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Fiesta Texas makes sense given the clues they've been dropping: their new project flipping into high gear, the hints that RMC have something to do with it (apparently it uses their I box track), the heights of the balloon (the ride is 150-200+ ft tall according to S&S's adverts), the inference that it is going to be something different and special. Given the length of the project he quoted for 2015 it sounds like the 10 inversion model (or a custom one) is going in, surprisingly short for such a tall ride, with a max speed of less than 40 mph.

In the same recording that mentions boring and mundane it does ask if you had ever thought about opening up your own business, specifically a Boutique or Movie theater, another alliterative reference. It'll be rather disappointing if they just end up relocating one of the original Superman flyers, which I don't think or at least hope won't be the case.

To me what stuck out on the recording are the upcoming closings as their urban renewal project "flips into high gear." At the end it also pluralizes project.

I'd like to know too, I was thinking something like Superman Ultimate Flight like at SFDK, but maybe they're finally going to tear down the rattly old worn out S:KC and put in the long-delayed glorious Togo masterpiece, The Beehive:

Yeah that's not gonna happen. I'm sure they took that into consideration when doing the original makeover. That would have been the time to do it when the old track was still there, it's loonnnnngggg gone now. I can see why they went straight into the brake run, you're right it was cheaper but the end was pretty boring and had to stay high to give clearance to the service road and railroad. The makeover would had to have threaded the service road, railroad, and RR Express all while staying fast and intense. I'm betting they couldn't have worked through a difficult section like that while keeping up the intensity unless they rerouted one or more of those three. As it is now the ending of iRat is one of the best around starting at the drop off the cliff, if it already goes out with a bang why spend money extending it only to let it just peter out?

New hint on twitter:

That or it could be RMC's first steel (non-hybrid) coaster. Haven't they've said they were looking into new concepts? They've also relocated a GIB to Idaho.

Obviously they're going to buy Phoenix from Knoebel's and relocate it back to its rightful home in San Antonio. The lift will be restored to its original height of 92.5 feet and it will be called The Phocket. Seriously though, did anyone notice that the balloon picture they posted the other day was leaning a bit, as was the picture itself (very close to 2.5 degrees off of vertical). Hmmmm.

It's an RMC, of course it's one of the best coasters around. It looks brilliant, love how it keeps a low profile for much of the ride, letting it fly through the course without much drop off in speed. This bodes well for future makeover coasters; in spite of the 3 inversions Medusa has more of a traditional wood coaster layout than RMC's first two makeovers. What I LOVE is how RMC's 5 rides all look (and probably feel) like they're from the same company yet each one couldn't be any different from the other, I expect to read where someone in Idaho has been hit by a flying cookie cutter, apparently being thrown out of a nearby office. And if 2011 and 2013 weren't enough, I think we can now confidently say that the US has one of, if not THE best and most creative coaster designers in the world, all using simple trains and tracks. And they show no signs of letting up.

Bill, I'm looking into it. Here's from the State Department Website: I'd like to add it, but I also want my group and family to be and feel safe. We may offer it as an add on that we would do as a fly in/out day trip from Mexico City. I've never been to Bosque Magico and would be hard-pressed to tell you where it is, and I've been to Monterrey at least 50 times by car or bus. Plaza Sesamo is right on the road from Monterrey to McAllen so I always had always assumed it was the only "real" park in town. Unfortunately the drug wars have definitely taken their toll on Monterrey; downtown used to be vibrant and lively at night while today they roll up the streets at sundown (though one can still have a good time at night if you want). Violence there has tapered way off from 2010-2012 but those years definitely left an impression on the locals. While downtown Monterrey I like and always stay in but if you're uncomfortable in, say, certain parts of Mexico City or even Los Angeles I wouldn't recommend it. You'd be better staying in San Pedro Garza Garcia, which is, I believe, the wealthiest city in Latin America and pretty secure as the travel warning suggests (casinos I don't think are exactly quite legal but that's another matter). There are numerous hotels in San Pedro and it's like your in southern Europe, just with a Chili's around the corner. There are lots of flights from Mexico City and San Antonio (and surely DFW and IAH too) though the airport is WAY out of town and even farther from San Pedro. Monterrey proper is industrial and doesn't have the touristy stuff of say Guadalajara or my new favorite Mexican city Mérida, though the mountains in the area are stunning. The wealthier parts of San Pedro creep up Chipinque mountain which is a green Appalachain-like forest that doubles as a city park.

Couldn't disagree more, what did they let you on after the barrel roll and off before it dropped off the cliff? It hauls through thousands of feet of track in about 45 seconds. It gets my vote for favorite inversion and ending, the whole drop off the cliff-tight tunnel-twisting air slam into the brakes thing is excellent and the ride experience is just fun without being excessive in high positive g-forces or the least bit uncomfortable, neither of which I care for (can you guess my opinion of the old Taz's Tornado?). The ride is all about air, you get it upways, sideways, inverted; Robb said it best when he said he probably spent more time out of his seat than in it. I agree Superman is also good but then again so are most other large B&M coasters from that general period, my favorite being Montu its opening year. Wish NTAG had been open when I was in Dallas this year, I really wanted to compare it to iRat. I find it hard to believe there is NO spot on NTAG that isn't paced similarly to the slowest part of iRat (the back-to-back overbanked turns, which still manage to get you out of your seat). Anyone who's been on both help me out here. If this truly is the case I expect some people are going to be disappointed by Medusa at SF Mexico, given its height and length its average speed is going to be slower than either Texas coaster (Medusa enthusiasts don't get worked up, I'm saying that firmly tongue-in-cheek, if it's anything like iRat it'll be tons of fun). I also think iRat looks pretty slick, but as they say there's no accounting for taste.

