- October 4th, 2015, 3:53 pm
#84741
(Part 1)
You know, you'd think that a coaster nerd living in the south who's been to places like Cedar Point, King's Island, and even the Stratosphere Hotel would have at least been to Six Flags Over Georgia. But no, unfortunately for six years of being a coaster nerd I had never set foot in the park or any Six Flags park for that matter. Over the years I had planned on visiting the park only to see those plans fall through due to unforeseen circumstances. However, after years and years of trying, plans to visit the park were finally set in stone a couple months ago.
Since I don't exactly have a license, driving myself wasn't exactly an option, so my family was really all I had to count on. Fortunately, my family is fantastic and is willing to take me to many of these parks. Even better is that a very close friend of mine is just as interested in coasters as I am and has a family willing to take us to parks. Once tickets had been bought online, hotel rooms were reserved, Sean (sean978) and I awaited the third of October to visit the park.
Leaving at six in the morning, we hit the road as rain tried to damper our hopes of having a great day. The weather forecast wasn't exactly looking good and the fact that a hurricane was waving hello to us didn't help anything either. We had considered waiting several more weeks to visit in hopes of better weather but decided to take the risk given a history of ours on always lucking out in terms of weather. Most notably the time a 100% chance of thunderstorms never happened at King's Island this year.
The closer we got to the park, the better the weather began to look. Thirty percent chances or rain had dropped to zero and our excitement grew more and more. Finally, after a four hour car ride of worrying that it would all be for nothing, we arrived.
It felt surreal to finally be setting foot in the park. Sure, it's no Great Adventure or Magic Mountain, but it's still a new park with lots of new rides I've never ridden anyways.
One thing I noticed right away was the charm of this park. I had always heard others say that Over Georgia was one of the only parks in the chain that still had a nice "old" charm to it. Whether or not this is true I don't know, but what I do know is that there is just something about the atmosphere of the park that just makes you feel like you're at home. Very similar to Carowinds if I must be honest.
The first ride of the day was, (or was supposed to be) the Georgia Scorcher. Immediately after reaching the entrance, we found that the ride was closed. Apparently, the slightest bit of mist can (and will) cause the ride to hydroplane and kill everyone on board. It was clear that rain had poured down on the park shortly before we got there, so the tracks were obviously soaked. honestly could felt my heart drop as I heard this. It was by no means because I truly WANTED to ride it. I mean, it's a stand-up, how good can it really be? My biggest fear was that the whole park would be using this logic causing virtually everything to be down for the day. With a light mist coming down, there was no hope of getting any rides.
Sean and I tried to reassure ourselves by saying that it was just Scorcher that ran by this crazy policy and that all other rides would be operating as they would anywhere else. My heart sunk even further when we found that like Scorcher, Dare Devil Dive was also closed. It's one thing to go to your home park to find that everything's closed, but to travel four hours to find everything closed was my worst nightmare.
Hoping for better luck elsewhere in the park, we headed to another section.
Our hopes kept getting smaller and smaller. We were greeted with the sight of Joker's Chaos down, (darn) but headed for another coaster anyways. To our surprise, it was open and ready for riders. Now this was a special coaster, one that many of you told that I HAD to ride. It was a coaster that many enthusiasts hail to be the hidden gem of this park. The coaster in question?
I'm not going to lie, I wasn't really sure how I was going to like this. I have an odd relationship with these so called "historic" roller coasters. Loch Ness Monster was absolutely awful but certain enthusiasts seem to have given Arrow a lifetime pass because of it. Then again, The Beast is highly praised and it's one of the best woodies I've ever experienced.
So onto Mindbender,... WOW! I knew from the moment my waving hands were pressed down by the forces of the first loop that I was in for an amazing ride. Everything about this coaster is just truly perfect.
What really blew me away about it was just how smooth it was. I honestly cannot remember a single moment on this ride where there was a noticeable rattle, and that's something most coasters over the age of 5 can't even claim to do, much less 40.
To be continued...
