Six Flags Over Georgia On My Mind - Part 2

Six Flags Over Georgia has a total of eleven different coasters, which means there's plenty more to cover.  Still in the Cotton States Exposition section of the park is another coaster I checked out, Ninja.

I can remember seeing photos of Ninja when it was named Kamikaze and located on the beach in Wildwood, NJ, and thinking it looked just nuts - all that twisted track!  When it was moved to Six Flags Over Georgia it was given a nice home out over the park's lake, which makes it quite impressive, visually at least.

The ride is intense - I remember feeling like I was upside down more than anything else, even though there's a relatively calm 5 inversions in the 2,742 feet of track.  The ride experience has been improved some by the addition of a train from Six Flags Great Adventures' now retired Great America Scream Machine, seen above.

Thanks to a tip from a reader, I waited specifically for that train, and while the ride still isn't smooth, it was indeed manageable to do what I call "proactive riding" and leave without too much noggin mashing.

The difference between Ninja and Goliath is night and day, as the latter is a B&M mega coaster that's, as you would expect, smooth as glass.  And what an imposing station the ride has!  It's located in the center of the park, and the ride heads over a lot of attractions, so the added station height allows the ride to stay well above ground level at pretty much all times.

This was a nice treat.  Goliath has one of the longest queues I've seen at any non-Disney/Universal theme park, and quite happily when I was there you could walk right up to the station!  I consider myself patient, and able to wait in long lines with relative ease, but the thought of seeing this filled was a bit chilling!

As for the actual ride, well I thought it was great!  I've been able to take a spin on quite a few of B&M's entries to the 'hyper' club, and Goliath was one of the best.

In addition to the smooth ride, there's plenty of time spent floating out of your seat, and some nice forces on the gigantic helix-turnaround that sits in front of the park's entrance.  This is most definitely another addition that the previous set of management got right for the park!

The park's latest addition to their thrill lineup is the brand new Dare Devil Dive.  I had never been on a Euro-Fighter before this trip, and now this coaster would be my second in two days (Mystery Mine being the first).

The coaster was part of a large renovation to Six Flags Over Georgia's U.S.A. section, which looks great with the ride towering over it.

Everyone probably already knows the stats of the ride - vertical lift, beyond vertical drop, three inversions - so I won't drag on about them.  The ride's most impressive feature is the use of lap-restraint only cars, which totally changes the ride experience. 

The Euro-Fighter cars have changed substantially over the years, with those used on Mystery Mine being an example of the first generation.  The cars were eventually thinned to three rows of two riders, but still had over the shoulder restraints.  Dare Devil Dive removed those restraints, and replaced them with comfortable lap bars only.

These changes make a ride on the coaster feel very open and free - and really allows you to hang during the inversions!

Going a bit out of order, because I'm keeping all of Gotham City till the last part of this series, is the Georgia Scorcher.  I really like the ride's entrance sign!  It's about the only part of the ride that isn't currently sponsored by Georgia Natural Gas.

I've done the big B&M stand-ups, but hadn't encountered one of their smaller ones yet - what a zippy little ride this is!  Do not assume the ride is less than it's larger counterparts - I'd easily rank it above them in terms of intensity.  Plus I'm thinking it was repainted recently, and was looking great.

As I said I've decided to keep Gotham City and its attractions separate, so watch for the last part of our look at Six Flags Over Georgia soon.