Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately 20 miles southeast of Trenton in Jackson, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelphia and includes a water park named Hurricane Harbor. It first opened to the public as simply Great Adventure in 1974 under the direction of restaurateur Warner LeRoy. Six Flags acquired the park in 1977. The park is located right off of Interstate 195 and is along Monmouth Road.
Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States, near Upper Marlboro, adjacent to the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
A roller coaster inversion is a roller coaster element in which the track turns riders upside-down and then returns them to an upright position. Early forms of inversions were circular in nature and date back to 1848 on the Centrifugal railway in Paris. These vertical loops produced massive g-force that was often dangerous to riders. As a result, the element eventually became non-existent with the last rides to feature the looping inversions being dismantled during the Great Depression. In 1975, designers from Arrow Development created the corkscrew, reviving interest in the inversion during the modern age of steel roller coasters. Elements have since evolved from simple corkscrews and vertical loops to more complex inversions such as Immelmann loops and cobra rolls. The Smiler at Alton Towers holds the world record for the number of inversions on a roller coaster with 14.
Top Thrill 2 is a launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The ride originally opened as Top Thrill Dragster in 2003, becoming the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, as well as the first ever strata coaster – a height classification of 400 feet (120 m) or more. Designed by Werner Stengel, the Accelerator Coaster model from Intamin debuted with a height of 420 feet (130 m) and could accelerate from 0 to 120 mph (190 km/h) in 3.8 seconds. It was themed to Top Fuel drag racing, with the launch track designed to resemble a dragstrip, and it consistently ranked as one of the world's top steel coasters in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication. Top Thrill Dragster's records were surpassed in 2005 by Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure.
Six Flags New England, formerly known as Gallup's Grove (1870–1886), Riverside Grove (1887–1911), Riverside Park (1912–1995) and Riverside: The Great Escape (1996–1999), is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts. Opening in the late 19th century, it is the oldest amusement park in the Six Flags chain, acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 and rebranded Six Flags New England in 2000. Superman The Ride is among the park's most notable rides, having appeared as a highly ranked roller coaster in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today since the ride opened in 2000.
Six Flags Over Georgia is a 290-acre (1.2 km2) amusement park in Austell, Georgia, United States. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain following the original Six Flags Over Texas, which opened in 1961.
Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a 209-acre (85 ha) amusement park located in Valencia, California, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newhall Land and Farming Company and Sea World Inc. In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added "Six Flags" to the park's name.
Six Flags Great America is a 304-acre (123 ha) themed amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the Marriott Corporation. Six Flags acquired the amusement park in 1984 after the theme park division was an earnings disappointment for Marriott. The sale gave Six Flags rights to the Looney Tunes intellectual properties.
Batman: The Ride is an inverted roller coaster based on the DC Comics character Batman and found at seven Six Flags theme parks in the United States and at least one outside the US. Built by consulting engineers Bolliger & Mabillard, it rises to a height of between 100 and 105 feet and reaches top speeds of 50 mph (80 km/h). The original roller coaster at Six Flags Great America was partially devised by the park's general manager Jim Wintrode. Batman: The Ride was the world's first inverted roller coaster when it opened in 1992, and has since been awarded Coaster Landmark status by the American Coaster Enthusiasts. Clones of the ride exist at amusement parks around the world.
Giovanola Frères SA was a prominent steel manufacturing company based in Monthey, Switzerland. It was known for building electrical power stations, water storage tanks, pipelines, boilers, highway bridges, submarines, ski lifts and many other steel products. The company started out as a small metal forging shop, founded by Joseph Giovanola in 1888. Joseph Sr. died in 1904, and the company was taken over by his sons, the eldest of which, Joseph Jr., was just 17 years of age. By 1930 the company had grown to the point that it required a new factory which was constructed in Monthey.
A hypercoaster is a roller coaster with a height or drop measuring at least 200 feet (61 m). The term was first coined by Arrow Dynamics and Cedar Point in 1989 with the opening of the world's first hypercoaster, Magnum XL-200, which features a height of 205 feet. The next hypercoaster, Pepsi Max Big One, opened five years later at Blackpool Pleasure Beach featuring a height of 213 feet (65 m).
Demon is a multi-looping roller coaster at both Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois and California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. Both coasters opened in 1976 as Turn of the Century, when both Great America parks were owned by Marriott Corporation. Following the 1979 season, they were modified and rebranded as Demon, featuring a new theme.
A Giant Inverted Boomerang is a type of steel shuttle roller coaster manufactured by the Dutch firm Vekoma. The ride is a larger, inverted version of Vekoma's popular Boomerang sit down roller coasters. As of September 2024, four installations of the model are operating, with another one under construction.
Goliath is a steel roller coaster located at the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park in Cobb County, Georgia. The Hyper Coaster model manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard climbs to a height of 200 feet (61 m) and reaches a maximum speed of 70 mph (110 km/h). Prior to its construction, the Great Gasp and Looping Starship attractions were removed to make room for Goliath, which opened to the public on April 1, 2006. It ranked as the fourth-best new ride of 2006 in the annual Golden Ticket Awards publication from Amusement Today and the ninth-best steel roller coaster overall, with its peak ranking of fourth occurring in 2009 and 2011.
Magic Flyer also known as Percy's Railway, is a small, oval-circuit steel roller coaster made by Bradley and Kaye that opened in 1971. The coaster is located in the Whistlestop Park area of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. It was an unknown-named coaster at the former Beverly Park prior to operating at Magic Mountain.
The New Revolution is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. Manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf and designed by Werner Stengel, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 8, 1976. The New Revolution is the world's first modern roller coaster to feature a vertical loop and has been recognized for that accomplishment by American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE), who awarded the roller coaster its Coaster Landmark status. However, there were earlier examples of roller coasters with a full vertical loop, such as the steel roller coaster called "Looping the Loop" in Parque Japonés in Buenos Aires, which operated from 1911 to 1930.
La Ronde is an amusement park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was originally built as the entertainment complex for Expo 67, the 1967 world's fair. Today, it is operated by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, under an emphyteutic lease with the City of Montreal until 2065. In-addition to being the Six Flags chain's northernmost location, La Ronde is the largest amusement park in Quebec and the second-largest in Canada.
Shuttle Loop is a type of steel launched shuttle roller coaster designed by Reinhold Spieldiener of Intamin and manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf. A total of 12 installations were produced between 1977 and 1982. These 12 installations have been located in a total of 22 different amusement parks.
Goliath is a wooden roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and designed by Alan Schilke, the roller coaster features RMC's Topper Track design and opened to the public on June 19, 2014. Goliath initially set three world records among wooden coasters, having the longest drop at 180 feet (55 m), the steepest angle of 85 degrees, and the fastest speed of 72 mph (116 km/h). It still holds the record for the longest drop and fastest wooden roller coaster. In addition, the ride also features two inversions and a maximum descent that reaches 15 feet (4.6 m) below ground level.
Goliath was a steel shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Manufactured by Vekoma, the ride originally opened as Déjà Vu at Six Flags Magic Mountain in 2001. The ride was a larger, inverted version of Vekoma's popular Boomerang sit-down roller coasters. In 2021, the park removed the ride from its map indicating it would not reopen for the remainder of the season. In late 2021, demolition of the coaster began.
