Click on Penguin to see slideshow
Last weekend I took the family to Six Flags Marine World/Africa USA, a reasonably entertaining local amusement park with outstanding exhibits including a great shark exhibit, a live butterfly greenhouse and fascinating demonstrations. It’s actually the educational aspect of the park that is most appealing. That said I had to go on all the coasters especially the wooden coaster — the Roar. I was not impressed and probably wouldn’t ride it again. This is one of those weird computer-designs that just doesn’t work. It’s bumpy and unpleasant. There is hardly a line for it. This should be torn down and a copy of a real classic should be built instead. And the worse part is there is no big dip on the thing. It drops into a curve. The fact that Coasterfanatics.com ranked this 8 points out of 10 is a disgrace and a credibility issue for their other ratings. Of course they are not alone in regards to boosterism and pandering to the parks. Most of the coaster review sites seem uncritical. Ultimate Roller Coaster is an example. Read this review and you’d think this coaster was the greatest coaster ever! Judge for yourself and ride it when you can. Or you can get into a Model-T and drive across country on a dirt road for the same effect.
That said, the big flagship metal coaster — the Medusa — is quite nice although I don’t like steel coasters that much. Here is my list of coasters in order of preference at this park.
Medusa — A big and spectacular ride. Smooth and exciting. Nice. This is where all the money went. A must ride for aficionados. (grade: A)
Kong — Looks nauseating, but is a fun, although short, ride. Surprisingly cool. (grade: A-)
V2 Vertical Velocity/Corkscrew — A Maglev rocket ship. Nice effects, slightly nauseating. (grade: B+)
Boomerang — Not as interesting as it looks and seems to need the brakes fixed. (grade: C)
Roar — The obscure coasters I rode in DesMoines a couple of years ago were better. Atypical wood coaster experience. Jarring. Rocky. Disappointing. (grade: D)
Zonga was offline — A ride with an uncountable number of loop-the-loops. It looks like a maintenance nightmare.
Another thing that you can do, that I can’t. I get sick flying on Continental
Don’t eat the food. I actually had a neighbor who was shocked that both my wife and myself actually go on these rides. Apparently a lot of people do not. I’ve been riding coasters since the 3rd grade. As a kid I was lucky enough to get to ride all the coasters at the now gone Riverview Park in Chicago as well as the also demolished “Big Dipper” at Playland at the Beach in San Francisco. That was the first coaster I ever rode. An outstanding ride. I managed to also ride the Frederick Church designed “Cyclone Racer” at Long Beach just before it was demolished (check out this picture of the thing — wow)and took a lot of rides on the now in storage someplace in Arizona John Miller Designed “Sea Serpent” that was at Pacific Ocean Park. It was remarkable for two huge big dips one-after-the other. One thing I have noticed over the years is that a ride on a good rollicking coaster gets all the kinks out of your neck and back. That said I’m still not a fan of the contrived and computer-designed coasters, especially the steel ones. Nothing beats a hand-designed 1920’s classic.
That said, people who do not like these rides can’t seem to be converted into ever liking them. They may tolerate them but they won’t go out of their way to ride on the classics.