You know, you'd think that a coaster nerd living in the south who's been to places like Cedar Point, King's Island, and even the Stratosphere Hotel would have at least been to Six Flags Over Georgia. But no, unfortunately for six years of being a coaster nerd I had never set foot in the park or any Six Flags park for that matter. Over the years I had planned on visiting the park only to see those plans fall through due to unforeseen circumstances. However, after years and years of trying, plans to visit the park were finally set in stone a couple months ago.
Since I don't exactly have a license, driving myself wasn't exactly an option, so my family was really all I had to count on. Fortunately, my family is fantastic and is willing to take me to many of these parks. Even better is that a very close friend of mine is just as interested in coasters as I am and has a family willing to take us to parks. Once tickets had been bought online, hotel rooms were reserved, Sean (sean978) and I awaited the third of October to visit the park.
Leaving at six in the morning, we hit the road as rain tried to damper our hopes of having a great day. The weather forecast wasn't exactly looking good and the fact that a hurricane was waving hello to us didn't help anything either. We had considered waiting several more weeks to visit in hopes of better weather but decided to take the risk given a history of ours on always lucking out in terms of weather. Most notably the time a 100% chance of thunderstorms never happened at King's Island this year.
The closer we got to the park, the better the weather began to look. Thirty percent chances or rain had dropped to zero and our excitement grew more and more. Finally, after a four hour car ride of worrying that it would all be for nothing, we arrived.
It felt surreal to finally be setting foot in the park. Sure, it's no Great Adventure or Magic Mountain, but it's still a new park with lots of new rides I've never ridden anyways.
One thing I noticed right away was the charm of this park. I had always heard others say that Over Georgia was one of the only parks in the chain that still had a nice "old" charm to it. Whether or not this is true I don't know, but what I do know is that there is just something about the atmosphere of the park that just makes you feel like you're at home. Very similar to Carowinds if I must be honest.
The first ride of the day was, (or was supposed to be) the Georgia Scorcher. Immediately after reaching the entrance, we found that the ride was closed. Apparently, the slightest bit of mist can (and will) cause the ride to hydroplane and kill everyone on board. It was clear that rain had poured down on the park shortly before we got there, so the tracks were obviously soaked. honestly could felt my heart drop as I heard this. It was by no means because I truly WANTED to ride it. I mean, it's a stand-up, how good can it really be? My biggest fear was that the whole park would be using this logic causing virtually everything to be down for the day. With a light mist coming down, there was no hope of getting any rides.
Sean and I tried to reassure ourselves by saying that it was just Scorcher that ran by this crazy policy and that all other rides would be operating as they would anywhere else. My heart sunk even further when we found that like Scorcher, Dare Devil Dive was also closed. It's one thing to go to your home park to find that everything's closed, but to travel four hours to find everything closed was my worst nightmare.
Hoping for better luck elsewhere in the park, we headed to another section.
Our hopes kept getting smaller and smaller. We were greeted with the sight of Joker's Chaos down, (darn) but headed for another coaster anyways. To our surprise, it was open and ready for riders. Now this was a special coaster, one that many of you told that I HAD to ride. It was a coaster that many enthusiasts hail to be the hidden gem of this park. The coaster in question?
I'm not going to lie, I wasn't really sure how I was going to like this. I have an odd relationship with these so called "historic" roller coasters. Loch Ness Monster was absolutely awful but certain enthusiasts seem to have given Arrow a lifetime pass because of it. Then again, The Beast is highly praised and it's one of the best woodies I've ever experienced.
So onto Mindbender,... WOW! I knew from the moment my waving hands were pressed down by the forces of the first loop that I was in for an amazing ride. Everything about this coaster is just truly perfect.
What really blew me away about it was just how smooth it was. I honestly cannot remember a single moment on this ride where there was a noticeable rattle, and that's something most coasters over the age of 5 can't even claim to do, much less 40.
To be continued...
Last edited by gabed on October 5th, 2015, 9:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
We've got heads on sticks
You've got ventriloquists
______________________
261 Coasters and Counting...
You've got ventriloquists
______________________
261 Coasters and Counting...
