Six Flags America in Bowie, Maryland has a reputation as one of the worst parks in
the Six Flags chain? But is that really fair? Based on my first visit in 2012,
I think so. However, my most recent visits in 2020 and 2021 have been much different. And I
would now go to say that Six Flags America is the most underrated park in the entire chain. So in
this video, I will review Six Flags America and explain why this park should not be overlooked.
Part of the reason for the park’s rocky reputation is its tumultuous history.
The park traces its roots back to 1974. The park originally opened as the Largo Wildlife Preserve,
featuring a drive-through animal safari. The park was sold in 1978 to Jim Fowler, the host of Wild
Kingdom, who renamed the park Wild Country. But the park continued to be unprofitable.
The park was again sold and rebranded as Wild World in 1982.
The new owners started adding some amusement rides and water slides to compliment the safari,
which started to improve the park’s fortunes. In 1983, some additional rides were added but the
biggest change was that the drive-thru safari was replaced by a train that traveled through
the animal area. And this is the same train that operates at the park today as Capital Railways.
But the park received a major facelift for 1984. The park decided to transform
primarily into a water park. This saw many of the amusement rides removed and more tragically,
the animals were removed from the park. It’s crazy to think this park once had a safari
similar to the one at Six Flags Great Adventure, but it’s doubtful Six Flags America would be the
thrill park it is today if it still had the safari. But more on that in a bit.
1985 saw the owners revert back to being a hybrid amusement and water park. The park
wanted a signature coaster, but they did not have the funds to build a flashy new wood coaster. But
after seeing the success Knoebels had relocating and rebuilding Phoenix, Wild World relocated the
Giant Coaster from the recently closed Paragon Park in Hull, Massachusetts. This coaster was
renamed the Wild One and it is still one of the park’s best attractions to this very day.
The park had some financial issues by 1990 and was put up for sale. In 1992, Wild World was
purchased by the Tierco Group, who would later be renamed Premier Parks. And the park would
be renamed Adventure World. This began the park’s transformation into the thrill park it is today.
From 1993 to 1998, the park received 4 roller coasters, a drop tower, the ill-fated Typhoon
Sea Coaster, and a water park renovation. Then in 1999, the park was renamed Six Flags
America and the rapid expansion continued. The park was doubled in size. Wild One originally
ran along the back perimeter of the park, but an all-new Gotham City area was added behind it.
5 new coasters were added over the next 3 years, including the park’s three most popular steel
coasters in Joker’s Jinx, Superman: Ride of Steel, and Batwing. And as evidenced by these names,
the park started using Six Flags’s brands including DC Comics and Looney Tunes.
Six Flags America seemed poised to become one of the region’s best parks.
But then the rapid expansion stopped. And at the same time, the park started developing
a bad reputation. While the park had a really impressive ride lineup, the park had a series
of self-inflicted wounds that held itself back. Rides had frequent downtime, if they even opened.
Many said the staff was unfriendly and inefficient.
And the park looked ugly and neglected, particularly in the barren back half of the park.
Combine that with the fact that you have some of the most highly regarded parks in
the United States nearby like Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Six Flags Great Adventure,
and Hersheypark, Six Flags America’s attendance did not grow like Six Flags expected and the
park started falling into a state of neglect. And that’s stunning considering how Six Flags
America had so much potential. It was in a highly populated area near Washington DC and Baltimore.
It had oodles of land. And it had a strong ride lineup.
But is there light at the end of the tunnel? In my most recent visits in 2020 and 2021,
I left the park very impressed. Six Flags America is often criticized
for its appearance. And to be honest, I have always loved the front half of the park.
The Main Street area feels like a colonial take on Disneyland’s Main Street
with the set-up and architecture. Chesapeake feels like a subtle continuation of this.
The Coyote Creek western area is great with its western facades. The Mardi Gras area,
which was added in 2014, feels like a party with the electric music. And the Looney Tunes Movie
Town area is colorful and fairly well shaded. The back half of the park has never looked great.
It feels like one of those scenarios in Roller Coaster Tycoon where you just plop a bunch of
pre-built layouts in a giant field and then you’re too lazy to do everything else. You
build dead end pathways and don’t bother adding trees, restrooms, and food stands.
