Six Flags Great Adventure to kick off new summer festival and celebrates return of Medusa Coaster
By News Release | July 13, 2022
JACKSON, N.J. ─ On July 16, Six Flags Great Adventure, The World’s Ultimate Thrill Park, will kick off its new Six Flags Summer Vibes Festival presented by M&M’S, and soon complete the transformation of its BIZARRO roller coaster to the legendary Medusa. These additions are a small part of Six Flags Great Adventure’s full complement of guest enhancements for the 2022 season.
Kaleidoscope of Color at Summer Vibes Festival
At the Six Flags Summer Vibes Festival, sun-kissed dreams will come to life as guests drench themselves in a kaleidoscope of color. The event, which will run daily July 16 through Aug. 14, will offer mouth-watering treats, beat-the-heat beverages, bold, eye-popping spectacles, photo moments, live entertainment and colorful curiosities to immerse guests in the reverie of summer.
Six Flags Summer Vibes Festival will include six zones to explore, each with its own specialty offerings of food and fun:
- Under the Sun, with its colorful umbrella canopy;
- Whirly Way, showcasing a massive pinwheel tunnel;
- Splash of Color, offering a colorful palette and drumming painters;
- Forgotten Garden, transforming ride relics and park memorabilia into beautiful, new planters;
- Wacky Wavy Way, featuring air dancers and the M&M’S DJ booth; and
- Summer St., the cool-down zone featuring the sights of summer in the city, including a spraying fire truck.
Two additional experiences for more summer fun:
- Skull Mountain Six Remix: This indoor, in-the-dark coaster will receive a Summer Vibes makeover. Guests can climb aboard as the digital DJ selects one of six unique programs that will pump party music and synchronized lights during the coaster adventure; and
- Showcase Vibes: Guests can enter the theater for a unique and interactive experience with lights, sound and fun photo opportunities.
Exclusive, limited-time dining and beverage offerings that reflect the vibe of each zone, including:
- Heat Wave Hot Honey Shrimp & Chips;
- Summer Heat Sriracha Carnitas Burrito;
- Fruity Cereal Funnel Cake;
- Very Berry Cotton Candy Crazy Shake;
- Blood Orange Lemonade; and
- Berry Good Lemonade Fizz.
Entertainment that brings each zone to life including:
- M&M’S DJ booth with performances by air dancers to bring to the life the incredible power music has to bring people together, as part of M&M’S mission to create a world where everyone feels they belong;
- Stick(y) Paint percussion and paint artists;
- Sun-sational street acrobats;
- Jump rope brigade; and
- Summer Vibes street dance troupe.
Wrath of Medusa Unleashed: Trailblazing, Seven-Looping
Coaster Makes Legendary Return
The myth and legend of the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa begins a new chapter. Since Six Flags announced her return in March, thrill seekers worldwide have rallied behind Medusa’s homecoming to Frontier Adventures. Originally unveiled as Medusa in 1999, the world’s first floorless, top-rail roller coaster was re-branded to BIZARRO 10 years later. In 2022, this epic scream machine returns to her original form, but showcases a new color palette, logo, Gold Rush-era backstory and theming.
Discover the Lost Town of Medusa
Six Flags introduces riders to the legend of “The Lost Town of Medusa.” Depicted throughout the ride queue and on the park’s YouTube channel, the tale surrounds Greek immigrant brothers who traveled to California during the Gold Rush in 1874 — exactly 100 years before Six Flags Great Adventure opened its gates. Their harrowing quest for riches led them to Death Valley and an unforgiving town of outlaws named Exile Canyon. Earth tremors, mineshaft collapses, a rattlesnake infestation and underground coal fire plagued the outpost and its dwellers. The brothers were convinced that Exile Canyon was cursed by an evil sentinel holding sway over the settlement. Their whispers took hold and earned the town the nickname “Medusa” — the Greek word for “guardian.” The town met an unfortunate end as it was wiped off the map in a ferocious flash flood. While the brothers were never seen again, the snakes remained as a solemn reminder of the legend that gripped this doomed outpost.
Slither with Medusa through Exile Canyon
Explorers begin their adventure in the rugged Old West. Guests climb aboard open-air, pedestal-like seats sitting four across. Riders’ feet dangle above the track as they slither along a twisted mass of green steel woven through Exile Canyon.
Medusa takes riders on a pulse-quickening climb up a 146-foot lift hill (more than 14 stories). The inaugural plunge — a 13-story drop at a speed of 61 mph — symbolically sends riders back in time through a ring of mist. Guests rocket through a massive, 114-foot vertical loop, followed by a gut-wrenching 96-foot dive loop as flame bursts from the town’s coal fire explosion ignite around them.
Slithering into a dramatic heart line camelback (or zero-gravity roll) then into a cobra roll (two inversions) a frightening 78 feet above the ground, the churning, coiling adventure continues with a nearly 90-degree, high-speed helix (or horizontal loop). Riders experience negative Gs as they fly over a speed hill and end their voyage with two interlocking corkscrews which coil around a massive mining auger. Medusa’s wrath consumes riders for a relentless three minutes and 15 seconds.
Medusa operates daily while her transformation nears completion. This fall during Fright Fest, the legend will continue as the restless spirits of the Batos brothers haunt Frontier Adventures in a western showdown against Medusa.