Sfne - 9/7/2002

Professor KoasterFreak · #1 09-11-2002, 01:16 AM

This trip was completely a surprise by my coaster buddy, NewtonAir. He came by my place at 4 am and asked if I wanted to drop plans for Saturday and just head up to Agawam, Mass for coaster riding. I didnt even think about it. I just hopped in the car. Off we went from DC to Agawam. We arrived in Agawam at 9 45 am. We went to the park at 10:10 am after breakfast at a local restaurant. When I went into the park, I was impressed by the decor and continue to be impressed by the careful and organized placement of the rides. This park was well thought out unlike America, where rides are placed randomly. I really enjoyed taking in the scenery.
Layout of the park- 10+/10

We decided to start to do our riding in North End and work our way down to South End. The inital rides are taken in squence and at the end of my comments, I will incidate how many rides was taken.

1. Blizzard River- 8/10- an excellent rapids ride, but very short. Got very soaked! A nice way of cooling off on a hot summer day! Ride count- 2

2. Cyclone- 9/10- I love rough wooden coasters. The airtime in the back was shocking on the drops.

I understand why they had to close the the rear car off, but I didnt understand why the second car of both trains was closed off. Anyone care to explain about that odditty? I dont know why you guys put it down? Its a good coaster to me...my second favorite coaster for this park. Both trains were running. Ride count - 5

3. Time Warp- closed. Ride count- 0

4. Scrambler- 9/10-Love this classic ride. Ride count- 2

5. Swiss Sky Ride- didnt ride this, but noted the interesting spherical vechiles used to carry riders. Ride count- 0

6. Flashback- 7/10 - Interesting train style, reminded me of my beloved Drachen Fire. Quite smooth for a boomrang. Had a shake in the boomrang element while backwards. Token ride only. Ride count- 1

7. The Balloons- 2/10 - boring ride. Ride count- 1

8. Stampede Bumper Cars- 5/10- cute Western theme to the bumper cars' building. not into this type of ride. Ride count- 1

9. Shipwreck Falls- 6/10- run of the mill shoot the chutes. Got a nice splash on me. Ride count- 1

10. Rodeo- 3/10 - the ride nearly triggered a vertigo attack. Survived the ride without experiencing a vicious attack. Ride count- 1

11. Tomahawk- 5/10- survived the ride and was concerned about aggravating a potential vertigo attack, but it didnt happen. Was focusing too much on preventing the attack from occuring so I didnt really enjoy the ride. Ride count- 1

12. Houdini's- didnt ride this. was not in the mood. Ride count- 0

13. Carousel- 5/10- a nice designed carousel. slow but fun. Ride count- 1

14. Thunderbolt- 9/10- I liked this tamer wood coaster.

Good spots of airtime in the rear car. Only ran one train. Ride count- 3

15. Scream- 8/10- two sides running. Love S&S rides! Ride count- 2

16. Wave Swinger- 7/10- run of the mill swinger- love this ride, bring back memories of childhood, holding hands with my siblings as we went around together in the local fair in the early 80's. Ride count- 1

17. Nightwing- 8/10- an interesting experience! I know its called a fly away, but I thought it was an updated enterprise ride. Enjoyed the feeling of "hang gliding". Ride count- 2

18. S:ROS- 10+/10- Surpassed my expectations!

This ride is my favorite coaster for this park. The mist effects were on in both tunnels and both trains were running. This ride killed America's version.

The airtime was unbelievable and the laterals were awesome! This ride now pushes Millenium Force to place number two. Millenium Force has nothing on laterals like this Superman does! Ride count- 7

19. Joker's Wildcard- closed. Ride count- 0

20. Posion Ivy's Twisted Train- 7/10- cute for a kiddie coaster. Found it a little odd to have the last four or five cars shut off. Anyone care to explain about that? Token ride only- ride count- 1

21. Twister- 6/10 - interesting theme for a gravition. Ride count- 1

22. Kontiki- missed this ride. Ride count- 0

23. Poland Spring Plunge- 5/10- short flume ride with a nice splash. Was impressed to find some theming of an campground full of wild animals. Ride count- 1

24. Colossus- closed. one vechile is missing. ride count- 0

25. Double Trouble- 6/10- okay flat ride. one side operational. Ride count- 1

26. B:TDK - 2/10- This coaster didnt even impress me at all. Failed to meet my expectations. B&M made this ride too fast for its size. It was like WHOOOOOSH then stops. I was like, "Huh? thats it?" I think thats definitely B&M's worst coaster. I expected better from them. No line at all all day. The other coasters and the flat rides, even the lame stupid ones, had lines!

Ride count- 1

27. Chaos- avoided this ride. This ride has an ability to create an vicious vertigo attack. Ride count- 0

28. Minderaser- 8/10- I was very surprised at the ride it gave me. It was not a torture device like America's! I think the height difference helped this Minderaser to have some stability. Less bang and more hang!
I actually enjoyed a SLC for once! Ride count- 2

29. Spider- closed. Ride count- 0

30. Tea cups- see Chaos comment. ride count- 0

31. Buzzsaw- 5/10- nice ride. Ride count- 1

32. Route 66- 9/10- well shaded car ride. Ride count- 1

Food- 6/10- food was great, but the prices were ridiculous!

Crowds- 9/10- no line cutters, moderate sized for the park, well mannered people.

Employees- 7/10- Courteuous( despite the exchange program fiasco), some ride crews were fast like the Cyclone crew and the SROS crew. The other ride crews took their time, which hurt the ratings some. Had an food server with a bad attitude- didnt cooperate with me when I asked for paper and pen. (Im deaf and doesnt speak very well) This is what took the ratings down.