These are still issues, but they’ve slowly being worked on.
A bathroom was added over by Superman. The new Harley Quinn Spinsanity giant frisbee
was accompanied by a new food stand. And the Whistlestop Park kids area really helped liven
up the back half of the park and give kids a reason to come back there. The one area that
hasn’t been fixed that really needs something is the long walk between Superman and Batwing.
It’s a long dead-end path with absolutely nothing along the way outside of some cardboard cutouts
of Batman heroes and villains. There are no additional rides, shops, or restaurants on this
pathway. You just have a few vending machines and Batwing. Beyond some general aesthetic
improvements, a few flat rides back here would really help the overall balance of the park.
The park staff was significantly better in my most recent visits. A good chunk of the ride
attendants were outgoing and very friendly. And in 2021, I noticed a major focus on efficiency.
Lines have never been much of an issue at this park. Outside of Saturdays during Fright Fest,
most things are walk-ons at this park. The park doesn’t see the same crowds as the other
Six Flags parks. So the park could get away with one train operations and slow dispatches,
despite it being a frustration to guests. But in 2020 and 2021, I noticed most coasters were
running multiple trains. And especially in 2021, ride attendants were hustling to dispatch trains.
The crew working Batwing was the biggest improvement.
In the past, it wasn’t uncommon to see that ride have 5-10 minute dispatches. But this year,
they were dispatching trains in 30-60 seconds. That is unbelievable for a Vekoma flying dutchman.
The ride leads were also encouraging ride crews to have the next train ready
before the prior one hit the brake run. And the staff was working hard to meet that demand.
Food lines can be combatted by mobile ordering, which has worked flawlessly over the past two
years. Speaking of food, it’s pretty average for a Six Flags park with the usual burgers,
chicken tenders, pizza, and snacks. The food is quite pricey if you don’t have a meal plan.
Uptime has also become less of an issue. In my first visit to the park, Superman
was closed all-day and ride closures seemed to follow me wherever I went.
In my most recent visits, everything has been open consistently outside of the water rides,
which were closed for the season, and Batwing, which has opened late on each of my visits.
I always seem to see maintenance over there working on the ride,
so the park is clearly trying. Because of this ride’s uptime, I would recommend
prioritizing Batwing if you see it running. If the general improvements to the back half of
the park and operational improvements continue, I suspect more people will start to see Six
Flags America in a rosier light and hopefully the park’s attendance will jump as a reward.
Moving onto the ride lineup, the park has a very balanced coaster lineup.
There really is a coaster for everyone’s tastes. As a headliner, you have Superman: Ride of Steel,
one of the earliest Intamin hyper coasters. This coaster doesn’t have the strongest pacing,
but it has some fantastic elements such as the first drop, camelbacks, and bunny hills.
And the ride has a wonderful setting that goes out into the woods. I have a separate review
that goes into more detail, but this alone is a good reason to visit Six Flags America.
I actually may prefer Wild One. This wood coaster is over 100 years old, but it runs far smoother
than you’d expect if you avoid a wheel seat. I strongly recommend riding this one in the
front row. Not only is that the smoothest seat, but this coaster has some fantastic airtime-
both floater and ejector pops. Plus the final helix has some of the best sustained laterals of
any coaster. I admittedly am nostalgic since my childhood home was just 15 minutes from
the ride’s original location and this is another ride I have a separate review on.
The other wood coaster is shakier in Roar. This is one of the earliest GCIs and as a result,
it runs with PTC trains as opposed to the Millennium Flyers you find on their later rides.
So the ride doesn’t track as well. Up front, it’s ridable. But it’s extremely bumpy on a wheel seat,
especially towards the back of the train. I do enjoy this coaster’s twisted layout
up front though and while the ride feels slow, it does offer a few pops of airtime
and some rare positive Gs for a wood coaster. But the roughest ride in the park is undoubtedly
Mind Eraser. This Vekoma SLC will bash your skull into oblivion.
I rode it in my first trip and will never ride it again unless it gets new trains.
Firebird is one of two Six Flags Great America hand-me downs. I guess you could
say Great America gives their not-so-great rides to America. This was B&M’s first stand-up coaster.
