Steel re-tracks, Giant Loops, and a dark ride highlight Six Flags' 2015 new attractions announcement

August 28, 2014, 10:01 AM · Six Flags this morning officially announced its new attraction line-up for 2015 (which we previewed for you yesterday).

Here is what fans can expect at top Six Flags parks next year:

In addition, Six Flags Great America, north of Chicago, will get a "40 Seasons of Thrills" celebration to mark the park's upcoming 40th birthday. Carousel Plaza and Hometown Square will get refurbishments over the winter, and the park will add some new kiddie rides in addition to various promotions and celebrations during the summer.

The highlight among the new rides appears to be Magic Mountain's Twisted Colossus, which will set a record as the world's longest hybrid coaster when it opens next year. The ride will anchor the soon-to-be-renamed-and-rethemed "Back Alley" land of the park.

Twisted Colossus
Concept art courtesy Six Flags

Here are the specs on Twisted Colossus:

And your on-ride concept video:

What do you think? What will you line up to ride first next year?

Replies (19)

August 28, 2014 at 10:14 AM · The twin Justice League themed dark rides look very similar in concept to another Justice League themed interactive dark ride at Warner Brothers Movie World in Australia. Both are products of Jacksonville, FL, based Sally Corp. Here's a link to Movie World's dark ride:

http://movieworld.com.au/rides-and-attractions/thrill-rides/justice-league.aspx

August 28, 2014 at 10:23 AM · It all looks good except for the carnival looping flats, they are garbage. Twisted Colossus looks outstanding.

I am guessing the two JLM dark rides will be clones, however the web pages for the individual parks would seem to indicate the Texas version is also getting an interactive queue, while the Missouri version might not. Anyone know for sure?

August 28, 2014 at 10:33 AM · Twisted Colossus has a completely different feel to it. How much is new construction? I would like to see a overlay comparison of the old and new track layout. No more slow turn after the first dip and the many boring bunny hops at the end. The whole ride seems faster and they still have the side by side tracks although it is no longer a race. Although I will probably never visit, any improvement is nice.

If only Knott's will fix the Ghost Rider.

August 28, 2014 at 10:30 AM · Twisted Colossus looks amazing, Wicked Cyclone and Batman 4D look cool and the dark rides are a nice welcome (at least on paper) but enough with the super loops carnival ride from the 70's...looks like they have found this year's sky screamer.
August 28, 2014 at 10:33 AM · Is Justice League replacing Yosemite Sam's and the Gold River Adventure. I noticed pictures showing the construction of new footers so it appears that Justice League will be going into an entirely new building. It would be nice to have two different dark ride experiences in the park.

I assume at Six Flags St. Louis they are going to hollow out the former Scooby Doo ride building and put in Justice League along with its own new ride system.

August 28, 2014 at 11:37 AM · Tim, I actually like the Yosemite Sam dark ride, so I am with you in hoping it doesn't go anywhere. Besides, if I remember correctly the DC Comics stuff at SFOT is pretty far away from the Yosemite Sam attraction.
August 28, 2014 at 10:54 AM · In Texas the Justice league ride will be going in the old simulator building
August 28, 2014 at 11:55 AM · Yosemite Sam's was such a pleasant surprise when we visited a few seasons ago. Here was a full-on early 90s Sally Corp boat-based(!) dark ride in the middle of a Six Flags park. I would love to see it get the renovation and love that came to Monster Mansion at Six Flags Over Georgia, which in itself was a little miracle.
August 28, 2014 at 12:23 PM · I live about 5 minutes from Discovery Kingdom, and am disappointed that the new attraction, a "giant" loop, is what they are highlighting. It looks like a travelling carnival ride.
On the other hand, "Twisted Colossus" looks and sounds amazing, and since I can get to Magic Mountain in about 5 hours, I'll be there for sure when it open! I went to Silver Dollar City last year for Outlaw Run, and consider that one of the best coasters I've ever ridden. If Twisted Colossus is as good or better than Outlaw Run, I'll be a happy camper!
August 28, 2014 at 12:27 PM · Yosemite Sam used to be the Spelunker's Cave at Six Flags over Texas....now that's a ride that is sorely missed. Would love to see them bring it back!
August 28, 2014 at 1:15 PM · I agree with James. Those Giant Loops look lame, especially with Six Flags promoting them as coasters. Low capacity-one train rides need to be obsolete. Today's crowds just don't allow them anymore.
August 28, 2014 at 1:17 PM · This caught my eye in the Twisted Colossus press release: "The advanced technology, available exclusively at Six Flags, provides ride experiences never before possible on wooden coasters, such as over-banked turns and inversions"

"available exclusively at Six Flags"

Do they have an exclusivity agreement with the manufacturer of these hybrid coasters? If so, does that actually mean anything for a company like Cedar Fair that might want to do something similar with Ghost Rider or Mean Streak?

