Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a combination of marine park, animal park, and theme park;
located in Vallejo, California, USA.
During the attraction brief time as a theme park, Discovery Kingdom has accumulated close
to 40 different rides, including a total of 8 roller coasters.
The park started its life in 1968, when it opened to visitors as Marine World, a small
zoo.
Shortly after, the attraction merged with a nearby animal farm, creating the larger
attraction, ‘Marine World Africa USA’.
However, due to the rising value of the park’s land, Marine World was forced to relocate
to another area of California.
By 1986, the New Marine World, a larger and more impressive zoo, had opened to the public.
Unfortunately, by 1996, the attraction had accumulated a large debut, causing it to be
seized by the city of Vallejo.
At this point in time, Vallejo hired Premier Parks, known now as the Six Flags Entertainment
Corporation, to manage, upgrade and improve the New Marine World.
Instantly, Premier Parks began adding amusement rides and attractions.
It was during this large burst of investment when Marine World gained its first roller
coasters.
In 1998, the park installed it’s initial two roller coasters; Kong, and Boomerang - Coast
to Coaster.
Kong opened to the public as a Vekoma suspended looping roller coaster, allowing guests to
navigate a mixture of inversions while hanging below the track.
Boomerang, on the other hand, is the classic Vekoma boomerang model, found at many theme
parks around the globe.
Both rides drastically changed the park, giving guests the chance to experience thrills and
not just animals.
At the end of the 1998 season, the park officially became Six Flags Marine World, operating under
the Six Flags title.
With the new name, came the addition of more roller coasters and attractions.
1999 resulted in the debut of Roar, the parks first and only wooden roller coaster.
The ride, which was manufactured by Great Coasters International, unfortunately closed
to the public during the 2015 season to make way for a new addition.
During the closed season, Roar underwent large scale modifications, by the Rocky Mountain
Construction company.
As a result, in 2016, the ride reopened to the public as the Joker, a new hybrid roller
coaster.
Unlike Roar, the Joker features a steel track, allowing guests to navigate multiple inversions
and other complex roller coaster elements.
On top of this, the ride is taller and faster than its previous counterpart.
During the construction of Roar, Six Flags Marine World also debuted a second roller
coaster, Roadrunner Express.
The ride is a family roller coaster, manufactured by Zamperla.
Even after the introduction of 4 roller coasters, the park continued to expand at a rapid pace.
The turn of the millennia resulted in the construction of another two roller coaster
additions: Medusa, and Cobra.
Firstly, Medusa, is a B&M floorless coaster, allowing guests to experience a multitude
of inversions, including the moderately rare sea-serpent roll.
The ride still remains one of the most popular at the park to this day.
With the introduction of Medusa came Cobra, a smaller scale family coaster.
The ride, which was manufactured by Zierer, is the classic Large Tivoli model.
At this point, the park ended its spree of back to back large scale investments with
one final roller coaster.
In 2001, Six Flags Marine World installed Vertical Velocity, an LIM launched impulse
coaster manufactured by Intamin.
Interesting, after only a year of operation, Vertical Velocity underwent major modifications.
Due to surpassing local height restrictions, the non-spiralling vertical tower was shortened,
while the second tower was altered to incline at 45 degrees.
These unwanted changes have allowed the ride to become somewhat unique, especially when
compared to other impulse coasters around the world.
Following the addition of Vertical Velocity was Zonga, a schwarzkopf sit-down looping
roller coaster.
Unfortunately, the ride was removed in 2004, after only a year of operation.
Since the introduction of Zonga, large scale additions have occured on a less regular basis.
The park saw the construction of another roller coaster in 2008, in the form of Pandemonium,
previously Tony Hawk’s Big Spin.
Sadly, the Gerstlauer spinning coaster was relocated to Six Flags Mexico in 2012.
However, a year prior to the introduction of Pandemonium saw a major rebranding of the
park.
In January of 2007, Six Flags Marine World became Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, with the
new name reflecting on all aspects of the attractions experience.
At the same time, the park underwent extensive physical changes.
Discovery Kingdom opened to the new season with three distinct themed areas, land, sea
and sky; representing land animals, marine mammals and roller coasters respectively.
Following the closure of Pandemonium, the park set about replacing the attraction.
As a result, Superman Ultimate Flight, a new thrill coaster, opened to the public in 2012.
Interestingly, Superman Ultimate Flight was the world's first Sky Rocket 2, a well known
model manufactured by Premier Rides.
The coaster features an LSM launch system, which accelerates riders three times, allowing
them to complete the agile and twisted looping circuit.
Most recently, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom has constructed another first of its kind,
the Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster.
The attraction, which is situated beside Superman, sees guests navigate back to back immelmann
inversions, using a tire propulsion system.
Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster is Skyline Attractions first ever Skywarp, which blurs the line between
flat ride and roller coaster.
Besides large roller coasters, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is also home to a range of thrilling
flat rides and other attractions.
Guests can ride Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth, a zamperla giant discovery; Dare Devil Chaos
Coaster, a Larson Super loop; or even Hammerhead Shark, another looping flat ride.
For younger visitors, a large range of children's rides can be found within Looney Tunes Seaport,
as well as Seawide Junction, two family areas of the park.
Besides physical rides, Discovery Kingdom has a lot to offer in terms of its animal
exhibits.
In the sea area of the park, guests can experience sharks, seals, penguins and even dolphins.
On top of this, Tigers, Elephants, Giraffes, reptiles and even a large range of butterflies
can be found within the park’s land section.
Throughout the year, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom also hosts a range of seasonal events, the
most notable of which include Fright Fest, and Holiday in the Park.
Firstly, as its name suggests, Fright Fest occurs around Halloween, giving guests the
chance to experience the park at night.
Besides riding the park’s roller coasters, visitors can experience a range of haunted
houses and scare zones, and even interact with the zombies and ghouls roaming the park.
Holiday in the Park, on the other hand, is a seasonal holiday event, in which Discovery
Kingdom is turned into a winter wonderland.
Guests can experience a selection of the parks rides, as well as a whole host of Christmas-y
activities.
While Discovery Kingdom isn’t the largest, or most impressive Six Flags park, it’s
wide collection of attractions appeals to all audiences, both young and old.
It’s for this reason, that Six Flags Discovery Kingdom continues to grow and enhance its
overall Theme Park experience.
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