Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia – Review


Drive west of Atlanta on I-20. You will see a very large orange and blue object. It’s Goliath! Considered to be the greatest roller coaster ever built in the southeast, this ride is 200 ft and tall and reaches speeds up to 70 mph. I will always hold this ride close to my heart considering its a mile stone in coaster riding for me. It was my first coaster ever to reach the 200 ft range.

Now, what’s great about this ride is that every ride cycle can occupy up 36 people and is usually running 3 trains, so, ride wait time (on a usual operating day) is about 5 to 10 minutes. Even if you had to wait several hours to ride it, it still would be worth it.

When you first approach Goliath’s queue line you’ll notice several things: Monstrous height of first hill, angry Six Flags employees demanding that you pay $1.00 to put your lose items in a locker, and lots of nervous people making the last minute decision of whether or not to ride the giant.

Once you have waited through the short line and you walk up the stairs on to the boarding platform, you get a good look at the fantastic trains made by Bolliger & Mabillard. They have reclined seats and comfortable lap-restraints that allow plenty of freedom, air-time, and a good sense of security.

The descent up the 200 ft hill is extremely menacing because its very steep for a lift hill (around 45 degrees), you can see buildings in Atlanta, and it’s a very well-paced, rapid climb. Then, you quickly climb over the top, and immediately are engaged in the most intense drop most riders will ever experience. It’s a long, steep drop which seems to last forever. And, if you sit in the back, the train has a larger speed when traveling over the pinnacle and you are given a very generous amount air-time when free falling down the 170 ft drop.

After that exhilarating experience, you are faced with two large air-time hills. Then there is a double, downward helix that spirals back down to ground level. This element is very high in G-Force and usually causes me to slightly gray-out. After one more hill there’s a highly-banked horseshoe turn over a pond, which is very fun. After that the ride ends with three more hills and a banked turn on to the brake run. When I got off the ride for the first time, I was just blown away. I heard several people say “That was amazing.” And I must say, it really is amazing and will always be the star attraction at Six Flags Over Georgia.

 

Ride: 10/10

Theming: 7/10

Drops: 10/10

Intensity: 10/10

Airtime: 10/10

Total: 47/50 – Great!

Scare Scale: 3/3 – Not for the faint of heart

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Carowinds Coming Soon!

My next trip is planned for some time in late-May to mid-June. If it all works out, I’ll be going to Carowinds. My priorities will definitely be Intimidator, Windseeker, and Afterburn. Got any tips about the park, or how i should plan my day out? Please feel free to comment below and tell me what you think.

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Racer at Kennywood, Pennsylvania – Review

One of the most famous coasters at Kennywood is the Racer. Its a racing coaster which starts with the red train train on the left track green on the right. When the ride returns red is on the right with green on the left and vice versa every ride cycle. When I entered the queue line I figured we would wait 3-4 minutes judging on just the appearance of the line length. Instead, we waited probably 20 minutes, which is absolutely ridiculous considering that the ride run 2 trains at the same time every ride cycle. On Sky Rocket today, Kennywood was today great job of moving people on and off the ride. But, on the Racer, and Thunderbolt they were doing an absolutely horrid job. Once we finally boarded the red train on the right side track, we sat there for 5 minutes even though the train we already full, ridiculous again. When we finally were dispatched, we took a left turn entering the lift hill. At this point it started to rain hard. We had a few seconds to say hi to the other train right next to us before we went down the first hill. For me, this first was pretty disappointing. The hill seems about 50 ft high and you only drop about 30ft of that 50. Then, we took a left turn before dropping down the 2nd hill. We were going much faster at this time, fast enough that my eyes were hurting because of all the rain that was flying into them. The solution, sunglasses. This just comes to show how slow and unexciting the Racer is. I realize that its a nostalgic favorite from the 20′s, but I actually able to reach down my bottom pocket, pull up the velcro sealed flap, pull out my sunglasses, and put them on my face. All during the heat of the ride. After a few more slow airtime lacking hills and turns, we entered the brakes. We lost the race to the other train too. We waited 20 minutes when it should have been 5, it was a very disappointing ride, and we lost the race. But I had some fun with my Uncle on my first coaster ride in the rain.

Ride: 4/10

Theming: 5/10

Drops: 3/10

Intensity: 4/10

Airtime: 5/10

Total: 21/50 – ok

Scare Scale: 1/3, moderate thrills, kids welcome

 

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Swing Shot at Kennywood, Pennsylvania

Don’t let this one scare you. Don’t worry, it’s not bad at all. It may look really intimidating, but it’s not. Swing Shot is one of only a couple of S&S Power’s Giant Swing ride. This ride is great because it usually never has a long wait time and is a lot of fun. Its best to sit on the side facing Phantom’s Revenge because you may get to see the river at the back of the the park. The restraints are very confusing. You have to lock in a seat belt, then pull the bar into the horizontal position. Then pull it down over top of you. This was just a little bit to much for my Uncle Don (haha, sorry, I couldn’t help myself). The ride starts going back and forth, when you reach the highest point you are about 90 ft in the air at a 110 degree angle. Unfortunately, the ride lacks in ride cycle time, its very short. But don’t let that stop you from riding it. Its a lot fun for anybody who enjoys thrill rides.