August 28, 2014 at 1:33 PM · Those Larson Loops are not coasters! I was really hoping they wouldn't say that.
August 28, 2014 at 4:01 PM · Let's break this down a bit:

-Twisted Colossus: This looks like the best addition of the bunch. I think it resembles the original ride enough to mitigate complaints but is new enough to be a massive draw. Plus, with all the one-of-a-kind elements, this could be a top ten coaster.
-Justice League: Battle for Metropolis: I'm interested to see what Six Flags does with this. Dark rides are my favorite type of non-coaster attraction, so hopefully these will be decent.
-Wicked Cyclone: There is no such thing as a bad Rocky Mountain Coaster. This one looks more intense than Colossus, but I think Colossus is probably the better overall ride.
-Batman: The Ride: I don't know what to think of this one yet. It looks somewhat like Green Lantern: First Flight, which is really just an okay ride. However, I know people who rode the prototype at S&S's workshop and said it was outstanding. This is the wildcard for 2015.
-All 4 Larson Fireballs: Good addition for Six Flags America and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Okay addition for Six Flags Over Georgia. Poor addition for Six Flags Great Adventure...they really deserved something better. I just wish Six Flags would stop promoting them as coasters and give them acceptable names (Bourbon Street Fireball...Dare Devil Chaos...Really?).

Overall, this seems like a bit of a budget year compared to the previous few. Most of the additions are decent, but other than the two Rocky Mountain coasters nothing is really travel-worthy.

August 29, 2014 at 10:24 AM · My biggest concern with Twisted Colossus is the interactive elements between the trains. If Universal cannot duel Dragon Challenge/Dueling Dragons as it was intended because of idiotic riders, how in the world is Six Flags going to run Twisted Colossus with the trains synchronized without running into an issue? They were forced to install a giant plexiglass shield and alternate operation between Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro because morons feel the need to take selfies, so what makes anyone think that they will actually be able to run both trains on Twisted Colossus at the same time? I'm sure the coasters will be fine individually, but if you can't have trains looping over each other and racing, what's the point in having a dueling track?

I predict it takes 2 weeks before SFMM is forced to stagger the trains to deliberately prevent them from interacting.

The Super Loops demonstrate that Six Flags is nothing more than a glorified carnival. I would much rather see the parks take that money and put it into making less-visible improvements to ambiance, cleanliness, and employees, than a lame flat ride I can pay $3 to ride at a local mall parking lot.

Also, how exactly do you measure "smoothness", and what makes Six Flags think they can make the claim that they will own the World's Smoothest Coaster in Wicked Cyclone? Do people really buy this nonsense?

I also don't get the S&S Batman coaster, and how it's different than Intamin's Zac-spin design. Sure, the trains look a bit like X, and S&S owns all of the patents and designs for Arrow's iconic 4-D coaster, but if the seats rotate freely, then it's no different than Green Lantern at Magic Mountain. Unless those white pieces that look like magnetic trims physically rotate the seats to position the seats in specific orientations that those points along the ride, there's really no difference, just an extra 4 seats per train.

August 31, 2014 at 4:08 PM · Spring 2015 for Twisted Colossus? So SFMM magic has until end of June? 9 months? Seems like an aggressive construction attempt by Six Flags.
September 2, 2014 at 4:17 PM · Did anyone else notice that nowhere in the Twisted Colossus video did they show a station, let alone a segment of track where a station could even go?

Seems the trains take that final curve directly into the opposite lift hill.

September 3, 2014 at 3:45 PM · Russell, the ride will only have one track. It will be timed so that the riders experiencing the second half of the coaster will pass near the riders beginning the ride, hence the lengthy run time of the whole thing.
September 4, 2014 at 9:39 AM · @76*

Yeah, I just watched the video again and finally caught on to this.

Order of events is as follows. One station. Leave the station on the blue track and go up right lift hill. As you come back around to the lift hill, the track changes to green and you go up the left lift hill.

As you come back around a final time on green, you end up back at the station.

You can see these changes in the video at:
1:18 - blue to green, going up left lift hill for a second run.
2:13 - green to station (you can catch a glimpse of the additional track in the distance, where the station will be).

This is an incredibly awesome design.

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