Exciting Firebird Update!

The newest Floorless conversion is almost complete!

Exciting news out of ‘Washington DC’s Thrill Capital’ as Six Flags America shares that Firebird’s trains are now on the track and fitted with weighted water dummies. The dummies are used to simulate the weight of a full train of riders, with each dummy weighing about 170 pounds each. They are used to create more realistic test runs in order to achieve better results before the official opening. The park jokingly captioned the picture “First riders are taking flight on Firebird! Odd thing, everyone was speechless.” As with most new coasters, the park will release a point-of-view video from the front seat of the new coaster not long after the initial test-runs have begun.

Firebird was announced in the fall of 2018 as a conversion of Apocalypse: The Last Stand from a Stand-Up coaster to a Floorless coaster. This type of coaster conversion consists of a repaint and re-theme of the ride’s layout, and converting the trains from where riders are in a standing position to a sitting position . This conversion is becoming more popular as Stand-Up coasters are losing the attraction and comfort they once provided. Other examples of this conversion can be found on Rougarou at Cedar Point, Ohio, which was once known as Mantis, and Patriot at California’s Great America which was converted from the Stand-Up coaster called Vortex.

However, this is not the first time this coaster has been through a conversion. Before its days as Apocalypse: The Last Stand, this coaster was found at Six Flags Great America as Iron Wolf, the world’s first Stand-Up coaster. Six Flags America is the sister park of Six Flags Great America and in 2011, bought the coaster from the midwestern park to be dismantled, re-constructed, and re-themed to Apocalypse: The Last Stand which opened in 2012.

A full POV of the completed Firebird coaster can be found Here.