Medusa, formerly known as Bizarro, is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated whee ...

located at

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located in Jackson, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelphia and includes a water park named Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, Hu ...

Jackson Township, New Jersey Jackson Township is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township population was 58,544. A portion of the township is located within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Roughly equidistant be ...

. 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 Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabil ...

, 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 began ...

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 who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

's evil clone,

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/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'' #68 (1958) ...

, 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 have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

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 In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

is loaded and secured, the floor retracts and the front gate that block the train from leaving while loading, open. After leaving the station, 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 th ...

. 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, 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, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical ...

, followed by a

diving loop This list of roller coaster elements contains the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation. Introduction Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a Track (rail transport), tra ...

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

zero-g roll Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Comm ...

, followed by a cobra roll 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 meant to slow or stop a roller coaster train. Brake runs may be located anywhere along the circuit of a coaster and may be designed to bring the train to a complete halt or to simply adjust t ...

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 This list of roller coaster elements contains the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation. Introduction Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a Track (rail transport), tra ...

. 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 meant to slow or stop a roller coaster train. Brake runs may be located anywhere along the circuit of a coaster and may be designed to bring the train to a complete halt or to simply adjust ...

, 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 a theme park located in the Woodmore CDP of Prince George's County, Maryland,

so that the park's stand-up roller coaster

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

could be fitted with an audio track for the 2014 season.

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

Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences attractions Floorless Coaster roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard 1999 establishments in New Jersey