Thrill Ride Rating: 7/10

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X-Flight Coming Soon to Six Flags Great America

In 2012 Six Flags Great America is releasing their own version of Bolliger & Mabbilard’s new wing coaster concept. The ride unfortunately will replace the stand up coaster iron wolf. This makes me a little sad and excited at the same time because Iron Wolf was Bolliger and Mabillard’s first roller coaster and I’m excited because this ride looks generally awesome. The ride will feature a 3000 ft long course, 5 inversions, and an innovative fly through maneuver, all at speeds reaching 55 mph. I’m glad that these wing coasters are starting to come to the U.S. because they seem incredible to me. This is going on my must rides list for sure. Watch the video below, and leave a comment below telling your first impressions of X-Flight.

http://www.sixflags.com/greatAmerica/rides/XFlight.aspx

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Kennywood August 2011 Trip Pictures

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Pitt Fall at Kennywood, Pennsylvania – Review

This is an Intamin drop tower ride. This one features four different car that are on each side of the of the tower. It is 250ft tall, and is going to be removed after the 2011 season. I’m going to miss it; it’s a good ride. It all starts when all the car is towed to the top of the 250 ft tall tower, there isn’t very much anticipation. The drop occurs at the same time, every time. It holds you about 10 seconds. Then once you are released, the car free-falls down to the bottom. Out of all the drop rides in the world this one doesn’t rank very high but is still excellent. The drop provides some good floating effect. Overall this ride is great and I’m sure there will be some disappointed visitors at Kennywood next season when it is not there.

Thrill Ride Rating: 8/10

Scare Scale: 2/3 – high thrills

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Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood, Pennsylvania – Review

Doesn’t look very big for having a 232ft drop, right? Well, looks are deceiving, and Phantom’s Revenge is the perfect example. I rode this one at the very beginning of the day and my Uncle Don and I had to wait a minute, but later in the day we came back for our third ride and they were only using one train. This was awful, it turned a 10 minute wait into 25 minutes. Once in the station, I’m sure everybody with as much coaster knowledge as me realizes the awful, arrow trains. When they revised the ride they should have replaced the arrow trains with Chance-Morgan trains. These hideous trains are not easy to board even for a slim, agile 13 year-old kid like me. There are disgusting lap-bars that are good for airtime, but not comfort. After leaving the station. Phantom takes approximately 3 years to get to the top (I’m mean it, this thing is slow). Then, there is a right-hand curving drop and a straight-away providing some strong positive G’s. After that, there is a climbing hill before taking its 232ft dive into the ravine it’s known for. There’s no doubt why this drop has been called the “thrill of a life-time” by some, it is intense. Thunderbolt’s track travels above it, so as you can imagine, there is a huge head-chopper effect here. At the bottom of the drop, there are tons of positive G’s before it banks into an upward curve. Then Phantom has another drop into the ravine before curving around back through Thunderbolt. Then the ride finishes off with airtime bunny-hops (one being a double-dip) with massive amounts of airtime. Phantom’s trains need head-rests because of these bunny-hops. This ride is very unique. Having being a terrain coaster, it beats out all of the other Morgan hyper coasters. Only downside is that is has a very short ride for a hyper coaster (3,500ft).

Ride: 5/10

Theming: 7/10

Drops: 10/10

Intensity: 9/10

Airtime: 10/10

Total: 41/50 – Great

Scare Scale: 3/3 – extreme thrills, not for the faint of heart

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Sky Rocket at Kennywood, Pennsylvania – Review

0-50 in under 3 seconds. Not really! It’s more like 5-50 in under 2 seconds. This is the Sky Rocket at Kennywood. When you first enter the park the first thing you see is definitely Sky Rocket. It is a Premier launch coaster. Kennywood on this day was doing a good job running the Sky Rocket, unlike most of the other coasters. It seems to me that Premier Rides hasn’t built a coaster in a long time, over these years they have definitely improved their trains quite a bit. They used to have these awful, ugly trains with neck-breaking shoulder-harnesses. Now, there are comfortable, well fitting individual ratcheting lap-bars. The only problem with the lap bars is that they pinch a little bit. Other than that these are definitely my favorite restraints of all time. Don’t forget that Premier has built this coaster with a lot more beauty than the rest of the bunch. Once everyone is strapped in the train is sent on its way. The reason I said the launch is more like 5-50 in under 2 seconds is because the train has a rolling start before it hits the launch segment, and the launch seems a lot faster than under 3 seconds. All I remember from the launch was my Uncle Don sitting next to me started to say something to me, and then my head was suddenly thrust onto the head-rest as we were launched to 50 mph. I need to ask him one of these days what he started to say because still don’t know what he said. The launch for me was exciting, intense, and powerful. Then, you fly up a 90 degree tower, float out of your seat at the top, then fly back down at 90 degrees. Going back down at 90 degrees is really fun with lap-bars. After that, there is a one-of-a-kind element called a cut-back where there is half a corkscrew connected to another half corkscrew moving in the same direction. There is a barrel-roll before mid-course breaks. The first part of the ride is very intense, but the second half is pretty tame. After the break-trims there is a second barrel-roll providing a great amount of hang-time in the lap-bars. Then, there are a couple “twisties” and two airtime hills before hitting the break-run. This ride was pretty cool for having a short ride and being mildly tame. Even so, it still scores extremely well in all the major categories. This is a must for anyone who loves a good launch coaster.

Ride: 8/10

Theming: 6/10

Drops: 9/10

Intensity: 8/10

Airtime: 8/10

Total: 39/50 – Good

Scare Scale: 2/3 – high thrills

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Dare Devil Dive – What do you Think?

Back in late May, Six Flags Over Georgia opened there 11th Roller coaster. It’s a Gerstlauer designed Eurofighter coaster. In other words, it’s a very compact coaster featuring unique inversions, a verticle lift hill, and a beyond verticle drop. To me, this ride looks pretty awesome, even though some people have told me otherwise.

Unfortunately, I might not get to go to Six Flags Over Georgia till next season, so don’t expect a review about it for a while.

Have you ridden Dare Devil Dive? If so, please leave a comment below, and tell me how it is.

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