Six Flags Over Georgia turned 50 in June 2017, but the only talk about being over the hill involves screaming along at 70 mph with your stomach floating in your chest.
Georgia's best-known amusement park, sits west of Atlanta in Cobb County and spans 290 acres. It features 40 rides and attractions and 12 roller coasters, including two top-ranked rides, Mind Bender and Goliath, which have been recognized by Amusement Today magazine.
For more on Six Flags Over Georgia tickets, hours and schedule, click here.
More on Six Flags Over Georgia rides and more:
Photos: Six Flags Over Georgia through the years
The park's theme is based on Warner Bros. characters like Batman and animated series such as Looney Tunes and DC Comics.
In that DC Comics' spirit, the park offers JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis. The fully immersive, 4D ride puts you to work in a 22,000-square foot Hall of Justice, partnering with Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League to defeat Lex Luthor, the Joker and the villains' henchmen.
But older rides are good, too. The experts on staff recommend these 7 must-try rides (in alphabetical order):
1. Acrophobia
Park location: Peachtree Square
Why it's a must: Strap into a special harness that looks a bit like a bicycle seat, let your feet dangle and shoot 20 stories up. And that's just the beginning of the ride named for the abnormal fear of heights. Once you're at the peak, every seat tilts 15 degrees – giving you no choice but to look straight down. Take a second to catch your breath if you want to holler as you plummet back to the ground in a pure free-fall.
2. Batman: The Ride.
Park location: Gotham City
Why it's a must: Any roller coaster based on a trip from an eccentric billionaire's underground cave is bound to be a twisted experience. Batman delivers the goods, with furious loops, twists and drops – all from your seat hanging from an overhead track. An inverted steel coaster, Batman reaches speeds of 50 mph, and before that zero-G roll, it rises 10 stories above the park.
3. Dare Devil Dive
Park location: USA
Why it's a must: You can feel like a top gun in this fighter-jet themed coaster that starts out with a straight-up 95-foot climb to the sky. From there, it's a free fall back down through a ring of fire, multiple banks, dives and inversions (including a half loop followed by a half twist) and one 360-degree roll, all before you come back in for landing.
4.Goliath
Park location: USA
Why it's a must: This steel hyper coaster reaches speeds of 70 mph as it plunges you up and down a series of camelback hills – including one 175-foot drop. Over the course of three minutes you hit a 540-degree downward helix, essentially a spiral in the middle of all those hills, and pulls a whopping 4Gs – that's four times the force of gravity.
5. Mind Bender
Park location: Gotham City
Why it's a must: Ranked the 15th best coaster by Amusement Today for its 30th anniversary in 2008, Mind Bender is a true classic. To the uninitiated, it appears a simple triple loop ride. Climb on board, though, and you'll learn how lowering one side of the rail more steeply than the other creates sideways loops – and how those G-forces keep you in your seat with nothing else holding you but a lap bar.
6. Superman: Ultimate Fight
Park location: Gotham City
Why it's a must: Parallel to the track, facing the track and zipping along at 60 mph? Only Lois Lane before you has known what it's like to fly like Superman. Or, at least what it would be like on a head-first adventure with the Man of Steel as he swoops down 10 stories and pivots into a pretzel loop (yes, that means two inversions in one) on a surprisingly silky flight.
7. Tsunami Surge
Park location: Hurricane Harbor
Why it's a must: Rollercoasters aren't the only way to go weightless. Billed as the world's first "Hybrid Zero-Gravity Slide," the Tsunami Surge shoots you and three other riders on a raft down an enclosed five-story drop. The watery mayhem with a 360-degree spill in a whirlpool and down a 45-foot wave wall that gives you a moment of zero-gravity excitement, just before you barrel down into the waiting splash pool.
Six Flags Over Georgia hours and tickets:
Six Flags Over Georgia opens on weekends starting March 10. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. The park will be open daily on March 31 to April 8 for Spring Break, and will open daily for the season on May 21. The park will be open daily for summer hours between May 21 and Aug. 5, when it returns to weekend hours. Weekend hours last through the rest of the year, then the park hibernates from early January til March rolls around again. Here's the calendar.
Daily tickets are $69.99 for adults and $48.99 for children. Buy in advance and you can save many hard earned dollars. The park also offers season passes and memberships with a variety of bonus benefits. Parking isn't free.
How to get there
Six Flags Over Georgia is located at 275 Riverside Pkwy, SW, Austell, Georgia 30168.
By car: Take exit 46A or 47 to reach the park just off Interstate 20 west of Atlanta from.
On MARTA: Take MARTA rail to H.E. Holmes station on the Blue Line. From there, it's a 12-minute bus ride on a shuttle that runs on weekends starting in March and daily in the summer.
Other public transportation: Cobb County Transit (CCT) offers a shuttle service to the park. For a detailed, up-to-date route schedule, please visit the CobbLinc section of the Cobb County's website. Route 30 serves the park Monday through Saturday, NOT Sunday.
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RECOMMENDED VIDEO: The 4 most thrilling rides at Six Flags Over Georgia
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