Its a bird! Its a plane! Its.... a bust? Towering over everything in the park is Superman Ride of Steel. Just about any coaster of this size is still very impressive even with the Top Thrill Dragsters of the world starting to make their niche in the coaster world. With the height and the magnitude of this ride you would expect a superior ride; one that has the potential to blow other coasters out of the proverbial water. I say blah, and I will tell you why. It all starts off in the station, which is basically a game of chance. Will you be stapled into you seat or will you not be? Being stapled completely kills the entire ride experience and is pretty uncomfortable. I figured that being stapled would have killed the ride a little more than what it did, but it really didnt and I will explain why in a moment. First came the first drop. A fairly good first drop in the back - not good at all in the front. After the drop there is a banked turn to the right which kind of reminded me of the days of Hercules, but of course that kind of design can be done with steel and an Intamin train. The turn was close to the ground and pretty intense. The second hill did not provide any kind of airtime, but that was expected because it was a high hill and was a set up for the speed for the rest of the ride. The rest of the ride is where my dislike for this ride really kicked in. There were areas of straight track that just killed the ride. There was straight track going into and out of the two helices that really could have been done without. Those pieces of straight track really killed the ride. They were low to the ground and not exciting at all. Very very very boring. The third hill of the ride (the one coming out of the first helix) is the lone high point of the right if you are not stapled into your seat. I had the experience of taking this hill both stapled and unstapled and the difference was very clear. Unstapled: The ride provided a hint of good airtime but I could just tell that there was a lot more there. Stapled: This was the single greatest moment of airtime that I have experienced. Two things come into play with that though: 1. You dont know if you are going to be stapled or not which really makes or breaks that hill and 2. One great moment of airtime, no matter how excellent it is, does not make a ride. The bunny hills going into the station were pretty good. There were not a lot of them and the brakes into the station was weird because there really wasnt a brake run and the train hits the brakes right after the last little hill. One of the hills going in is also very heavily trimmed and is very noticeable. That last little pop of air that could be there to make for a good ending is not there because of that. Now, I guess it is time the make the unavoidable comparison between this and the hyper coaster in New England of the same name, but different layout. This coaster is based purely on speed. That is the thing that really kills the ride for me because it is hard to base a ride on speed considering it really isnt going all that fast when the speed of the ride is supposed to be exploited. The other Superman is full of airtime and speed which makes it far superior to this version. The mix of what that ride throws at you really make me appreciate it a lot more. The one extreme moment of airtime on this coaster really means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Lastly, I was really disappointed with this ride and that is really sad to me because I really liked the basic layout of this coaster a lot better than the other one. It is wide spread and not jumbled up like the other one. However, the layout is not executed correctly. Things were missing and the space could have been used more accordingly. One last little thing is that there was a slight shaking on this ride whereas the other seemed to be much smoother. But, of course, I only really felt that rattle on the parts of straight t

an interesting steel hyper, though one which was ruined somewhat by the most intense stapling i have ever had on a coaster. considering the leg bar which locks into your shins, the lap bar pushed all the way into the abdomen (fellas, this restraint system came awful close the family jewels) and the operators coming by to yank every last bit of slack from the seat belt, i could easily imagine i was seated in an electric chair, sans arm cuffs and electrodes. its a darn shame, because i found this coaster to be a unique design concept (as unique as a ride can be that has a twin sister a few hundred miles north) and strangely relaxing while also being exhilarating. it begins with a gorgeous and long, steep first drop. sitting in the very back car i was reminded of the blind faith i have in amusement park safety measures. with hands up, the main sensation i felt being whipped over the top of the supermans lift, aside from the butterflies of reverse g-forces, is the restraints pressing into your outward thrusted body. truly without the restraints no one would arrive at the base of this hill inside the train. while this is indeed thrilling, i cant help but wish i could get just a bit of air between my bottom and the seat. the same goes for the other pretty freaky airtime hops at the end, but alas, no such luck on superman for riders are glued down flush into the chairs as if on flypaper. i didnt think i would go for the banked turn right after the first drop but it is actually really fun and a trick i have not seen before on a coaster of this size. the inclusion of two helices is also a very nice touch. they drill some nice positive Gs, but they are also wide and languorous, giving you the opportunity to look around enjoy the speed. you cant get TOO cozy during these helices though, because you are treated to the dramatic optical illusion that you are going to wail into to a support pillar as you rotate out of them. i should note that this particular superman installation has also aged a little and the ground level passages recurrent in the ride are a bit on the jittery side, and i say this in a celebratory sense because this ride actually has some charactor to it and isnt your run of the mill creamy speed coaster. all in all, a great coaster which, if run in a slightly less paranoid manner would get a possible 9 from me.

While not the tallest, fastest, or even best hyper (or mega, giga, whatever) I have been on, this ride is still a perfect 10. I really like the turn after the first drop, not many hypers have you going 70mph for more than a split second. I also like the helixes. Its reall fun going so fast for so long.

Great hyper. There is almost never any line and the ride is fast, full of airtime on every hill, and has a great first drop. That turn after the drop is a lot of fun because you are so close to the ground going 73 mph. The helixes get a little old, and that straight track after the helix is a little boring. Still, an excellent ride.

My first ever Intamin Coaster and I loved it. The first drop was great, although Ive been on better. There was nobody in line so I just stayed on and rode it twice without stopping and I blacked out the second time on the 1st helix. Also, some people say that the 2nd airtime hill (the one after the 1st helix) is one of the best airtime hills ever. I absolutly agree. However, I do have some complaints. The ankle restraints are very uncomfortable. Also, the ride is filthy, there is graffiti everwhere. The 2nd helix was pretty dull, and the brake run is too short, they barely give you any stopping distance, which is pretty uncomfortable. Overall, this is a strong ride, one that is pretty under-rated. I give it a 9

Dont get me wrong - its an excellent coaster. Great first drop, huge, yawning banked helixes, high speeds. Its not to be missed. I take off 1 point cause it wasnt quite as good as the ride of the same name at SFNE (nowhere near the air time). Another point was lost - and I factored this in to a couple rides - because of the generally crappy state of SFA. Park design had lots of dead ends that made getting from A to B a pain. Riudes were in disrepair. More than half a dozen were permanently or temporarily shut down while I was there - including Superman, Batwing and Two-Face. Not only did you have to wait in line, you had to hope youd make it onto the ride before technical difficulties set in. And loading was slowed by many rides (including Superman) having less than full seating capacity because several seats were not in use for some reason. Someone at SFA hire a mechanic!

They locked you in so tight (with reason after the SFNE incident) and that prevents a 10 rating. even though the circulation was cut off the my legs I still got air ton the hills and the twin helixes each going in opposite directions were great. A real good ride that carries its speed throughout but not quite up to par with S:ROS at SFNE

Great coaster, but its subpar compared to SFNEs version, wait for the front I had tears streaming down my cheeks after!

Although Ive been on better hypers, this was still a great coaster. There is some nice floater air on the first hill. I wish the helices were a little tighter because you didnt pull many Gs on it. The hill right after the first helix is great. So much ejector air. All of the hills after the final helix are full of air too. Gotta love Intamin.

The minimal line but slow loading of this ride cancelled each other out. The ride is exhilarating and pulls some great Gs in the turn after the first hill. It doesnt compare to its totally different cousin (by the same name at SFNE - which is a 10+), but it is a good ride. If only they kept the bunny hills going a while longer. I liked the helices (but prefer the way they are suspended over water at SFDL). This is a great ride.