It opened as Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America and was renamed Apocalypse in 2012 when it came to
Maryland. And this coaster was quite violent. Then in 2019, the coaster was transformed into Firebird
and received floorless trains. The ride is still very shaky up front, but I enjoy it in the back
row. There’s just one really bad transition after the corkscrew, but outside of that, the coaster
has some mild forces and a unique layout. The other Great America hand-me-down
is Ragin’ Cajun. This spinning coaster routinely has the longest lines in the park
due to its capacity and status as the park’s only family coaster. While the layout has been cloned
several times, this Reverchon spinner is notorious for being more dizzying than the others.
Joker’s Jinx is the park’s lone launched coaster. While the launch may not be as strong as some
others out there, the twisted spaghetti bowl layout offers some good positive Gs and whip.
Batwing is one of two remaining Vekoma flying dutchman. The sections when you’re on your
back can be a tad bumpy, but the rest of the ride is a very forceful barrage of overbanks
and inversions. I go into more detail in a separate review, but this coaster was one of the
first large scale flying coasters and I think the layout is superior to the original B&M flyers.
Last but not least, you have the Great Chase kiddie coaster. A note to enthusiasts,
I was denied this credit in my first two visits to the park, but I had no trouble getting it in 2020.
Others have not seemed to have the same issues as me getting this one,
so maybe I’ve just been unlucky.
The two kids areas in general have a large collection of rides for younger guests.
I think the Looney Tunes area is the better of the two areas in terms of the overall atmosphere.
It’s more lively and actually has shade unlike Whistlestop Park.
For flat rides, you have several older ones in the front half of the park. You have spinning rides
and pendulum rides. In the back half of the park, you have the park’s newest and best flat rides.
Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth is the park’s tallest attraction and this star flyer gives great aerial
views. Harley Quinn Spinsanity has yet to open, but this Zamperla giant discovery should offer
a great sense of speed and some good sustained floater airtime like the others in the chain.
But my favorite flat ride is the Voodoo Drop Intamin drop tower. While it’s among the shorter
drop towers at just 140 feet or 43 meters, the drop packs a mighty punch with some good float
and stomach dropping the whole way down. And then you have a trio of water rides.
Shipwreck Falls is the soaking shoot the chute ride. Renegade Rapids is the fun river rapids ride
through the woods. And Penguin’s Blizzard River is a very rare White Water West spinning rapids ride.
You can also see some of the remnants of the Skull Mountain log flume over by Wild One.
Six Flags America also has a decent water park in Hurricane Harbor. While none of the slides
are standouts, the slide lineup does cover all genres in terms of tube slides, body slides,
speed slides, and specialty slides. Plus you have the other amenities like children’s play areas,
lazy rivers, and wave pools. Like the other Six Flags parks,
this one also has seasonal events. Fright Fest is the more popular of the two. The event gets
particularly busy on Saturday nights. I visited in 2020 and in lieu of haunted houses, the park
repurposed their train ride as Reaper Railways, which was a really unique haunted train ride. I
hope this continues in future years since it was a much more memorable experience than the short
haunted houses you find at most Six Flags parks. Holiday in the Park is one I have not visited,
but it appears the front half of the park is open and if it’s like the other Christmas
events in the chain, this one is sure to have dazzling light displays throughout the park.
So do I recommend Six Flags America? I still think the other mega parks in the area are better.
But Six Flags America is now a good park. It has a great ride lineup, improving customer service,
and there’s something nice knowing you can visit a major thrill park like this
and not have to deal with hour long waits. And if the park happens to be busy,
there is always the Flash Pass skip-the-line service. I would not hesitate to include this
on any East Coast coaster trip itinerary and if you’re local to the Washington DC area,
I think it’s worth investing in a season pass for this park. If you haven’t been in several years,
I strongly recommend giving Six Flags America another shot like I did.
Now I would say Six Flags America is the Six Flags equivalent of Dorney Park,
especially with the improved operations. Both parks may not get the flashy additions of the
other parks in the chain, but both have above average ride lineups and minimal wait times.
That combination would honestly make it a pretty ideal home park.
So those are my thoughts on Six Flags America, what I now think is the most
underrated park in the Six Flags chain. What are your thoughts on Six Flags America? Have you been
recently? I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I’d
appreciate it if you gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a
lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!