Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast Coasters Are Coming to Six Flags
The Six Flags Makeover Era continues as the Mr. Freeze launch roller coasters are being revamped for 2012. The Mr. Freeze coasters at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis will now be known as Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast. Now, riders will be launched backwards, much like the Superman Escape from Krypton makeover at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Here’s a commercial promoting the ride:
My Take: Not A Completely New Ride, But Still Something Different
On the scale of upgrades and makeovers that Six Flags has done in recent years, this one sounds like its pretty much the epitome of a gimmick. But I wouldn’t say that there’s nothing wrong with that. If amusement parks can find an inexpensive way to put a twist on a potentially stale 14 year-old attraction, I’m all for it. I enjoyed the Texan Mr. Freeze quite a bit last summer, but locals might not find it as exciting anymore. I can’t really speak to how a backwards launch might feel though as I’ve never experienced one. I’m mainly approving the concept. Hopefully, it’ll be as fun or even better than before.
And having Vanilla Ice (Six Flags Over Texas) and Cardinals player David Freese (Six Flags Over St. Louis) promote the rides is a bit silly, but the marketer in me gives it a thumbs up. I’d love to know who else the parks had on their lists of celebrities with cold names in case these two declined.
What’s your take? What do you think of Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast? Leave a comment below & vote in the poll.
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April 30, 2012 at 09:24
The Superman revamp improved the ride dramatically so this may be a good thing. Freeze, however was already fantastic and I feel a good chunk of Superman's success was just getting the launch firing on all cylinders again and generally rehabing the ride. I would maybe suggest to them to have one of the trains eventually facing forward again since they have the cool split loading area to work with and give a choice, same with S:EFK.
April 30, 2012 at 20:14
Interesting. Mr. Freeze has a split loading area too, but unlike Superman, there's only one track. Giving people the choice would be the best and in essence create two riding experiences, but maybe that's not an option because there's only one track. May the brakes have to be on a certain setting for a reverse train and it'd be too much trouble to have the system switch each time. Or maybe the parks just want to promote one whole new experience.
May 1, 2012 at 08:28
I can see it being a problem if the braking sequence had to be tweaked for rider comfort during the change, otherwise it shouldn't be too hard to have one of the transfer/loading tracks have a backwards and one have a forward facing train. Just have riders make their choice at the line split point and everyone's happy. St. Louis' Freeze was my first LIM coaster and have always had a fondness for it, so as long as it's still kickin in any form is cool with me.
May 1, 2012 at 10:49
I'm a St. Louis citizen, so I've been following this all winter. Having a choice between launching forwards and backwards would be impossible because engineers have to manually reverse the brake fins on the ride. And as far as I know, Mr. Freeze is still considered the main attraction at SFSTL, so this should just boost its reputation! Can't wait to go at the end of this month!
May 3, 2012 at 02:47
I don't really see the point of reversing a shuttle coaster like this. With Superman it made a bit of sense, but here? Not much at all.
May 8, 2012 at 19:21
This should be awesome, and as a bonus, SFSL is my home park!
June 13, 2012 at 09:47
I rode Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast at SFSL recently, and enjoyed the experience. I've always been a big fan of the regular ride, and this was a nice twist. I especially enjoyed looking down at the earth at the halfway point, as opposed to looking straight up into the sky. It didn't completely change the ride, but it was a fun change.