Happy Holidays! This is Andrew and I’m back with another instalment of our “What Was:” series! Typically on this blog we discuss a specific coaster that has since been removed, however we’re looking at something a bit different today. Instead of exploring just one ride, we’re going to dive into an entire program that affected multiple coasters during the 1980s and 90s. That program of course being the Six Flags Ride Rotation Program. This post will be discussing every coaster that participated in this program, both those currently in operation and no longer operating.

What Was the Six Flags Ride Rotation Program?

As the name suggests, this program was used by Six Flags to move rides around their properties. It not only served as a method of introducing a new attraction at each property every year, but as a way for Six Flags to minimize investments on brand new equipment. This program consisted of a variety of both flat rides and coasters that travelled around the country to new parks ever few years.

The Coasters

As stated before, Six Flags had a selection of coasters that they moved around during the program’s life. Below is a history of each of the coasters and where they ended up.

Jet Scream/Viper

Jet Scream was a Schwarzkopf Looping Star that opened at Six Flags Over Mid-America (Six Flags St. Louis) for the 1981 season. It was the park’s first looping coaster and it operated there until 1988. In the 1988-1989 off-season, Jet Scream was relocated to Six Flags AstroWorld and renamed to Viper. Alongside new paint, Viper received a tunnel of the top half of the first drop. In addition, it was also the first Schwarzkopf Looping Star to have permanent foundations as opposed to the transportable frame. Unfortunately, Viper closed on October 30 2005 with the rest of Six Flags AstroWorld, and was later demolished.

Shockwave/Batman The Escape

Shockwave was an Intamin Stand Up coaster originally located at Six Flags Magic Mountain from 1986-1988. It was the first Stand Up coaster manufactured by Intamin and opened as the world’s fastest and longest of its kind. Shockwave stood 90ft (27m) tall and had a drop of 85ft (26m), reaching a top speed of 55mph (86kmh). Over the course of its 2,300 ft (700m) long track, riders experienced 3.4 G’s of force and a 66 ft (20m) vertical loop. Overall, the ride was successful at Six Flags Magic Mountain - it got long lines! Unfortunately though, the ride suffered large amounts of downtime, perhaps due to it being a prototype. After two years at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Shockwave was removed and replaced with Psyclone, a Dinn Corporation wooden coaster. The land is now occupied by Apocalypse, a wooden coaster from Great Coasters International.

Shockwave was then sent across the country to Six Flags Great Adventure for the 1990 season. At Great Adventure it got repainted to blue and white from the original black. Similar to its time at Six Flags Magic Mountain, it was a very popular ride but also suffered its fair share of maintenance troubles. It operated until the fall of 1992, when it was prepared to be relocated once again to another Six Flags park. For some time, the plot of land remained vacant as at multiple times it was rumoured to have been the location for XLR-8, an Arrow Dynamics suspended coaster from Six Flags AstroWorld. The land remained unoccupied until 1997 with the addition of Dare Devil Dive, a Skycoaster.

Shockwave then made its way to Six Flags AstroWorld, its final operational home. Shockwave was assembled and ready to open for the 1993 season under its new name, Batman: The Escape. For a majority of its time at Six Flags Astroworld, the coaster was painted completely white. It was not until 2004 Batman: The Escape received a fresh coat of paint to the iconic yellow track and black supports found on many Batman coasters. However, the ride closed on October 30 2005 with the rest of Six Flags AstroWorld. Yet Six Flags still had plans for Batman: The Escape and it was once again shipped to another property.

Batman: The Escape parts at Six Flags Darien Lake

Batman: The Escape was relocated to Six Flags Darien Lake alongside Big Kahuna, a large tube slide. While Big Kahuna was reassembled in the water park, Batman: The Escape remained in storage with plans to install it later. However, only a month into the 2006 season, Six Flags was looking to sell Six Flags Darien Lake along with eight other properties. Six Flags Darien Lake was acquired by PARC Management in 2007 and stated they had no plans to construct the coaster. The main reason for it never being assembled was due to none of the working components from Batman’s engine being available. In essence, Batman: The Escape was just parts of a ride.

