough to warrant me moving it up a few spots in my ranks, from 148 to 144, distancing itself a bit more from Hersheypark's Trailblazer.

Medusa - 1 Ride

Prior to my ride this year, Medusa was a ride I didn't really think about a lot in terms of Great Adventure's lineup. Tucked WAY in the back of the park, passed Runaway Mine Train back in the Frontier Adventures section, it can be an easy ride to miss. But I think it's a really solid looper and works way better now that they brought back the Medusa theme the ride opened with compared to the 12 years or so it spent as Bizarro. The DC theme never really fit with the ride, since it was so far removed from all of the other DC themed rides all by itself way back there. Having gotten back on it, I ended up bumping it up to be my favorite B&M Floorless coaster, though they're all right next to each other in my rankings either way lol.

Superman - Ultimate Flight - 1 Ride

The last of the coasters my sister and I rode, Superman is the only B&M Flyer either of us have done at this point. In terms of flying coasters in general, I'd also done Nighthawk at Carowinds, but we don't talk about Nighthawk at Carowinds. Anyways, given how my sister particularly enjoys the more forceful rides, she was a fan of this one, especially the pretzel loop hehe. I definitely enjoyed it too! It had been so long since I'd done a flying coaster (my most recent flying coaster experience was the last time I rode Superman back in 2021 lmao), so I'd sort of forgotten what it felt like lol. It really does replicate that flying feeling well and is just a lot of fun all around. What I didn't really like was sitting on the brake run while the train in front of us loaded and dispatched while we were hanging there for a minute or two. Laying on your chest while hanging from the track in that prone position. Discomfort aside though, riding this just made me want to ride Tatsu at Magic Mountain all the more lmao.

And that's that! A full recap on the day my sister and I had at Six Flags Great Adventure, with my thoughts on all the coasters we rode! Like I said at the start, I thought it was a really solid day and I'm glad we got the chance to go. I hope we're able to get back later in the summer to get some re-rides and maybe even some night rides :0

Just for funsies, here's how I'd rank all the coasters at the park, including the ones we didn't ride on this visit:

El Toro

Jersey Devil

Nitro

Batman The Ride

Flash: Vertical Velocity

Superman - Ultimate Flight

Medusa

Joker

Dark Knight

Harley Quinn Crazy Train

Runaway Mine Train