Roller Coasters in Massachusetts

Roller coasters in Massachusetts are a bit like roller coasters in Maryland – there’s one big Six Flags park plus a few smaller offerings. Massachusetts has a couple of mountain coasters, which are always fun, but really nothing near the seaside at all. But there is one very special roller coaster credit in Massachusetts that is extra hard to get – read on.

As usual, all the links on roller coaster names are links to videos. Ride all the roller coasters in Massachusetts from your sofa!

Six Flags New England

Massachusetts holds the bulk of the roller coasters in the New England states, i.e. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. We’ve already seen that there aren’t that many in Maine and only a few in Connecticut. But I bet we won’t find too many in Rhode Island or Vermont either.

And the bulk of the roller coasters in Massachusetts are in Six Flags New England near Springfield. They have 11 roller coasters; let’s take a look. Batman – The Dark Knight is a floorless B&M model. Flashback is a Vekoma shuttle coaster. Joker is one of those “4th dimension” wing coasters that I’m not sure I like. Riddler Revenge is a suspended coaster. Superman The Ride is over 200 feet tall and features a tunnel (or two.) Wicked Cyclone is one of those retooled wooden coasters by RMC that I absolutely love. On the tamer end, we have Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum, a wild mouse, Pandemonium, a spinning steel coaster, and Thunderbolt, a wooden coaster from 1941. For the kids, there’s the larger Catwoman’s Whip and the smaller Great Chase.

Other thrill rides include some more extreme spinning rides including high swings, plus a Houdini-themed haunted house, a 205′ drop tower, and not one but two spinning pendulum rides. Family rides include river rapids, a carousel from 1909, a few more spinning rides like the teacups and scrambler, and an antique-cars-style ride rethemed to dinosaurs, which honestly, is a great idea. 14 more rides are just for smaller kids, and an attached water park is a decent size.

Tickets

Prices online are between $40-50, depending on the day. They don’t state gate prices anymore on their website, but they’re probably a bit higher if you buy on-site. To add the water park costs an extra $10. Parking is $38. (Parking fees have gotten out of hand, IMO.)

OR, there is the new Six Flags Plus plan, which is $10 a month at this park. It includes access to ALL Six Flags parks and parking, and works out to about $20 more than admission on a Saturday, water park, and parking for just one day. I detail it a bit more in my Maryland post.

I currently don’t see any reason not to buy Six Flags Plus from a cheaper park to use at any SF park. (If you know otherwise, let me know.) The price of Six Flags Plus is $9 x 12 months in SF Over Georgia, SF America in Maryland, SF St. Louis, Darien Lake in New York, and Frontier City in Oklahoma. Conversely, while several of the bigger parks charge $12 a month, Six Flags Magic Mountain is the only one that costs $13/month. That’s potentially a savings of $48 over the course of a year between the highest and lowest options. Though, if you’re a heavy Six Flags user, you might want to compare costs to any park’s diamond pass, which offers more perks. Again, look into the ones at the cheaper parks for the most savings.

[EDIT – I’ve since bought Six Flags Plus for myself and while it is nowhere in the description or all the fine print you read before you buy, it’s not until AFTER you purchase that they tell you that you MUST activate it at your “home” park before use at any other. Luckily, I saw one mention of this on Reddit and called the park for confirmation ahead of time, so I bought for the park I visited first, which in my case was Great America – costing me $12/month now. Boo.]

Edaville Family Theme Park

Other than the behemoth Six Flags park, there are just a few other roller coasters in Massachusetts. Edaville Family Theme Park nearish Plymouth and Cape Cod has two smaller family coasters, a spinning figure 8 called Spinning Lady Bug Coaster, and the cute Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster. A third, called Kersplash, looked like a cross between a roller coaster and a boat chute, is listed “standing but not operating” for almost a decade now. And honestly, looking at their website, they don’t list Troublesome Trucks either, so that may be in jeopardy, too.

Edaville seems to be a train-based amusement park with a Christmas-time theme. It looks like they might have narrow-gague steam and deisel trains, as well as an arcade, “cranberry” ball pit, and several spinning and other rides aimed at smaller kids.

Edaville Family Theme Park seems to be open mostly in November and December, though they have “Christmas in July” for four weekends in July. Tickets cost $40 for adults and $35 for kids 2-12, and can only be bought online. You can also rent the park for $500 for a birthday party anytime.

Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort

The rest of the roller coasters in Massachusetts are mountain coasters, including one at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort near the New York border. The generically-named Mountain Coaster doesn’t look like the fastest or longest of its kind, but it might be decent.

Rides are $15 each, or are included in a mountain adventure park ticket for $49, which includes unlimited rides on the coaster, an old-school alpine slide, a seated zip line, a (very wide) chairlift, a giant swing (love those), climbing wall, bungee trampoline, a kid’s ropes course, and access to miles of hiking trails. A separate aerial adventure park features six ropes courses that increase in difficulty, plus a zip line course. $44 allows you as much as you can do within 2 hours. A pass to both the mountain and aerial parks costs $69.

Berkshire East

One other mountain coaster is at Berkshire East, closer to the Vermont border. The Thunderbolt Mountain Coaster seems a bit longer, faster, and more interesting than the one above. Rides are $20 for adults, with the following bundles: $49 for 3 rides, $79 for 5 rides, or $149 for 10 rides. I can’t quite imagine riding the same mountain coaster 10 times in a row – I wonder if you have to do them on the same day?

Otherwise, there is a bike park, river rafting, zip lining (between $70-115), and a two-part ropes course for $40, or $49 if you add on the Thunderbolt coaster.

MASS MoCA

Probably the most unique roller coaster experience to be had is this art installation in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, called Brava! This rideable roller coaster-like sculpture puts the rider front and center as single riders zoom (none too fast) around the box track before coming to a rest on the gallery floor.

But it’s not a ride, exactly. You must make a reservation ahead of time to experience it, and only one person is allowed to ride per hour. The exhibition will be in place until January 2024, making it a very rare coaster credit. You can only book about a month in advance, so spots go quickly once they are released.

Water Parks in Massachusetts

There are a few water parks in Massachusetts. Two big ones at Six Flags and in Cape Cod, and several indoor resort parks. The picnic grounds sound honestly fun, but there are none of those regional aquatic parks like most states. I guess it’s too cold in Massachusetts.

• Six Flags New England near Springfield has a Hurricane Harbor water park with 23 slides, 3 kids areas including one with its own kid-sized wave pool and lazy river, a full-sized wave pool, lazy river, and two lagoon/activity pools. One of those 23 slides is the Typhoon water coaster. Hurricane Harbor is offered as an add-on for $10 on top of any day ticket, or as part of Six Flags Plus.
• Water Wizz in Cape Cod has a lineup of 14 slides, 2 kids areas, a wave pool, a lazy river, and an activity lagoon pool. Tickets cost $48 for adults, $38 for kids under 48″ and seniors 65+, with discounts after 2 pm – $34 & $29 respectively. (And they close at either 5 or 6 pm.)

• Great Wolf Lodge in Boston has 5 slides, 4 kids’ areas, a wave pool, a lazy river, activity pools, and a hot springs warm-up pool, all indoors so you can enjoy them year-round! Guests of the lodge get unlimited access to the water park, or you can pay for a full-day or half-day pass. Full-day passes cost between $50-90, and half-day passes $40-72, depending on the day and how far out you book.
• Another indoor water park, Waterpark of New England in Danvers, features 4 slides, 2 kids’ areas, a lazy river, small zero-entry wave pool, and a wading activity pool. You can stay at the resort or buy a day pass for $40 on Fridays, or $45 on Saturdays & Sundays. Twilight tickets at the end of the day cost a little less – $30 Fridays 6-9 pm, $35 Saturdays & Sundays 3-7 pm.
• Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis is another indoor resort-based option, but on the higher end. Their indoor/outdoor water park has 2 slides, a lazy river, kid’s spray pool, and a wave pool. Regular admission is $40, $30 for kids, or $50/40 on weekends and holidays. An after-school pass is $25 per adult or $15 for kids 48″ and under.

• Breezy Picnic Grounds below Worcester, near the corners of Rhode Island and Connecticut, is a pretty picnic area on a reservoir with lake swimming and three hillside waterslides. An all-day slide pass costs $26 for everyone ages 5 and over, or $20 after 2 pm. If you just want to use the park and lake but not the slides, prices are between $11-19.

Did I miss anything? Have you been to any of these parks? What are you looking forward to doing this summer? Let me know in the comments below!