Medusa, formerly known as Bizarro, is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

located at

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...

Jackson Township, New Jersey Jackson Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Ocean County, New Jersey, Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A portion of the township is located within the Pinelands National Reserve. As of the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

. Manufactured by

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 ...

, the ride debuted as the world's first

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 ...

on April 2, 1999. It was repainted and rethemed to Bizarro in 2009. In 2022, it was repainted and renamed back to Medusa.

History

Medusa was part of a $42 million expansion at

announced in January 1999, and was one of three roller coasters introduced in the expansion. The ride officially opened on April 2, 1999 as the first

Floorless 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 ...

in the world. On October 23, 2008, Six Flags announced that Medusa would be re-designed for the 2009 operating season. On April 1, 2009, Six Flags officially announced the details of Bizarro. Although no changes were made to the track layout, a new theme highlighting

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

's evil clone,

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain or anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy (comic bo ...

, was added. Bizarro opened on May 23, 2009, at the start of

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

weekend. The track was repainted blue with dark purple supports and multiple special effects were added such as rings in the shape of Bizarro's S shield that the train passes through, and fire effects. The three trains also received on-board audio. Six Flags introduced an "alternate reality game" to market the re-themed ride. On March 2, 2022, it was announced that Bizarro would be renamed back to Medusa. The rebranded Medusa reopened in July 2022. The track was painted green prior to the ride's reopening.

Ride experience

Layout

Once 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 ...

is loaded and secured, the floor retracts and the front gate that blocks the train from leaving while loading opens. After leaving 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 makes a left turn to climb the tall

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 riders reach the top, they go through a small pre-drop before dropping to the left at a 55-degree angle. The train then reaches a top speed of as it enters 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 ...

, followed by a diving loop. Upon exiting the dive loop, the train passes the station and goes through a

zero-g roll 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 ...

, followed by a

cobra roll Roller coasters are widely known for their drops, inversions, airtime (rides), 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 opera ...

over the ride entrance. Out of the cobra roll, the train rises up into a

mid-course 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, an ...

which is located next to the lift hill. Similar to the first drop, the train drops to the left and enters a 270-degree helix, before passing through two

Interlocking corkscrews 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 o ...

. After the corkscrews, the train goes through a small dip and makes a left turn into the final

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 ...

, before making another left turn to reenter the station.

Trains

Medusa operates with three steel and fiberglass trains. Each train has eight cars that have four seats in a single row. In the first few years of the ride's operation as Bizarro, the middle two seats of the last row were removed on each train to install a computer and power module for the on-board audio. This reduced the capacity of the trains from 32 to 30 riders per train. Each seat on every train had a speaker to the left and right of the rider, with a recording of a montage of movie quotes being played for the duration of the ride. For the 2013 season, the on-board audio speakers and the computer module were removed; this returned the train's capacity back to 32. By late-2013, Six Flags proposed that the audio equipment would be given to

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,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 ...

could be fitted with an audio track for the 2014 season. However, these plans never came to fruition.

Track

The ride's track is approximately in length and the height of the lift is approximately . The first drop is . From 1999 to 2008, the ride was painted with lime green track and purple supports. Upon the retheming to Bizarro in 2009, the track was repainted blue with dark purple supports. Upon the retheming to Medusa in 2022, the ride was repainted with green track and orange supports.

References

External links

Six Flags Great Adventure Medusa ride page
* {{Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Roller coasters introduced in 1999 Roller coasters in New Jersey Floorless Coaster roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard 1999 establishments in New Jersey