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Rank the Superman coasters

Matt N

CF Legend
Hi guys. I’ve noticed that of all the superheroes, Superman seems to have the most coasters (or at least, the widest variety of coasters) themed around him, with numerous Six Flags parks, as well as numerous Warner Bros properties, having Superman themed coasters of varying types. So my question to you today is; how would you rank the Superman coasters that you’ve done? (I did consider Batman, but as Batman is mostly B&M inverts with the same layout, with the odd Free Spin and SLC thrown in here and there, I thought it would make for a vastly less interesting poll; the world’s Superman-themed rides encompass a far wider variety of ride types)

I haven’t actually ridden a Superman coaster myself, having not visited a Six Flags or Warner Bros property, so I can’t contribute a list of my own.

But how would you rank the Superman coasters you’ve done?
 

Will

Strata Poster
According to RCDB, I've done 3 (one of which no longer has that name/theme)

So, that would make it:
Superman Escape
Superman La Attracion d'Aero (which ought to be the best - except it's in Spain and therefore not looked after)
Superman The Ride (Xpress)
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
1. Superman: The Ride (SFNE) - Great layout, great length, fun airtime.

2. Superman: Ultimate Flight (Over Georgia) - I'm a fan of B&M flyers so this is a good time. Love the pretzel loop, rest of the layout is okay though.

3. Superman: Ultimate Flight (Great Adventure) - Same as above, but lacks the interesting terrain.

4. Superman: Ride of Steel (SFA) - Piss poor layout, bad trains, and struggles for airtime.
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
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Searched RCDB for "superman", let's see what it spits out. From best to worst.

Superman the Ride (ridden as Bizzaro), Six Flags New England - This was one of those coasters that I sort of understand why it was rated so highly back in the day. Nowadays it feels a bit old-fashioned in it's style, but I do see why it was so 'groundbreaking' back in the day. It does still hold up, but clearly not breaking many top-twenties anymore.

Superman Krypton Coaster, Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Love this. It's setting is stunning, and I love the deviations from the 'cookie-cutter' layouts of B&M's floorless coasters of the era. Yeah, this one is fab.

Superman / la Atracción de Acero, Parque Warner Madrid - I really liked this. The layout is good, and it's only really pipped by the one at SFFT due to the location.

Ride of Steel, Six Flags Darien Lake - Besides the wacky straightaways, this was pretty decent.

Superman The Ride (ridden as Xpress: Platform 13), Walibi Holland - The launch is quite fab, and the layout is quite impressive. It's not particularly uncomfortable either - which usually these old Vekomas are.

Superman: Escape from Krypton, Six Flags Magic Mountain - Unique-factor puts this up. I love the... brashness and simplicity of it, and it is a pretty sweet experience going up the tower. It's laughably loud, too.

Superman - Ultimate Flight, Six Flags Great Adventure
Superman - Ultimate Flight, Six Flags Great America

Don't love 'em, don't hate 'em. Good for what they are, and definitely better than most cloned crap, but don't really light my fire. :D

Superman Ultimate Flight, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - I think these are not much more than a plus one. It was novel at the time, but ridden a few of these now and I don't love them.

