History

Six Flags over Georgia was the second park that was built from the ground up by Six Flags and was originally going to be called Georgia Flags since only five flags ever flew over Georgia but that was eventually dropped before the park even opened. It is located in Cobb County just west of the Atlanta area off I-20 on a 290 acre plot of land on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. In the early 60’s, Angus Wynne started looking for another location to build his second park after the success that his first park, Six Flags over Texas in Arlington, Texas was enjoying. He soon found this plot of land and started construction in 1964. When the park officially opened on May 7, 1967, Six Flags became the first multi park operator in the United States.The themeing for this park is the same as it is at its sister park in Texas and that is the different countries that flew their flags over what is now known as the State of Georgia. Those flags are the Confederate States of America (CSA), United States of America (USA), the State of Georgia, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom though one would question if France really had anything, if at all, to do with Georgia and the fact that Georgia never really was a nation like Texas was or two nations like the State of Florida was to the south before being admitted to the United States of America. It should be noted that this park is not actually owned by the Six Flags Corp. It is instead, owned by a limited group of about 120 partners which include some of the heirs to Angus G Wynne. The park is divided into eleven areas which include the water park which are Promenade/Front Gate, British, Peachtree Square, Spanish/Bugs Bunny World, French, Cotton States Exposition, Lickskillet, Gotham City, USA, Georgia, and Hurricane Harbor. I didn’t ride any of the water rides at Hurricane Harbor as I’m not really interested in water parks so you will not see that section reviewed here.

Before I forget, I do want to let you know that they do have a kennel which operates on a first come first serve basis and is an additional charge. The kennel is located between the main parking lot and the main gate and you will need to feed, water, and walk your own pet and they do limit one pet per cage.

Now that we know the basic history of the park, let’s dive into the park so our first stop will be the Front Gate

Promenade/Front Gate.

This area is basically the “Main Street” area of the park and it contains the ticket booths, lost and found, security, and guest services at the main gate. This area was originally decorated with massive white columns, statues, and fountains that would give you the idea that this was the location of a massive plantation home. The decorations went by the wayside over the years but you can still see some of the original white pillars and fountains at the far end of this area. There are also stroller and wheelchair rentals and all day storage locker rentals as well. There are basically stores and kiosks that sell things like batteries, disposable cameras, or other things you might have forgotten at home or left in the car or hotel and souvenir shops like Looney Tunes Exposition which is on the right side in the above photo, and Six Flags Marketplace, which is on the left side in the same photo, that will sell you all the souvenirs you want to have to remember your visit(s) to the park. There is also one restaurant here called Primo’s Pizzeria which serves gluten-free pizza, brownies, and lasagna. Now we’ve come to a “T” intersection where we can turn left and go to Georgia or turn right and go to the British section.

We’ll flip the quarter and heads we go left and tails we go right, and it’s tails so we will head into the British Section.

British

There’s really not much to this area as it only has one ride, a wooden roller coaster called the Georgia Cyclone, a few snack shops, a restaurant, and a few souvenir shops.

The Georgia Cyclone is one of the many duplicates of the original, world-famous Coney Island Cyclone near Brooklyn, New York, USA. According to RCDB.com, the Georgia Cyclone opened in March of 1990 and was designed Curtis D Summers and built by the Dinn Corporation. The Cyclone is also 95 feet tall, 2,970 feet long, has a top speed of about 53 mph, and a ride time of about a minute and forty-eight seconds long. This coaster is a bit rough so I recommend riding in the front row for the smoothest ride and there are some nice pops of air time as well.

It should also be noted that the Georgia Cyclone replaced the Hanson Cars ride which was moved to the Carousel Hill area where it still operates too this day. The Georgia Cyclone does use the original station for the Hanson Cars ride. If you look inside this queue house, you’ll see the Fire Occupancy Certificate lists the building as the “Hanson Cars” building.

Here’s my off ride video I took while at the park.

There are two ice cream and fudge shops here with Dippin Dots serving the ice cream and Piccadilly Sweets serving cookies, coffee, homemade fudge, caramel apples, and candy. You can find souvenirs at the Emperor’s Brim shop and you can purchase your photos that were at the entrance earlier that day. There’s also a fast food restaurant called Johnny Rockets that serves burgers, hotdogs, fries, and their famous milk shakes. It should be noted that the Johnny Rocket’s restaurant was originally called Tondee’s Tavern and it remained that from the park’s opening in 1967 to 2008 when Johnny Rocket’s took its place.

here was a ride called the Highland Swings that was a Yo-Yo swings ride from Chance Rides that was tucked away in a corner of this section between the Hanson Car ride and the back of what is now the main gate. e Highland Swings ride was installed sometime in 1979 and removed in 1997. Now that we’ve ridden the Georgia Cyclone, we’ll walk down under the Six Flags Railroad overpass and enter our next area.

Peachtree Square

This area was originally called the Confederate section from the parks opening in 196 until the area was renamed Peachtree Square in 2008. It is significantly larger than the British section and is home to several rides, shops, and restaurants. The first ride will be on the left after crossing under the Six Flags Railroad and it is a drop tower called Acrophobia. This area used to be home to the Great Six Flags Air Racer attraction which operated here from 1984 until 2000. This ride was basically an attraction in which riders boarded small airplanes that were arranged in a circle and suspended from an above gantry. I believe it was a spinning ride that lifted riders into the air during the ride cycle and then returned to ground level once the ride was over. The only thing that was removed when Acrophobia was installed was the ride itself so the station and queue house for the Air Race attraction is now being used by Acrophobia.

This is a perfect name for this type of ride as the definition for Acrophobia is to have a morbid fear of great heights. Acrophobia is the worlds first floorless tilting gyro-drop tower from Intamin. It is 200 feet tall with a 161 foot drop and it opened here in 2001 and it really is quite an experience.

You board the gondola which seats 30 people and you are secured to the ride via a over-the-shoulder restraint that is secured by a substantial buckle to the seat. Once riders are secured, the gondola starts to rise and then begins to rotate slowly as you ascend to the top of the tower so you get a 360 degree view of the park. The ride operators actually sing you a selection of short songs that make reference to dropping or falling such as the “when the bough breaks” when you get to the top.

