Six Flags over Georgia

Visited: June 21, 2017

Attending: Brian, Carole, and Alex

I took a little heat from my family for this park, as I didn’t have a particular ride I wanted to go on, I didn’t study the park layout in advance, and several of the coasters, I knew nothing about. However, we’re Six Flags members, so admission, parking, and food were free. It was, again, somewhat hot and humid, but overcast. We expected it to rain at any time, but it never did. Between the weather and it being a weekday, the crowds were low; we walked onto just about everything. The food was just OK; we had difficulty finding a place to eat indoors. The park also seemed more hilly than other places we’ve been, and harder to navigate. We got lost a few times.

Superman Ultimate Flight

We started by going to the back of the park for the Justice League dark ride, which was fun, but not a coaster. That ride is right next to Superman, so we went there next. It’s a B&M flyer, so smoother than the Vekoma flyers from the last two parks. We’d ridden the copy at Great Adventure, so we knew what to expect, but this is the original. I thought this version made much better use of the terrain, with a tunnel and a helix cut into the ground. Alex and Carole didn’t agree.

Great American Scream Machine

We went with this one next, as it was nearby. I thought it was pretty cool for an old wooden. I liked the location over the lake, and I thought it had pretty good airtime. Carole and Alex found it much too rough.

Blue Hawk

Again, we chose this one next as it’s nearby. It’s a Vekoma, although a custom style, so I didn’t really know what to expect from it. I thought it would be rough, but with the newer Vekoma style trains it was actually pretty comfortable. It had some unexpected maneuvers, and its position over the water is cool. Under its previous name (Ninja) this ride had a bad reputation, but we liked it.

Batman the Ride

After some food, we went to the far corner of the park for Batman. This is basically the same Batman clone found in various Six Flags parks. In this case, the only excitement was that there was an “incident” just before we rode, so we had to wait a while for the staff to clean up the affected seats. Other than that, there’s not a lot to say.

Mind Bender

This is a really old Schwarzkopf located next to Batman, and it looks old. Even though it was midday, it had virtually no line. Alex and Carole didn’t like the look of the restraints (no shoulder harness on a looper) so they passed, but I’m glad I rode it. It wasn’t too fast or rough, but the drops were good, and the loop was pretty tall, especially with only the lap bar. It makes good use of the terrain, and has a non-standard layout, which is neat. The tunnel at the end was unexpected. On the whole, a fun ride.

Goliath

After a bit of a rest break, we went on Goliath, the B&M hyper that flies over the front entrance and across the street. It was a lot of fun, as you’d expect a B&M hyper to be. Unfortunately, once again, a hyper looked small after going on Fury. It’s almost certainly the best ride at the park, but it’s not mind-blowing. I enjoyed the way it jumped the street and dipped down to the water on the far side. The air time was good. On the whole, a solid ride.

Dahlonega Mine Train

At this point, we knew we wouldn’t stay much longer, so we were trying to head for the Georgia Scorcher, but bumped into the mine train first. I rode it alone, literally walked up and got on, then went back to what I was doing. It was a perfectly fine mine train, with some decent head-choppers.

Georgia Cyclone

Still trying to head for the Scorcher, we passed the Georgia Cyclone, so I jumped on that as well...or tried to. I had to wait for a couple of cycles before I could ride. It was pretty rough and unpleasant, but I more or less expected that. It makes nice use of a small space and its own structure, but that’s because it’s a mirror of the Coney Island Cyclone. Update 2019: After the 2017 season, this ride was closed and converted by RMC to “Twisted Cyclone.” It looks like the change was a distinct improvement, and that also makes me one of the last folks to ride the original.

Georgia Scorcher

For our last ride of the day, Carole and I rode this stand-up B&M, to complete our collection (all five remaining stand-up B&Ms in America). We expected an unpleasant experience like Apocalypse and Vortex, but we were surprised by this one. It’s still rather short (in both height and duration), but there was virtually no head-banging. Could have been coincidence, or maybe we just “rode it right,” but we liked this one.

Dare Devil Dive

This one was down all day, so I didn’t get to ride it. The only coaster on this trip that I couldn’t ride.