Does anyone know the relative cost between building an Intamin Plug-and-Play and an RMC job, all else being equal? I'm pretty sure RMC would be cheaper, just don't know by how much. Or vs GCI (have they ever built anything that tall?). I think an Intamin would probably blow their entire roller coaster budget, but I don't know how much RMC charges. Evidently Apocalypse was not cheap: https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/l91ISfcuzDw&autoplay=1

If it's summer SoCal, the rest of the year FL hands down.

Where did you grey out on Iron Rattler? That ride is all about negative g's, not positive ones, even the bottom of the first drop doesn't feel that forceful. Now Shockwave yes, I wouldn't be surprised if the g's in the back seat exiting the second loop are some of the highest out there, but it's only for an instant. If you're a sadomasochist and ever happen to be in Aguascalientes Mexico you may want to try the old Taz's Tornado, it's, well, let's just say it's a "classic" and leave it at that.

I wouldn't get hysterical just yet, they may have decided to alter the trains a bit more and waited until after the big Labor Day weekend to do it. It could be something as simple as a minor problem with the seat belts that need adjusting or enhancing. If it were some major issue I doubt they would have reopened the ride last month. The next few weeks are going to be relatively slow so they may have decided to do the changes now. Of course this is all total speculation.

Another vote for zero-g rolls, with Iron Rattler's being the best, though I have a feeling I'll probably prefer RMC's insane new zero-g stall when it debuts next year.

I don't think "perfect circle" loops have ever been put on a modern (i.e. any still operating) coaster. Mindbender has the normal "tear drop" loop shape. Perfect circle loops would give you incredible whiplash. Thriller/Taz's TX Tornado/Zonga has (or had?) two circular loops at the start of the ride.

Not too big on them, as an extreme example the back seat of SFOT's Shockwave is generally fun because of its crazy air but the exit out of the second loop in the back has one of the highest G moments I've ever experienced, if only for an instant. I remember getting off the ride and feeling like someone had put a grapefruit in a sock and hit me in the back of the head the day before.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Iron Rattler, the cliff-drop/tunnel/whip-into-the-brake-run combo is loads of fun. Of course those who just went on the TPR trip would have no way no of knowing that unfortunately.

So is that area where the hexagonal "3" is a big paved area? If so where is the obligatory gift-shop-where-you-buy-your-picture located? It looks like they quickly just dump people out onto an open area after the ride, but that's so 30 years ago.

Those drawings are definitely for a coaster with an overhead track, if nothing else the supports on the inside of the vertical loop are a dead giveaway. Of course if they went to the trouble to fake a "leaked" website then I wouldn't put anything past them, very clever. One thing I can't figure out is whether that line on the left is for disembarking guests or a fast-pass/special assistance line (if it is where do the exiting riders go?)

I too saw the pages, you got there from the front page when you clicked on the "More Info" tab about the ride. It looked like a page under construction with that picture of gatekeeper as a placeholder for the real drawing along with the funny Latin text (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum)

I remember the opening year, I'll try and answer as best as I can recall: I maybe heard vague rumors to the effect of extending the park up above the cliff, but I think it was mainly because USAA owned the property and had not yet decided what to do with it. Never heard of them wanting to put the parking lot across the street (though see comments at the end) Yes, something is different about that area now. LOL, I think you know the answer to that. I don't remember seeing the Rattler testing all that much, the winter of 91-92 was extremely wet and I think construction was running behind because of it. I do remember seeing them build the original Rattler and was quite disappointed when I first saw it, all that was visible for the longest time was the second drop and the helix. I remember thinking what a lame first drop that was going to make. I don't ever recall horses in the park but could be wrong. But the current structure for Roadrunner was built when the coaster went in and not earlier. Almost surely not, I do recall though that SFFT was supposed to get what wound up being SFOT's hyper coaster in '99 and instead got the Poltergeist/Boomerang/Scream etc package. I don't know if Sea World's decision to build Steel Eel had any impact on that or not. The rumor as reported by Screamscape about Astroworld at that time was that they were going to get the world's first wooden coaster with an inversion for their 30th anniversary but got Taz's TX Twister instead (never cared for it). How on earth SFFT got SKC I don't know but Six Flags in general was spending money on rides like drunken sailors after Premier acquired the chain. Some other things I do recall from the 90s: There is very little out there on the '93 Rattler. The park tried widening the bottom of the first drop by starting the drop earlier but it still went down to the bottom of the quarry. They also installed headrests on the trains and I believe modified the restraints but apparently it wasn't enough. The first drop was still pretty good but not insanely great like the original drop, which I still consider the best I've ever experienced, especially in the back. Another rumor was that FT was supposed to get Opryland's SLC but Opryland's separation from the park and the surprise Sea World made in '95 to build an inverted coaster put a stop to that and they eventually wound up with the disappointing Joker for '96. Apparently SF was majorly pissed about the Great White, which effectively locked them out of a Batman clone in TX for a couple of years. Time Warner had evidently been withholding the "good rides" from SFOT in particular in an effort to stiff-arm the owners of the park to sell. I believe this was brought to light in a lawsuit brought by SFOT and SFOG against TW. The Express-News did run an article about Six Flags exploring the possibility of a second movie-based theme park across from SFFT where the Rim is currently located. Years before I believe the paper also suggested Sea World was considering building a Baseball and Boardwalk type park on their property which I think pretty much fizzled when Fiesta Texas was announced. If you had the patience you should be able to find the articles on microfilm somewhere. The craziest rumor I had heard back in the early 90s was that Six Flags was planning to move Astroworld to another location in the Houston area.

One argument for a wingrider is that the vertical loops have a pretty "fat" footprint, wider than what you would see on a typical inverted vertical loop.

I saw it too, but it's already been taken down on their website. Guess those blueprints were fake, that or KI is seriously messing with us