Once the gondola reaches the top, the rotation stops, and the seats actually tilt forward 15 degrees past vertical to force riders to see just how high they really are. At this point, the ride operators will make a reference to the fact that you’re about to drop in the song and then down you go. I rode this once and really loved it and the singing ride operators just made the experience that much better. I would have ridden it more times but the restraints were just too uncomfortable for me to ride again. Here’s my off ride video I took when I was there.

The next ride is on the right side and it is the Six Flags Railroad.

This is one of the rides that originally opened with the park in 1967 and were built by Harpur. There are two locomotives named General (in the photo above) and Texas that originally ran using steam power but were sadly converted to run on diesel engines that were installed in the tender car behind the locomotive in the late 1990’s. Both of these engines run on a standard 36′ narrow gauge track with a 4-4-0 wheel alignment. The track gauge is basically stating that the two rails are 36 inches apart and the wheel alignment is basically saying that there are for small guide wheels up front, four large drive wheels, and no trailing wheels on the locomotive. The round trip itself usually takes about twenty minutes with both stops at the Marthasville and Rabun Gap stations. Here’s my on ride round trip video of the ride.

And here’s a video of what the trains looked and sounded like before they were converted to diesel thanks to Joey McCullough for posting the video on YouTube.

Next up is a family steel roller coaster called the Dahlonega Mine Train Coaster.

This coaster is named after a small town in northern Georgia that was the site of the first major “gold rush” in the United States back in 1828. This coaster, however, was built some time later by Arrow Dynamics and opened with the park  in 1967. You can learn more about Georgia’s gold rush where you can find out that this is the largest deposit of gold east of the Mississippi River in the United States by going to Dahlonega.org. This steel coaster itself originally was much longer when it opened but was modified in 1986 when Splashwater Falls opened. According to RCDB.com, the coaster is a mine train design that utilizes three lift hills, is 37 feet tall, has a top speed of 29 mph, is 2,323 feet long, and has a total ride time of about two minutes and fifty-one seconds. Here’s an on ride video taken by Coasterforce on YouTube.

Next up is another transportation ride, and this one is a Skyride called the Skybuckets.

This ride originally opened in 1968 and was the second skyride at the park and it takes riders on a one way trip from Peachtree Square to Lickskillet. Riders would have to disembark at Lickskillet and wait in line to get back on to return to the Peachtree Square station. The first one called the Astrolift took riders from another station in Peachtree Square that is now occupied by the Six Flags Kids store to the station that used to be in the USA section where the Daredevil Dive Coaster now sits. The Astrolift also shared a tower with the Skybuckets which is the first tower you’ll see in my on ride video below. Unfortunately, the Astrolift was removed at the end of the 1981 operating season.

They are both Type 101 Skyrides and were built by the Von Roll Corp. in Bern, Switzerland. Each Skyride has two types of stations which are either a drive or a tension station. Very few of these rides have more than two stations and an example of those would be the ones at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA and at Busch Gardens Tampa in Tampa, Florida, USA. The one in Tampa has a transfer station between the drive and tension stations where the ride literally turns 90 degrees and the one in Williamsburg is arranged in a triangular format with the gondolas only going in a one way direction. The drive station contains an engine that provides the power to keep the cables moving and the tension station (pictured below) contains a sliding bull wheel with weights attached that go down inside a shaft to automatically adjust the slack in the cable based on the weight loads it is carrying at the time.

Here’s my on ride video of the Skybuckets from the tension station in Peachtree Square to the drive station in Lickskillet.

There is one indoor air-conditioned theater here called the Crystal Pistol Music Hall that currently has a show that uses black lights. Unfortunately I was never in the area to see one of the shows and when I was, the next show was always an hour or so away.

There are also several places to shop and get some souvenirs like the Antique Photos shop where you can have your photo taken in an antique setting with costumes on that fit the period. Six Flags Kids shop which contains souvenirs, clothes, and hats for the little ones. There’s also the Glad Hatter which sells hats, sunscreen, drinks, and candy, the M-Porlum which sells M&M and Mars Candy products, the U Name It shop which sells personalized items, and a Caricature Artists and Airbrush Shop which is pretty self-explanatory for what they do there.

There are also several dinning establishments in this area as well which include Miss Dixie’s Depot which serves hand rolled pretzels, fries, and pretzel dogs, JB’s Sports Bar & Grill which serves chicken tenders, fries, turkey legs, and grilled & fried chicken salads. There’s also a Panda Express which serves authentic Chinese cuisine, Miss Dixie’s Depot. and Dippin’ Dots which serves ice cream. Now on to our next section which is a kids area. The Panda Express was originally called the Black Friar when the park originally opened. In 1997, the name was changed from the Black Friar to Whistlin’ Dixie and then was changed to Panda Express in 2005. JB’s Sports Bar & Grill has also gone through a few name changes as well as it originally was called Lacy Restaurant. That only lasted one year as it was changed to Naler’s Plantation in 1968. That name lasted until 1976 when it was changed to the Plantation House which lasted until 2009 when it became Big Mo’s. That name lasted until the end of the 2015 operating season when it was renamed JB’S Sports Bar & Grill. Miss Dixie’s Depot has also gone through several name changes as well. In 1969, it opened near the Marthasville Train Station as Auntie Bellum Sandwich Shop, ten it was changed to the Good Life Sandwich Shop in 1971. In 1972 the words “Good Life” were dropped and it remained known as the Sandwich Shop until 1975 when it was renamed Dixie Dog. In ’81 “Dog” was dropped and changed to “Deli” and then, three years later, “Deli” was dropped and the name changed again to Dixie Belle’s Restaurant. That brings us up to 1986 when the name was changed once again to Dixie Belle’s Chicken and two later the name was changed again to Dixie Belle’s Café. It remained tat way until 1998 when it was changed to its current name, Miss Dixie’s Depot.

Spanish/Bugs Bunny Boom Town

 As you guessed by the title, this area is for the kids. I do believe this area took over the old Spanish area of the park and reopened in 2001. There are several kiddy rides here which includes one junior steel coaster called Wile E. Coyote’s Canyon Blaster.

This coaster was built by Chance Rides and is a custom Big Dipper model that opened here in August of 2004. According to RCDB.com it is 900 feet long and has a top speed of about 30 mph and it looks to be about 30 feet tall.

