Six Flags New England never opened during the 2020 season, and during the beginning of the 2021 season, they were barred from opening any of their rides leading to a dinosaur-themed walk-through experience. But now they have finally been allowed to reopen their world-famous attractions amid the pandemic for the first time, and we were there to report on it.
So here is a full review of the reopening weekend of Six Flags New England for the 2021 season.
The park is operating with only reservations which must be made in advance in fifteen-minute increments. This means that the first few hours of the park are empty as so few people are entering the park at a time. This also makes entering the park easy as there are never enough people to cause any kind of backup.
The park is still utilizing temperature checks and no-touch security which runs relatively seamlessly prior to the park entrance. Do be aware that your reservation is going to be checked twice, once at parking and once just before security so don't leave it in the car.
Despite many other parks making rules more relaxed on masking, Six Flags is still fully enforcing an indoor and outdoor mandate, and the enforcement is pretty strict. It is also required on every ride as well, and they will even announce on a loudspeaker to get you to put it back on. The park does have mask break areas throughout the park.
Distancing is also being enforced in both lines and in various walkways in the park.
Every ride in the park is also enforcing social distancing on the ride in some way. While we do not have a full rundown for every ride, here are some highlights of how social distancing works on some of the more popular rides.
On Superman The Ride every other row is blocked off to allow for distancing. This is a common strategy, although it can be a bit annoying if your group is larger than two.
On Batman The Dark Knight every row is being used, but only one party will be seated per row.
On Wicked Cyclone every other row is blocked off.
Every row is being used on The Riddler Revenge.
Seats are being left empty between each group on Harley Quinn Spinsanity.
Only one group is allowed on each ride vehicle for roller coasters with smaller vehicles like Gotham City Gauntlet and Pandemonium.
Blizzard River is only allowing one group on each raft.
Goliath is the only notable ride that will be closed this season, with rumors it may not return at all and will be replaced with a new ride for next season.
Mobile ordering is also starting to become available at some locations throughout Six Flags, limiting the time you need to spend in a physical queue.
If you are visiting the park, I would highly recommend getting there as soon after park opening as possible. All of the highlight attractions were walk-ons until well into the afternoon, around 3PM on a day the park opened at 11AM. The only long lines were for attractions that are slow loading. If you plan your day well you could get every big ride done in the first few hours.
The park also has a limited amount of entertainment throughout that is fun to experience. Highlights include remaining elements of the dinosaur walk-through like the animatronics, characters, and drummers, as well as characters like Bugs Bunny appearing in the central gazebo.
The park has made a lot of changes to fit into the guidelines they were given by the state of Massachusetts and they make the park feel safe while still being fun. If you want hand sanitizer there is always some only a few steps away (a change I hope outlasts the pandemic) and you can almost always keep your distance at any moment.
It is a great start to what will hopefully be a great season, as the park will likely gradually return to normal.
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