ABOUT THE REPORTER
Tom Kelley is a lifelong roller coaster and amusement park fan. He grew up in northeast Ohio near Cedar Point, an amusement park recognized for its collection of rides and roller coasters. He is a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts and has ridden more than 300 different roller coasters.
IF YOU GO
Six Flags Over Georgia is west of Atlanta on I-20 outside of I-285 (275 Riverside Parkway, Austell).
Open weekends, Labor Day and some Fridays through Nov. 1; hours vary. Closed on Sept. 19. General admission at the gate is $63.99 for adults and $43.99 for children under 48 inches tall, but discounts abound; save $20 on adult tickets at sixflags.com/overgeorgia. AAA and some credit unions also sell discounted tickets. Children 2 and younger are admitted for free.
For more information: 770-739-3400, sixflags.com/overgeorgia
SEASON PASS SALE
Thursday through the end of Labor Day, Six Flags is having a sale on 2016 season passes. Order four or more passes for $51.99 each and you get:
Unlimited visits for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016 at Six Flags Over Georgia and White Water.
Unlimited visits at all Six Flags amusement parks.
Free parking at all Six Flags parks and White Water.
Special admission deals to bring friends.
To order passes, go to www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia/store/season-passes.
NEW RIDES FOR 2016
Six Flags Over Georgia’s new adjoining kids areas will feature a dozen attractions:
Bugs Bunny Boomtown
Daffy Ducks Bucket Blasters: A spinning water battle
Yosemite Sam’s Wacky Wagons: A junior Ferris wheel
Looney Tunes Adventure Camp: An interactive playground
Acme Trucking Company: A monster truck adventure
Tweety’s Tweehouse: A 20-foot up-and-down bouncing journey
Bugs Bunny High Sea Adventure: An up-in-the-air sea quest
Speedy Gonzales Speed Boats: A circling ride for juniors
DC Super Friends
Superman Tower of Power: A 65-foot bouncing drop ride
Batcopters: Whirlybirds rescue Gotham City
Wonder Woman Flight School: Circling jets you pilot
Harley Quinn Mirror Maze: Disproportioned and devious views
Joker Funhouse Coaster: Fun ride for the family
Bugs Bunny is getting a new home at Six Flags Over Georgia — and some new neighbors too.
For 2016 the amusement park is renovating and expanding Bugs Bunny World, the aging section of the park featuring rides for kids and visits by the Warner Bros. cartoon characters. The wascally wabbit’s area will be reborn as Bugs Bunny Boomtown.
Adjoining it will be a new area called DC Super Friends, with rides and attractions carrying the names of popular DC Comics superheroes. Six Flags says it is the first such themed kids area at any amusement park.
Together the family-friendly lands will feature a dozen rides, most of them new and some rethemed from existing attractions.
“Parents wanted a place to spend time with their children in a vibrant, colorful, interactive area,” said Dale Kaetzel, president of Six Flags Over Georgia. “There will be something for every member of the family to do.”
Many of the rides will be mild enough for youngsters, yet exciting enough for the entire family to enjoy together. Those include Superman Tower of Power, which bounces riders up and down a 65-foot pillar, and Daffy Ducks Bucket Blasters, which lets riders shoot water guns at each other as their bucket-shaped vehicles spin around.
The improvements will mean that Six Flags in three years has "reimagined and re-created about one-third of the park," coming after the Hurricane Harbor water park addition in 2014 and this year's new rides and improvements in Gotham City, Kaetzel said.
The last major improvement to Bugs Bunny World was the addition of the Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster roller coaster in 2004; the area had been largely unchanged for decades before then.
The coaster will remain, but next year it will return as the Joker Funhouse Coaster and its area will become part of the DC Super Friends section. The area in addition will feature four new rides, based on Wonder Woman, Batman and other DC Comics characters.
Bugs Bunny Boomtown will contain seven new or rethemed attractions drawing on the names and antics of Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, the Road Runner and others.
To provide more room for the expansion, several buildings and structures around the current Bugs Bunny World will be removed, resulting in a larger and more open space. Construction will begin this fall, and parts of Bugs Bunny World will be closed during the refurbishment. The park will post updates at www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia.
Bugs Bunny Boomtown is scheduled to open in early spring 2016, while DC Super Friends should be ready for Memorial Day weekend, Kaetzel said.
Six Flags White Water, the companion water park in Marietta, also will add a new attraction for 2016.
The park’s old racing slide will be removed and replaced by Wahoo Racer, a six-lane, snaking complex of slides. Instead of racing side by side, the six lanes start off together, then split apart into twists and turns before joining together toward the end for a sprinting finish.
The slide, the largest of its kind, will be nearly 60 feet tall, and its multicolored slide tubes will be easily visible from nearby I-75, according to Six Flags.
Wahoo Racer will open for Six Flags White Water’s 2016 season in mid-May.
About the Author
