Batman

Going on a Great Adventure

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Six Flags Great Adventure

Six Flags Great Adventure has a rather unusual park layout, with visitors entering the park at its narrowest point in the centre. Here there is a long midway that runs across the entrance, with the Giant Wheel at one end and a land of milk and honey themed area with a carousel and a tea cups ride at the other.  The main attraction in this area is the Sky Screamer swing ride.

Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth and Cyborg Cyber Spin

To the right of the Ferris wheel is the large Movieland themed area. In addition to the interactive dark ride Justice League: Battle for Metropolis and the two roller coasters The Dark Knight Coaster and Batman The Ride, there is also the large swing ride Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth and the flat ride Cyborg Cyber Spin. Unfortunately, the latter wasn’t on my schedule during my visit, so I didn’t get to ride an Intamin Tourbillon.

Justice League: Battle for Metropolis

Developed by the Sally Corporation, the Justice League: Battle for Metropolis dark ride combines large plastic scenes with 3D screens where you have to fend off all sorts of Lex Luthor’s gadgets before he manages to capture the entire Justice League with the help of the Joker. It’s great fun, as you’d expect from Sally, and a surprisingly well-made dark ride that can be found in many Six Flags theme parks.

The Dark Knight Coaster

The Dark Knight Coaster is proof that Six Flags can do theme rides when they want to. The indoor Wild Mouse offers an amazingly fast ride in total darkness, with the hairpin turns in the upper part of the ride being themed throughout. The wilder part of the ride on the lower levels takes place mainly in the dark. All in all a great attraction!

Batman The Ride

Directly after the great success of the B&M inverted coaster Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America, the Dark Knight found his place at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1993.

After climbing the lift hill, passengers can expect a pre-drop before the train finally plunges down the first drop in a steep curve. On the descent, passengers can expect high G-forces before entering the first loop. The second inversion, a zero-G roll, follows in no time at all. Then another loop is taken. The blood pressure in your feet rises instantly as you go through a steep bend and a straight section of the track. It then heads mercilessly towards the bottom, where the first corkscrew awaits us. This element is pure madness if you are travelling at the back of the train, as the acceleration changes abruptly. The second corkscrew follows after a short right-hand bend. After that, a left-hand bend takes you straight into the braking section.

Batman: The Ride is still one of the best inverted coasters out there. The ride offers an intense ride layout with lots of positive G-forces on a relatively small footprint. Apart from the theming, the ride experience does not differ between the different rides, which is a good sign.

Nitro

Since the release of the computer game Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, Nitro has become one of the most famous hyper coasters in the world.

After a turn, the ride immediately begins on the 230-foot lift hill. Once at the top, the ride immediately descends. Interestingly, we change direction on the very first hill. The momentum takes us through another valley and over a classic camelback before we change direction in the best out-and-back style in a horseshoe turn. Another airtime hill is followed by another hill where we turn left. With plenty of speed we then enter a powerful helix that gets tighter and tighter and ends in a block brake. We then ride a series of very nice airtime hills to the final brake.

Nitro is a very cool old school hypercoaster. Although you only get floater airtime during the long ride, the many hills make it a real experience. The highlight of the ride is the intense helix before the block brake. In short, a really great coaster.

Jersey Devil Coaster

Past the Intamin Rapids Ride Congo Rapids, which was unfortunately closed on the day of my visit, we now head to the park’s newest rollercoaster, the Jersey Devil Coaster. The ride on the RMC Raptor Track begins immediately with the ride’s lift hill. After reaching the starting height of 40 metres in no time at all, we plunge straight down a very steep descent. After a quick ascent, it’s straight back down again in a dive loop. With brutal airtime, we then go over a huge camelback and immediately afterwards into a zero-G stall. A steep ascent then leads us into a very tight turn. Now we descend again quite abruptly and immediately enter a zero-G roll. Another ascent then leads us into a block brake. Without much delay, we then enter the next descent, after which another turn awaits us. Still very fast, we now race over a series of airtime bumps before reaching the final brake.

The layout of the Jersey Devil Coaster single rail coaster has a really nice flow. The inversions are all very easy to ride and the airtime is also very nice. I at least really enjoyed the ride, even if it is a bit tame compared to the other Raptor Track Coasters from RMC.

