Superman Krypton Coaster is the Bolliger & Mabillard floorless coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
B&M has built 15 of these coasters worldwide.
I have ridden every installation in North America and Europe and Superman is easily
my favorite.
In this video, I will be reviewing Superman and explaining what makes this steel coaster
so special.
B&M unveiled their first floorless coaster in 1999 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson,
New Jersey.
The ride was originally named Medusa, but it was rethemed to Bizarro in 2009.
This coaster took B&M’s familiar sit-down trains and removed the floor so the legs of
riders dangled above the track.
It was a neat visual and when combined with a smooth coaster full of inversions, it’s
no surprise the original floorless coaster was a success.
As a result, B&M was contracted to build 4 additional floorless coasters the following
year in 2000.
Three of them would go to Six Flags parks.
And one of them was none other than Superman Krypton Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
This coaster would be a major help for Fiesta Texas.
Before Superman opened, this San Antonio park was home to six different roller coasters.
But their major coasters all offered rough rides.
The original Rattler was tearing itself apart and shuffling start to finish.
Joker’s Revenge, Boomerang, and Poltergeist all had over-the-shoulder restraints and some
choppy transitions, resulting in headbanging.
Those who have ridden Poltergeist today know it now runs with lap bars, but the ride originally
ran with over-the-shoulder restraints until the 2002 season.
Superman would be a refreshing change of pace.
It would be smooth and it would give the park a new signature coaster.
The original plans for this coaster featured a 114 foot or 38 meter tall vertical loop
and a 96 foot or 29 meter tall dive loop.
These stats were identical to the first two inversions on Medusa, which strongly suggests
the original design may have been a clone of the New Jersey coaster.
However, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and B&M modified the layout extensively.
The dive loop was removed.
The coaster’s height was increased to 168 feet or 51 meters.
The ride would receive the world’s largest vertical loop standing 145 feet or 44 meters
tall, a record it would hold until Full Throttle at Six Flags Magic Mountain opened in 2013
with its 160 foot or 49 meter tall vertical loop.
But more importantly, the final design for Superman would utilize the Fiesta Texas’s
quarry wall.
The lift hill, first drop, and helix all travel atop the quarry.
It’s an amazing visual both on and off-ride.
It’s neat when you’re at the adjacent shopping center and see Superman poking above
the wall.
This location does make it prone to closures in cold weather or windy conditions.
The ride can valley in those conditions.
For a while, this ride wouldn’t operate during Holiday in the Park, but more recently
it has as long as the temperature is high enough.
The ride also can’t operate in high winds, which is an issue many of the rides at Fiesta
Texas that pop above the quarry suffer from.
Superman is located in the back of Fiesta Texas.
The ride travels between the quarry wall and an irrigation pond.
Despite being named after the Man of Steel, the ride has hardly any theming.
The ride has a red, blue, and yellow color palette to match the famous superhero’s
colors, but the only theming element you’ll find is a Superman statue perched atop the
loop.
But that statue looks really cool since it overlooks the park.
Superman has never had much of a wait in my visits to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and that’s
mostly because of this ride’s astronomical capacity.
The ride is capable of running three trains and I’ve seen the park utilize all three
at once.
In my most recent visits, I’ve only seen the ride running two trains which is fine
since they would usually double stack running three trains.
Each train seats a maximum of 32 riders across 8 rows.
These trains have the familiar B&M over-the-shoulder restraints.
While they’re hard, the coaster tracks very smoothly so there’s barely any headbanging.
While the front does offer better visuals, I do prefer the back since you get more whip
on the drops.
Superman begins with a turn out of the station and the aforementioned 168 foot tall lift
hill above the quarry wall.
It’s quite the shock to leave the confines of Fiesta Texas and see a shopping center
in front of you.
You then traverse a slow U-turn and crest the drop, which is fantastic.
For one, the visuals are top notch.
You can’t see the bottom from atop the drop.
The drop starts by sharply twisting to the right.
You then straighten out and the second half of the drop offers a nice weightlessness sensation
since the back is whipped down it.
At the bottom of this drop, you reach the ride’s top speed of 70 mph or 113 kph and
it feels every bit that fast.
The speed makes your eyes water up-front.
I also usually start to greyout on the pullout from the drop.
You then enter the supersized vertical loop.
Since you slow down at the top, you get a little bit of float at the top, especially
if you’re in the back.
The ride then accelerates towards the ground, regaining the blistering speed.
You then rise back atop the quarry wall and traverse a slow helix.
This helix offers no force or laterals, but the twisting drop off the wall is great.
It feels like a shorter version of the first drop with the sharp twist at the start and
weightlessness on the second half.
That’s followed by my favorite inversion on the ride, the zero-G roll.
It’s usually my favorite inversion on most B&Ms.
You float out of your seat for the duration of your element while the train violently
rotates 360 degrees.
That’s followed by a cobra roll.
These aren’t my favorite inversions.
The first half of the cobra roll is dull, but the exit of the cobra roll has some good
whip towards the back of the train.
You then travel up this inclined s-hill.
The transition in the middle of the s-bend is quite sharp, so it has some good whip towards
the front of the train.
You then rocket through the mid-course brake run.
I have never seen it slow down the train one bit on any of my rides on Superman, even on
a hot summer day.
As a result, you abruptly dive to the right off the mid-course.
With all this speed, the drop is incredibly snappy and it gives a faint pop of airtime
in the back as well, which is exceedingly rare on a twisting drop like this.
That is how much speed you have.
You then whip through the first corkscrew.
It’s very disorienting.
This element does rattle.
As a whole, Superman is a very smooth coaster, but the two corkscrews really shake the train.
It didn’t cause headbanging, but I certainly felt the vibrations.
The first corkscrew is followed by a speedy and forceful turn.
And then you subtly dip down before the second corkscrew.
And this dip feels like the floor is dropped out from underneath you because of how abrupt
it is.
You then charge through the second corkscrew, which rides identically to the first.
It’s fast but rattly.
You then traverse a quick turnaround that doesn’t really add anything to the ride
and then you hop into the brake run.
If you’re up front, this hill gives some very weak floater airtime.
And then you hit the brakes ending the ride.
Some of the B&M floorless coasters have developed quite the rattle, but thankfully Superman
is smooth outside of the aforementioned corkscrews.
In terms of pacing, Superman really excels.
Because the mid-course brake is always disabled, you never slow down and haul through the layout
start to finish.
And almost all of the elements are good to great.
So what would I rate Superman Krypton Coaster?
I would give this coaster an 8.5 out of 10.
This is easily my favorite floorless coaster.
The unique quarry setting really elevates this ride since it gives the coaster two fantastic
drops in the first half.
And then all 6 of the inversions except the cobra roll are wonderful.
They offer a mix of float and whip.
This coaster is extremely reridable.
I do prefer the two RMCs in Iron Rattler and Wonder Woman, but Superman is firmly my third
favorite coaster at Fiesta Texas.
It complements the ejector airtime of those two coasters perfectly.
So those are my thoughts on Superman Krypton Coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Have you been on this coaster?
How do you think it compares to the other floorless coasters?
I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments.
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