Here’s an on ride video from jking340’s YouTube channel.

There’s also Tweety’s Tree House which is a Jumpin’ Star kiddy drop tower from Zamperla.

The Little Aviator is a standard kiddy biplane ride that slowly spins and goes up and down which was removed in 2015. It was replaced by a boat ride called the Speedy Gonzalez Speed Boats.

The Fiesta Wheel is a Mini Ferris Wheel from Zamperla but was removed at the end of the 2015 season.

The Santa Maria is a Flying Dutchman swing ride from Intamin. In 2015, this ride received a new paint job and is now called Bugs Bunny High Sea Adventure.

There’s also the Swing Seville which is a swing ride from Zamperla, the ACME Trucking Company which is a standard kiddy truck convoy, the Toro, Toro which is a spinning kiddy ride with bull themed carriages but that was removed at the end of the 2015 season, Bugs Bunny’s Playfort which is a standard indoor play structure, and Bugs Bunny World Theater which hosts live shows featuring the Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

There were many rides added and removed as well as several name changes in this area so here they are. The Flying Jenny/Mule-go-Round was moved from the French section to this area in 1970 and lasted until 1974 when it was replaced by a kiddie boat ride called Regatta deBotes and a kiddie Ferris wheel called Sol Caliente. A caterpillar ride called Gusano Contento was added in 1975 as was the Animal Theater which is now currently the Looney Tunes Theater. In 1976, a flat ride called the Jumping Frijoles was added and in 1977, the Plaza de Toros (The Matador ride) is added next to Jumping Frijoles. In 1984, the Jumping Frijoles and Regatta DeBotes are removed and the Flying Turtles ride is added. In 1985, the Pac-Man Playfort is renamed Yosemite Sam Playfort and in 1986, Splashwater Falls is added as is the Buccaneer Boat Swing. Splashwater falls will physically not move but will be listed in a different section of the park. In 1988, the mini-mine train called Yahoo Hooler, a kiddie mine train that opened in 1969 is removed and replaced by a kiddie convoy semi-truck ride in 1989. I believe this is the same year that the Matador Ride was replaced by a kiddie car ride called the Road Runner Runaround. Some of the existing rides like the Gusano Contento and the Sol Caliente were renamed (or replaced with the exact same ride with different theming) the Henry Hawk Happy Worm and Elmer Fudd Fewwis Wheel. In 1994, the Road Runner Runaround was removed and a new subsection was created called Bugs Bunny World which was rethemed and renamed Bugs Bunny Boom Town for 2016. There was a walk-through attraction called Casa Magnetica which as built to fool your senses. You walked into a room that made you believe that the room was tilted and there was a park employee that would perform several tricks to make you believe that the laws of gravity and physics had gone haywire. It isn’t know when the attraction was closed but the building was demolished in the 1990’s.

Next we’ll cross over a bridge, pass Splashwater Falls as we’ll come back to that ride later on, and enter our next area.

Cotton States Exposition

This area has several attractions which include the ones up on carousel hill which is where we’ll start. There are two kiddy rides and two family rides up here on the hill and the first one we come to is the Rockin’ Tug which is a Rockin’ Tug model from Zamperla that was installed here in 2004.

Next is the Hanson Cars which originally in the British section until they were moved here when the Georgia Cyclone was installed in its place in 1990. These antique looking cars are gas-powered and the driver controls how fast they can go which isn’t really that fast. The cars are guided around the track by a rail in the center.

Next is the Up, Up & Away ride which is a Balloon Race model from Zamperla.

The next ride is a classic called the Riverview Carousel.

This one is a very rare and unique carousel as it a five row carousel and only five of these were ever built and only two of those are still in operation. How do I know how many rows a carousel has? Well, it’s very simple. counting rows is like counting tree rings as each row of horses is like a tree ring in that each row circles the center post and this carousel has five rings or five rows. I do believe the reason they’re referred to as rows and not rings is that many carousels had ring machines and if you sat on the outer row, then you had a chance to get a ring from the ring machine thus earning you a free ride.

This carousel and building has a special place in American history as it came from the famous Riverview Park on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, USA and both are on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the National Carousel Association this was the 17th carousel built by the Philadelphia Toboggan & Co. (PTC) in 1908.

The carousel resided at Riverview Park where it gave rides to such noted historical figures such as President Woodrow Wilson and Al Capone who was the boss of several of the Chicago gangs during the Prohibition Era of the 1920’s until the park closed in 1969. It was then bought by Six Flags and moved to Six Flags over Georgia in 1971 where it has been ever since. As I said before, it has five rows of horses that contain 56 jumping horses, 14 standing horses, and 4 chariots. You can go to Carousels.org to learn more about the carousel in the United States of America.

Here’s my off ride video of the carousel.

You’ll notice there’s a bench dedicated to Cleveland Smith and you might ask “Who was Cleveland Smith?” Well, he was one of the earliest General Managers of Six Flags over Georgia and that’s all I could find on the internet.

Now we’ll come down off the hill and turn left, cross the railroad tracks, then turn right and we see a giant steel roller coaster called Superman: Ultimate Flight in front of us.

This one holds the distinction of being the first Flying coaster from B&M in the United States and the worlds first Flying coaster to incorporate a Pretzel Loop inversion into its track layout. A Pretzel Loop inversion is a loop where the train enters and exits the loop at the top instead of the bottom so that riders are pushed back into their seats at the bottom instead of being pushed into their restraints. Also, a Flying coaster is one in which riders are raised into their flying positions shortly before being dispatched so that you are literally flying through the course like Superman. This coaster was so popular that it has been copied, or, cloned at many other Six Flags parks. Unfortunately Six Flags didn’t copy the duel loading and unloading that this coaster has which greatly reduces the hourly throughput for the coasters at the other parks. A duel loading and unloading station platform with the aid of two switch track segments (one at both ends of the station) allows one train to begin unloading while the other train right next to it has already loaded and will shortly be dispatched. I recommend waiting the extra time to ride in the front row as the views are incredible.

According to RCDB.com, this coaster opened here on April 6, 2002 and was built by B&M from Monthey,  Switzerland. It is 2,759 feet long, is 106 feet tall, has a top speed of 51 mph, has two inversions, and a ride time of about two minutes. Here’s an off ride video I shot while visiting the park.

