Superman: Krypton Coaster

Superman: Krypton Coaster

Park	Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Park section	Spassburg
Opening date	March 11, 2000
Closing date	Unknown
Height	168ft
Drop	163ft
Speed	70mph
Replaced	Unknown
Replaced by	Unknown

Superman: Krypton Coaster is a steel coaster in the Spassburg area of Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It was one of the first floorless coasters in the world, and was famous for holding the world record for the tallest loop on a coaster until 2013.

Ride history[]

In 1999, Great Adventure, another park in the Six Flags chain, spent $42 million on an expiremental floorless coaster, named Medusa (later Bizarro). The ride was quickly valued highly in popularity, and led to the announcement of four floorless coasters at parks, including SeaWorld Orlando's Kraken, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's Medusa, Geauga Lake's Dominator, and Superman: Krypton Coaster. The $20 million project was said to be part of a park multi-million-dollar expansion.

Construction began shortly before announcement near an unused area of land, bordered by quarry walls and an irrigation pond. Early on during construction, several modifications had to be made to the ride's original layout.

The attraction opened to the park on March 11, 2000. Much like Medusa, the ride gained huge popularity. Park Manager John Odum stated it was "the big-league ride they really needed". In May 2000, two months after opening, the ride was reported to have been "off to a flying start".

Ride synopsis[]

After riders are loaded into their OTSRs, the station floor restracts, and the train departs with a left turn out of the station. It then ascends the 168-foot lift hill over the park. Once the train reaches the hill's crest, it slightly turns 180 degrees, over the quarry wall, and begins its 163-foot descent off the quarry wall. The train then enters the ride's famous 145-foot loop, and turns right. At this point, riders are on top of the quarry wall. The train leaps off the quarry wall again, the train enters the zero-g roll, where riders feel "a sense of weightlessness". The train then enters the 78-foot cobra roll and a slight mid-ride brake system. The train then exits the brake run and banks downwards to the right and enters the attraction's interlocking corkscrews before making a final turn and slowly entering the final brake system.

Trivia[]

Records[]

Superman: Krypton Coaster is one of the first floorless coasters.
The attraction had the tallest loop on any roller coaster (145 feet), until the opening of Full Throttle in June 2013 (160 feet). It is now the second tallest loop on any coaster.
The attraction ties with Happy Valley Shanghai's Diving Coaster and Busch Gardens Tampa's SheiKra for the seventh tallest inversion on any coaster, at 145 feet.

Statistics[]

The ride's original layout included seven inversions.

Awards[]

Golden Ticket Awards[]

Year	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2011
Ranking	24	25	27	33	33	36	50	44	38

Mitch Hawker's Best Roller Coaster Poll[]

Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2012
Ranking	20	20	23	17	25	63	42	42	45	48	54