After nine days of grueling hiking, rock climbing, and seafood eating, our family finally drives into the parking lot for Six Flags New England. The above is an extreme over-exaggeration; I did enjoy the trip but it wasn’t my taste. We did get to do clay shooting, which was a nice surprise for me, as I had always wanted to do something of the sort. But this day was my day, and what I was looking forward to all trip. We were at Six Flags New England, and it was going to be an amazing day.

It had been a little less than a year since I had been to SFNE, as I went there with my dad last year in October. It was a very warm day for October, and I had been on almost everything there. I knew what to expect for this year, but not fully. I knew what to expect ride-wise, but not line-wise. I knew what the rides were like, but I didn’t have a sufficient knowledge of the park to know what lines would be like, what breaks down often, and what places to eat at. So, most of the day was played by ear.

The park opened fairly soon after we arrived. I wanted to head straight for Goliath because it would be the one with the long line (since it was new and didn’t have the best capacity). I was also eager to get to my 150th coaster credit. As I somewhat expected, Goliath was broken down, and we headed to Bizarro instead.

Bizarro sits just under Skyrush in my rankings, as I think it lacks the intensity and insane airtime of Skyrush. One aspect that I like about the ride that can’t be found on Skyrush is its length. Skyrush is all about one small twister section with huge sustained bursts of airtime, but Bizarro is that, but with more length and less airtime. I prefer airtime over length; so therefore I picked Skyrush for my number 1 spot.

I still immensely enjoy Bizarro, even though all of the special effects of the transformation aren’t functional anymore. I honestly don’t think that the transformation helped one bit; the ride could have stayed as Superman Ride of Steel, and I wouldn’t have cared. If Six Flags transforms an already amazing ride so that it has special effects and audio that only work for a year, why even bother? If the fire effects and audio still worked, then none of this would need to have been said.

In spite of its shortfalls, Bizarro is a stellar ride from start to finish, with a very drawn out first half that tries to compensate to the ride’s speed, and then an amazing, twisting second half, that’s more intense than the first half to compensate for the speed lost. The bunny hops at the end were by far my favorite. Bizarro is an amazing front seat ride that gives even more airtime than in the back. It’s truly a must-ride for all enthusiasts.

After Bizarro, we did the coaster with the longest name in history: Gotham City Gauntlet: Escape from Arkham Asylum. It may have a long name, but the line was non-existent. We were in the queue and off the ride in less than three minutes.

Next we headed over to the east side of the park, which is home to Mind Eraser and Batman the Dark Knight. Mind Eraser was alright, just a normal SLC. But Dark Knight I enjoyed a lot. The ride is intense, glass smooth, but short. Dominator, my favorite floorless, is also intense and glass smooth, but not short. And, in my opinion, Dominator has the more original layout, but I do like how Dark Knight weaves in and out of itself in the first half.

The west side of the park was our next stop, and we were right near the entrance to Goliath when it finally opened. My brother and I immediately got in line, so as to ride it before it broke down again. The wait was a little under 15 minutes. The line wasn’t terribly long, and they were dispatching at an average speed. The ride was honestly just another step up from Invertigo. I didn’t find Invertigo much different from any other boomerang when I rode it at King’s Island two years ago. The same thing happened from Invertigo to Goliath. I find it just a taller, faster, and more thrilling version of Invertigo. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed the ride, and I have to give it credit for being my 150th coaster credit.

So we walked a short distance to Flashback, a standard Boomerang right next to a Giant Inverted Boomerang. Such geniuses, Six Flags are. The ride was all right, just like any other boomerang. The ride attendant, however, was assigning seats when the line wasn’t even that long. And also, he was assigning from the back front, so there was no one in the first couple rows on our ride. More on this later.

Next we did Pandemonium. It had about a 20 minute wait. Last year, I waited 45 minutes for it by myself. I get to the station, and the ride attendant tells me I could have gone up the single rider line. I told her there was no single rider line. But then she says, “Yes there is,” and points to the Flash Pass line. This really ticked me off. Six Flags can’t properly sign that there is a single rider line, and I could’ve waited a whole ton less than 45 minutes to get on the ride. The ride was alright; spinning coasters are fun but not my favorite type of coaster.

After a short walk up some stairs, Catapult stared me in the face. I really wanted to ride it, as there aren’t that many built near me. But my brother backed off, saying the line was too long. So we did Cyclone. Just like with Flashback, there was terrible ride operation. They were running only one train and were not in a hurry dispatching it either. What could have been a 5 minute wait turned out to be a 20 minute wait. Upon exiting, Catapult once again stared me in the face. Then I see an attendant and a roped off queue line, and I get really mad. My one chance to ride a Sky Swat goes down the drain instantly. Guess I’m going to have to wait for our next New England trip.

Our next ride was Houdini, which wasn’t as good as its Great Adventure counterpart but still a cool ride nonetheless. I also noticed that Goliath was down once again. Whoopee.

Lunch was next; we ate at the new burger place. I ordered a buffalo burger, and it was very good. They also had some “boom boom” sauce, which was basically a creamy hot sauce and was great with the fries.

After lunch we hit up the bumper cars, which was very fun. I am finally an expert for the 360 degree turn. You guys better watch out, hehehe.

Next we did Thunderbolt. It was a very good ride, but once again, the attendants were assigning seats when the line was non-existent. The attendant said, “Go to 5th row.” We asked if we could go to the back, and she said no. And we’re like, “There are no friggin people in line, why can’t we go to the back?” which we had the same answer: “Go to 5th row.” We questioned whether or not she could speak English, but that’s not all. On Thunderbolt, they have to release the restraints one by one, since there is no automatic restraint release. So this girl starts releasing the restraints from the back, even though there wasn’t anyone in the back and there was no one in line for the back because she was assigning seats. These employees lacked common sense in all aspects, and no one else did a thing to correct her. Seriously, Six Flags, train your employees better.

After Thunderbolt, I only wanted to do a couple more re-rides: Bizarro, Batman, and Bizarro a couple more times. I did Bizarro once, but then went to Catwoman’s Whip, since the line was also non-existent. There were smart employees here. My brother and I took the back two rows, and no one said a thing. The ride provided some decent forces because the train was so long and there is a ton of room with only one person in a row. The front car was halfway down the first drop when the back car was just beginning the ascent. There were also plenty of lateral forces, and it made the ride pretty fun for its size.

So after we did our re-rides, we decided it that we could probably make it home to Pennsylvania before midnight, so we departed from Six Flags New England with my coaster count not at 150, but at 152, with three new rides under my belt. Flashback and Catwoman were also new coasters for me. I am very proud to achieve my 150th credit, and I can’t wait to get to 200. Maybe it won’t be until next year, or the next, but I know I’ll hit it eventually. And that will be a very good day.