Skull Mountain

Every Roller Coaster Tycoon player will remember the Skull Mountain indoor roller coaster for its façade. The ride itself is a family roller coaster from Intamin, which is located in an unfortunately rather bright hall.

The ride begins rather curiously with a two-section lift and a short panoramic ride through the first level. Once in the main hall, the ride continues upwards for a while before a steep curve takes you straight back down to the hall floor. After an incline, we quickly change direction and make our way round a wide left-hand bend. After a short right-hand bend, we immediately enter a longer Bayernkurve, which leads us further and further downhill over hill and dale. After a right-hand bend, we enter a helix. Finally, after a short climb, we reach the braking section and soon afterwards the station, where our wonderful ride unfortunately comes to an end.

Harley Quinn Crazy Train and The Joker

Directly opposite the popular family coaster Harley Quinn Crazy Train – a Zierer Tivoli coaster that has run several laps in a row in this park – is the S&S free spin coaster The Joker. As always, the ride comfort on this coaster was quite good and there were plenty of rollovers at the end. For this reason, I can only warmly recommend a ride on the free spin coaster The Joker.

Houdini’s Great Escape

While Vekoma Mad Houses are a very common sight in European theme parks, they are not at all well known to an American audience with Houdini’s Great Escape being one of only two installations in the United States. In the story, we take part in a séance to bring Houdini back from the afterlife. In reality, however, we only experience a clever trick in which the benches each swing 30° to the side while the room rotates around us. A great attraction!

Twister and Parachute Training Center: Edwards AFB Jump Tower

Right next to the unfortunately closed HUSS Top Spin Twister is one of the park’s major attractions from the 1970s, which goes by the long name of Parachute Training Centre Edwards AFB Jump Tower. The Intamin Parachute Tower offers a great view over the park and the ride is quite fast. The actual drop, however, is very leisurely.

Superman – Ultimate Flight

Superman Ultimate Flight is located next to the entrance. As it takes a little longer to clear the coaster, it is advisable to get to the ride as soon as the park opens.

The ride on Superman Ultimate Flight begins immediately after a right turn as you enter the coaster’s lift hill. After reaching a height of 106 ft, the ride immediately descends in a right turn. The ride then climbs a hill, which introduces the main element of the ride: the Pretzel Loop. We are now pulled down with all our might and then hurtle through a valley on our backs. Once back up in the air, the ride takes us through three very gentle turns that add to the feeling of flying. A helix is followed by a nice roll. We then reach the braking section and shortly after the station.

The ride on Superman Ultimate Flight is very leisurely for a flying coaster, with the pretzel loop at the beginning being the highlight of the ride. Without it the ride would be a bit boring.

Green Lantern

The Green Lantern stand-up coaster has been located on the site of the Great American Scream Machine since 2011. However, the ride itself is much older and was located at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom from 1997 to 2009, where it was known as Chang.

The ride on the giant stand-up coaster starts right away with the lift hill, which takes us to a height of 47 metres (154 ft). After a bend at a lofty height, the big drop awaits. In classic B&M coaster style, a very large loop awaits us and after a right-hand bend we enter the equally large dive loop. After a sweeping ascent, we pass through a high left-hand bend and immediately afterwards into an Inclined Loop. After a quick change of direction, the route then heads uphill again into a mid-course brake. Without adjusting the speed, we head downhill again. Here we enter the first corkscrew and after a crazy right-left bend, we immediately enter the second corkscrew. Another right-left bend then takes us into the final braking section of the rollercoaster.

Green Lantern is one of the most modern stand-up coasters, so the ride is relatively fast. The ride is very spectacular due to the impressive height and the huge inversions, but not quite as pleasant due to the frequent contact with the bars.

Runaway Mine Train

One of the theme park’s original attractions is the Runaway Mine Train. It is housed in a large fort. There is also a station for the Skyways gondola lift.

The ride on the rollercoaster begins with an unusually high lift hill. Once at the top, however, we first make our way through the treetops. The path first leads us through a long helix and then over several hills. After passing a block brake, we fall to the ground for the first time. Now the trail leads us into a surprisingly intense helix and over a flawless airtime hill. We then whizz over the lake past the fort before taking an incline and reaching the braking section of the rollercoaster shortly afterwards.