Ultra Twister

Ultra Twister was a Togo Ultra Twister built for the 1986 season at Six Flags Great Adventure. It was the first Ultra Twister built outside of Japan and alongside Ultra Twister at Tokyo Dome City shared the record of having the world’s steepest drop at an angle of 85º. Ultra Twister was a standard model of of the ride, featuring a pivot track for the vertical lift, a drop, airtime hill, heartline roll, reverse pivot track, and two more heartline rolls. It was also one of the first coasters to feature a continuously moving loading/unloading platform. Overall, Ultra Twister stood at a height of 97ft (30m) reaching a top speed of 43mph (69kmh) and a track length of 1,181ft (360m), all of which occupied a very small footprint. Unlike other installations, Ultra Twister featured rings throughout the entire ride to add to the sense of speed. Interestingly, Ultra Twister was the only one of its type to feature extra track on it’s pivot track. It is thought to have been placed there in case the brakes failed, only being used for emergencies.

Unfortunately, Ultra Twister was plagued with issues. Firstly, the structure continued to develop stress fractures, requiring regular re-welding. On top of this, the evacuation process was extremely difficult. The nature of the vertical lift made evacuating guests a dangerous process which was amplified by the awkward nature of the riders position. As a result of these issues, Ultra Twister was closed in 1988. There was consideration on reopening the ride with a modified lift hill, from a vertical lift to a 45º lift, but this did not happen at Six Flags Great Adventure. Instead Ultra Twister was disassembled and was shipped to another Six Flags park. The initial plan was to relocate half of Lightnin’ Loops to the plot, but that plan was cancelled. Instead, Ultra Twister’s land would then be occupied by Viper, a Togo Sitdown Looper from 1995-2004. Now the plot is currently the home of El Toro, an Intamin Prefabricated Wooden Coaster.

Ultra Twister with modified lift at Six Flags AstroWorld

Ultra Twister was then sent to Six Flags AstroWorld and opened for the 1990 season. Upon arrival to the park, it received the retrofitted 45º lift hill that was discussed for Great Adventure. The decision to move it to Six Flags Astroworld was due to the parks small size, making it the ideal fit for the low capacity of Ultra Twister. In 2004, the all white color scheme was replaced with a bright blue and green color scheme. Unfortunately, in the following year Ultra Twister closed with the rest of the park. There may have been plans to reinstall the ride at Six Flags America, for it was disassembled and sent there. However the ride allegedly suffered damage during the process and with Togo no longer in North America it was too expensive to repair. It remained in storage at Six Flags America for five years before being sold to a used ride broker.

Sarajevo Bobsled

Sarajevo Bobsled was an Intamin Swiss Bob introduced to Six Flags Great Adventure in 1984. The ride was installed to capitalize on the excitement of the Olympic games taking place in Los Angeles that summer. Initially it was planned to be named Bobsled, but the Sarajevo name was added in reference to the winter games held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. There were also plans to build a faux mountain around the ride, but this was dropped prior to construction. The ride was relatively popular, but similar to others, was plagued with operational issues. The coaster couldn’t run in any precipitation, and starting it required all of the blocks to be cleared manually - a very time consuming process. The ride was planned to be removed in the 1987 season to make way for Ninja, but the project was given to Six Flags Great America and that coaster became Shockwave. However, Sarajevo Bobsled was removed in 1988 and was shipped to Six Flags Great America.

Upon arriving to Six Flags Great America in 1989, Sarajevo Bobsled, now known as Rolling Thunder, received new trains from Bolliger & Mabillard. These trains allowed for increased capacity and easier loading. Rolling Thunder operated until 1995 and was then placed into storage. In 1997, Rolling Thunder was relocated to Great Escape where it still currently operates as Alpine Bobsled.

Sarajevo Bobsled

Similar to the other Sarajevo Bobsled, this one was installed at Six Flags Magic Mountain in response to the Olympics being held in Los Angeles in 1984. The ride was a clone of the one at Six Flags Great Adventure, but it only operated until 1985. The plot was then taken by Shockwave, Psyclone, and currently Apocalypse.

