Honestly one of the coolest coasters I’ve been on, and one-of-a-kind too. It may be a one-trick-pony, but that trick is just so much fun and it’s an epic monolith to witness in action. Even the slower acceleration is a good thing in my eyes, it builds up tension before rushing up the spike.
@@CanobieCoaster Yeah, it was clearly ahead of its time and a stepping stone for Intamin on their way to more impressive projects like Dragster. There’s all sorts of ways the ride could be improved, but also enough it gets right that would hate to see it change too much.
Fun fact: when Superman escape from krypton was refurbished in 2011, as you can tell there is a green car and a red car, the green car actually used to be on the left side of the track and the red car was on the right, then for some reason in late 2014 they switched the cars to opposite tracks, so if you search “Superman escape from krypton 2011-2014” you will see the green car on the left side, then if you search “Superman escape from krypton 2015-2023” you will see it has changed to the right side.
From the mouth of the head mechanic himself (I did a backlot tour of the Magic Mountain shop last month, it was incredible), Superman's launch runs at 63% juice. Early on it would be around 70%. Makes sense why the ride would be dialed back but I'm curious to see what a full send launch would be like.
Superman Is An Icon At Magic Mountain. I Don't Think The Park Would The Same Without This Gigantic Spike Towering In The Skyline. I Hope They Keep It Running For A Long Time.
I rode this as a kid when it first opened and it blew my mind. It's still a bit unnerving looking down from up there, though it's more noticeable from Lex Luthor. I'm very intrigued by the idea of redoing the whole thing as a full circuit coaster. I know it would be logistically complex but I've always thought it would be cool to redo it as a full circuit launched flying coaster and then have you dive down the tower head first on the return. It would make a lot of sense with the Superman theme and also be a totally insane experience.
On the survey, for inversions, one of the options was 15 inversions. Since Six Flags Magic Mountain's rides beat records, maybe one day, Six Flags Magic Mountain could steal the inversion record.
I’m glad I went to the forward facing on the left side of Superman escape from krypton last year. Also, I did remember riding the original Superman the escape 3 times as a kid, but it’s my 4th time as an adult.
Only the right side has ever run during my visits. I thoroughly enjoy the ride, and I like the unique aspect of how long that launch is. It's nice to be able to experience something different, even if more powerful launches are better. It's my # 8 coaster in the park.
When they reopened after covid they had Superman running 100%. I rode everything else once before riding Superman and it was the best ride of the day. Shame its not feasible to run it at 100% all the time. Something about being half way into the red
Man I went right after covid and it was basically hitting the trim. I was so mad that I didn't get to get on any of those times cause the wait was always 2 hours
@@chris_allupinya5613 I waited about 60 minutes. Worth it. Girls I rode with had no idea what they were in for. 0-100 in 7 seconds, thrown 365 ft in the air. Wish I could've done it 10 times. My guess is all the lsm's were functional upon reopening. They had to shut the ride down a few months after, probably hasnt been back to 100% since
I enjoy this ride a lot, especially as the first ride of the day to wake you up and warm up the senses. But that said I would never wait more than 15-20 mins for it, and will often only ride if it's a walk on. While I definitely wish we had a full circuit Strata instead, I enjoy SEFK for what is it and would definitely be sad if the park pulled the plug on it. Either way I'm curious to see what the future holds for it, and I guess the whole park in general.
this is one of two credits I still need at magic mountain, the other is wonder woman. I went a little over a week ago and a bunch of rides where closed including both WW and Superman. I really hope its open the next time I go.
I went to magic mountain back in November 2022, and while I did have fun, there were a LOT of rides closed that day. Super Man, Full Throttle, Riddler's Revenge, Scream, AND Goliath were all closed the entire day. I was pretty disappointed because I took my younger brother there as he hasn't been on any of the major rides there. Thankfully twisted colossus, tatsu, and X2 saved the day. As well as the drop of doom. A park employee said goliath was down do to repainting, and I think the other rides were closed do to short staffing.
@@Rickmarine1 Goliath is still down and was down for me as well. Luckily I had been to the park before and the only credits I needed going in where Superman, Wonder Woman and X2 all three where closed at the start of the day, in fact every single coaster in the park was closed at opening accept full throttle and west coaster racers. Slowly a lot of rides opened including X2 which I did get to ride and holy crap it’s incredible! But sadly Wonder Woman and Superman remained closed all day. I was really bummed about missing Wonder Woman but I know I will be back sooner then later! Im only about 2 hours from the park and it’s one of my home parks so I will make it out there soon
@@Rickmarine1 Riddlers Revenge has been down since mid fright fest because it developed a crack in the valley between the first drop and the loop. They have been working on it recently though and hopefully will get it repaired soon
Wow! That full circuit concept looks insane! Some of it looks just a little illogical, but it’s only an animation. I’m sure do they were even more serious about it, a more revised version would be released!
