Quantum Accelerator Analysis, Six Flags New England New-for-2025 Intamin Straddle Coaster

Quantum Accelerator is the new-for-2025 roller  coaster coming to Six Flags New England. And   this looks to be a great addition for the break.  This will be an Intamin straddle coaster. I’ve   ridden several of these coasters across the globe  and they are real crowd-pleasers. In this video,   I will analyze this new addition  in terms of fit and elements.   Six Flags New England’s last new coaster was  Joker in 2017. Quantum Accelerator will end   the longest coaster gap in this park’s  history ever since Six Flags took over.   The ride will be placed on the plot formerly home  to Goliath. This ride looked imposing and great   on the midway, but it was a highly problematic  attraction. This giant inverted boomerang offered   a rough ride and it had major uptime issues.  The ride operated from just 2012 to 2019. It   was then removed after the 2021 season. This plot of land had been vacant for a   few years. Earlier this year, surveyors were  spotted on the land. And I had heard some   rumors about a potential launched motorbike  coaster. That indeed came to fruition.   Quantum Accelerator fills two major gaps for  this park. First, Six Flags New England sorely   needed a launch coaster. They had the second  most roller coasters of any amusement park in   the world without having a single launch  coaster. The only park with more coasters   without a launch is Wiener Prater in Austria. Second, Six Flags New England needed another   family coaster. The park’s current family  coasters often have some of the longest   lines in the park, so adding another  one will help relieve their burden.   Then this will be a unique coaster type for the  region. New England currently is not home to any   straddle or motorbike coaster. The closest such  rides are both in New York. There’s Steeplechase   at Luna Park in Coney Island and Motorcoaster at  Six Flags Darien Lake. But both those versions   are Zamperla models. And I find the Intamin  versions to offer superior ride experiences.   This ride will be placed in Crackaxle Canyon. The  entrance appears to be where Goliath’s once was,   across from the Stampede Bumper Cars. This  will help pull traffic back to that area.   To tie into the area, the coaster was given  a fun backstory around a character named   Professor Screamore. The same character  was recently used at Six Flags America   for their refresh of Mind Eraser. For New England, Professor Screamore   purchased Crackaxle Canyon. He then  wanted to time travel. To do this,   riders board his newest creation, the Quantum  Accelerator, which are stylized as hoverbikes.   From the rendering, there doesn’t appear  to be too much theming along the route,   which is about on par with other coasters in  the chain. I just see a themed shed and two   pieces of machinery. My pipe dream is some sort of  pre-show like Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger at Six   Flags Fiesta Texas to tell the ride’s story,  but I doubt we get that here. I like the colors   though. The track is red. Then the supports  and trains appear to have a bronze color.   I am really impressed Intamin was able to cram as  much track as they did into this compact plot of   land. Whereas Goliath had just 1204 feet or 367  meters of track, Quantum Accelerator will have   more than double that with 2604 feet or 794 meters  of track. This leads to an overall ride duration   just over 1 minute in length. This is done by  crossing over-and-under itself many times. This   also has the advantage of keeping riders on their  toes since you can’t guess where you’ll go next.   And there should be several nice headchoppers. This coaster uses the Intamin straddle coaster   system. Examples of this ride type in the  United States include DarKoaster at Busch   Gardens Williamsburg, Wave Breaker at SeaWorld  San Antonio, Arctic Rescue at SeaWorld San Diego,   and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure  at Islands of Adventure if you’re in the motorbike   seats. Overseas, examples include Juvelen at Djurs  Sommerland and Jet Rescue at Sea World Australia.   As opposed to other motorbike coasters where  you’re forced to lean forward, the trains   here give you a choice. The seats and restraints  allow you to sit upright. You then can choose to   lean forwards, grasping the handlebars in front  of you. This is how I recommend to ride these   coasters since it augments the sense of speed. Riders are secured by a u-shaped lap bar that   rests really low on your thighs. Just beware  if you have wider hips, whether it be naturally   or because you have items in your pockets.  I’m hoping this ride has a test seat out front   so people can check their fit before riding. I’m pretty thin at 165 pounds. And I’m the type   of person who only brings what they can fit into  their cargo shorts when I go to an amusement park.   I have had some issues getting the restraint down  at other parks if I have too much in my pocket. My   digital camera and sunscreen bulged outwards too  far and interfered. I can get the restraint down   with them in my pocket, but I have to really jam  it down against those items. I had no trouble if   I put these items off to the side, but I’ve  never had to do that on any other coaster.   This is important to consider because Six Flags  New England does not allow you to place bags or   loose articles on the ride platform. Items such  as this need to go into paid lockers by the ride   entrance. The announcement did not specify  how this ride will handle loose articles,   so it’s something to keep an eye on. This coaster will have two trains. Each   train will seat 16 riders, as there will be 8 rows  of 2. Combined with a cycle time of 1.5 minutes,   this should have a capacity somewhere in the  ballpark of 500-600 riders per hour. That   isn’t super high, but that is much higher  than the park’s current family coasters.   