Of all the parks we planned to visit during our Northern California trip, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) featured the most roller coasters. It was also the one furthest away from where we were staying. So we had one day to visit and squeeze everything in unless we cut something else out or short. Did we make it work? For the most part, yes. There was one tiny hiccup that made Sam and I feel kind of stupid after leaving the park. More on that in a bit.
Although this park had the most coasters of all the ones we planned to visit, mostly all of them were clones that we’ve experienced at other parks. Medusa, Joker, and the weird Intamin Impulse, Flash Vertical Velocity were the rides we looked forward to the most. This park really does need a unique, stand out attraction. I guess Joker could be considered, but hopefully something else comes this park’s way to further diversify its line up.
Almost Park Completion (We Forgot One!)
When we first entered the park Joker was down and rides such as Batman the Ride, an S&S 4D Free Spin (not a B&M Invert) and Superman Ultimate Flight, a Premier Sky Rocket II (not a B&M Flyer) had long lines. Maybe people thought because of the names they were in lines for the B&M versions they are named similarly to at every other Six Flags park? I kid, I kid! Both rides were enjoyable, but ones I wouldn’t expect to find in the same park, much less side-by-side.
Because of these lines and having to walk back and forth for Joker later in the day once it opened, we did end up cutting things close. With all that being said, I think it is also the reason why we totally forgot that the park has Zamperla kiddie coaster called Roadrunner Express. We remembered leaving the park and at that point, it was already too late.
Flash Vertical Velocity
We had no idea if Flash Vertical Velocity would even be open. We have heard stories from so many people online who have said this ride was down for their visits, or down for extended periods of time. I had even heard rumors that the ride was slated to be removed. No one knew and it was all rumors. One thing I did see though was people saying the ride was open for them a couple of weeks before our visit. We kept our fingers crossed.
Our plan was to head to this ride first thing. If it was open, we were going to do it. We didn’t want to take a chance and wait to do it later and have it go down on us.
As we walked in, we saw coasters testing or already with riders. Not Flash, however. We didn’t see it cycle a single time. Still, we walked over. There were ride operations in the station, but no riders. There weren’t any chains up or signs saying the ride was down either. So up we went. It was indeed open. I guess we were on the first train?
We rode twice, back to back. This ride certainly feels different than the “vertical” versions of this ride type, ride name not withstanding. The horizontal spike was so much fun. We decided to move back a few rows after our first ride thinking that we’d be held upside down over the spike’s roll over portion. Our guess was right on and that was one of my favorite parts of the ride. I’m so glad we got to experience this.
Joker
I haven’t ridden an RMC that I didn’t enjoy yet. That being said, I’ve heard some mixed things about Joker so I didn’t go into this ride with high expectations. Still, it’s an RMC so I didn’t expect it to be bad. Plus, it’s built off the remains of a former Roar clone, so I was curious to see what it was like for that reason. Having the original Roar back home for many years before Six Flags decided to close Six Flags America (SFA), I always wanted to see what could have been if they had done ours instead. Now I had the chance to find out.
So, how was it? It was fun, but after our three rides I think it’s one of the weakest RMC coasters I’ve done, not counting Fire in the Hole. Even in the back the airtime didn’t hit as hard as most other RMC’s. It did do inversions some justice though, so if you’re a fan of inversions, namely RMC inversions, that is the strongest aspect of this ride to me.
Medusa
Although we have Medusa back home at Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv), I was excited to try this one. I always liked this one’s paint scheme better than the one in New Jersey. Yes all three color variants, although one of those was when they made the stupid choice to rename it to Bizarro. I digress.
When it comes to the ride itself, I do like this layout more. The placement of the ride, however, not so much. I didn’t realize how much of a parking lot coaster this Medusa is with parking spaces painted clear as day below the track through much of the ride. They didn’t even try to hide it like SFGAdv did when they installed Green Lantern. Nope. They just left the parking spots. So points off for that!
I do wish we got in a second ride on this coaster before leaving. Someone got sick on one of the trains right before we boarded, so it slowed down operations. Had that not happened, we probably would have rode this twice before moving on. Instead we wanted to make sure we could squeeze in the rest of the park’s coaster before the park closed. We never made our way back to this portion of the park afterward.
Final Ride Counts
Batman the Ride (1)
Boomerang (1)
Cobra (1)
Flash Vertical Velocity (2)
Joker (3)
Kong (1)
Medusa (1)
Sidewinder Safari (1)
Superman Ultimate Flight (1)
Some of the Worst Merch of Any Six Flags
When it comes to Six Flags parks I’ve come not to expect much when it comes to roller coaster merchandise, especially when there are DC Comics characters associated with their coasters. So I didn’t expect to find a Joker coaster shirt, but I did expect for the park to have something for Medusa. As a matter of fact, SFGAdv recently released some Medusa shirts for their coaster and knowing Six Flags, I figured this park would have the same ones, but with the park name variation underneath. If so, I was going to buy one. I like the Medusa character and thought it would be fun to wear the SFDK shirt while at SFGAdv.
Long story short, there was no Medusa merch. There was barely anything that didn’t have general DC or Looney Tunes characters on it either. I was at the point where I would have settled for the most generic of generic SFDK pins to take home with me. But no. Not even that. Both Sam and I walked out with zero merch and we actively were seeking it out in every shop. Even SFA, rest in peace, had a better merch selection selling Firebird, Roar, and Wild One shirts over their last few years.
So aside from needing a unique coaster, this park could use some changes to its merch offerings. Still, we did have a good time here and wouldn’t mind coming back one day to further explore the park, mainly the back portion that feature the animals. We mostly skipped that due to time restraints.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Photo Gallery - June 1, 2026
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CREW MANIFEST
The following flight crew members attended this park, & earned the respective credits below:
Patrick
CAG
New Credit(s): Flash Vertical Velocity, Batman the Ride, Joker, Superman Ultimate Flight, Medusa, Cobra, Kong, Boomerang, Sidewinder Safari
Sam
Admiral
New Credit(s): Flash Vertical Velocity, Batman the Ride, Joker, Superman Ultimate Flight, Medusa, Cobra, Kong, Boomerang, Sidewinder Safari