Superman: The Ride — Attraction in Agawam

Superman topped surveys of the world's greatest roller coasters for several straight years after it went into operation. These days, among hardcore coaster freaks, it's been a bit overshadowed by other types of ride (one of them, Wicked Cyclone, is just 700 feet away), but this hypercoaster is still an extraordinary experience that must not be missed.

Simply visually, it dominates the park. The overbuilt appearance of the truss structure under the lift hill makes it look even more colossal than it is. Going up, you get gorgeous views of the river and the park and hear John Williams' stirring Superman theme playing on speakers mounted by the track. The first drop is a steep 220-foot plunge directly into an underground tunnel. There's another huge hill, then a tall overbanked turnaround into a lower returning section with powerful ejector airtime and a bit of simple cutout theming to create near-miss effects.

In the second half of the ride, Superman continues on past the station into a twister section with big, powerful helixes (pouring on the positive Gs here) and a second underground tunnel. The last act is a series of airtime-filled bunny hills, cutting diagonally through the tangle of twister track to a short and surprisingly sudden brake run at the station. The ride delivers to the very end.

Some fans complain about the bulky lap restraints, but I think that to some extent that's just because the ride used to have much more minimal ones that were changed to these after a tragic accident. I did not find them too cumbersome--they're not really that different from the ones on Wicked Cyclone. To my mind just about any big coaster that doesn't put you in over-the-shoulder restraints is a win.

The one bad thing about it is that it's such a big draw that the queue to ride it can be brutal (and provides a whole different type of fear under pandemic conditions, but, you know, if you're going to Six Flags at all these days you should be prepared for this). This is the one ride where I'd consider buying FlashPass just to get on it, or at least put some thought into a strategy for minimizing time...

This is the best steel coaster I’ve ever experienced. Everything from the Airtime, overall smoothness and operations were supreme. My one criticism is the restraints as it’s bulky and restricts some of the airtime, either way it’s not the worst nor the best restraint out there as you can still enjoy some plentiful amount of airtime. The staff working at Superman are the best, their dispatch time is quick compared to other rides such as wicked cyclone and the crew is sufficient and can be enjoyable. The wait time is very short compared to others as the most time I have to wait on Superman is 15 minutes which is good for a park with overall bad operations for most of the time. If you are planing on going to Six Flags New England, I recommend going on a raining day as there will be no queues for all of the rides. Superman the ride is an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to any...

Superman the Ride is definitely one of Six Flags New England’s best coasters in terms of thrill. The lines are usually manageable on the weekdays in the morning and late afternoon. With that said, there are two main issues I have with this ride. First, the current lap bars. They are not comfortable and constrict blood circulation. The first half of the coaster is bearable and worth it, however, by the final turn we were ready to get off. The other issue is the bag storage system. Superman and Batman are the only two rides which require you to use a locker to store bags. This isn’t too big of a deal, however, those lockers do cost money. Overall, I would imagine it would be a better experience if you could leave your bag on the other side of the platform, or at least if they would allow you to leave your bag outside the ride in a common location...