For the first time in a decade, Six Flags will be opening a new Bolliger & Mabillard coaster. And it's a record setter, too.
Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger will open next year at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, the park announced today. The Dive Coaster will be B&M's first to go beyond vertical, with a 95-degree drop.
The 150-foot coaster will reach a top speed of 60 mph on its 2,501 feet of track. And it's the first new Bolliger & Mabillard for a Six Flags park since Six Flags Great America opened X-Flight in 2012. Here is the hype video from the park, which sets up the backstory of Dr. Diabolical:
Six Flags is not doing its usual one-stop round-up of new attraction announcements, as it had done in the past. That's why we are getting this new-for-2022 announcement today. We expect to see additional announcements from other Six Flags parks in the weeks to come.
Update: Here's a POV:
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This is a complete shocker.
My question is where did Six Flags find the money to do this? lol
I heard so many think that Pandemonium was gonna be replaced by that new S&S Axis model so this came as a complete surprise, even more so with the plot of land it's on in the park. I really hope this is a start of a new relationship between Six Flags and B&M. While I'd rather have them rekindle their relationship with Intamin, this is a good start in that direction.
The question now is… will this open before Emperor?
Emperor will open after Epic Universe opens
It looks like Six Flags saw the funky little dive coasters in Europe and tried to replicate them (see: Efteling/Heidi Park/Gardaland/Liseburg). While I don't have much confidence SF will theme or maintain the theme nearly as well as those parks I think this will be a good addition to SFFT regardless. Spanos does seem to have more common sense than Reid-Anderson when it comes to additions.
Of the three strong theories I heard on this project, this was the one I was most skeptical of, but I'm glad that my skepticism was wrong. While it's a smaller coaster, it's still the most exciting thing out of Six Flags in the past decade that isn't a RMC ride, and hopefully represents a new strategy more focused on unique investments rather than simply cloning similar rides across the chain. Is this something large enough for me to plan a return trip to SFFT? No, it isn't. But it is a ride I very much look forward to trying the next time I'm in San Antonio, and arguably looks better than Emperor.
In response to Postcott,Six Flags reported a nice profit for their 2nd quarter and insinuated their attendance for July is back to 2019 levels. Given their reduced expenditures with some luck concerning Delta Variant things should be better than ever. Six Flags has developed some great ways to increase profitability, the drive thru Weekday Holiday in the Park Experience and the Dinosaurs at their Great Adventure Safari Park. Now, if they would only add some shows to their empty theaters.
when i first saw this headline, my immediate thought was "awesome, a perfect type of coaster to plunge down the side of the quarry wall and won't that be amazing?", but, alas...on the other hand, don't downplay the smaller dive coasters. baron 1898, at efteling, packs a surprisingly powerful punch, and at 95 degrees and an airtime hill, dr. diabolical looks very promising.
I've ridden plenty of coasters with beyond vertical drops, and very few are distinguishable from a straight vertical drop. I'm not sure how a 95-degree drop makes this that much different than any other B&M dive coasters, but I do like the layout here. I also think SFFT always takes an extra step to theme their coasters more than other Six Flags parks, but I wish they took advantage of the quarry walls instead of plopping this coaster near the middle of the park.
russell, my thoughts exactly...i get budgets and logistics and all but SFFT has been screaming for a dive coaster off the cliff since dive coasters were invented.
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Well I'm excited!! When I first saw this on IG I completely took this news as a joke. That fact that SF is getting a B&M is clearly shocking news in itself. Let the pouting begin, as the coaster community seems to loath dive coasters, seemingly unlike the general public.