The spot that Superman now occupies was once the former location of the Viper coaster that operated here from 1995 to 2001. Viper was a launched shuttle loop coaster from the Schwarzkopf company and it previously operated as the Tidal Wave at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, USA. Here is an on ride video from Psyclone Steve’s YouTube channel.

Next up is another classic ride, a wooden roller coaster called the Great American Scream Machine.

This was the worlds tallest and fastest roller coaster when it opened in March of 1973. It was designed by John C Allen, Don Rosser, and William Cobb all of which are legendary figures in the roller coaster industry and it was built by a legendary company called Philadelphia Toboggan & Co (PTC) and the coaster still carries its original serial number 142 to this day.

This wooden roller coaster is 3,450 feet long, 105 feet high, has a top speed of 57 mph, and a total ride time of about tow minutes. This machine produces an amazing amount of zero-g, or what we coaster enthusiasts call “air time” and this coaster provides lots of that nice floaty air time and none of that ejector style air time. This coaster is also one of the few wooden coasters that still has trains that have a single position lap bar with a seat belt and that’s it. Before I continue, there are signs in the queue/lines of most of the popular attractions that say what’s in the photo below and if you are caught jumping the line, then you WILL be escorted from the park without a refund and they are VERY strict about this at any park.

Now, with that being said, here’s my off ride video of the GASM.

When exiting the GASM, you’ll see an up-charge attraction called the Sky Coaster.

This attraction is an extra charge to ride and is about 150 feet tall and was built by the Skycoaster company and opened here in 1996 and was originally called Fearless Freep’s Daredevil Dive. That name lasted until the end of the 2009 season when the name changed to Skycoaster so there wouldn’t be any confusion with the Daredevil Dive coaster that opened in 2010 in the USA section.  What you do is you first get suited up in your jump suit and are instructed on what to do and when. Then you walk underneath the arch and onto a platform that raises you up to the guide wires which you will be attached to. once you or your party is attached you’ll then fall forward slightly so you are level with the floor. Then the platform lowers and you get pulled up to the rear spike behind you. At the top, you’ll hear a voice over the intercom counting down to zero. Once at zero, you pull the ripcord and swing like a pendulum until a ring is raised for you to grab onto. That ring will slow you down and then the platform will raise again to take you off.

Up next is a steel looping coaster from Vekoma called Ninja.

This steel coaster actually was first built on a pier at Dinosaur Beach in Wildwood, New Jersey, USA in 1989 which explains the compact design. It was then moved here and reopened on March 1, 1992. The trains themselves are from Arrow Dynamics and came from the Great American Scream Machine that was removed from Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, USA in 2010.This spot was formerly occupied by a Space Diver coaster called Z Force. Like the Viper, Z-Force was relocated from Six Flags Great America and it operated here from 1988 until the end of 1991 when it was relocated to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, USA. Here is a video news report from the opening day of Z Force when it was at Six Flags Great America from Theme Park Review’s YouTube channel. The video contains an on ride video as well.

The Swiss company that built this coaster is Intamin and this coaster has something in common with the Goliath, Superman, and Batman coasters at this park. Why do I say that? Well, that is because this coaster was designed by Claude Mabillard and Walter Bolliger when they were designing coasters at Intamin. Those two went on to create their own company called B&M (Bolliger & Mabillard) in 1988 and they are world-famous for designing some of the worlds best coasters which include Goliath, Batman the Ride, and Superman: Ultimate Flight. But now, let’s get back to Ninja. This coaster currently uses Z Force’s old queue house and the coaster is currently getting repainted with blue track and worked on to improve the ride quality as you will read below. The trains are also being worked on as well.

This coaster is a known headache machine so I recommend you ride in the front row. I did, and I got off with only a slight headache that went away within an hour.

According to RCDB.com This coaster is 2,742 feet long, 122 feet tall, a top speed of 52 mph, a ride time of about one minute and twenty seconds and has five inversions including a Butterfly, Reverse Sidewinder, and a Double Corkscrew. Here’s my off ride video of Ninja.

There were a few rides that were added and removed here as well and the first one was a one of a kind Flying Scooter ride called the Phlying Phlurbus which was removed at the end of the 1977 season. In 1983, a Monster type ride called Mo-Mo the Monster was moved here from the USA section and lasted until it was removed at the end of the 1991 season. That ride was replaced by an attraction called Tank Tag where “Miniature tanks fire at each other and targets while being targeted by guests manning guns outside the arena”. That attraction lasted until 1994. The Southern Star Arena was added in 1986 so they could book concerts from national touring shows, bands, singers, etc. That lasted until the end of the 2013 season to make way for their new water park called Hurricane Harbor which opened in 2014.

Up next is named after an area of Georgia that isn’t very far away.

Lickskillet

Historically speaking, this area was located less than five miles from the park near the intersections of Interstates 285 and 20 on the west side of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The area is now called Adamsville but was briefly called Lickskillet Settlement during the American Civil War from (1861-1864).

 

This area has many rides, shops, restaurants and games of chance. This area also contains the Whistlestop Park which originally opened in 2010. This is a children’s play area with play/climb structure and a kiddy train ride that is currently not operating. This area took the place of Thomas Town which operated here from 2008-2010 and had a Thomas the Tank Engine ride with and a similarly themed play structure. That area took the place of Deja Vu, a Giant Inverted Boomerang coaster that operated here from 2001-2007. Unfortunately, Whistlestop Park no longer exists as everything has been removed with the exception of the Thomas the Tank Engine ride which still stands. The play structures were moved to the Spanish/Bugs Bunny Boom Town area.

The rides in Lickskillet include a ride called the Skyscreamer which is 242 feet tall and is the tallest ride in the park.

Think of it as a really tall Waveswinger or Yo-Yo chair swing ride that you might see at you local park of fair. This type of ride does have more than a just a single bar to keep you in the seat as there’s a seatbelt and a lap bar that is secured by a hefty seat buckle as well.

The ride starts out by rising and then the spinning starts slowly once it clears the platform. It then reaches full speed on its way to the top and then rotates a few times then slowly drops 3/4 of the way down and then returns to the top for a few more rotations and then returns to the ground. I found this to be a very exhilarating experience and would recommend it to any thrill junky. It is a Starflyer model and was built by Funtime in 2013. Here’s my off ride video of the ride.