The Runaway Mine Train has a surprisingly high layout for an old school mine train. Although the start of the ride is not quite as exciting with the longer helix and the slightly descending and ascending straights, it gets really fast from the steep curve after the brakes. The Airtime hill and the bend at the lake around the fort characterise the overall very good ride.

Medusa

Passing the Saw Mill Log Flume, which was unfortunately still closed on the day of my visit, we now head to the back of the park, where the Medusa roller coaster is located. This rollercoaster is quite something and should definitely not be missed.

It is not to be missed. After climbing the coaster’s lift hill, you immediately descend into the depths. The ride takes you through the valley at high speed and immediately into the large loop of the coaster. A climb to the left turns out to be a dive loop and immediately brings us to the ground. With a lot of momentum we then go through a Zero-G roll and immediately into the Cobra Roll of the coaster. A climb then leads us into a block brake, where we get only a brief moment to catch our breath. A steep bend takes us downhill. We then enter an intense helix just above the ground. After changing direction we enter the Interlocking Corkscrews. A short turn to the left then leads us into the last incline of the ride, after which we enter the braking section of the roller coaster.

What a ride! The Medusa floorless coaster is an absolute fun machine with a breathtaking layout and a total of seven inversions. I always enjoyed getting on this ride, partly due to the very efficient handling of the ride.

Zumanjaro Drop of Doom

Unfortunately, the Zumanjaro Drop of Doom freefall tower, which is attached to the support structure of the KingdaKa rollercoaster, was out of service during my visit. This tower is the largest freefall tower in the world. Interestingly, in the early days of the attraction, the tower was only allowed to be operated when the rollercoaster was not in operation. This led to long queues for both attractions. However, this restriction has now been lifted and both rides can be operated at the same time.

Kingda Ka

Kingda Ka has been the theme park’s main attraction since 2005. The 456 ft high launch roller coaster from the manufacturer Intamin towers over the park and cannot be overlooked, casting a spell over everyone in its immediate vicinity.

Right at the start of the park, I was able to ride several laps in a row without having to queue for long. After all, the ride only takes a few seconds, during which you reach a top speed of 128 mph before climbing the tall Top Hat. We then cross its apex rather leisurely and with tension on the vertical slope directly in front of us. On the way down, we turn round once on our own axis. Finally, we race over a 130 ft high hill where the roller coaster brakes.

Kingda Ka is a damn short roller coaster, but also a damn good one. As the speed increases, you realise what forces are acting on the train before it goes up the top hat. You are really shaken up. The descent and the final rush of speed also provide enough endorphins to leave the ride overjoyed.

El Toro

Five years after Colossos revolutionised wooden roller coaster construction at Heide-Park in Germany, the El Toro roller coaster opened at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2006.

Here, too, the ride begins after a rapid lift hill with a high turning curve before entering the steep drop. We then experience the finest airtime and an unrivalled rush of speed over two consecutive airtime hills. After a lively turn, we ride over another airtime hill and then over a speed bump. At high speed, we are now drawn into a left-hand bend and immediately afterwards onto another airtime hill. This is followed by three quick turns in a row. With momentum, we then ride over a series of rather flat hills. Shortly afterwards, we reach the braking section of the rollercoaster.

El Toro is a really great rollercoaster with a genuinely good layout. Unfortunately, the ride characteristics of this wooden roller coaster are no longer the best compared to the other Prefab wooden roller coasters from the manufacturer Intamin. Despite being retracked during the seasonal break, the ride is quite bumpy. Accordingly, I like Colossos much better than El Toro, and not just because I have ridden Colossos hundreds of times and El Toro only once.

Pictures Six Flags Great Adventure

Conclusion Six Flags Great Adventure

My visit to Six Flags Great Adventure left me with rather mixed feelings. On the one hand, the park has a lot of really good roller coasters to offer, but on the other hand, the park simply has no charm. The existing buildings are all getting on in years, and the park really does have a lot of open spaces and lots of areas covered in concrete. Nevertheless, the park is very popular and was accordingly well attended on the day I visited. In the end, I was able to try out all the attractions except for the water rides, which were unfortunately closed. I think I’ll have to come back sometime in the middle of the season to experience the park in its entirety.

