Given our lateness and the summer heat, and because one of my kids loves roller coasters (which always happen to have 1-2h waits), I bought a couple flash passes [1]. While it was definitely worth it (more on that), I actually felt guilty at times. I mean, some of the lines were ridiculous and the flash pass line is usually right next to the mob of hot people waiting...and you just waltz by. We never had these at a kid and I still remember the long waits at Cedar Point, Kings Island or Canada's Wonderland. I've put my kids through that already but no sense in teaching them the same lesson over and over.
I'm very happy with the gold level pass we bought - while it was $70 per person (almost 50% more than the ticket price!), there is no way we would have been able to hit every major ride in the ~8h we had available. The passes we bought worked out perfectly where we could go ride to ride with very minimal wait. The higher level pass is only worth it if you're trying to turbo OR want to do repeats immediately. The alternative to spending all that money is to just upgrade to a season pass for another $30 - however, you have to keep coming back to the park and pay $25 to park per visit. Not worth it for me (plus we probably drank about 2 gallons of pop yesterday).
How I'd rank the roller coasters:
- Superman - super unique in that they tilt you parallel to the ground so you're flying like superman. The loop is nutty too. Really fun experience. Definitely my son's fave.
- Raging Bull - very smooth and fun ride, one of the best coasters I've been on in a while. I actually liked it just as much as Superman.
- Goliath - also crazy fun. We actually got stuck on the first ascent for like 15m, that was a bit disconcerting. That aside, this wooden hybrid coaster was sick - it's like a 85 degree drop and you go upside down with no shoulder straps!
- Vertical Velocity - basically like a big U. Fast and fun, pretty unique in that it's the first time I rode this type.
- Batman - floorless looping coaster - smooth as well but lots of loops. I'm not a huge fan of too many but my son loved it.
- X-Flight - pretty unique but nothing really exciting. I had my strap on too tight which probably lowered my experience.
- Whizzer - my daughter LOVED this "family" coaster. Just exciting enough for her to get a thrill as she scares easily, but fun.
- Dark Knight - not a fan, basically like an old "Wildcat" (or Goofy Sky School from Disney CA Adventure) two-car ride with lots of strong U-turns but in darkness.
- Viper - pretty old ride and shakes your head around as if you've been head-banging in a mosh pit. My son liked it but I won't go on it again.
- American Eagle - atrociously bad on the body. An old (has to be from the 70s) old wooden coaster that sounds rickety as heck, I kept thinking we'd break off the track. Probably the worst roller coaster I've been on ever. My body was aching and jostled riding that. Can't believe it's in still in service.
We skipped the Demon because I already knew it was also old as dirt and would rattle my body too much. I was impressed that they had so many good ones, we'll have to compare to Cedar Point if we go later this year!
[1] Six Flags has three levels, we got the middle tier which basically allowed you to reserve a time in the future based on half the current wait time. You could only reserve one ride at a time based on this pager unit you carried. For example, if it was 2PM and the current wait time for Raging Bull was 1h, it would "reserve" 2:30 and we could arrive anytime after 2:30 and "skip" the line. You don't get put right to the front, usually just to the final leg of the line but it cuts down the wait to ~15m max, with most of the time being around 5m.
