Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Visited: March 7, 2026

Attending: Just Brian

After going through a period of intense growth and change, my employer decided it was time for a team offsite in San Francisco. That was perfectly fine with me, as I figured I’d visit California’s Great America…only to find that it wasn’t open. Well, OK, Discovery Kingdom was a decent backup plan. I’ve never been there, they have an RMC…and that’s about all that’s really of interest. On the whole, I found it to be “A pack of the clones.” Ahem.

I stayed in a Hampton Inn in Vallejo, which I figured would be nearby. In fact, it was so nearby that I could see the park clearly out my window. Between the jet lag and the time change, I had no difficulty getting up early, and got to the park just before 11:00. I had invited any co-workers who were interested to join me, but nobody did, which I don’t mind. It was also a gorgeous day, and although lines were quite short just after opening, it got more crowded in the afternoon.

The parking lot at Discovery Kingdom is a stupid distance from the entrance, as often happens when Six Flags parks build rides on their parking lot and push the parking further away. Fortunately, I got a great space, and it was still fairly cool on my walk to the gate. I was worried that my pass might be rejected, as it was at Great America, but there was no problem. I was in, right at rope drop, with nearly no crowds.

Joker

Joker was my first point of call, and primary interest, as it’s an RMC. It used to be Roar, a clone of the Roar at Six Flags Mediocre America, which I rode in 2017, but that was so long ago I have nearly no memory of it. I was early enough that I only had to wait one cycle for the back seat, which was good, because they were only running one train.

It’s hard to see this ride from elsewhere in the park, and even the train took a while to get to the lift hill. I like a good RMC pre-lift, but this one seemed necessary because it was so far away. I’d say that Joker pretty much fulfills the brief for shorter RMC coasters. It’s fast, but not crazy-fast, because it’s not that tall. It’s got a nice step-up underflip after the first drop, but Wildcat’s is better. It’s got a couple of cool wall stalls, but others are better. It’s got a brief outer-banked turn, but Twisted Timbers’ is better. That’s kind of the whole story here – RMC pieces, in a different arrangement. I’ll say that the layout was suitably twisted that I didn’t know at any point what was coming next, so that was fun. I think if I’d come back to it after it warmed up, I’d have been more impressed, but the line was starting to fill out already, so I didn’t.

Flash: Vertical Velocity

Flash is right next to Joker (the park keeps all its superhero-themed coasters in one spot), and although it’s technically a clone, I was interested enough to ride it. You can look up the story of this thing, because it’s pretty funny. If you’ve seen Intamin Impulse coasters before (and I have) this thing just looks kinda stupid the way it is.

I grabbed a middle seat, because I don’t really care much for Impulses, and braced for…I don’t know what. The first launch gets the train halfway up the twisted spike, which meant I experienced the inversion, and because I was in the middle, my feet were pointing straight up when the train stalled and fell back. I wasn’t really expecting that, but the restraints were secure, so I wasn’t worried. The back spike is just what I remember, only shorter, so it didn’t seem very intimidating. On the second pass, the train gets to the end of the twisted spike, so I was upright again, and it has a great view. And then on the third pass, I ended up upside-down again, which was honestly just funny by that point.

I’d have to say I liked this experience better than the other Impulses I’ve ridden, and I’d do this again. At a different time, on a different day, maybe not, but today it was fun.

Superman: Ultimate Flight

Having had two decent experiences in a short time, I was feeling charitable enough to try a clone. Not quite charitable enough for the S&S Free Spin that’s right there, although I considered it. But charitable enough for a Skyrocket II. This is only the second one I’ve ridden, although it’s the fourth that I’ve seen in person. Last time, I took a middle seat. This time, I was assigned the back row, but the train is short enough that I didn’t think it would make a difference. The forward launch was no biggie from that seat, but the backward one – I got far enough up the loop that I was completely upright again, far enough that for just a second, I thought we might valley, but of course we didn’t. The roll at the top was absurdly slow, and I don’t mind admitting I held onto the restraint, since there’s no comfort collar. The drop and second loop seemed faster than I remembered, but it’s a quick ride on the whole. Nothing objectionable, nothing really notable, either.

Medusa

I still wasn’t feeling up to a Free Spin, so I headed over to the other side of the park, where there isn’t as much theming. Medusa is a B&M floorless, and I’ve ridden Great Adventure’s Medusa and Magic Mountain’s Scream often enough that I was pretty sure I knew what I was getting. Except it wasn’t. The layout was quite different to what I was expecting. The lift hill seemed oddly shallow, and the B&M pre-drop stretched out. The vertical loop off the drop was fine, but then there was a dive loop, and a stretched-out cobra roll, and what should have been the trademark interlocking corkscrew wasn’t. I think this ride has a story, but I haven’t looked into it yet. Anyway, it didn’t really blow me away, but it was unusual. I also got assigned the front row, which wouldn’t have been my choice, but it’s kinda fun to sit in the front on a floorless.

Kong

Kong’s entrance is literally right next to Medusa’s exit, so I gritted my teeth and prepared to ride for the credit. This was the first coaster of the day that wasn’t a walk-on, and they were only running one train, so I had too much time to contemplate my stupidity. I got assigned the front row again, entirely by accident, but I figured I’d never done an SLC from the front, so maybe it would be interesting. It wasn’t. It was janky and rattley, and it still had the original trains, so I had to ride defensively. It wasn’t the worst RMC I’ve ridden (looking at you, Flight Deck), but it was far from enjoyable. I did it, I got the credit, I’m never doing that again.

Boomerang

Yup, their boomerang is so boring and generic it’s just called Boomerang. It’s got kind of a nice color scheme, and it sits nicely on its plot, so it’s photogenic, for a Boomerang. I got a middle seat, which was what I wanted, but it still managed to disappoint. It has the original trains, which are quite uncomfortable, and I don’t think this installation is very well maintained. It was especially shaky on the second spike, for some reason.

After doing an SLC and a Boomerang in quick succession, I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. I was also reminded that Discovery Kingdom is part wild-animal park, as there was a tiger enclosure next to the boomerang. So I watched the tiger for a bit, then looked at the spinning wild mouse for a bit, and decided I really wasn’t in the mood. So I went for a walk, and found lions, cheetahs, and cougars, all in varying degrees of hiding or sleeping. So that was pretty fun, as amusement parks go. I heard there were some wolves in the park too, but I didn’t find them, and the Six Flags app was singularly unhelpful. Then again, it’s not really designed for a zoo.

It was after 2:00 at that point, and the crowds were starting to approach a point where I was unlikely to get any more station-waits, much less walk-ons, so I declared myself satisfied. Yes, I skipped the spinning mouse, and the Free Spin, and whatever the family coasters were, but I don’t really care. I’d be surprised if I ever visit this park again, but I’m OK with that. On the way out, I thought I might buy a nanocoaster of Joker, but I couldn’t find nanocoasters at all. I guess if your park is full of clones, it’s hard to drum up any interest in buying models of them.