Earlier this year, Six Flags and Cedar Fair, the two largest park operators in the US, merged into one company. Now, Six Flags consists of 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and 9 resorts. As a part of the merger, we are seeing major changes to several of the chain's parks including ride removals, now including two major coasters at Carowinds and Kings Dominion.
Over the past few months, several major attractions have been shuttered across Six Flags parks, including major losses to theme park history. At Six Flags Over Texas, the world lost its last Intamin bobsled coaster with the closure of La Vibora. Six Flags Great Adventure lost two coasters with their B&M stand-up coaster Green Lantern and the iconic record-holding Kingda Ka. Unfortunately for fans, these closures have been mostly unannounced, with confirmations, if any, surrounding the attractions’ demises coming after final rides have occurred. As the company begins to streamline its business operations, it is clear that Six Flags is cleaning house by removing unpopular and problematic attractions ahead of the 2025 season.
We now have confirmation that two other major coasters across the chain have ended their operational life with the closures of Nighthawk at Carowinds and Anaconda at Kings Dominion. Let’s take a look back at these coasters.
Nighthawk
Nighthawk, the first Vekoma Flying Dutchman coaster, has a unique story in addition to being the first large-scale flying coaster in the world. Starting its life at, then, Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA, the prototype flying coaster opened under the name Stealth. The unique coaster positioned riders from laying to flying position flipping riders through 5 inversions across 2,765.7 feet of track at speeds up to 51 miles per hour. The intense attraction stood at 115 feet tall and operated from April 1st, 2000 until September 2nd, 2003 when it was removed for the addition of the park’s Boomerang Bay water park.
However, this coaster’s life was just beginning. Just 9 months later, Stealth reopened at Paramount Carowinds with a fresh coat of paint and a brand new name. BORG Assimilator, the world’s first Star Trek-themed coaster, officially opened at the park on March 30th, 2004, sporting a sleek green and black paint scheme. The coaster dominated the front of the Charlotte, NC located park, thrilling guests with its unique layout and sci-fi theme.
Just over 2 years later, the entire lineup of Paramount Parks was acquired by Cedar Fair. Purchasing the chain from CBS for $1.24 billion, Cedar Fair now owned Carowinds along with Kings Island, California’s Great America, Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Dominion. While the parks were now under control by the Cedar Fair chain, the rights for the many Paramount intellectual properties were not. During the 2006-2007 off-season, Cedar Fair began rethemeing many of the chain's major attractions. The Peanuts replaced Nickelodeon and generic coaster names quietly replaced the movie-franchise themes.
Thus, Nighthawk was born. Removing the large props from the attraction and giving the Vekoma a fresh yellow and blue paint job, the prototype took on its third identity within less than 10 years of its debut. Nighthawk would go on to operate until rumors began swirling this month, that the attraction had already given its final rides. The park confirmed the news on December 18th, along with the closure of Scream Weaver and Drop Tower.
While it is always sad to see a unique coaster close, Nighthawk was notorious for being rough and uncomfortable. Personally, I enjoyed the ride. While it doesn’t hold a candle to flying coasters such as Manta at SeaWorld Orlando or Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain, it still provided riders with an unforgettable experience. The attraction had been rumored to be a maintenance nightmare for the park on top of its abysmal 1,000 people per hour theoretical capacity. The other two Vekoma Flying Dutchmans were built with dual-loading stations, providing a fix for one of the model’s major flaws. However, as the chain begins to evolve, it makes sense to remove attractions that are fiscally irresponsible to keep around, especially ones as controversial as Nighthawk.
Unfortunately, this marks the second closure of the three built Vekoma Flying Dutchman models, with Firehawk at Kings Island closing to make way for their B&M Giga, Orion, in 2018. If you are yet to experience one of these strange coasters, I highly recommend you head to Six Flags America for a ride on Batwing. Who knows how long the coaster has left.
Anaconda
Arrow Dynamics ruled the coaster world for years. Beginning a successful career working alongside Disney to bring the first tubular steel coaster in the world to life, the company quickly became a go to for parks around the world, building nearly 100 coasters prior to the company’s bankruptcy. Many of which include the manufacturer’s iconic looping coaster. Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm, the first modern inverting coaster, made history around the world, with parks around the world ordering copies of the model. Pretty soon after, Arrow looping models began getting bigger and crazier, adding more inversions and taller lift hills.
After removing King Kobra, a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop, Kings Dominion in Doswell, VA was on the lookout to add a new thrill coaster to their growing coaster lineup. Announced in September of 1990, Anaconda would become the tallest coaster in the park, the first to feature more than one inversion, and the only looping coaster in the world to feature an underwater tunnel. The aptly named coaster spent the majority of its layout twisting and turning over the park's lake, throwing riders through 4 inversions at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. The 128 foot coaster featured a 144 foot drop under the lake, which included a synchronized splash effect as if riders were actually diving into the water. Anaconda officially opened on March 23rd, 1991.
While Anaconda was a gorgeous looking coaster, the same could not be said about the ride experience. The rough turns of the coaster’s layout provided a significant amount of head banging. As someone who adores Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain, this coaster just didn’t do it for me. Unfortunately, Arrow looping coasters are a dying breed, making the recent finding of demolition permits for the coaster bittersweet. The attraction’s final day of operations occurred on November 3rd, 2024. Most coaster fans can agree that Anaconda wasn’t a spectacular ride, but it is still sad to see such a huge part of the park’s history destroyed without giving fans the opportunity to bid their farewells. Hopefully, whatever takes its place is a worthy predecessor. Personally, I’d love to see Vekoma come in and build one of their new looping models (or even a tilt coaster) utilizing the underwater tunnel for the now defunct coaster.
Surprisingly, a clone of Anaconda was nearly built at Dollywood. The Arrow looper would eventually evolve into what we know today as the smooth and enjoyable Tennessee Tornado, and thank god it did. Hopefully, Six Flags sends whatever parts they have for Anaconda over to Magic Mountain to keep Viper running for years to come.
Unfortunately, it’s possible the major closures haven’t finished yet. Speaking of Magic Mountain, Superman: Escape from Krypton, the park's 415 foot tall Intamin Reverse Freefall coaster, has been closed since September. Markers have begun to show up around the side of the hill where the former Golden Bear Theater used to sit. Additionally, coasterelement on Instagram shared a photo of the rides LSMs sitting in crates in the parking lot. Hopefully, this long refurbishment is just that, but with Six Flags current track record, it’s possible the once record-breaking attraction is done for.
Looking forward with optimism, I’m excited to see what Six Flags will replace these experiences with. I imagine new and exciting additions are on the way, bringing thrilling new opportunities to make memories throughout their lineup of parks.
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