This ride took the place of an Enterprise ride from the Anton Schwarzkopf company called the Wheelie that operated here from 1985 to 2012. It was sold to Fun Spot and operates at the Fun Spot America park on the north side of International Dr. (near Universal Orlando Resort) in Orlando, FL. Here is an off ride view of the former Wheelie at its new park.

The Wheelie wasn’t the only former attraction to call this area home. There was a ride called the Drunkin’ Barrels that operated there from 1971 to 1984 and the Wheel Burrow that only operated for about two years from 1968 to 1970. There was another ride that operated in the Lickskillet section and the was a Rotor attraction called the Spindle Top. A Rotor ride was a fairly simple attraction but was quite popular in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Riders would get inside a giant pot ad stand up against the walls. The ride would start to spin slowly and gradually accelerate to the point when riders were pinned to the wall by centrifugal force. At that point, the floor would drop out about two feet, then the ride would slowly come to a stop allowing the riders to safely slide down to the floor. There aren’t many of these rides left but some are still in the US like this one from Lake Compounce near Bristol, Connecticut, USA.

The Spindle Top at this park operated from 1968 to 1979 and wasn’t replaced with anything.

There’s an up-charge attraction here which is called Goldtown Racer. It was built by J & J Amusements and opened here in 1999 and is a flat track with several turns.

Next up is a very wet ride called Splashwater Falls.

Do not ride if you don’t want to get wet as this ride will soak you to the bone. This is a standard Shoot-the-Chutes ride from the Hopkins Co and it opened here in 1986.

The ride starts out with the large passenger boat ascending a fifty foot tall lift, then turning around 180 degrees and then descending a chute into a channel filled with water and soaking everyone on the boat and on the exit bridge.

The next ride is a soaker as well called Thunder River.

This ride is River Rapids Ride from Intamin and it opened here in 1982. It basically simulates going down a fast-moving river with rapids and waterfalls pouring into the circular raft. There are also water cannons that non riders can pay extra to get riders soaked. This ride replaced an opening day attraction called Jean Ribaut’s River Adventure which was a Jungle Cruise type ride that was set in the France section. You would board the French boats and embark on an exploration of Georgia’s interior that would end in the boat narrowly escaping a sure sinking when the nearby British Ft. Argyle spots the boat and opens fire. The original station for Jean Ribaut’s River Adventure Still exists and is being used as a gift shop with an observation deck around back where you can spray riders on Thunder River Falls for a quarter at a time.

That’s all the rides that are in this section and there’s really only one shop called Six Flags Mercantile which sells gifts, candy, and other items. There are plenty of places in which you can grab a snack or sit down in an air-conditioned restaurant in this area. There’s the Cold Stone Creamery which serves ice cream mixed with fruits, vegetables, nuts, chocolate, and more. You can get Lemonade, cotton candy, popcorn, and other snacks at the Country Cousins or you can go to the Crazy Horse Deli and get deli sandwiches, beef brisket, chicken fajita, gluten-free lasagna, ham, and turkey. There’s also the Lickskillet Grill which serves sausage sandwiches, hand dipped corn dogs, and foot long hot dogs and the Mix It Up where you can combine many of your favorite Slurpee flavors. Then there’s the Hickory Chip and Primo’s Pizza restaurants where you can get gluten-free pizza and brownies at the pizza shop or nachos, smoked turkey legs, and fries at the Hickory Chip. There’s a covered picnic pavilion for you to eat at unless you want to head into the Miner’s Cook House which has indoor seating and you and your kids can watch classic Warner Brothers cartoons while the parents wait in line to get the food.

The Miner’s Cook House serves BBQ, chicken sandwiches, salads, and burgers which are pretty standard and there are plugs in both sides of the dinning room if you need to charge you accessories. Now we’ll leave Lickskillet for our next section.

French

This area has only two rides, two shops, and three restaurants but one of the two rides is very unique and was one of the rides that opened with the park. The Monster Mansion originally opened as the Tales of the Okefenokee which is a very large swamp that straddles the Florida/Georgia state line between New Brunswick, Georgia, USA and Jacksonville, Florida, USA. It remained that way until 1980 when it was renamed Monster Plantation which lasted until 2008 when it was completely refurbished and reopened in 2009 as Monster Mansion. Historically speaking, the original Tales of the Okefenokee ride was loosely based on the Uncle Remus Stories with characters like Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear, and Br’er Fox but in order to avoid the copyright infringement, they replaced “Br’er” with “Mr.” for each character. The only exception being that of Mrs. Rabbit which was given the new name of Hunny Bunny. The original iteration of the ride only lasted on season, from 1967 to 1968. After that season had ended, the audio animatronic characters, storyline, and soundtrack were replaced with the help of a team hired by the Krofft Bros. That ride lasted until the end of the 1980 season when the entire attraction was gutted and only the building and water trough was left intact. During the offseason, the ride was converted into the current ride called the Monster Mansion which opened for the 1981 season and has been going strong ever since. In 2009, the mansion was completely refurbished with (I believe) the help of the Sally Corp. They, along with the parks team, completely overhauled the attraction by adding special effects, adding new monsters, getting rid of some others, reworking the soundtrack, and refreshing everything else. This is also the area where the Flying Jenny/Mule Ride was when the park opened and then was later moved to the Spanish/Bugs Bunny Boom Town Section

This is more like a version of “It’s a Small World” ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World or the same ride at Disneyland as there’s no drop on this ride. This is a ride that the whole family can go on and not get wet at all and it is very popular as it constantly had waits between 90 and 120 minutes. Here’s an on ride video taken by ThemeParkReview.com

The other ride is the Rapun Gap Railroad Station for the Six Flags Railroad which will take you to the Marthasville Station in Peachtree Square.

The two shops are the MonStore/Jelly Belly shop where you can get souvenirs related to the Monster Mansion ride as well as your favorite candy and Jelly Belly jelly beans and the $10 and Under shop which sells everything under $10. Since my last visit, the MonStore has disappeared and is now a Jelly Belly store. This wasn’t the first store on this location, the first building was built in 1967 it was a store was a candy shop called “Sweet Tooth”. That store moved to the USA section at the end of the 1980 season and the building was demolished in order to make room for the current building. That new building originally had a store called the Fuzzy Farm which only lasted one season when it became the MonStore in 1981. Later, in the late 80’s the store started selling Looney Tunes and then Six Flags Merchandise until 2009 when MonStore took over again. It stayed that way until 2014 when Jelly Belly took half the store and in 2015 Jelly Belly now has the entire store.

