Coastin' with Dan

On March 23rd, I visited Rapids Water Park, located in Riviera Beach, Florida. Rapids is probably my favorite water park, as it has a HUGE slide selection, with great variety. Rapids is operated by Premier Parks, who also operates Darien Lake. The park has slides for everybody, from Children's Play Structures, to Brain Drain, two Trap Door slides! Below I'll share some photos, and what I think of the attractions at Rapids. Big Red Big Red is a ProSlide Bowl Slide. This is a very fun attraction, which can have either two or three riders. Riders fly up on the wall and experience some great forces.  Big Red is a part of the HUGE slide tower at the park.   All in All, I really liked Big Red, and found it really fun! Baby Blue Baby Blue is another Pro-Bowl, but this one is a body slide. I preferred it to Big Red, as it felt a lot faster, and the drop into the pool was insane! Big Thunder Big Thunder is a ProSlide Tornado slide. I preferred...

Today's post is Part I of the Six Flags New England Pre-Season Construction Tour Report! Six Flags New England has a ton of fantastic projects going on for the 2017 season. Part I will focus on Mind Eraser and what the park is doing for its 20th birthday. All photo credits go to Adam T, and I want to thank him for sending me these photos. I'll embed his Instagram at the bottom of the article, and I highly recommend following it!!! Recently, Six Flags announced new trains and a new VR experience on Mind Eraser for the 2017 season. You can get all the info on that  Here! The new trains, manufactured by Vekoma, will secure riders with Vest Restraints, which will rest on the riders shoulders and torso, rather than the bulky Over The Shoulder Restraints which were known to be quite uncomfortable.  There will be two new trains, and in my opinion, they look GREAT! I am a huge fan of the Teal and Orange train. It looks really fresh! The park stated today that one tr...

Today, March 21, 2017, Six Flags New England released their 2017 Park Map!  The highlight of the 2017 map is obviously The Joker 4D Free Fly Coaster, but there seems to have been a name change on one of Six Flags New Englands flat rides. The Joker's Wildcard, a Chance Wipeout attraction, has been renamed as Kryptonite. It is currently unknown if the ride will get a new color scheme, but by looking at the map, I don't believe that's on the list for 2017. The Joker's Wildcard opened in 2000 inside the Hall of Justice, where it operated until 2004. Once the park removed Nightwing in 2008, the ride reopened in that location and has been operating ever since. Catch Kryptonite in action below! The new park map also shows the renovations to the main entrance. The park will be moving the metal detectors so guests will pass through them before the turnstiles. This should reduce congestion and speed up the entry process. Thanks for reading! Six ...

Today, March 16, 2017, Six Flags New England announced both Galactic Attack Virtual Reality and New Trains on Mind Eraser, the parks Vekoma SLC. The park is greatly improving Mind Eraser for its 20th Anniversary. You can find the details  Here!  In this post, I'll be sharing my thoughts on these additions. Photo from Six Flags New England Let's start with Galactic Attack Virtual Reality Coaster. For the 2017 season, Six Flags New England has removed VR from Superman The Ride, and has moved it to Mind Eraser. This new VR program is different, as it uses the phones camera for riders to see while in the station. Following dispatch, the riders experience augmented reality, meaning that there is a virtual overlay over the actual surroundings. At the crest of the lift hill, it becomes total, immersive Virtual Reality. Below is B-Roll Footage of Galactic Attack on Kong at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, a similar attraction. I believe that this will be an improvement over t...

Six Flags New England Debuts  Galactic Attack Virtual Reality Coaster:  World’s First Mixed Reality Experience Part of Six Flags and Samsung’s Renewed Collaboration on The Next Generation of Virtual Reality Roller Coasters Galactic Attack  Featured on Coaster Celebrating 20 Years of Thrills AGAWAM, Massachusetts — March 16, 2017 —  The world’s first mixed reality experience on a VR coaster is coming to Six Flags New England this spring. In partnership with Samsung, the “Official Technology Partner of Six Flags,” New England’s largest theme park is once again leading the way in innovation and taking its signature brand of thrills to the next level and beyond in a fully immersive, virtual riding experience on the park’s iconic steel coaster, Mind Eraser. Mind Eraser celebrates its 20th birthday this season, timed to the launch of   Galactic Attack Virtual Reality Coaster . Additionally, the coaster is being outfitted with brand new restraints for...