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Six Flags Great Adventure / The Stumbled Runner Day 8

Parque Warner (2020)

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A visit of Parque Warner during the Covid-19 pandemic

I haven’t been to Parque Warner in a long time. The park belonging to Parques Reunidos is known to have a great selection of breathtaking roller coasters and water rides soaking through to your underwear. However, 2020 is now the year of Covid-19 and the Spanish are known to have taken it a little harder, so I was very curious to see how the amusement parks are run in this country. Due to my experiences concerning the protection measures in Germany, I expected very long waiting times from the beginning and therefore bought the Pase Correcaminos Platinum in advance; a quite expensive ticket for pushing the queue with theoretically unlimited access to the attractions.

As I had made a little mistake in the bus schedule, I reached the park much later than originally planned. As the entrance was narrowed to two access points, there were already two very long queues at my arrival. On the day of my visit, there were no day tickets; unfortunately, shortly before my visit, the park offered 50% reduced tickets, thus the park was relatively full. As I could not find the office for the Pase Correcaminos right away, I also lost some time; who could have guessed that the man at the lockers would take care of it.

Equipped with my wristband it could go through the park. Basically, masks are obligatory everywhere – the correct way of wearing them is meticulously observed. The staff is perfectly trained for all Covid-19 measures and at all shows and attractions they take care of the hygiene measures, e.g. you have to disinfect your hands every time in front of the watchful eye of an employee, at the shows you are accompanied to your seat (even after the show you are only allowed to leave the theatre in groups) to guarantee the safety distance. The attractions are additionally disinfected after each use, before the next passengers are allowed to board. All this of course reduces the capacity, but the Spanish staff is surprisingly fast. The only thing I honestly should have saved was the visit of the mad house Hotel Embrujado.

Pictures Parque Warner

Closing Words

At the end of the day I could ride all the attractions at least once. Thanks to the Pase Correcaminos, the waiting time at the roller coasters was a maximum of 30 minutes, without of course much more. At the water rides and all other attractions I had a little more luck. Of course, a visit outside of Corona would have been much more fruitful, but nevertheless I am impressed by the professionalism of the park and therefore recommend a visit to Parque Warner this year.

A visit to the theme park could hardly be safer!

 

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Parque Warner

The Steel Eel

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History of SeaWorld San Antonio

What hasn’t one already heard about SeaWorld Parks. The park in Orlando has been one of the most famous amusement parks in the world since the 1970s, and the park in San Diego, California, has been offering a successful – albeit still rather critical – mixture of animal and amusement park since 1964. The most exotic park in 1970 was the one in Ohio, which, in agreement with the nearby amusement park Geauga Lake, only featured marine animal shows. Shortly before the takeover by Anheuser-Busch, the fourth and last SeaWorld Park in San Antonio followed in 1988.

First of all, it is important to note that only people who come to the park especially for the marine animals will be satisfied. Thanks to the current expansion offensive on the part of the amusement park, this may change at some point, but without the shows, SeaWorld San Antonio undoubtedly offers far too little for the extremely high admission price.

Tour of the park

Super Grovers Box Car Derby

Now that that has been cleared up let’s start our tour through the theme park. Right at the beginning we come across the large children’s area Sesame Street Bay of Play. Here you’ll find an oversized playground and a handful of selected children’s rides, including the Super Grovers Box Car Derby roller coaster. Known as the Shamu Express until 2018, it featured an orca-shaped train. After the recent rebranding, Grover guides us in his soapboxes through the oval-shaped layout by the manufacturer Zierer.

Steel Eel

Since some areas of the park were closed for annual ticket holders, I was forced to head for the park’s biggest roller coaster, the Steel Eel.

This roller coaster from Morgan has been in the park since 1999 and features the typical out & back layout of the manufacturer. The Steel Eel is the smallest representative of its kind – which fortunately doesn’t mean anything, because the steel eel knows how to entertain its riders very well.

After a short dip out of the station, the train immediately enters a curve, which releases the train into the lift. Arriving at a starting height of 46m, you immediately rush down the increasingly steep first shot. With a speed of65 mph and a good pinch of positive G-forces, the train goes straight through the valley. On the following camelback hills we are lifted out of our seats twice in the most beautiful floating airtime manner, before we head for another valley close to the ground. Immediately afterwards we are already approaching the intermediate brake. With noticeably reduced speed we turn into a steep turn, which serves as a prelude for the brilliant bunnyhop finale. The speed rush takes us over several smaller and smaller hills, which can tear you out of your seat. Last but not least we cross a supply track in a wide S-curve before we reach the braking track of the layout.