Thunderbolt, Gotham City Gauntlet,  and Pandemonium often churn through   a few hundred less riders per hour. I do suspect this will immediately get   one of the longest waits in the park upon  opening. This will be because of newness   and broad appeal. This isn’t too high or fast  to deter families, but it does enough to pique   the interest of thrill seekers. I wouldn’t be  surprised if this coaster consistently has a wait   in the 30-60 minute range next year. I suspect  it will be included on the park’s Flash Pass   skip-the-line service to help expedite your wait. Now let’s talk about the layout. The coaster will   start with a tire-driven launch. This appears to  be a rolling launch that starts just after the   station. This will accelerate the train to 30 mph  or 48 kph. While this isn’t a super high speed,   these Intamin tire-driven launches usually  have a surprising kick to them. You feel the   force try to pull you back if you’re  in the motorbike riding position.   The first half looks like a warm up.  The elements appear to be taken rather   slowly. Intamin did the same thing on Juvelen  before upping the ante in the second half.   Quantum Accelerator’s second half starts  with a tire-propelled booster launch.   This is where you reach your max speed of 45  mph or 72 kph. This should have a similarly   thrilling acceleration to the first launch. The turn after the launch is low and fast,   so I suspect it will have nice positive Gs. That  would be inline with the other straddle coasters.   Then you climb the largest hill, which goes  directly over the station. No height was given,   but I suspect it will be  roughly 5-6 stories tall.   The rest of the layout is a mix of low  turns, small s-hills, and bunny humps. The   park claims this coaster will feature 11 moments  of airtime. I’m a bit skeptical of that figure.   If you’ve ridden other straddle coasters,  they barely offer any airtime. You just get   a smidge of weightlessness here and there. I’d  be pleasantly surprised if Quantum Accelerator   is able to deliver more in that department, but  the hills look a bit too drawn to me to do that.   These rides usually do better  in the positive G department,   offering these forces on the low turns. This is  especially true on the straddle coasters overseas,   which have done better in the thrill-department  than the ones found in the SeaWorld chain. I’m   hoping this one has a bit more of a bite, but we  will see. Then the pacing and sense of speed are   usually strong on this model with the quick  directional changes. And the Intamin straddle   coaster usually offers a very smooth ride. I suspect this will immediately become the   park’s best family coaster and it should be  a smashing success with the park’s audience.   I will definitely still prefer Superman and  Wicked Cyclone overall since I love high-thrill,   airtime centric coasters. But this could  contend for my third favorite coaster   in the park depending on the forces. Now, I need to bring up is this ride’s   opening date. Six Flags has struggled to open  their new coasters on-time in recent years.   The chain was supposed to add three new coasters  for the 2024 season. Bobcat at Great Escape opened   at a reasonable time in late May, but construction  for both Georgia Surfer at Six Flags Over Georgia   and Flash Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great  Adventure started really late. This ultimately   led to both coasters being delayed to 2025. But it wasn’t just last year.   All of the chain’s new-for-2023 roller  coasters didn’t open until the fall.   Six Flags Magic Mountain’s West Coast  Racers was supposed to open in 2019,   but it didn’t open until 2020. Six Flags Discovery  Kingdom’s Sidewinder Safari was delayed from 2020   to 2022. And Six Flags Over Texas’s Aquaman  Power Wave was delayed from 2020 to 2023.   This is very frustrating for people who  purchased a season pass specifically for   those rides. So if your main reason for buying  a season pass is for Quantum Accelerator,   I maybe would wait until the spring to see  how this ride’s construction is coming along.   I am optimistic this ride will open by summer.  One, the plot is already cleared and it’s a   contained site. Two, Six Flags New England  has a nice long off-season for crews to get   in there without disrupting day guests. Three,  Six Flags recently merged with Cedar Fair,   and the latter is usually good having  their attractions ready for opening day.   Finally, I hope this is not the last Intamin  roller coaster we see in the chain. Cedar   Fair has notoriously stopped working  with Intamin. Six Flags has purchased   two new coasters from them recently, but these  plans started before the merger. One being   Quantum Accelerator. And the other being Georgia  Surfer. But only time will tell if more Intamin   rides come to the Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks. I had originally predicted a water park addition   for 2025 since Hurricane Harbor hadn’t  gotten anything in over a decade, and two   of their newest slides have both since closed. I  suspect this will occur in the next year or two,   because I’d argue this is an even greater need  for the park than a new coaster. Six Flags New   England could go decades without adding a new  coaster and they’re still the best coaster park   in the region. Meanwhile, water park competition  in the area is much fiercer. It’s still shocking   this park never has had a mat racer slide. So those are my thoughts on Quantum Accelerator,   the new coaster coming to Six Flags New England  in 2025. What are your thoughts on this coaster?   Are you looking forward to it? Let  me know down in the comments. If you   enjoyed this analysis video, I would  appreciate it if you gave this video   a like and you considered subscribing  since there will be a lot more roller   coaster and amusement park videos here  at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!