There are a three food stands/restaurants here which include the Macho Nacho where you can get your own burritos, macho cheesy nachos, or taco salads made to order. There’s also the Six Below stand which serves hand dipped ice cream from Mayfield. Last but not least is Primo’s Pizzeria which serves gluten-free pizza and brownies. Kids, make sure you haven’t lost your parents. If you did, you can come here and they’ll let everyone know via security or a park wide announcement, where they can find you.

Originally, the main restaurant in this area when the park opened was called Gaslight on the Green and it was between the Lost Parents and Ice Cream buildings and right across from the Rabun Gap Train Station. It remained that way until 2003 when the name changed to El Jalapeno Jr. until 2006. Then the name changed again to Los Banderas and it remained under that name until 2012 when it was changed to the current name, Macho Nacho.

This log cabin building is a recreation of a one room school-house that used to be in the Lickskillet area.

 Now that we’ve ridden the Monster Mansion, bought some Monster Mansion souvenirs, found our parents,and bought a snack or two, we’ll head out of the French section and into our next area.

USA

This area has several attractions, shops, and restaurants. The attractions include two roller coasters called Goliath and Daredevil Dive Coaster, a games of chance area including a three-point basketball challenge, a character meet and greet location, and Dr. Fright’s Frightorium which is only open during Fright Fest during Halloween. The shops include Attitudes where you can get cool gear, jewelry, and trendy clothes for the teens in your group. There’s also a Caricature Artist shop and the Goliath Gifts shop where you can buy anything that has a Goliath logo on it.

There are two indoor restaurants called Dee Jay’s Diner and Daddy O’s that have air-conditioned dinning rooms.

Dee Jay’s serves burgers, chicken tenders, fries, salads, drinks, and wraps and Daddy O’s sells drinks, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, foot long hot dogs, wraps, and beef brisket. Daddy O’s also has plugs but they are along the back wall and near the ceiling. The other two are Mix it Up where you can combine your favorite Slurpee flavors and Dippin’ Dots which serves ice cream. Dee Jay’s Restaurant building was original to the park when it opened in 1967 but it was called Barbacoa Restaurant. Then, in 1969, it was renamed Peachtree Cafeteria and remained under that name until 1975 when it was renamed Spaghetti Emporium then changed again to Spaghetti House in 1976. Once again, in 1977, the name changed again to Family Restaurant and it remain that until 1983 or 84 when they put the word “The” before Family Restaurant. 1984 brings yet another name change and this time it is switched to Contemporary Kitchen and that lasts until 1995 when the name is changed to Dee Jay’s and it has been that way ever since.

The first steel coaster we come to is the best in the park and it towers over all the other coasters here. Goliath wasn’t the first ride in this area, nor was it the second. This coaster actually replaced a Parachute Drop Tower Ride from Intamin that was called The Great Gasp which operated from 1976 to 2005. The massive concrete base of that ride is still there, just below the station house for Goliath. The Great Gasp replaced an opening day attraction called the Happy Motoring Freeway which was built to mimic the then newly built Interstate 20 in miniature form. That attraction operated from 1967 to 1975. Goliath also replaced the Wheelie which operated in this area from 1977 to 1984 when it was then moved to Lickskillet where it operated for several years before being removed from the park in 2012. The Wheelie was replaced in this section by a Looping Starship ride from Intamin in 1985. That ride was themed to the Space Shuttle and was called Challenger but it only ran here for a single season as it was in the Six Flags ride rotation list that moves rides to and from the different parks in the Six Flags chain. Then, in 1989, a new Looping Starship ride was brought in from Canada, presumably from Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto or Six Flags LaRonde near Montreal, and placed in the same location as the original Looping Starship ride. That ride left in 2005 to make way for Goliath.

This coaster really does generate lots of air time over the six hills it has. I recommend riding in the front row for first timers and then riding in the seat farthest to the right in the 7th row to get the most air time. This coaster is 200 feet tall, has a length of 4,480 feet, a top speed of 70 mph and no inversions which means there are no over-the-shoulder restraints, just a “T-bar” restraint that goes over your waist.

This monster was built by B&M from Monthey, Switzerland and opened here on April 1, 2006.

Here’s my off ride video of this awesome coaster.

Our next coaster is a steel coaster and is the parks newest one called Daredevil Dive which actually replaced a Intamin First Generation Drop Tower ride and the other end of the Astrolift. There were several attractions and shows in this area as well that are no longer here. Those attractions were the Sky Hook which was an observation type ride that had two gondolas, one on either side. One would be at top while the other would be at ground level getting loaded. Then both would move simultaneously with one coming down and the other going up. That attraction came from Six Flags over Texas in 1969 and lasted until 1977. On one side of the Sky Hook is a domed theater called the Chevy Show where people can see a 180 degree movie being projected on the inside of the dome. Outside, was a full-scale replica of a (then) modern Chevrolet car that would come apart to show you the insides of the car, and then reassemble all by itself. The Chevy Show operated from 1968 to 1995 when it became the Plymouth Show and that lasted for two years from 1996 to 1998. Then it became the USA Theatre from 1999 to 2003. The theater was converted to house a Scrambler ride from the Eli Bridge Co and was renamed Shake Rattle & Roll which lasted from 2004 to 2010. On the other side was a theater called the Krofft Theater. This Theater was where Marty and Sid Krofft worked their magic with puppets, costumed characters, and even some audio animatronics. The Kroffts called Six Flags over Georgia home until 1974 when they left to create their own park based on the hugely popular Saturday morning kids shows. Who were Marty and Sid Krofft you might ask? Well, they were famous puppeteers back in the 1970’s and those of us like me might remember seeing a show on PBS or other TV stations called H. R. Punstuf and that is what made them famous. 1974 wasn’t the end of the theater as the park hosted several shows in that theater and the theater itself went through several name changes such as the Bicentennial Theatre, Contemporary Theatre, Olympic Theatre, Looney Tunes Theatre, Showcase Theatre, Remember When Drive-in, and finally, just Drive-in. The building was then razed in 2010 for this coaster.