Bonus entry for:
Super Manège, La Ronde - Crap. Good riddenace.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
This is a super cute idea! I'd love to have a separate topic for Batman coasters as well. They don't quite have the variety of Superman, but, especially if you include villains, there's enough variety for a good list. Either way, here's my list! (Slightly stolen from my comic book ranking thread but with some tweaks)
  1. Superman the Ride, SFNE: I hate the term "elite" coasters (as if coaster enthusiasts didn't come off snobby enough), but this is the only one on those lists I'd consider to be truly among the best of the best.
  2. Superman Krypton Coaster, SFFT: Every other Floorless seems to pale in comparison for one simple reason: that quarry wall.
  3. Bizarro: Should this be included? Probably not. But also, probably? What is Bizarro but Superman, and what is Superman but Bizarro? Oh ya, the coaster. It's about as cookie cutter B&M looper layout as they come, but that's not a bad things
  4. Superman: Ultimate Flight, SFOG: Flyers work best either close to the ground or high in the air. OG's successfully hugs the ground through most of the layout after the pretzel loop which makes it fairly exciting as compared to number 7.
  5. Superman Escape from Krypton: A one trick pony but a well done trick. The launch isn't very forceful, with such a gradual push, but the ascent and descent are very fun with a nice view. Plus, I think there's something to be said for the first coaster to push past 100 mph.
  6. Superman the Ride, Walibi Holland (ridden as Xpress Platform 13): It may just be Rock n Roller Coaster outdoors, but it's still a solid layout. Plus, it's sort of nice to see it outside as a crazy mess of track.
  7. Superman: Ultimate Flight, SFGAdv: It's amazing what a location can do. I have no real issue with clones in general, but a clone of a terrain flyer seems to almost be, missing the point?
  8. Superman Ultimate Escape at Geauga Lake (ridden as Possessed, Dorney Park): I can't really be bothered with these Intamin impulses. I like them well enough, but I rode this one at noon in the front row which meant I was blinded for half the ride.
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
1 - New England - Great airtime
2 - Parque warner - Maybe b n m's best floorless..
3 - Xpress / superman - Walibi holland - fun launch, nice layout
4 - Ultimate flight - sfgad - Ohh, that pretzel loop!
5 - SFA's monorail...
 

Indy

Hyper Poster
1. Superman el Último Escape, Six Flags Mexico - Morgan's best work outside of Phantom's Revenge. This massive ride is loaded airtime. I was shocked by how good it was given how relatively tame Steel Force, Mamba, and Wild Thing are.

2. Superman Escape, Warner Brothers Movie World - Just a fantastic Intamin accelerator with a great pre-launch dark ride portion. Loved the storyline. The launch is fab of course, then the rest of the circuit is loaded with quick turns and strong airtime. The post-launch course is short, but excellent.

3. Superman the Ride, Six Flags New England - This one has fallen from grace a bit. Still an excellent layout, but new trains with new restraints that land midway down the thigh generates extremely painful airtime. My enjoyment of the ride is too inconsistent for me to rank it higher.

4. Superman: Escape from Krypton, Six Flags Magic Mountain - Maybe a little shocking to have this one ranked so high, but I quite enjoy this one. The lengthy build up to 100 mph followed by the reverse climb up nearly 400 ft just provides a very unique rush.

5. Superman Krypton Coaster, Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Always a fan favorite and a solid ride, but one that I've never really understood the hype. The drop off the cliff is certainly great as is the second cliff drop following the loop. However, the ride just isn't as intense as the other B&M floorless coasters of that time, so it leaves me wanting a lot more. Still a great ride, but just not amazing.

6. Superman - Ride Of Steel, Six Flags America - It's a decently fun hyper with some really good airtime hills, but giant helices and abundance of straight track doesn't do much for me.

7-9. Superman - Ultimate Flight, Six Flags Over Georgia, Great America, and Great Adventure - The layout is fairly uninspired and tame apart from the pretzel loop. Following the pretzel loop, the ride stays low to the ground facing downward which just doesn't do much. I'm simply watching grass fly by from a close view while in an uncomfortable position.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
1. Superman / la Atracción de Acero @ Parque Warner Madrid - A credit to it's type, something about it just flows so well even though it's the same 7 inversions in the same order as a hundred other rides.
2. Superman the Ride @ Six Flags New England - Solid, dependable old Intamin that's good for a laugh, a teaser for greater things to come.
3. Superman Escape @ Warner Bros. Movie World - Mainly for the dark ride section which is a blast, then it's Rita with a top hat.
4. Superman Ultimate Flight @ Six Flags Great Adventure - Solely for having a pretzel loop. The layout is lame and this particular version is so plonked.
5. Superman - Ride of Steel @ Six Flags Great America - Moving for the sake of motion.
6. Superman Ultimate Flight @ Six Flags Discovery - By far the best version of the Sky Rocket II I've ridden, if only for the fact that they hadn't yet thought of a thousand different ways to ruin the restraints.
7. Superman: Escape from Krypton @ Six Flags Magic Mountain - Moving for the sake of motion, without corners.

