On October 20, 2010, six days after a leaked video revealed plans for a new roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags officially confirmed that Green Lantern: First Flight would open in spring of 2011. The new coaster, a ZacSpin model from Intamin, would be the first of its kind in the United States. According to the press release, it was scheduled to be built in a "newly themed section" of the park, later revealed as DC Universe in place of Gotham City Backlot. Reports surfaced in February 2011 that portions of track had arrived on site. After delaying the ride's opening multiple times, Six Flags eventually settled on an opening date of July 1, 2011. Park officials clarified that the delays were due to unplanned design changes to the loading station and not because of mechanical issues. Primary construction was completed in May 2011. In addition to Green Lantern's premiere on July 1, other rides in the DC Universe themed area made their debut as well, including The Flash: Speed Force, and Wonder Woman: Lasso of Truth. The coaster had a mechanical flaw where the trains would reportedly get stuck upside down. As a solution, Green Lantern received modifications to the trains to reduce the spinning. This, however, resulted in unnatural, painful and shaky movements which caused the ride to receive negative reviews from those who experienced the coaster. After the deadly incident on Inferno at Terra Mítica in Benidorm, Spain on July 7, 2014, and because the two rides share several similarities, Six Flags Magic Mountain had ceased running Green Lantern: First Flight pending investigation findings from the European park. A week and a half later, Six Flags Magic Mountain reopened the coaster.
La Ronde (2021–)
In July 2017, the coaster closed unexpectedly for unknown reasons. It remained standing but not operating at the park for two years before Six Flags announced on March 24, 2019, that the coaster would not be reopening. On August 29, 2019, Six Flags announced that Vipère would open for the 2020 season. Due to the growing concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, Six Flags announced a suspension of operations across the company on March 13, 2020. This included all operations at La Ronde, including the construction for the new coaster. The park resumed operations on July 25, 2020, with Vipère not opening with the park. Earlier in April 2020, Six Flags announced measures for the company to survive the coronavirus pandemic, including deferring capital projects across the company that was slated for the 2020 season. According to a park representative, the construction work for the new coaster was delayed and Vipère is expected to open for the 2021 season.
Ride
Vipère is an Intamin ZacSpin roller coaster where riders zig zag along a track at speeds of up to. Riders flip head over heels several times throughout the ride in a somewhat uncontrolled manner, but due to the way the ride vehicles are loaded, it sometimes didn't flip at all. The ride has the same layout as Insane at Gröna Lund in Sweden. Vipère is similar to X2, which is also a 4th Dimension roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain that opened in 2002. The difference between the two roller coasters was based on the spinning or rotation of the vehicle. On Vipère, the rotation of the vehicle is controlled by the unequal gravitational pull on different sides of the rotational axis. This uncontrolled spinning results in a slightly different ride experience every time.
Theme
When located at Magic Mountain, Green Lantern: First Flight was themed to the DC Comics superhero, Green Lantern. Its opening was preceded by Green Lantern at Six Flags Great Adventure as well as the Green Lantern film. The ride's name also appears as a title for a DC Animated Universe film, . Each of the ride's five cars are themed to throwing-stars. The entrance of the ride was marked by a -tall lantern icon that glowed green at night. The Green Lantern battery was located at the entrance of the ride.
