Firebird (roller coaster)

Firebird is a defunct floorless roller coaster located at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Originally designed as a stand-up roller coaster by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the ride first opened as Iron Wolf in 1990 at Six Flags Great America. It debuted as the tallest and fastest stand-up coaster in the world, featuring a height of 100 ft and a maximum speed of 55 mph. Iron Wolf also held the distinction as being the first coaster from B&M, a company that later became one of the industry's leading coaster manufacturers. The stand-up coaster was later relocated to Six Flags America, where it reopened as Apocalypse in 2012.

After the park announced plans to retire the ride at the end of the 2018 season, they released a follow-up announcement two weeks later unveiling Firebird, a conversion from stand-up to floorless utilizing new floorless trains from B&M. The track layout remained unchanged. Firebird debuted in 2019 and operated until the park's permanent closure in 2025.

History

Six Flags Great America (1990–2011)

On April 28, 1990, Iron Wolf opened at Six Flags Great America on the former site of Z-Force (the only Intamin Space Diver ever manufactured).[1]

Ride experience

After departing the station, the train makes a 180 degree turn leading to the 100 ft chain lift hill. Once at the top, the train goes through a pre-drop before making a sharp left hand turn leading into the first drop. Once the train is at the bottom of the first drop, it immediately goes through the first of two inversions, a vertical loop. The train then makes an upward right turn before making a left turn back down to the ground. The train continues to go left before going through an upward helix. After, the train makes a downward right s-bend leading into the second and final inversion, a corkscrew. The train makes a left turn back up before going through another s-bend, small over-banked turn which leads to the brake run.[31][32] One cycle lasts about 2 minutes with riders reaching a top speed of 55 mph.[33]

Trains

Firebird operates with two floorless trains. Each train has six rows with four each for a total of 24 riders per train.[33]

When the roller coaster was known as Iron Wolf, both trains featured the face of a wolf on the front of the train. After the ride was relocated to Six Flags America, the wolf was removed and the word "Apocalypse" replaced it.[34]

Track

The steel track is approximately 2900 ft in length and the height of the lift is approximately 100 ft. The first drop is 90 ft.[33] The track spine is painted orange and the rails red. The supports are dark gray.

When the coaster was known as Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America, the track was brown.

Theme

Between 1990 and 2011, when Apocalypse was known as Iron Wolf, there was no theme for the roller coaster. After its relocation to Six Flags America, to match the new name of the coaster, an end of the world apocalypse theme was added with fire, crashed planes and zombies located in the queue line and along the layout of the roller coaster.[35][36] As guests went further in the queue line to the end at the station, it mimicked an end of the world apocalypse scenario. The skull from Skull Mountain also serves as a backdrop to the ride.[35]

After being converted to Firebird, much of the Apocalypse theming has been removed. The fire effect is still used, however.

logodimensions	250px
previousnames	Iron Wolf (1990–2011) Apocalypse (2012–2018)
location	Six Flags America
section	Chesapeake
status	Closed
opened	May 19, 2019
year	2012
closed	November 2, 2025
previousattraction	Skull Mountain
type	Steel
type2	Floorless Coaster
manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
designer	Werner Stengel
model	Floorless
track	Twister
lift	Chain lift hill
height ft	100
drop ft	90
length ft	2900
speed mph	55
inversions	2
duration	2:00
capacity	1220
restriction in	54-76
trains	2
carspertrain	6
rowspercar	1
ridersperrow	4
rcdb number	10136

Firebird (roller coaster)

History

Six Flags Great America (1990–2011)

Six Flags America (2012–present)

Apocalypse (2012–18)

Firebird (2019–present)

Apocalypse (2012–18)

Firebird (2019–present)

Ride experience

Trains

Track

Theme

See also

External links

References