Superman: Ride of Steel Review

We're here at Six Flags America, where we're going to be riding what many people consider to be their star attraction (I personally don't due to thinking this ride is overrated and other less popular coasters here underrated), Superman: Ride of Steel. This is the parks hyper coaster, and an Intamin Hyper Coaster at that. SWEET!!! Those are some of the best coasters on the planet! OK, yeah. It's true that Superman is one of the weakest Intamin Hyper Coasters, around the same level as Thunder Dolphin (OK, it's better than Thunder Dolphin. I'll give it that), and it still is a really fun coaster. So yeah. Let's hop on and take a ride. Get in the seats, buckle the seatbelts, pull down the lap bar, and away we go! We roll around a turn and then begin to climb the MASSIVE lifthill. We just climb and climb and climb. Look around, and.....there's really not much to see. Some of the coasters at Six Flags America, sure. But aside from that, just grass and fields. But don't worry. It's a relatively fast lifthill, so you're up at the top pretty quickly. And sure enough, we then begin to drop. And this thing pours on the speed. In the back, there's even some airtime. So far, this is kicking ass! Sounds like all the hype for this coaster is correct. We then head into a banked turn right at the bottom of the first drop. This sounds crazy, but don't worry. You're not gonna get whiplash and have an overload of Lateral Gs. But hey. We now get to rise up into a giant airtime hill. And....this thing is STRONG!!! We get a NICE pop of ejector air here! SWEET!!! This is AWESOME!!! All right. Drop back down, gain more speed, and go through some straight track. Uh....OK. Random, but it's not much. And then we get to GIANT HELIX OF DEATH!!! And I'm just gonna come out and say it. This thing looks WAY cooler than it actually is. You see, the giant helix is so big that it takes out all the laterals, and at this point, it honestly just feels like a giant section of straight track. Honestly, if I closed your eyes, I probably would assume that this part of the ride was just straight track. Yeah, it may look cool, but it's just going in circles. Hell, kind of reminds me of the Rose Bowl from Son of Beast in a way (except....this is MUCH better). Well, at least we get some cool headchoppers, and then....STRAIGHT TRACK!!! GOD DAMN IT!!! Ugh. Just rip through it and run towards the airtime hill. It's like a sprint at this point. And finally, ahh.... We finally get rewarded for all of the straight track and giant helixes that might as well be straight track with an airtime hill. And it's really good strong ejector air. YES!!! That was REALLY good. And after that, we move onto.....another giant helix. God damn it. And this one is even worse, because this one is also upwards, so we lose some speed. Ugh. This thing is honestly, the Great Bear of Hyper Coasters. Both are fun rides, but both are just too full of random crap that really hinders them from being great. Moving on, we go through another sort of awkward turn, and now the ride gets good again. AIRTIME HILL!!! WEE!!! And from here on out, the rest of the ride is nothing but ejector air! Go over a bunny hop, EJECTOR AIR!!! Go over another one! EJECTOR AIR!!! ONE MORE BUNNY HOP!!! ONE MORE POP OF EJECTOR AIR!!! And glide right into the brake run, which is right into the station. So at least there's no time wasted between the brake run and the end. So yeah. I'm torn on this ride. On the one hand, it does have great ejector air, a lot of speed, and a great first drop. But....the straight track and forceless helixes definately weaken it, and when I hear people call this one of the best coasters in the country, I just can't agree. Not with that much straight track and forceless helixes. It's not even the best coaster at Six Flags America. Let alone one of the best coasters in the country. But even so, it's a very fun ride and definately worth checking out when visiting Six Flags America.

8/10

Location: Six Flags America

Opened: 2000

Built by: Intamin

Last Ridden: July 22, 2019

Superman: Ride of Steel Photos

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