Stand Up To Your Fear! The Green Lantern at Six Flags Great Adventure

The power in the Green Lantern's ring must be even stronger than previously thought - it even seemed to be able to bring out the elusive sunshine we've been missing in the Northeast this week!  Six Flags Great Adventure had a media preview for the Green Lantern today, and Sam and I were able to attend to check things out.

Anyone who is familiar with the park knows that the Lantern was built on the former home of the Great American Scream Machine, which operated at the park from 1989 to 2010.  After being removed in the Fall, work on the Green Lantern started.  The rest is, as they say, history.

Ceremonies opened with a greeting from park Communications Director Kristin Siebeneicher, who provided a rundown of the statistics of the new coaster.  Also of note was that Great Adventure is now the theme park that is home to more B&M rides than any other park in the world with Batman, Nitro, Bizarro, Superman, and now the Green Lantern.  Great Adventure's B&M quintuplets are certainly the envy of many parks!

Park President John Fitzgerald also had some words about the ride's opening.  He described the Green Lantern as "the perfect addition to the park's coaster line-up, our 13th coaster which will help maintain the park's thrill superiority within the local market."  He also passed on congratulations to the park's maintenance team for delivering the ride right on time.

The Green Lantern himself then appeared and led the crowd in reciting the Green Lantern oath, which generated enough power to start the ride.  And with a flash of steam and an explosion of confetti the ride was opened!

The first train out of the very open station was filled with excited riders.  As they climbed the lift excitement was building, and applause followed as the train hit the final brakes.

If you look close, you can see just how excited riders were at the start of the first drop!  The coaster stands 154 feet tall and the first drop sends riders down 144 feet at 63 miles per hour.

The first drop leads directly into a 121 ft. tall loop - yellow to represent the color of Parallax, one of the Green Lantern's enemies.  The coaster really speeds along the tracks, providing a ride full of a variety of forces.

There are five inversions in all, the second of which is the dive loop seen here.  It stands 103 feet off the ground, and extends out toward the ride's entrance plaza, making a bold visual statement to those getting in line!

The fighter jet that used to live in front of the simulator building has been nicely re-purposed as part of the Green Lantern's theming.  Here a train is soaring around an elevated helix, the coaster's third major element.
 

Immediately riders head into an inclined loop, an interesting element used on only a handful of B&M's rides.  It's essentially as it sounds, a vertical loop which is slightly tilted on its side.  You can really feel the Gs in that one!

After the mid-course brake run (not slowing the train at all today) there are two more corkscrews mixed into a tangled mess of green track.  The quick directional changes keep riders a little disoriented, and that makes it harder to see what's coming next - upping the thrill level.

The Green Lantern is currently only open to season pass holders through May 22nd, but will open to the general public on May 25th.  Until everyone can go and ride, I put together a quick video taken today as a preview:

Six Flags Great Adventure will host their first comic book show "The Great Comic Book Adventure" on May 29th.  Guests will be able to meet with several comic book legends during the event.  Other synergies between the new coaster and the feature film that will be released this Summer can be expected at the park.

Thanks to Six Flags Great Adventure for having us out to the park!