Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread

[ECZenithGood to the last drop]

I agree with Vin completely. SFNE <3's Goliath. I had ridden Deja Vu at SFMM, but in its new home in such a great location its certainly providing us with some eye candy and a great ride!

Went today with my girl for Goliath preview, noticed the ride kept going down for maintenance so we started with
Scream (25 min wait) They were running the old hellevator and one of the newer towers in space shot mode. I was surprised they did not let us choose the older tower, which we prefer, even when we asked nicely we got a rude "no."

Bizarro (1 hr 20 min wait for row 1) What is it with this park and line cutting? SFNE is only second to GADV around here for massive groups just outright cutting the line even right in front of the fastpass attendant. There's an empty lifeguard chair to watch the queue, can we use it, please? SFNE was my homepark until I moved to California a while back. Since I am back home in RI, this was my first trip back to my beloved Six Flags New England. It was great to see all my old favorites again, I wasn't aware of many of the changes that happened while I was gone. Disappointed to see Nightwing gone, it was such a unique ride to this area, I believe there were only two in the world(Huss Fly Away). I don't quite get why this park has a deteriorating DC comics area and then puts two Batman themed rides in a random place at the end of the park, THEN builds up a bare-bones themed wild mouse themed to Batman back in the actual DC area. In a theme park... you're supposed to put the themed rides in their themed lands especially when one of these said designated lands already exists... Bizarro looks fantastic in the new colors IMO, I am not a fan of the name change and theme, however. Your average joe is not familiar with the Bizzaro character, he's got to be 99% less popular than Superman so I always thought it was kind of random. That being said, this coaster is a freakin' gem and it was good to get back in the front seat and grab that airtime. Wish I didn't have to deal with an hour and a half of watching groups of scumbags and gangster wannabes display their low class by cutting the entire queue, including the little kids. Shame on these people... really.

Does anyone else agree that this DC area has absolutely seen better days? No more Batman show... No more Nightwing, and they seem to be filling in the gaps in this area by putting the joker outside on Nightwing's old spot, putting in the mouse coaster and putting a Batman logo on it... I think it would have been cool to rename SRoS to "Goliath" (Deja Vu should have kept its awesome name!!!) or an original name, put the rest of the DC stuff next to the Batman coaster, and retheme this area completely. That area where the Batman show used to be is prime theme park real estate, if you moved some rides around (mouse, joker to where Batman is) you could have room for a large new attraction that makes use of that nice hillside terrain.

After going to the first DC land, we walked to the other side of the park to DC land #2 to ride Batman (45 min wait) I always thought this was a fun little coaster. It's gotten a bit of a rattle to it, it seems, but that zero-g roll is still awesome, and definitely worth what seemed like a long wait for it. We also rode Crime Wave, the wave swinger. I actually really love the way this flat ride is painted with the DC characters, it looks great, but I think if it were with its DC attraction friends it would get noticed and appreciated more.

Before hitting Mind Eraser, we stopped at a little drink stand and met this sweet older lady named Barbara who was working there. Out of all the staff I saw that day, she was really outstanding. She offered us free water, gave friendly conversation, I wish they could clone her. One friendly theme park staff to me cancels out 10 lousy ones IMO, so hard to come by, I hope they are taking good care of her. Anyways, Mind Eraser (20 minute wait) actually seemed smoother to me! Speaking of smooth, the crew here was getting those trains out quick, nice job guys.

We got our season passes processed and took a little cruise on the park's cute little skyride that takes you over to where Cyclone is. The skyride gives you an absolutely amazing, up-close view of Goliath, really gives another take on Goliath's massive presence. The coaster's new east coast home was a great choice on the midway and as Vin said, it's an eye-catcher and I think it is much more fun than the reeking brown pool of Shipwreck Falls. Rest In Pieces ol' stinky.

Goliath is just an ominous sight to behold. At about 7 pm the sun casts its shadows all over the midway and it just begs to be ridden. Today was season passholder preview day, so we rode it today before it is consumed by the masses this summer. We waited close to an hour and a half for our ride. It broke down twice while we waited, smelled like burning tires... Again we were cut by dozens of lovelies even when the ride was broken down. This really sucks on a ride with one train and can make for an agonizing wait. The guests really are confused and hate the seating layout. I felt bad for the crew and the riders as they struggle with this oddly shaped train. It's not their fault the new train isn't ready and I was appreciative that we got to ride in the first place! It feels just like Deja Vu did, but looks incredible in it's new paint. Everyone who rode loved it and it will be a hit for years to come. I kind of think it's time to send Flashback away to a park that will love it. Where Goliath is placed in the park, it basically took any thunder the old girl had left in her. It's a bigger, better version, and it's nextdoor.

Overall a fun day at the park, wish they would get that line cutting under a little more control. The park visually looked splendid, well-landscaped, and has a fine collection of coasters to boot. I am looking forward to trying Goliath with the new train, hope the rumors of yet another coaster at this park next year are true.