Sarajevo Bobsled was then moved to Six Flags Over Texas and opened as Avalanche Bobsled in 1986. In 1995, Avalanche Bobsled was renamed to La Vibora (The Viper in Spanish) to tie in with its location in Spain. In 1997, the ride was repainted from blue to its current colours of red, black, and yellow to resemble a viper. Unlike Rolling Thunder at Great Escape, La Vibora continues to operate with the original Intamin trains.

Z-Force

Whew, we have gone through a ton of coaster history so far. The final coaster that was part of the ride rotation program is Z-Force, an Intamin Space Diver that originally opened at Six Flags Great America in 1985. However, we already have a complete blog post detailing the history of this coaster! If you are interested, I recommend reading that one!

Click here to learn more about Z-Force

Effects of the Program

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, the Six Flags Ride Rotation program was designed to be a cost effective way to bring new rides to parks without the need of investing. While this idea was mostly successful, there was a problem. With each ride being taken down and reassembled multiple times, the chance of them suffering damage during the process was high. As a result, these rides, specifically the coasters, became rougher and more uncomfortable over time. Out of the six coasters from the program, only two are currently operating at the time of this writing. While it’s not confirmed, perhaps the toll it was taking on rides was the reason the program was discontinued. However it is very likely that other factors led to its discontinuation, as from 1995 onward they began to invest in more new rides.

Legacy of the Ride Rotation Program

Even though the ride rotation program has since been discontinued, Six Flags is no stranger to relocating rides across its properties. While many enthusiasts may not like the idea of rides being relocated, it is still a price effective method to give an old ride new life. Below is a list of rides Six Flags has relocated since 1994.

Green Lantern: First Flight (Six Flags Magic Mountain) -> Vipere (La Ronde) 2020

Ragin’ Cajun (Six Flags Great America) -> Ragin’ Cajun (Six Flags America) 2014

Flashback (Six Flags Over Texas) -> Boomerang (Six Flags St. Louis) 2013

Pandemonium (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) -> Joker (Six Flags Mexico) 2013

Iron Wolf (Six Flags Great America) -> Firebird (Six Flags America) 2012

Deja Vu (Six Flags Magic Mountain) -> Goliath (Six Flags New England) 2012

Chang (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) -> Green Lantern (Six Flags Great Adventure) 2011

Road Runner’s Express (Six Flags New Orleans) -> Road Runner Express (Six Flags Magic Mountain) 2011

Road Runner Express (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) -> Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum (Six Flags New England) 2011

Serial Thriller (Six Flags AstroWorld) -> Ednor - L’Attaque (La Ronde) 2010

Dark Knight (Six Flags New England) -> Dark Knight (Six Flags Mexico) 2009

Batman: The Ride (Six Flags New Orleans) -> Goliath (Six Flags Fiesta Texas) 2008

Texas Tornado (Six Flags AstroWorld) -> Zonga (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) 2003-2004

Joker’s Revenge (Six Flags Fiesta Texas) -> Jester (Six Flags New Orleans) 2003

Tidal Wave (Six Flags Great America) -> Viper (Six Flags Over Georgia) 1995-2001 -> Greezed Lightnin’ (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) 2003-2009

Vampire (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) -> Flashback (Six Flags New England) 2000

Starchaser (Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom) -> Nightmare at Phantom Cave (Six Flags Darien Lake) 1996-1998 ->Nightmare at Crack Axle Canyon (Great Escape) 1999-2006

Lightnin’ Loops (Six Flags Great Adventure) -> Diamond Back (Frontier City) 1993

Lightnin’ Loops (Six Flags Great Adventure) -> Python (Six Flags America) 1993-1998

Big Bend (Six Flags Over Texas) -> Big Bend (Six Flags St. Louis) 1979, Never assembled

Conclusion

The Six Flags Ride Rotation Program certainly was an interesting topic to explore and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. I must give a massive shout out to Great Adventure History as they provided a ton of information! Go check out their site and see what not only the history of Six Flags Great Adventure, but the history of other Six Flags parks as well. On that note, thank you for reading and I hope you look forward to the next post!

- Andrew

What Was: The Six Flags Ride Rotation Program