This coaster is North America’s first Eurofighter design from Gertslauer Amusement Rides and it is a custom model from that company as well.

A Eurofighter coaster has a vertical lift with a drop going beyond vertical, usually about 95 degrees. It also uses single, six passenger, cars instead of several cars hooked together to form a train like it is on Superman, Goliath, or the Georgia Cyclone.

It is 95 feet tall, 2,099 feet long, has three inversions, and a top speed of about 52 mph. It really is a super smooth coaster and it really doesn’t throw you around at all, and you also do get a decent amount of air time on this coaster as well.

Here’s my off ride view of this coaster.

There were several other rides that have since moved or have been retired. The Trabant rides called the Satellites operated in this area from 1967 to 1973. In 1974, a Eyerly Aircraft Monster ride called Momo the Monster operated in this area from 1974 until 1982 when it was moved to the Cotton States Exposition area. Then a First Generation Drop Tower ride from Intamin was installed in 1983 and operated until 2006. Here’s an on and off ride video from Psyclonesteve’s YouTube Channel.

There was another popular attraction in this area that opened with the park in 1967 and it was a petting zoo called Petsville which closed at the end of the 1983 season. This was converted into a kids area called Fun Festival for the 1983 season and then ran under another name called Gallery Hats from 1984-1986. Most of the building were razed after that and replaced by newer buildings. Sweet Tooth Candy store took up residence in this area in 1986 but was closed in 1989 to be replaced by a Superstar Recording booth.

Up next, we’ll journey into the CD Comics world of Batman.

Gotham City

This area was originally called Jolly Roger’s Island which opened in 1980. This area had a pirate theme to it really only had one ride to it which was a rocking/swing ship called the Flying Dutchman which opened here in 1980 and closed in 1996 to make room for the Batman the Ride. The DC Comics theme replaced it and added the Mindbender coaster sometime in the late 1980’s.

There also was a pirate themed show in the Ship Shape Theatre that was approximately where the Gotham City Crime Wave ride is today. That lasted from 1980 until 1986 when it was changed to Graffiti’s which lasted until 1988. In 1989, it was changed again to the Illusion Theatre and that lasts for approximately three years until 1992 when it was changed to the Treasure Chest Arcade. In 1995, the former theatre was converted into a laser tag arena that was called Ultrazone and that lasts until 1986ish when the building was razed.

This area is themed after the popular Batman comic strip and movies from DC Comics and is listed to have three attractions, one souvenir shop, and two restaurants. Everything in this area carries the Batman theme and is the most themed area of the park. It should be noted that there was an announcement made after my visit that will add two new attractions to this area for 2015, and Six Flags announced that one of them will be a roller coaster . Unfortunately this seems to be a very long stretch as their definition of a roller coaster seems to be very loose as the attraction is nothing more than the “Ring of Fire” rides that you’d see at your local fair.

The first attraction is a classic steel roller coaster from the legendary Anton Schwarzkopf Company that opened here on March 31, 1978 called Mindbender and it originally was considered to be in the USA section but that all changed when DC Comics came in.

This steel coaster is one of the few coasters worldwide that has been given this Landmark status by ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) as this was the first roller coaster to use the innovative four-sided tube track system which greatly reduced the number of supports needed. This in turn greatly contributed to the evolution of what we now call the modern steel roller coaster. The award as given during the ACE Coaster Con(vention) 31 on June 17, 2008.

This coaster is still very smooth and of all of the coasters in the park, this is the one I rode the most and I must admit that I do have a soft spot for Schwarzkopf coasters. This particular one is also considered a terrain coaster as it uses the natural topography to its advantage. I personally recommend riding in the front row as that is where you can get the most air time. It has two vertical loops, a height of 80 feet, a length of 3,253 feet, a top speed of about 50 mph, and a total ride time of about two minutes and thirty-three seconds. Mindbender is also one of the few remaining looping coasters that still uses the individual ratcheting lap bar instead of the standard over-the-shoulder restraints that the larger modern steel looping roller coasters use.

Here’s my off ride video of Mindbender

Next, We’ll ride with Batman on the Batman the Ride roller coaster.

When you enter the ride, you’ll first walk through the Gotham City Park and see the city’s attempt to clean up its rampant criminal element but you’ll quickly see that it has met with limited success as you then enter the criminal underworld that has been created underneath the city.

You’ll notice in the picture in the above right that this is a room full of switchbacks which you must go through to get to the ride. I’d like to know why on earth the park didn’t put chain links at the ends of the switchbacks so you could walk through without having to go through each switch back. Fortunately there are doors every five or six switchbacks but it would be nice to just walk straight through to the doors without having to go (or climb through) those switchbacks to get to the doors that lead to the station house, I think it would make sense. Now that you’re through the switch back maze, you’ll exit through one of the doors, then enter the station house, climb up a set of stairs and board the train in the “Bat Cave”.

First thing you’ll notice is that the track is above you and not below you. This type of coaster is called an Inverted steel roller coaster and please don’t call it a suspended coaster as there is a difference. A Suspended coaster has trains that are suspended from the track above but they’re allowed to swing freely and those type of coasters do NOT go upside down. An Inverted coaster has trains that have cars that are suspended from the track above but they are fixed and not allowed to swing freely and they do go upside down. believe me? Then go to my Cedar Point’s Roller Coasters page and look up the Iron Dragon coaster to see a suspended coaster in action.

This coaster is one of the many copies, or, clones of the original one at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, USA. This one opened on May 3, 1997 and it is quite possibly one of the most intense roller coasters I’ve ever been on. It’s very smooth as it was built by B&M from Monthey, Switzerland and is just 2,700 feet long, 105 feet high, has five inversions, a top speed of about 50 mph. It goes through those five inversions in about two minutes with a minute of that time spent climbing the lift hill. Like I said it is quick, intense, and smooth and I recommend the front row as I do for all Inverted roller coasters. They also took a cue from Disney and had this ride’s exit go right through the gift shop.