[Blind Idiot GodI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

If you're a big enough guy, confront the linejumpers. I'm 6'0 and 190; whenever I've dealt with them, I've been able to intimidate them into reversing their steps. They always seem to be a bunch of skinny little teenagers, so it's not like it takes much effort.

[Blind Idiot GodI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

One page ago, I posted a picture where "Goliath" was hoisted onto one of the towers, the other tower now says "Towers" for a combination of "Goliath Towers." I'm not really sure I like this addition, but it hardly matters since aesthetics barely hinder a ride's quality.

I went to the season pass sneak peak of the ride today (and was on the first train), and it was running smoothly. Granted, it broke down several times that day, but it still delivered a really fun ride. I am really satisfied with how well it fits into SFNE's atmosphere, and the way people stop on the midway to watch it shows how appreciative the guests are to Goliath. I rode front, back, and middle and had a great time in each spot. I think Goliath will be a welcome addition when it opens officially.

It seems like they're very loosely theming it to an oil derrick.

[Philrad71Don't put that donkey on the floor!]

Does seem weird to me that a park that seems to be so busy/crowded keeps putting in coasters & rides with horrible capacity. If I ever go back to this park, I will definitely be getting a Fast Pass!

If Six Flags would have been smart, they would have moved this coaster to one of the more obscure parks or scrapped it altogether. A B&M hyper would do wonders at chewing up the big crowds here.

[XYZA village is missing its IDIOT!]

Does seem weird to me that a park that seems to be so busy/crowded keeps putting in coasters & rides with horrible capacity. If I ever go back to this park, I will definitely be getting a Fast Pass!

If Six Flags would have been smart, they would have moved this coaster to one of the more obscure parks or scrapped it altogether. A B&M hyper would do wonders at chewing up the big crowds here.

Though, SFNE already has an amazing Intamin hyper. Also, this isn't the largest Six Flags park and the park isn't probably capable of having another complete-circuit 200'+ coaster. I think Goliath is a good addition to the park, at least SFNE is not getting Iron Wolf.

[Philrad71Don't put that donkey on the floor!]

^ I don't know about how much more land is owned by the park...anyone know? Seemed like when we visited a couple years ago, there looked to be quite a bit of space over by Grizzly River? Like it has been said in other threads though - if they want to build it, they'll find the room...even if it means building over existing coasters or structures.

I agree that the park does seem to be a bit smaller than other SF parks, but I have heard that it always draws a very high crowd during the summer months with very long lines. Just seems weird that a smaller park would have a boomerang, get an inverted boomerang (with known maintenance issues) and have two spinning mice to account for about half of their coaster collection.

Yep, Bizarro is a great coaster and will always be the star attraction at the park. Just seems like they could use a couple more higher capacity rides/coasters to stabilize some of those long lines.

But as I stated above - I learned from experience that even going to this park on a Tuesday does not mean that lines will be short. Flash Pass from here on out if I ever get back to this park!

[VinTheAttendantChallenge me at Donkey Kong...I dare ya!]

Anyways, Mind Eraser (20 minute wait) actually seemed smoother to me! Speaking of smooth, the crew here was getting those trains out quick, nice job guys.

I personally know (most) of the Mind Eraser crew, and they truly appreciate comments like this. I'll pass it along

[sammmmmyI wrote the book about donkeys!]

My theory about SFNE is what it has always been. I think them having 'the worlds #1 coaster' is enough for them to not pay as much attention to it when it comes to new additions. Having the option of making a brilliant new coaster and adding an old one between SFNE and another six flags, they probably would choose the latter considering SFNE already has Bizarro and a great B&M, which is a privilege for any park. It being my home park I would love to see something added like Stealth or iSpeed, but I doubt we'd see something like that anytime soon.

[MooseWhy do I still have a donkey title???]

^ I don't know about how much more land is owned by the park...anyone know? Seemed like when we visited a couple years ago, there looked to be quite a bit of space over by Grizzly River?city ri

if you mean Penguin's Blizzard River, I believe the land behind there may be wetlands which would make building something next to impossible. But on the other side of those wetlands...

[larrygatorObsessive Overlord of the TPR Park Index]

^ I don't know about how much more land is owned by the park...anyone know? Seemed like when we visited a couple years ago, there looked to be quite a bit of space over by Grizzly River?city ri

if you mean Penguin's Blizzard River, I believe the land behind there may be wetlands which would make building something next to impossible. But on the other side of those wetlands...

This following comes from an old 2004 Six Flags annual report. I'm not sure if the company still shows individual park info in their annual reports.
"Six Flags New England is comprised of approxiamately 230 acres, with 127 acres curretnly used for park operations, 12 acres for a picnic grove and approximately 91 undeveloped acres."

Now whether the 91 acres are still owned by Six Flags, adjacent to the existing park or non-protected wetlands that can be built on is another issue. I remember hearing at one point that some of the land was further down the road but don't know for sure.