Richard Bannister

This park was known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure at the time this trip report was written. The ride names from that time have been left in place in this report.

Empty theme parks are a mixed blessing for enthusiasts. On the positive side, it means that all operating rides have little or no wait time, allowing practically unlimited rides. On the negative side, if a park doesn't make a profit it is unlikely to survive in the long term. The word on the internet is that this park is haemorrhaging money, and the owners are likely to cut their losses at some stage.

X-Flight was my first ever flying coaster, and a ride I'd particularly enjoyed when I rode it first in 2001. However, my memories of that day were blurred into a whirlwind of a holiday, and my failure to document the event made it impossible to remember fully. As such I entered the park today assuming that the overall experience hadn't been up to that of the B&M version in Alton Towers. Much to my surprise, this turned out to be completely wrong; the sensation of flying engineered by Vekoma is far superior to the B&M product, even if the restraints are not quite as comfortable.

Vekoma's engineering has improved over the years. Nowhere was this more evident than on Mind Eraser (#199), one of their earlier products. The sign in front of the ride entrance, pictured opposite, was particularly pertinent!

Superman Ultimate Escape (#200) seemed like the best choice for my two hundredth coaster. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the idea of being face down on a ninety degree drop, but I figured the thrill of a LIM launch would make up for it, and it certainly did. Intamin are on to a winner with this design, which has already started appearing in other parks. Some enthusiasts are debating as to whether this design should be classified as a roller coaster or not. My advice to those people is to get a life; if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, on balance, it's probably a duck.

At this stage the only coasters left for us were the two woodies. Big Dipper (#201) felt every one of its seventy-seven years, but it was positively gentle compared to the brutality of Villain (#202). The front seat there was pretty violent, which should have been a hint that the back seat was best avoided. Never one to be sensible, I tried it anyway; the resulting headache lasted the rest of the evening.