Thanks for the memories

Just last night I found out something rather sad but not entirely unsurprising. Apparently the nearest large amusement park to me will be closing forever at the end of the year, one where I conquered my fear of roller coasters and spent lots of time. This park is the only major amusement park in the state of Maryland, and its absence will leave the state with only a few carnival or boardwalk type smaller coasters. I’ve not been to Six Flags America in years, if only for the fact that park hasn’t added a new coaster since the year 2001. But if my coaster club has an event there this year I will visit for one last time. While this was never my favorite park, or even close to it, I have a lot of memories going way back to my childhood. This was when the park was just a drive-thru wildlife safari, and there were no rides at all, nor any water park. Then, the park was sold and the safari went away and it became a traditional amusement park which was then called Adventure World. Eventually it would again be sold to the Six Flags chain where it remains to this day.

Sadly Six Flags America has suffered from a bad reputation for years. This is due to various criminal activities on park grounds, like cars being broken into. There were also some violent crimes like shootings and stabbings that happened on park property. I generally went in the fall when crowds were light and never had any issues. But for me this was the park where I was finally forced to confront a phobia I had since I was a child. It was where I was able to break free from that fear by riding the park’s coasters until I felt nothing but pure enjoyment. I would never have gone there if not for being invited by a family friend. I had no idea she would drag me onto an utterly terrifying coaster that day. But I soon learned that my fears were unfounded, and I wasn’t going to die of fright or fall out or whatever I dreaded might happen. This is sad news for so many in this area, especially those like me who have lots of memories of this park.

One such memory was when my friend John and I went to the park (this was when it was called Adventure World) for one of its annual Halloween weekends in October. This was before most parks had walk thru haunted houses, but the park did have a haunted hayride that went around into the woods behind the Wild One roller coaster. They also had lots of decorations, lights and some Halloween themed shows. And there was the fog. They must have had scores of fog machines running as it seemed that the whole park would fill up with fog. It was after dark, and John and I decided we wanted to ride the Python, which was the park’s old shuttle looping coaster. In order to ride it, you had to climb I don’t know how many flights of stairs (it had to have been at least six stories) just to get on the ride. So John and I made the long climb up onto the station platform. This afforded a nice view of much of the park, and as we waited for the train to return we noticed that no one else was in line. The sky was dark and the fog filled in and around the Wild One and other rides and buildings nearby. The train came back, and the half dozen or so riders exited. Then John and I took our seats. We might have gone for the front row, as we had the whole coaster to ourselves. As we were waiting for the ride operators to check our restraints, an eerie feeling came over me. There we were, alone, in the dark (save for the ride ops) on a coaster in a spooky looking fog filled park right before Halloween. John noticed this too, and he said something to the effect that it was kind of scary. Then, the coaster train launched forwards down into the dark, foggy drop before entering the ride’s single loop. Then, we ended up on the opposite platform before being launched backwards thru the course once more.

Now I don’t know when my coaster club might have an event at this park, but in the past they have had them in the fall, in October. If they do, that will perhaps bring back more memories….