Ranked: The Top 6 Defunct Roller Coasters I Got to Ride at Six Flags America

Prior to its permanent closure, I paid a visit to Six Flags America for the first and last time.
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Welcome back to another “Ranked" article here on Laughing Place. This past summer, I’ve expanded my amusement park horizons and visited three parks that I haven’t been to in a long time or at all. I made my way to a park that has since become extinct – Six Flags America in Maryland. Following the merger of Six Flags and Cedar Point, the combined company made the decision to close the park, which had long been one of the weaker parks in the legacy Six Flags chain. But just how did the park's roller coasters fare in their final months? Join me as I rank the six roller coasters that I got to ride at Six Flags America.

6. Ragin' Cajun

I had heard good things about Ragin' Cajun, the park's spinning wild mouse coaster that is pretty similar to the former Primeval Whirl at Disney's Animal Kingdom. What has been touted as its greatest strength, was for me its biggest downside. The coaster span way too violently for my liking, quite often slamming me from side to side. What I appreciated most about this coaster was its efforts at theming, such as the Mardi Gras loving gator seen above and the signage seen below.

Ragin' Cajun is perhaps the most likely coaster to relocated elsewhere within the chain, as it's relatively new and is simple and relatively small scale.

5. Firebird

The best thing going for Firebird is its notable history. This was the first attraction built by manufacturers Bolliger & Mabillard, who since went on to create some of the most popular roller coasters worldwide. They started relatively small with this stand-up coaster, originally called Iron Wolf, and located at Six Flags Great America. The coaster was eventually relocated to Six Flags America and converted into a floorless coaster. Unfortunately, the ride showed its age, with some pretty unbearable transitions leading to some massive head-banging. B&M showed promise from the start, but their best work was clearly ahead of them. I will give props to a working fire effect that added some fun interaction to the layout.

4. Professor Screamore's SkyWinder

Another ride I was expecting to be unbearably painful was Professor Screamore's SkyWinder, which is a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC). This particular ride type is typically regarded as one of the most painful coasters by coaster enthusiasts, due to poor track profiling and ridiculously bulky over-the-shoulder restraints. Fortunately, the ride received an upgrade last year, transforming it from its former name of Mind Eraser and adding updated trains with vest restraints. While you still feel the poor track profiling and get yanked around a bit, at least there's no head-banging. I came off this ride not impressed, but also not concussed – so it was a win.

3. Roar

The park's newest of two wooden roller coasters is Roar, which I was neither impressed with nor found particularly painful in anyway. It's a pretty run-of-the-mill wooden coaster that didn't cause any pain like some can, but also didn't really do anything exciting. You definitely feel the speed of the attraction, but it doesn't provide any airtime or similar fun moments.

2. The Joker's Jinx

The Joker's Jinx is a clone of a launch coaster that I've previously experienced at Six Flags Fiesta Texas – Poltergeist. That version of the attraction was extra impressive, thanks to a wonderfully haunted themed queue. There's not as much theming here, more so just over-the-top Joker lettering. Fortunately, it's still an excellent coaster. Think of it as Rock ‘n Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but outside, much smoother, a little more intense, and only a lap bar.

1. The Wild One

The Wild One was clearly the best coaster in the park, at least that was open (more on that in a bit). This over 100-year-old wooden coaster obviously has a lot of history, having got its start at the defunct Paragon Park in Massachusetts as The Giant Coaster. That park closed in 1984 and two years later, the coaster was relocated to Six Flags America (known as Wild World) at the time, and got its new name, appropriately named The Wild One. The coaster went on to reach its 100th anniversary, operating through the closing day of the park on November 2nd, 2025. For a 100 year old coaster, this was truly excellent, being smoother than the much newer Roar across the park, and actually providing moments of airtime and speed. The ride ended with an excellent helix, which truly made me appreciate just how good this coaster from 1917 was.

The Coasters I Didn't Get to Ride...

Sadly, I didn't get to experience the park's flagship coaster Superman: Ride of Steel. This Intamin hyper coaster was having a lot of issues over the summer, and my visit just happened to occur during that period. Fortunately, there's a clone of this ride at a Six Flags park I've yet to visit, Six Flags New England. So hopefully, I'll get to ride it there someday soon!

Another closed roller coaster was Batwing, which was officially announced as closed forever just prior to my visit after also having a number of issues. Not getting to ride this ride was a bit of a downer, as it was the last of three Vekoma Flying Dutchman coasters left in existence. I also missed out on its sister coaster, Nightwing at Carowinds, which has also since closed. As the last of its kind, the closure of Batwing brought an end to a unique coaster type.

I hope you all enjoyed this ranking of my Top 6 now-defunct roller coasters at Six Flags America. Stay tuned, as I’ll also be ranking the coasters of Busch Gardens Williamsburg in the near future! In the meantime, if you want to see some more theme park rankings, feel free to check out some of my other “Ranked" articles listed below:

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