Oh, and don't forgot the best Batman - https://rcdb.com/4022.htm.
 

gavin

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1. Superman The Ride - SFNE: It's been a very long time since I rode it, but it was easily one of the best coasters I'd ridden up to that point and, seeing as I still love a good Intamin hyper, I can still see it being excellent.

2. Superman El Ultimo Escape - Six Flags Mexico: A huge surprise given the mediocrity of Morgan's other hypers. Best coaster of theirs after Steel Dragon 2000.

3. Superman la Atraccion de Acero - Parque Warner: B&M's best floorless coaster, and a very good coaster regardless of type anyway.

4. Superman Escape - Warner Bros. Movie World: For some reason, this doesn't get a lot of love when it comes to Intamin accelerators, but I thought it was one of the best. Elevated by good theming, too.

5. Superman Krypton Coaster - Six Flags Fiesta Texas: A really strong coaster, especially for its type, but I expected a bit more based on what I'd heard.

6. Superman Escape from Krypton - Magic Mountain: I didn't think much of it the first time around, but with the backwards launch, it's now pretty decent.

7. Superman Ride of Steel - Six Flags America: Better than expected. Some decent airtime, but also some dead spots. Poor for the ride type, but it's an excellent ride type.

8. Superman Ultimate Flight - Discovery Kingdom: Yes, I strangely prefer these rides to the Superman flyers.

9. Superman Ultimate Flight - Georgia: Honestly, just put these together.

10. Superman Ultimate Flight - Great Adventure: see above.

11. Superman Ultimate Flight - Great America: and again.

12. Superman Krypton Coaster - Six Flags Mexico: just noticed this has been renamed since I was there, but I'll shove it in. Just a roller skater.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
1. Bizarro, SFGAdv.
Trust me, I didn't know that Bizarro was Superman themed either, until I rode it. I just thought Bizarro was a generic and rather crappy made-up coaster name, but nope, apparently 'Bizarro', according the comic books, is Superman's alter ego. Or twin brother. Or something. 🤷‍♂️
But yeah, solid B&M floorless coaster. Mist and fire effects and the on board audio elevate it above most others.

2 & 3. Superman Ultimate Flight, SFGAm and SFGAdv. No discernible difference between the two. Mostly a bit lame but... the pretzel loops! 🤤😁

4. Superman the Ride, Walibi Holland. Good launch and first inversion, rest is a bit poo. It's much better now as Xpress Platform 13.

5. Superman Ultimate Flight, SFDK.
Didn't rate it. It's got that slow, upside-downy hangtime that I hate so much. 🤢

Here endeth my experience of Superman themed coasters (SFMM spited me 😥).
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
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Well let's see:
  1. Superman Krypton Coaster - SFFT: Easily the best floorless specimen out there, and one of the coolest layout designs working with the quarry wall
  2. Superman - SFOG: My first B&M flying coaster, will always has a sweet spot
  3. Superman - RoS - SFA: It technically is a roller coaster.
  4. Possessed - Dorney: Let us not forget the originally name Superman Ultimate Escape of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure/Geauga Lake fame. Actually, it's a very average Intamin LIM, so maybe forget it.
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
I have three;

1. Superman Escape, Warner Bros. Movie World: Great fun, a bit on the short side, but what it does, it does it well

2. Xpress, Walibi Holland: I rode this one a long while after Six Flags was gone from Europe, but an honorary mention nonetheless. Pretty decent launch, but is followed by a lot of rather pointless meandering and bits where it's borderline rough

3. Superman: Escape from Krypton, SFMM: rode this once in the year when the trains were first turned backwards and it kinda felt rather pointless. The launch felt sluggish and that's about the only thing that it does. Oh, and it's loud as hell.
 
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