Left the park and Agawam at 10:45 pm..Overall, 10+/10 for this park!

hellavator · #2 09-11-2002, 10:56 AM

Well I am glad somebody finally gave this park a decent review. I am one of those people who complains about the rough ride the Cyclone gives. It use to fun, now it is painfull.

***Chip*** · #3 09-11-2002, 01:20 PM

Quote:

18. S:ROS- 10+/10- Surpassed my expectations! This ride is my favorite coaster for this park. The mist effects were on in both tunnels and both trains were running. This ride killed America's version.

Ooooh. Six Flags America. I didn't know what you meant at first and I was like, "This one is in America, you dork." Turns out I'm the dork. Either way, I don't think you can compare the two. The layouts are nothing alike. Of course it's better than the one at SFA. SFNE's has tunnels, laterals, mucho airtime, y más.

Sounds like you had a really good time. Cyclone had some rows roped off? That's pretty weird, but maybe the airtime was just too intense back there. Does it have seatbelts? I can only imagine what it would be like if it had the entire first drop.

Professor KoasterFreak · #4 09-11-2002, 06:27 PM

Cyclone had Car #2 and Car #6 or 7 on both trains closed off. I rode Car #5 or #6. I found it was a little odd to have Car#2 closed off. It had seatbelts and lap bars. I didnt see a fastpass or q-bot symbol on the car itself. The rear car was roped off because the airtime was downright scary. My coaster buddy kept his seat belt on very tight, while I enjoyed the ejector air. Will be posting a onride picture soon. Had my hands up the whole time.

Inferno · #5 09-11-2002, 06:47 PM

I'd think that any B&M would be better than any standard SLC. I have been on a floorless coaster, Kraken, and I liked it a lot. Of course it is much larger than DarkKnight. The only SLC I've ridden, T2, was really rough though.

*This was my 2001st post exactly one year after September 11th, 2001*

MST3K_FREAK6666 · #6 09-11-2002, 10:26 PM

Your B:tDK response did not make sense. Yes, it is very dissapointing, but it gives some good air on the zero g roll and on the drop and is fairly smooth. better than Minderaser by a long shot. There is nothing enjoyable about that ride, except some foot choppers but I'm usually distracted by the leprechauns to notice them.

James · #7 09-11-2002, 11:22 PM

at the start of the year PITT has all the cars open cause had the back 4 or 5 times in a row but 2 weeks ago the last 3 cars were closed the 2 days i was there...i asked the op why and she said "wipp"... and same goes with cyclone car 2 and the last car were closed in aug but open in may.... and the Kontiki ride is REAL hard to find...unless you take the mapand point your way to it... and its not eveen that good ...its just a "flying bobs/ Thunderbolt" ride...its by the water park enter

Professor KoasterFreak · #8 09-11-2002, 11:51 PM

MST3K and Inferno,

Thats your opinions. However, I was not comparing Minderaser and BTDK. I said New England's Minderaser was a lot smoother than America's Minderaser, due to the height difference. New England's Minderaser is closer to the ground, while America's have to sit on high supports on a hillside. I have ridden lots of Beemas, and I felt BTDK did not meet my expectations. Yes, I noted the spot of air on the zero roll, but it wasnt enough for me. I wanted to experience all the elements, but I didnt.

SFNE stinks,
Ahh, I understand about the "whipping" effect, but I dont see how it applies to Car #2. I rode the front on my last ride, and the airtime was much reduced compared to the rear. Thanks for the explanation, though!

CoasterFreakMan · #9 09-12-2002, 04:34 PM

How were the lines for the major coasters during the middle of the day?

Professor KoasterFreak · #10 09-13-2002, 02:03 AM

CoasterFreakMan,

I encountered S:ROS with a wait of 30 to 45 mins with two trains cycling, Cyclone with 15 to 20 mins with two trains cycling, Thunderbolt with 15 mins wait with one train cycling, Flashback with 10 to 15 mins wait, Posion Ivy's Twisted Train is a walkon, Minderaser with 10 to 15 mins wait with two trains cycling, and B:TDK virtually a walkon with two trains cycling. Water rides had 20 to 30 mins wait, and the best flat rides had at least 5 to 10 mins wait, and the boring and lame ones had 5 mins wait. Crowds were very moderate on a beautiful mildly hot day thats how I was able to have repeat rides on my "favorites" on Saturday.

CoasterFan4Life · #11 09-17-2002, 10:08 PM

Professor, I agree with most of your ratings. I couldn't agree more with your comparison of the SFNE and SFA versions. I rode the SFA version first, and even though I knew the layouts were different, I didn't think the SFNE version would be as awesome as it is. While I wouldnt give batman a 2, I definately feel it was a dissapointing effort by B&M, one of (if not the) worst B&M's I've ridden. Although in it's defense, I remember the area around the park protesting the new coaster, since they didnt want larger crowds, and six flags said it wouldn't be a major attraction. So I guess they just wanted to add another coaster, but not one that was a big deal.

Professor KoasterFreak · #12 09-19-2002, 10:51 PM

CF4L, thanks for the kind agreement. Well, that would explain the lameness of BDK. Sure, it looks great, but it doesnt deliver what the Beemas can do. It does great in speed, but I didnt get the entire Beema experience....where were the g forces and the airtime was barely there. All I got was speed. Batman the Ride delivered more. I am only comparing them since they are similar in size and I know they are two different types of coasters. Thats my opinion.