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
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since there will be a lot more roller coaster and amusement park videos here
at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!