Wicked Witch

The **Wicked Witch** is a CCI (Custom Coasters International) roller coaster located at Six Flags Hoosier Nation. Wicked Witch was opened on June 13, 2018 as the first coaster at the park. Only a year after its opening, the Wicked Witch was ranked #1 on the Amusement Today's top wooden roller coaster list. The Wicked Witch was also one of the first coasters to be manufactured by CCI after their hiatus from 2002-2017.

## History

### Planning

In 2017, plans for a new Six Flags park unfolded in Indiana. The company of Six Flags had interest of building a park between two popular parks in the Midwest: Holiday World and Kings Island. Due to the far distance between these two parks, there was a vast amount of open land in South-Central Indiana. Six Flags purchased land just outside of Gnaw Bone in Brown County. Six Flags chose this area due to Brown County being a major tourist attraction. It was located only 4.11 miles SE of Nashville, which is home to many old antique shops and famous peoples' homes. The purchased land was also only 2 miles NE of the Brown County State Park entrance/exit. Brown County State Park is the most visited state park in Indiana. Six Flags had yet to make a trademark name for the park, so hundreds of ideas from locals came about. Six Flags had narrowed it down to *Six Flags over Nashville*, *Six Flags over Indiana*, and *Six Flags Hoosier Nation*. Each name was taken from the cities of Nashville and Bloomington. Bloomington selected the name Six Flags Hoosier Nation, due to the native from Indiana being called Hoosiers. Also, the famous Indiana University holds the name for their mascot. Six Flags chose Hoosier Nation due to the history behind that name and its definition, which was well fit for the area. Now that the park had chosen a name and purchased land, rides were needed.

The first idea for a ride was a wooden roller coaster that was manufactured by The Gravity Group, whom made the famous roller coaster The Voyage. Other ideas included a GCI Wooden roller coaster, and an Intamin Wooden Roller Coaster. The park decided to go with a CCI wooden coaster. CCI had reformed after becoming defunct in the early 2000s. Many names were submitted for the new roller coaster. But the one name, *The Wicked Witch* created new plans for the coaster. After the name was submitted, Six Flags came up with the idea of a dueling roller coaster, bearing the names *The Wicked Witch of the East* and *The Wicked Witch of the West*. The Wizard of Oz reference sparked a movie section idea of the park. This was soon discarded, however, as Custom Coasters International (CCI) had a different plan for the name.

In December 2017, the first model for the coaster was publicly released. The coaster first went up a 138-ft lift hill. The coaster then would go into a 127-ft curved drop into a 114-ft tall airtime hill. The coaster would then curve back under the lift hill into an airtime helix. Then, after going through the helix, a 74-ft drop occurs. After this occurs, a second helix occurs. This builds momentum to the 88-ft final drop. After this happens, the coaster runs through an S-curve, then into the brake run. The coaster ends here. The coaster began construction in January 2018, and was finished on June 1 of the same year.

### Opening

Along with the coaster's opening, the park opened. The soft opening date for the coaster was on June 13, 2018 and the opening date for it was on June 14. The ceremony and the ribbon cutting occurred at 8:00 a.m. on June 14.

### Improvements

In 2019, for the park's 1-year anniversary The Wicked Witch was upgraded to having two, eight-car trains. The track was also smoothed in 2020, and in 2021, the coaster's brake run was removed and replaced with a straight track to slow down the train without stopping it.

## Charts

The Wicked Witch was atop the *Amusement Today* top wooden roller coasters list for two years straight. The coaster won several awards, such as Best New Ride of 2018.