The other attractions are a standard Wave Swinger attraction from Zierer called the Gotham City Crime Wave. This one was purchased from the former Thrill Valley park in Japan and was installed here in 2004 along with four other rides that went to the now defunct Six Flags New Orleans near New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. there were a few other minor attractions in this area but they were remote control boats and cars that were beneath the final brake run for Mindbender. The first ones opened in 1980 and were remote control boats called the Wavy Navy that were in the same location as the remote control cars are today. A set of remote control cars were added behind the boats in 1986 so you could control the cars and boats. Both of them were removed at the end of the 1991 season to make way for a new attraction in 1992 called Boat Tag. It is the same type of attraction that Tank Tag was in the Cotton States Exposition area with the exception being you could pilot a battleship instead of a tank. This attraction was removed at the end of the 1997 operating season during the installation of Batman: The Ride.

The other attractions are a games area called The Joker’s Games which are all games of skill and chance, and the Axis Arena which was built in 1993 and used to have a variety of shows including the Batman Stunt Show which is no longer being shown there.

Here’s where the announcement come in as this is where I believe the new attractions are going in. I believe they will be put in front of the stadium as there’s a ton of room that is off camera (to the right) that is paved and currently empty. Here’s the official announcement and you’ll see why I think the one ride they’re calling a roller coaster is not really a roller coaster, but a carnival type ride. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they’re putting in more family flat rides (non coaster rides) as this park is sadly deficient in those types of attractions.

That’s it for the rides here so what’s left is the souvenir shop called the Big Top which sells candy, drinks and DC Comics apparel and gear. Then there are the two restaurants which are just out-door food stands. The first one is Cold Stone Creamery where you can get your ice cream mixed with an assortment of fruits, veggies, and sweets. The last one is the Gotham City Eatery where you can get chicken tenders, and fish and chips. The Gotham City Eatery operated under different names since it opened in 1980. It originally opened as the Pizzas of Eight with a restaurant that was in the shape of a lighthouse. Then in 1983 or 84, it was changed to the Lighthouse Restaurant and that lasted until 1993 when it was renamed the Axis Commissary and repainted to blend in with the new Gotham area. That name lasts until 1997 when it was changed to its current name, the Gotham City Eatery.

There was another gift shop that was in the area of the Axis Chemicals Arena and it was called the Buried Loot gift shop which opened in 1980 and was located past the railroad trestle on the right. That lasted until the mid 1980’s when it became the Teen Arcade, then in 1990, it was transformed into a laser tag area called the Laser Maze which lasted until 1993 when it was razed to build the Axis Chemicals Arena.

Next up is the last area, but we’ll have to go back through USA and under the garden trellis and the Six Flags Railroad tunnel to get to it.

Georgia

This is the last area of the park and it has two attractions, three dining areas, and two shops. The two shops are the Scorcher Cart where you can get things like hats, jewelry, and sunscreen, and Six Flags Photo Too which I have no idea what it is but given its title, probably involves photography. The dinning options are: Promenade Snacks where you can get cotton candy, pretzels, popcorn, Slurpee’s, and more. There’s also the Old South Confectionary where you can get deluxe funnel cakes and bacon cheddar fries. Last, there’s the Scorcher Hot Dogs where you can get hot dogs, nachos, drinks, and other snacks.

The first attraction is called the Log Jamboree which was the second of two log flumes that called this section of the park home. The first one opened with the park in 1967 and lasted until 1990 when it was replaced by a series of dry water slides called Raging Rivers in 1991. There were two or three slides that was a straight slide with one or two drops and there were a few enclosed slides that had a few twists and turns. You might ask how  can a waterside be dry? Well, that is because riders board rubber inflatable rafts to go down the slide so the riders won’t get wet. Raging Rivers lasted until 1998 when it was removed so that the Georgia Scorcher could be built. The second log flume called the Log Jamboree was built in 1968 to help ease the lines for the first log flume. Back then, log flumes were extremely popular and so popular that Six Flags over Texas had to build a second long flume to help ease the lines there as well. Believe it or not, Six Flags over Texas built the world’s first log flume so this one is most assuredly one of the world’s oldest operating log flumes.

This is a log flume ride in which riders sit up to four people per log and float down a flume with a drop at the end. This particular ride used to have two flumes at one time and this one is the only one operating as the original flume was removed some time ago. This one was built by Arrow Dynamics and it opened here in 1968. It should be noted that one of the two flumes had the final drop completely covered so you dropped in relative darkness. Here’s an on ride video provided by Sharp Productions on YouTube.

The last ride here is a Stand Up steel roller coaster from B&M called the Georgia Scorcher. Yes that’s correct, you stand up on this coaster, but don’t worry, there’s no way you can fall out. The Georgia Scorcher actually replaced the second log flume that had been there since opening day. Six Flags realized they had a hit on their hands when Six Flags over Texas opened the world’s first log flume ride. It was so popular that they had to build another one at the same park to help alleviate the lines so they built two at this park and that proved to be a good decision as the log flumes were a very popular ride in the parks opening years. Unfortunately, not everything stays popular so they decided to replace one of the log flumes with this quality attraction.

The station on this coaster has a Antebellum look to it which is actually quite beautiful.

The coaster itself is the last stand up coaster ever built by B&M and is one of only two such coasters operating in the Southeastern United States and I believe it is one of the least intense of the stand up coasters I’ve been on so far.

I would recommend that first timers ride in the front row as it is the least intense up front and when they board the train, you should bend your knees slightly until the restraints are locked and there’s a very good reason for doing that. The restraints incorporate the use of a bicycle style seat which can become uncomfortable during the ride for those that choose to stand straight up when the restraints lock. They will not let riders sit so you must be standing to ride this. It really isn’t that bad as it is only 107 feet tall, is 3,000 feet long, has two inversions including a loop and a corkscrew, a top speed of about 54 mph, and a total ride time of about one minute and twenty-four seconds.

Here’s my off ride video of the Georgia Scorcher.

I hope you enjoyed this review as I enjoyed my three-day visit at this park. I believe it is well worth spending a full day at Six Flags over Georgia and I would recommend getting the annual pass if you plan on visiting this or any Six Flags park for more than one day. You’ll need to register your pass on their website for your pass to be good at any Six Flags park for that season. I also recommend you stay at the Wingate by Wyndham hotel as it is literally less than a five-minute walk to the park gates which can save you at-least $20 per day for parking and they can get you a discounted single day admission as long as you buy it by a certain time on the day you want to go.