Six Flags America

(There are many videos on this page. To view them, play them and then pause immediatley. Then allow the video to load completely and then play. If there are pauses in between, you will not like it.

Obvious I haven't taken these video excpt for a couple of them; I don't have the guts to hold the digicam in the ride.)

Six Flags America in Maryland is one of the light weight theme parks in USA. We (Sushant and I) went to this one bcoz this was the only one nearby and accessible by public transport.

But after experiencing it, I can conclude that there is nothing close to it in India. Wonder how much good the others will be.

The various rides can be grouped under:

1. Roller Coasters

2. Rotating ones

3. Water rides

4. Hurricane Harbour (like Water Kingdom) - rides in pool.

5. Looney Tunes (Children's rides).

My main aim for coming here was for Roller Costers. So we had a rather thrilling start.

I hardly clicked any photos; since you come here for thrills which can only be felt. So describing them in words.

Joker's Jinx (Roller Coaster)

This was probably the worst ride in the park (Worst doesn't mean bad here; it means the most deadly one). The name is aptly given, Jinx - an evil spell. We were the first people on it and so got the front seat. And we had no clue about the ride; since didn't see anyone riding it.

The worst part of the ride was the initial propel. Normally coasters first take you to a great height and then use gravitation for kinetics. But the Jinx is an induction coaster - the initial propel is through electro-magnets. It is like a train running along a straight line except that it was propelled from 0 to 100 kmph in 2 seconds flat. The g-forces acting on you were terrible. There were tons of drops, rises, inverted loops at incredibly high speeds. And No, the Cyclone @ Essel World does not come anywhere close to it.

For the entire duration of the ride I was reciting some verse or the other from the Quran. Not a second passed in any of the Coasters in which I did not pray anything.

Superman (Roller Coaster)

It is so called because of it extremely steep drops and rises. The initial drop is a near vertical 80 degrees ones from a height of about 70 metres. In this drop, it felt as if someone was crushing your head inside your stomach. The pressure was the most than any other ride.

After coming out of this ride, I couldn't even walk properly; had to take rest for some time. Not that I became sickly, just my head was spinning.

Sushant skipped this rides bcoz he was still recovering from Joker's Jinx.

The drop of Superman:

Bat Wing (Roller Coaster)

I think we took rest after Superman at the wrong place. We went near this ride to take rest. And what we saw left us in awe. Sushant had already decided this was a No-No. Even I started having second thoughts of sitting in this one.

If you had a look at it, you would say this one was the most dangerous.

The reason for this was you don't sit on the coaster. Rather you lay down on your back as if planning to sleep. Have a look:

And when you reach the top it suddenly turns around. As a result you feel you are flying. Hence the name is aptly given.

Imagine it like this: You are sleeping on your bed. And then when you wake up, you find your bed attached to the ceiling upside down with you facing the floor. Except in this case the height was about 40 metres and you were travelling at 150kmph.

But in the end, it was the best ride - I enjoyed it the most. I like rides which make you upside down and this one was like that.

Sonora Speedway (Go Karting)

My first go karting experience was not so good. I was on 2nd position comfortably for a long time when for some reason my car stalled. How can you expect this to happen here; this is not a race. As a result, I still remained 2nd but from behind.

Shipwreck Falls ( Small Coaster + Water )

It was a sunny day and yes you could feel the heat today. This ride was the answer to that problem.

One of the most enjoyable rides; we have a similar one in Essel World. But the one at Essel World has a much greater height. As a result the water splashes out and you don't get so wet. Here I got completely drenched, down to even every inch of my pants.

This was one video I clicked:

Crazy Cars (Dashing car)

For some reason whenever I have gone to a theme park, I have alwayz sat in this. There is some kind of immense pleasure in it. The good thing of dashing cars here was that they give you plenty of time to fool around - about 7-8 minutes.

Renegade Rapids (Somewhat Rafting like)

They tried to give an experience of rafting; but it was far away from it. Just a little bit of tossing around in a boat in rough waters.

We had the company of 6 girlz who were screaming at the top of the voices at every small bump or when the water splashed inside the boat. I have no clue what was so fearing in that; it was much more fun to have the water splashing on you. Wonder what would have happened if they sat in Superman.

ROAR & The Wild One

These are wooden coasters. The difference between steel and wooden ones are that these don't run at very high speed and neither have extreme drops or curves. So where does the thrill come from? It comes from the wood. When the rail moves on the track at such heights, the supporting wood doesn't stay firm, instead it vibrates to give you the thrill.

The mesh of wooden roller coaster:

See the video to know what I mean:

Tower of Doom

A simple ride (simple in turns of working). You take your seat, it takes you to the top of a tower about 60 metres high and then drops you off under free flow of gravity. You do feel weightless for that fraction of a second. Not much of a ride since the height was very less.

Mind Eraser

This was the only roller coaster I missed.

It is a suspended one in which you are hanging from it like a pendulum; so the sways while moving are intense.

I stood in the line for 45 minutes and was thinking that how these machines work for the entire day. Isn't there any heating and wear-n-tear. The next minute the coaster broke down and I had to return dejected. Am wondering why, why, why did I think about this.

The park has the "Water Kingdom" in house. No separate fees required. But neither Sushant nor me were interested in it. Especially the nudity in that part.

Rotating ones like these were all skipped since they gave more of a headache than thrill.