Six Flags has unveiled its 2017 lineup of new roller coasters, dark rides and water slides at the amusement park chain’s 13 locations.
Four roller coasters, three dark rides, four thrill rides and three water attractions are among the additions.
Here are the highlights:
JOKER
The fourth-dimension roller coasters coming to three Six Flags parks will feature seats that spin forward and backward as the train navigates a zigzagging track with undulating straightaways and free-fall drops.
For 2017, the 4-D coasters are heading to Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags New England (Massachusetts) and Six Flags Great America (Illinois).
The 4-D Free Spin coaster by Utah-based S&S Worldwide, built on a relatively compact footprint, snakes back and forth on a serpentine track like a demonic pachinko game.
Similar versions of the 4-D coasters have been built at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey.
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JUSTICE LEAGUE: BATTLE FOR METROPOLIS 3-D
Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., plan to introduce the 3-D interactive dark rides for 2017.
The rides, themed to the crime-fighting team of DC Comics superheroes, will feature motion-platform vehicles, animatronic figures and laser-gun game play. Along the way, riders will help Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern face off against the Joker, Lex Luthor and other comic book villains in this ride designed by Florida-based Sally Corp.
Since 2015, identical Justice League attractions have been rolled at Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Great America and Six Flags Mexico.
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HURRICANE HARBOR
Six Flags Mexico will open a 67-acre water park in February with a water play structure, a wave pool, a lazy river and water slides.
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THUNDER RAPIDS
The new water coaster — a water park slide that mimics the ups and downs of a traditional roller coaster with the help of water propulsion jets — is coming to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 2017.
It will feature rapid ascents and descents over a 900-foot-long course with high-banked turns.
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SWING TOWER
Six Flags America in Maryland will add a 242-foot-tall Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth swing tower that reaches a top speed of 40 mph.
Since 2011, Star Flyer swing towers by Austria-based ride maker Funtime have been installed at more than half of Six Flags parks, mostly under the SkyScreamer name.
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NEW REVOLUTION
Six Flags Mexico will transform the Medusa wood-steel hybrid coaster into a state-of-the-art virtual reality experience that thrusts riders into a futuristic battle to save the planet from an alien invasion.
The New Revolution VR experience synchronizes with the motion of the coaster to immerse riders in a virtual world of nonstop action. The trick is syncing the steep drops, airtime hills and G-forces of the ride with the visuals in the VR headsets so that coaster riders don’t experience motion sickness.
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PENDULUM SWINGS
The new pendulum swings coming to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., and La Ronde in Montreal will fling riders through the air like pint-size passengers on an enormous spinning Frisbee.
Riders will sit in 40 outward facing coaster-style seats as a counterclockwise-spinning circular gondola swings in a pendulum motion. At the ride’s peak, the pendulum arm will reach 147 feet in the air at a 120-degree angle.
With their feet dangling, riders secured by over-the-shoulder restraints will experience upside-down inversions and moments of weightlessness as the rotating gondola whips toward the ground at nearly 70 mph.
The pendulum swings, known within the theme park industry as Frisbee rides, will be built by Italian ridemaker Zamperla.
The La Ronde ride will be known as Titan. The Discovery Kingdom attraction will be called Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth (just like Six Flags America’s swing tower).
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SPINSANITY
Six Flags Over St. Louis will get a 50-foot-tall Disk’O shuttle coaster built by Italy’s Zamperla.
Spinsanity riders will sit in outward-facing seats on a spinning platform that travels along a half-pipe track.
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BANZAI PIPELINES
The Great Escape amusement park north of Albany, N.Y., will add dueling body slides to its Splashwater Kingdom water park.
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MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL
The Mardi Gras festivals coming to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Mexico will feature New Orleans-style parades and Cajun food. The seasonal festivals will run at each park in March and April.
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HOLIDAY IN THE PARK
Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags America will introduce the winter event with seasonal-themed food, music and lights.
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONSTRUCTION
One glaring exception in the Six Flags attraction announcement: a wooden coaster conversion.
For the first time in four years, Six Flags will not have Rocky Mountain Construction convert an existing wooden coaster into a multi-inversion wood-steel hybrid ride.
The Idaho-based company has performed the renovations on aging Six Flags wooden coasters in Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, California and Mexico.
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