Firebird is a

floorless roller coaster A Floorless Coaster is a type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard where riders sit with no floor underneath them, allowing their feet to swing freely just above the track. Development of the Floorless Coaster model beg ...

located at

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,Prince George's County, Maryland Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it ...

. The roller coaster had originally debuted in 1990 as a stand-up roller coaster named Iron Wolf at

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

. It was later relocated to Six Flags America in 2012 and renamed Apocalypse, under which it operated until 2018. The roller coaster was the first to be built by Swiss manufacturer

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Cl ...

. When known as Iron Wolf, the roller coaster briefly held world records among stand-up roller coasters for height () and speed () before being surpassed several years later.

History

Six Flags Great America (1990–2011)

T On April 28, 1990, Iron Wolf opened at

on the former site of Z-Force (the only

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein, best-known for designing and constructing Amusement ride, thrill rides and roller coasters at dozens of international theme parks, amusement parks and other e ...

Space Diver ever manufactured). It debuted in 1990 as the tallest and fastest stand-up roller coaster in the world. Its height record was surpassed in 1992 by Milky Way at Mitsui Greenland, which stands at , and its speed record was exceeded by

Mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate a ...

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. It opened in 1870 and is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the US behind Lake Compounc ...

in 1996, which had a maximum speed of . In 1994, Iron Wolf appeared in the movie '' Richie Rich'' as Richie's backyard roller coaster. On August 5, 2011, Six Flags Great America announced on their official Facebook page that the Iron Wolf would be closed on September 5, 2011: "After a long 21 year history at the park, we will be removing Iron Wolf. Make sure to get your last rides in – Iron Wolf’s Last Stand is September 5". 'The Last Stand' is also a reference to the slogan afforded to Apocalypse. Iron Wolf's former site would be taken over in 2014 by a custom RMC coaster,

Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...

Six Flags America (2012–present)

Apocalypse (2012–18)

On August 22, 2011,

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States, From this day, the park began to slowly remove burnt pieces from an envelope each days leading up to the official announcement on September 1, 2011. On September 1, 2011, Six Flags America announced that they would be adding Apocalypse in 2012. Iron Wolf closed on September 5, 2011, and work began on preparing it for transport to its new location. The new owners planned to add the roller coaster to the Skull Island section of their park, but before the relocation could take place, the Skull Mountain ride at Six Flags America had to be closed and demolished to make room for the new attraction. Vertical construction of Apocalypse began in February 2012. This continued until the end of March 2012 when the final piece of track was installed. The official Facebook page for Six Flags America had stated that the ride would officially open on May 25, 2012, but this was later changed to June 7, 2012.

Firebird (2019–present)

On August 16, 2018, the park announced on their social media platforms that Apocalypse would close on September 8, 2018. On August 30, 2018, instead of being demolished or relocated, it was announced that Apocalypse would be converted into a floorless coaster and renamed Firebird for the 2019 season. Firebird opened on May 3, 2019, to Six Flags members with a Platinum membership or higher. It opened to the public on May 17, 2019. Meanwhile, the former Apocalypse train was being donated to the National Roller Coaster Museum. On May 1, 2025, Six Flags announced that the Six Flags America park will close at the end of the 2025 season on November 2, 2025. The status on the future of the Firebird roller coaster was not given at the time of the announcement.

Ride experience

After departing the

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

, the

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

makes a 180 degree turn leading to the

chain lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from ...

. Once at the top, the train goes through a

pre-drop Roller coasters are widely known for their drops, inversions, airtime, and other intense ride elements that contribute to the ride. They are also made up of a variety of features and components responsible for the mechanical operation and safety ...

before making a sharp left hand turn leading into the first drop. Once the train is at the bottom of the first drop, it immediately goes through the first of two inversions, a

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, also known as a Loop-the-loop, or a Loop-de-loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, rid ...

. The train then makes an upward right turn before making a left turn back down to the ground. The train continues to go left before going through an upward helix. After, the train makes a downward right s-bend leading into the second and final inversion, a

corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork (plug), corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attach ...

. The train makes a left turn back up before going through another s-bend, small over-banked turn which leads to the

brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track that utilizes some form of brakes to slow or stop a roller coaster train. There are various types of braking methods employed on roller coasters, including friction brakes, skid brakes, a ...

. One cycle lasts about 2 minutes with riders reaching a top speed of .

Trains

Firebird operates with two floorless trains. Each train has six rows with four each for a total of 24 riders per train. When the roller coaster was known as Iron Wolf, both trains featured the face of a wolf on the front of the train. After the ride was relocated to Six Flags America, the wolf was removed and the word "Apocalypse" replaced it.

Track

The steel track is approximately in length and the height of the lift is approximately . The first drop is . The track spine is painted orange and the rails red. The supports are dark gray. When the coaster was known as Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America, the track was brown.

Theme

Between 1990 and 2011, when Apocalypse was known as Iron Wolf, there was no theme for the roller coaster. After its relocation to

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,end of the world

apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

theme was added with fire, crashed planes and zombies located in the queue line and along the layout of the roller coaster. As guests went further in the queue line to the end at the station, it mimicked an end of the world apocalypse scenario. The skull from Skull Mountain also serves as a backdrop to the ride. After being converted to Firebird, much of the Apocalypse theming has been removed. The fire effect is still used, however.

References

External links

Apocalypse
at Six Flags America's website

at the

Roller Coaster DataBase Roller Coaster DataBase (RCDB) is a roller coaster and amusement park database begun in 1996 by Duane Marden. It has grown to feature statistics and pictures of over 12,000 roller coasters from around the world. Publications that have mentioned ...

{{Six Flags Great America Roller coasters in Maryland Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Six Flags America Floorless Coaster roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard Roller coasters introduced in 2019 Amusement rides that closed in 2018