The Steel Eel is a great roller coaster with a good amount of floating airtime, which probably gets even more when the coaster is run in and under the (more normal) Texan temperatures. At least I had a lot of fun on this ride, but unfortunately the dispatch was very slow, because first the seatbelt and then the bar are checked, which means you only saw the train rolling over the track every 5-10 minutes.

Wave Breaker – The Rescue Coaster

At the nearby Wave Breaker, fortunately, things looked a bit different and after a short wait, it was possible to go on a rescue mission sitting in the first row. After a short turn you get your mission briefing in a hangar, before you accelerate via a friction wheel launch. Immediately you go up a hill in a slight turn, which you leave in a wide steep turn. After two ground-near swings, you’ll make a right turn, followed by some ground-near maneuvers. A steep left turn leads us to the second launch section, which presses you into the backrest as usual. This is also followed by a high hill, which you leave in a steep left turn. Once again on the ground, we whizz across the lake in slight swings before we make our way back after a left turn. This takes us over a multitude of very flat hills and pressure-laden passages before we even reach the braking section of the layout.

Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster is a very cool roller coaster with a beautiful pacing and a good flow. It is a lot of fun to ride over the high hills and ground level passages. Of course the ride is not comparable to Djurs Sommerland’s Juvelen or Le Pal’s Yukon Quad, but this roller coaster is an excellent and welcome addition to the otherwise rather meager portfolio of the amusement park.

Great White

A good nine years after the amusement park opened its doors for the first time, SeaWorld San Antonio presented its first roller coaster to visitors. The Great White is the seventh delivery of the popular Batman layout from the manufacturer B&M and at that time the only ride of its kind in Texas. Compared to the rides at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas, the Great White is the one where the park took the most effort and adapted the terrain to the ride’s layout. The result is a wonderful ride, which even after more than 20 years of operation is largely without any parallel. The ride through the two loops, the Zero-G Roll and the two corkscrews is simply timeless and mercilessly intense.

Rio Loco

An equally timeless classic are rapid rides. The ride through the rapids is always a refreshing experience, especially since there is also a waterfall here that catches everyone in the boat. The Rio Loco was my first rafting ride through a waterfall and is therefore especially memorable. As well as the Arab family, who entered here with a big suitcase. I have seen a lot of things in amusement parks, and it remains a mystery to me that the employees let them ride.

Sea Swinger and Riptide Rescue

This year, a new area is being created with Turtle Reef, where the rescue of sea turtles will probably be the theme. However, the aquarium was still under construction. The two associated rides Sea Swinger and Riptide Rescue could already be tested. These are a Zamperla Discovery and a HUSS Airboat.

Journey to Atlantis

The last attraction on our trail along the central lake is the Mack Rides SuperSplash Journey to Atlantis. The water roller coaster is similar to the Atlantika SuperSplash from Europa Park, but does without the small hill during the final descent, making the ride more like a classic Shoot the Chute. The wetness level of the ride is however very manageable.

In the end, all that remains is the animal shows and show feeding. Since the combined entrance ticket with the water park Aquatica San Antonio was a little bit cheaper online than the regular entrance ticket, I was drawn to the neighboring water park until the show One Ocean.

One Ocean

Just in time for One Ocean I got myself a tasty beer at the Food & Wine Festival and then watched the orca show. Generally I’m glad to have seen a whale up close, but the show itself was a waste of time and largely consists of soaking the visitors in the front rows with salt water. This was well received, after all it has been part of the concept since the 70s, but honestly, you don’t have to see the show.

Pictures SeaWorld San Antonio

Conclusion SeaWorld San Antonio

SeaWorld San Antonio is a huge theme park, but it lacks attractions. Fortunately, the original concept has been heavily criticized nowadays, forcing the park to expand massively in order to survive at all. The animal shows will give way to another range of attractions over time, so you can look forward to the future of the amusement park with great anticipation.

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Click here for the next report of the Texas Round-Up Tour

SeaWorld San Antonio / Texas Round-Up Day 4