Our current time zone: GMT +8 (We're home in Singapore!)

Friday, June 26, 2009

USA in Review: Six Flags

We're seated in a pavilion in Key Largo now, enjoying the sounds of the lapping waves and the cool sea breeze against our faces. But the past three months was not always this calm and peaceful.

Before we came to the USA, we had already heard great stuff about the Six Flags amusement parks. Imagine our delight when we found that we could purchase season passes and keep entering these parks over and over again for free! So some of my beloved ex-colleagues bought me a season pass, and I bought another one (that includes free parking) for the wife. With these season passes, we have pretty much conquered the Six Flags in both the West and East coasts of the country.

Our ravaging rampage brought us to:
01 Apr - Six Flags Magic Mountain - Los Angeles

07 Apr - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - San Francisco

31 May - Six Flags La Ronde - Montreal (in Canada)

05 Jun - Six Flags Great Escape - New York

09 Jun - Six Flags Great Adventure - New Jersey

10 Jun - Six Flags Wild Safari - New Jersey
14 Jun - Six Flags America - Maryland

15 Jun - Six Flags America Hurricane Harbour - Maryland

Adding the fact that we had this bull-headed stubbornness to do every MAX Thrill ride we come across, and to do it with our hands in the air, we feel adequately qualified to give a rundown on what we liked, and what we didn't.


Best in the West - Six Flags Magic Mountain (Los Angeles)
Our very first visit to Six Flags remains one of our favorites because of its size and more importantly, the variety of rides available. There were rides that you had to stand (The Riddler's Revenge), those that you sit normally and then the seat pivots up and puts you in a horizontal, head-facing forward position (Tatsu) and of course, the exhilarating X2, where you sit normally, then you're pivoted so that you're lying on your back! If you're visiting the West Coast, make sure to visit this theme park!


Best in the East - Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey)

After hitting a number of Six Flags, we were shocked to find boredom already settling in. After all, some of the rides were the same, just in different colors and given another name.

Six Flags Great Adventure literally dropped our jaws (and shrank my balls) at first sight with the terrifying Kingda Ka. After conquering Kingda Ka, we were still treated to other rides that were totally original and just as shriekworthy. El Toro deserves special mention as the best wooden coaster we have ever taken. Period.


Most disappointing - Six Flags Great Escape (New York)

We were originally supposed to have visited Great Escape with my cousins Aini and
Niccole. Unfortunately, the swine flu scared the parents enough to call off their travel plans. Fortunately, though, they therefore did not buy a ticket to visit Great Escape, because I'm sure they would have been disappointed after all the Six Flags hype I was giving them.

Great Escape scores low on our list because of the lack of really thrilling rides.
The only exciting one was the Boomerang, where you drop from a great height, do a couple of loops and cockscrews, then do everything in reverse backwards. But the design of the Boomerang was also seen in Magic Mountain, and is also dwarfed by the Vertical Velocity ride in San Francisco. The other rides were, dare I say it, kiddish.

We've also shortlisted 5 of our favorite rides. If you're visiting these Six Flags, then you MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST do these rides cos they are da bomb!

Kingda Ka - Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey)
There is the absolute best ride ever. NOTHING beats the excitement of a face-down vertical drop!



Joker's Jinx - Six Flags America (Maryland)
This ride is as twisted and convoluted and yet compact as the Joker's mind. You can't really see the ride when you are queuing up for it as it is hidden after a tunnel. When you come out from the tunnel, it immediately brings you in a loop! Mind-boggler!








El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey)

This coaster starts with one of the steepest drops I've seen on a wooden coaster. The rackety-rack clickety-clack of wooden coasters bring an extra thrill, especially when this one bucks you up and down, left and ride like a bronco!




Batwing - Six Flags America (Maryland)
The video for this particular ride is really funky, because the chair pivots so that you are on your back at the beginning of this ride. Yup, riders are doing the traditional 'first drop' head-first, and on their backs. You have no idea what twists and turns are coming up next!







X2 - Six Flags Magic Mountain (Los Angeles)
X2 is probably one of the highest coasters we've taken. So much so that the first time we visited Magic Mountain, the ride was closed because the winds were too strong. We went back the following day (bull-headed stubborness, remember) and had to queue for 3 hours for our turn!







Most hated (by Yi Lin) - All spinney-spinney rides!







*puke*

1 comments:

Unknown said...

nice pics but mum's cleaning up the puke on my bed!!!

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