Six Flags, You Have to Know When To Go
Written: Jun 04 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome rollarcoasters, good food
Cons: very expensive
The Bottom Line: Definately worth going if you go at the right time and bring the bucks!
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| my2girls's Full Review: Six Flags New England |
The key to a great amusement park experience in my opinion is that you have to know when to go. You don't go on a weekend in the summer and you don't go on a holiday. If you can help it don't even go when school is out. My husband and I went to Six Flags New England last week on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. It was part of his birthday present from me (we are both rollar coaster freaks!) and we went without our children (love them dearly but this was so much more fun leaving them home!). I will tell you now that the longest we waited all day for any ride was 15 minutes and for most rides we just walked right on!
We arrived to what looked like a low to moderately crowded parking lot, alot of buses(EEK!). A negative is that you need to pay $8.00 to park and then it is a hike to the entrance of the park. For the amount you are paying to enter the park I would think parking might be included or only a few bucks. They are definately making a killing on the parking situation.
The prices to get in are quite expensive. They include everything though, all the rides, shows, etc and are good for the entire day. A regular admission (over 48") is 36.99 and a junior (36"-48") is 18.49. We had the Entertainment Book which gave us a buy one regular admission and get one free. That was a great savings and we were thrilled! They do have Season Passes which would be a smart thing to get if you feel you will go to Six Flags New England at least two times this year. It was around $60.00 for that (cheaper if you bought 4 at a time for the whole family).
The park is quite spread out and broken up into themed sections. I had been to the park when it was previously Riverside. Riverside was nice but in later years had fallen into a state of disrepair with lots of graffitti and such. I saw none of this at Six Flags. The grounds were nicely landscaped, the ground was also clean. I didn't see overflowing trash cans as I read in another epionion. Maybe they got their act together this year. I noticed that in each of the themed areas there was a lot of attention to detail which I like. For example in the western section if you look at the cement on the ground you will see Horseshoe prints in it. Little things like that I think make the amusement experience all the better. There was a western section, Superman section, 1950's section, Main Street and the water park. We did not go to the water park so I can't comment on that at all.
The rides are top notch. For Rollar Coasters there is the Cyclone (big wooden one), Thunderbolt (smaller wooden, very old, I rode it as a kid), Mind Eraser (amazing, tons of loops, you sit with your feet dangling), Poison Ivys Twisted Train (very tame, more for folks with kids), and the granddaddy of them all Superman! Superman was just on the Discovery Channel as one of the top 10 rollarcoasters in the world! It is amazing! It reaches 80mph and the first drop is 221 feet and I'm telling you it is about as close to vertical as you can get! It is a mile long and the ride is 1 minute 55 seconds of sheer adrenaline!
When I say the key is knowing when to go I mean that! I know people who have waited 2+ hours to ride Superman once during their visit. We rode it 5 times that day. Most times we walked up to it through the empty maze of railings and then sat in an open seat. The longest we waited to ride Superman was 5.5 minutes. It was the same with all the rides. You can not go to a park like this, in the summer, on a weekend and then complain about the lines. You just have to know going in that is what you are in for.
As for other rides there is a freefall that is pretty amazing. It is called Scream. You are strapped in against the side of this tower. There are 3 seats on each of the 4 sides. It shoots you up to the top and the view is amazing! Then you plummet down, fast! There are 3 water rides in the regular park. There is a pretty tame flume ride and a larger one where you sit with a whole bunch of other people and get quite wet. The best though is Blizzard Canyon. This is a ride where 8 people sit in a large tube and go down the rapids. Everytime you ride it is fun and different because the tube bounces and spins so you never know who will be the one getting the most wet! There are several sections where you are going through this heavy mist and you can't see what is coming! It is really fun and I *guarantee* you that you will get soaked by the end! My husband and I rode this three times, twice we had our own tube because there wasn't anyone else in line!
The food at Six Flags I found to be good but quite expensive. There are a lot of options to choose from including Subway for those who want something familiar. I had chicken tenders that were REAL chicken tenders, not processed meat like at fast food restaurants. They were hot and the portion was huge, 5 good sized pieces. They came with french fries and I added a soda and it was $10.12. Yes a lot for lunch I thought but the food was good and I ended up sharing with my husband. Regular sized sodas are $2.69 at any of the stands and an ice cream cone (soft serve) was $3.00. We had some cinammon cashews from a vendor that were $3.00 for a bag and they were wonderful!
Games are also expensive. Gone are the days when a quarter got you a game of Skeeball, now it is .50. And to play Whack-A-Mole it will set you back $3.00!!! An outrage! Needless to say we stayed away from the games except for two games of Skeeball which I just couldn't resist! I love it and I am good!
We went to one show, the Batman Stunt Spectacular. If you have been to say the Indiana Jones Spectacular down at Disney you will be disappointed. It is an okay show but none of the stunts are really that spectacular, lots of fake fighting between Batman and the bad guys and lots of explosions. Kids will like it but we just used that time to take a breather between the rides.
Overall I think it is a wonderful park with a lot to offer. Just bring your cash, lots of it, and really look at the calendar before you pick your day!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
my2girls
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Member: Allyson
Location: Massachusetts
Reviews written: 93
Trusted by: 36 members
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