This ride better not be in danger. I have unfinished business with it. When I visited this park in 2014, it was closed upon arrival. It opened up later in the day, but I didn't get over to it yet because I was too busy with other rides. By the time I finally got in line, it broke down again. Next time I visit, I am not leaving until I ride this.
it’s really fun don’t get me wrong, but I liked it more in it’s original form - mainly due to the trains. launching and climbing up the spike backwards is still a very thrilling and unique sensation. but the combination of arm covers on the end seats and over the shoulder restraints is incredibly restrictive and kills a lot of what used to make the ride great. I used to get an insane amount of weightless, floater airtime goodness. now, not as much. it’s still a lot of fun and definitely worth a ride when visiting the park, and it holds a lot of nostalgia for me personally. but if they used that plot for a much more modern and thrilling coaster, I wouldn’t be mad at all
Great video. Any chance magic mountains still has the other original train with those original restraints? I'm hoping they could return that train for forward and keep the new train with the over the shoulder restraints for reverse. It was not mentioned in the video but the new trains are also more size restrictive. I no longer fit on the ride. But back in the 90s and through the 2000s I always rode on the old trains no problem with the same body type.
This ride is okay. The launch is just so drawn out that there’s no “umpf” to it. In SoCal, I prefer the launch on Xcelerator for the punch in the gut feeling.
Great Vid! The first thing I noticed was Tower of Terror II in Australia reminds me and makes me miss Pittfall at Kennywood. hahaaha. So My question is this, would you consider the backward launch and forward launch to be different coaster creds? Also, what about the different sides, this could potentially be 4 creds in itself. I've always wondered what your opinion on cred counts is with rides like this, wing coasters, and racing ones.
It didn't run when I was there but it looks like it has one of the world's best airtime moments on the top of the spike. It's not as good as either of the only two stratas and now you tell me it doesn't even get anywhere near 328'. At least I shouldn't feel bad missing it when I was there in late 2019. Thanks for posting this though!
I heard a rumor that recently, the ride's server room caught on fire after an electrical malfunction. Meaning that extensive repairs are to be made if this were to reopen. Theres images of smoke nearby superman online and the ride has been closed since june. Which does not bode well for this ride.
this is one of my favorite rides in the park. Maybe it's simple, but tall is tall and fast is fast. I'm hardly going to turn my nose up at 90+ mph and 300+ feet. And air conditioning.
I went last week since school was out for me. It was a really busy day, except Superman had no line the entire day. I’ve been trying to go to Six flags when Superman was open since 2016!!!! But have had bad luck until most recently. I finally got to go on, and went on 5 times in a row. Just me riding it, nobody else was even in line lmaoo it was so cool
Have you ever seen it not launch? Sometimes it will just give up and slow down riders and they don't even get past 45 degrees on the spike. It's always funny to see it do that.
Great Review! I was confused by the time you said on where to sit. I believe the forwards side is only operating right now so will I sit on the right or the left side to get the front row? (Hope this made sense)
Canobie Coaster would say: The final thing I want to touch on is the ride's smoothness. Some of these high speed launch coasters are known for having a shimmy, but I'm glad to say that Superman is extremely smooth even after all these years. Of the launch coasters with shimmying, which ones do you know? Examples:
Definitely a 1 trick pony but a good one indeed. I wonder how it compared to ToT at Dreamworld. Positive Gs on the pullout and that crazy weightless feeling which is very different depending on which way you face. I just wished it made it up into the top of the red every time, but ToT was way worse at that as it only made it up half way most of the time by the looks.
I remember the dRaMa when they were building this ride + the countless videos of the teething pains to bring it to life. Kind of like the character Goofy. Is it a man/dog. No denying it's done a LOT to stay relevant in the coaster kingdom. The newest incarnation would be very interesting.
I hope Magic Mountain upgrades this ride. The ride is old, out-dated, not popular, and has a very high operating cost. A full circuit ride would be amazing, but I don't see the current Six Flags CEO wanting to invest in the high price tag that would come for such a ride to come into existence. Whatever Magic Mountain does, I think Superman and Viper will either be demolished, or drastically changed in regards to the layout, or be replaced with a completely different ride. I can see B&M or S&S replacing Viper, and Intamin, or Zamperla replacing this old Superman.
I Enjoy SUPERMAN. I've Never tried it Backwards, only Fowards. It is short, but the Weightlessness you feel is very sweet. It be Cool if they added to this ride, and where after you got done blasting up the Superman Lex structure, if you raced through the station and blasted up the exsisting RED Sky Tower. Depending how you ride Superman if you Start going Fowards, you'd end up going backwards up the Red Sky Tower. If you Choose to go Backwards than You'd end going Fowards up the Red Sky Tower. No Loops necessary on this shuttle Coaster. That be sweet. 😎🌴✌️
I'd Ride tower of terror all the time while it was still open, god I miss it, Hoping to make it there next year and fingers crossed its still open by then!
Can you do a review of Crazanity? I'm still too scared to ride it with my eyes open...I opened my eyes a few times last time i rode it and the horizon looked very beautiful but I'm still chicken.
Basically, the concept of the roller coaster is outdated. Today's modern pendulum launch coasters offer more or less the same experience with the spike and much more. At the latest when magic mountain buys such a coaster, Superman becomes superfluous. At the moment, Six Flags wants to position itself more as a family park, so such a purchase is rather unlikely. But if I were the boss of Six Flags I would consider exchanging Superman for a new pendulum launch coaster because such an attraction would enhance the whole park.
GO Now, while you can, it's been Open for the Last few weeks. Unfortunately, Only the Left Side Car (Fowards) is Currently Running. But it's still much fun. Try it.😎🌴👍
this ride is so mid. It could be mildly interesting if six flags bothered to operate both sides. But other than the credit inflating, it’s just a big ball of nothing.