Specific Type: Boomerang
|
The turn of the new millennium saw major changes for the park we now know as Six Flags New England. At the turn of the century, the park which had been known for nearly 160 years asRiverside Amusement Park was finally rebranded as a Six Flags park, like many other parks that Premier Parks had purchased over the years. Major changes came to the park as the year 2000 hit, with the Riverside Park Speedway being removed for the brand new DC Comics area of the park, which saw the addition of the Superman: Ride of Steel (now Bizarro) hypercoaster, and a Vekoma Boomerang coaster Flashback, the parks third coaster added for 2000 (the other being the family-friendly Catwoman’s Whip).Flashback replaced the Black Widow and Rotor rides in the North End section of the park.
Flashback, like countless other Vekoma Boomerang coasters, has resided on the site of several other parks in its histories pass. Originally built at Nanhu Amusement Park in China, rumor has it that many people in China were too scared to ride it, resulting in low ridership, so the coaster was sold to America shortly thereafter. In 1990 the coaster was given new life at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom as the Vampire when it was purchased by Ed Hart and added to the parks lineup for its grand re-opening along with other attractions, such as Tin Lizzies, the Enterprise, and the Whirling Dervish. As the Vampire, the coaster ran at the park for the next decade but with a controversial slogan, “Give blood at your local park,” though perhaps an appropriate slogan given the “rough” history of Vekoma Boomerangs. At the end of the decade, century, and millennium, in 1999, the ride was removed from the park, reportedly due to its multiple breakdowns and resulting high maintenance and low reliability, and sent to Six Flags New England. The family-sized Road Runner Express now sits in its place at Six Flags New England. The ride itself, like any other boomerang coaster, starts with a slow pull backwards up a 116.5 foot lift hill. Once the train is released, it dives back down through the station, before pulling up into a tight, fast Cobra Roll, pulling as many as 5 G’s before rocketing into a vertical loop and up another spike. As the train ascends the second spike, the lift engages, pulling it to the top before the releasing the train through its course again, only this time in reverse. After this, the trains careen backwards, first through the vertical loop, then through the cobra roll, putting some intense forces on the rider. The train then flies backwards through the station, braking along the way, and partially up the original spike again, being slowed as it falls back into the station. |
©1998-2016 COASTER-net.com, All Rights Reserved.
