skyscreems

I knew I was forgetting something.. The planned fire effects are no more. No word on whether there will be an accompanying ride soundtrack.

Heh, that was about 9 pages ago, posted yesterday

Keep in mind there's still another several months of construction to take place; in fact, a year from tomorrow (barring any major delays in construction and/or testing), it reopens.

-track length might be about 400 feet shorter -no confirmation yet as to whether the "magic carpet finale" will stay, but the engineers have been told it's a favorite -the most likely place for this 95-degree-banked turn is just before what is now known as "Curt's Curve," located just after the peak of the hill after safety brake and the million-dollar question.. if you MUST have steel or wood, then it's steel. The park believes it to be a hybrid combination, though, as said in the press release.

Giant *does* have it's smooth days: the ones after it's rained. I do remember it raining sometime in August last year .. Seriously, if you could catch Giant after a decent rainstorm or a long period of drizzle, it was like night and day. The last few years have seen a sprinkler system they installed back around 98 FINALLY being used, but not enough. The wood needs to be soaked, plus the rails weren't getting wet. Meanwhile, I've seen enthusiasts who find certain seats that ride at reduced jostling, and ride it over and over again at the Lone Star Coasterthon event. Every year, there they are in the same seat, close to the back. Personally, I've long been a front-seat rider Giant rider because it was the smoothest I could find. At this past Coasterthon event, I finally felt it taking a toll on my tolerance. So for me, this reconstruction came just in time..

I've convinced myself they're not, but not enough to rule it out.

Im keeping my fingers crossed that Gerstlauer is designing new trains for this project and we wont see the horrible trains we are thinking of running on this coaster That's a cool point to ponder.. I was hoping the Texas Giant layout I know and love would stay virtually the same, but this announcement does not make the case for that. In my opinion, if I ride it in 2011 and it's nothing like I remember layout-wise, then I'd count it as 2 credits: Old Giant and New Giant, wood or not.

Yes, Gerstlauer trains are in store for Giant. Which, if you're anything like me and several others watching this project, disappoints even MORE after this development. But then again, maybe this can help those trains run better..

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't know they were developing the old Sea World site; I thought they had sold it or were planning to. I wasn't even aware the neighboring HH hasn't even been open. So they're demolishing everything GL/SF on the one side, and rebuilding everything on the old Sea World side, right? Yea, when I heard they were removing the one park that can remain open longer than the water park, I've been skeptical ever since. I can't figure how Dick Kinzel plans to make a water park in northern Ohio "exciting" without making it a destination park, or indoors.

Thank you for providing these pics! Lots of rides I now will not ever be able to experience. I went through this with AstroWorld, and that was worse. But I'm confused! I've never been to Geauga Lake/Worlds of Adventure, however.. If CF is just demolishing the theme park and making it strictly into a water park, I thought that HH/WWK was the same park? What am I missing? Are they tearing it ALL down and then just starting over from dirt, to become nothing but water?

I'm ready for every week to be over! Are you jonesing for a good coaster ride right now?

Top Thrill Dragster

Knoebels

Hi! Krista here from Arlington Texas. Home park is Six Flags Over Texas and I pretty much live in the shadow of it (if you call 4 miles south a shadow.) I'll be 28 years old next month and have been married for 2. I worked at SFOT for 6 years as a ride operator and tried to make a living off of it, but they had other plans. I have some pretty good "stupid guest" stories to tell, as I'm sure any experienced amusement park employee will. Anything you need to know about this park, I can usually provide an answer or know where to find it. I've been in ACE for 10 years now. Been a small lurker here for a while; by the time I found this site it was pretty well established and I was established as a forum member on a few other sites and I hate joining forums after they've been around for a while. But I did use this site to contact Elissa after I heard about their wedding at Disney; I liked the flowers she used for her bouquet and was planning a wedding myself, so I needed to find out what kind they were so I could use some in my own. I understand y'all just had a baby in March; I just had my first back in July. Congratulations! I don't get to travel very much because I'm poor and I suck at trip planning. I've been to Six Flags Over Georgia, Dorney Park, AstroWorld (grew up at that place, RIP), Fiesta Texas, Zero Gravity of Dallas, the State Fair of Texas (worked there in 2003), Sea World of Texas, Wonderland in Amarillo, Joyland in Lubbock, and Cliff's Amusement Park near Albuquerque. I also frequent Schlitterbahn (grew up there too) and I've been to Hurricane Harbor (worked the Skycoaster there for 2 summers) and Schlitterbahn Galveston. Come to a Texas ACE event and I can practically guarantee I'll be there. I usually never encounter a coaster that I HATE; anytime I get to ride a new coaster is a blessing for me since, as I said before, I don't get to travel much. That's not to say I enjoy them all, but I'm glad to have the experience. My favorite coasters tend to be those that are fast and smooth, so I guess I prefer steel over wood, but you will NEVER be able to convince me that the Texas Giant is so rough it can't be ridden! (Ok, you have to ride in the front seat and lean into the turns while planting your feet in the crease between the floor and the front of the car, but still...) #1 steel is Mr. Freeze and #1 wood is Texas Giant. Besides coasters at parks, I will ride any Intamin drop ride and the skycoasters, and I collect park snowglobes and a piece of park clothing, usually t-shirts. My exact steel/wood count is on a laptop we no longer use, and I can't remember what those totals are yet, but I can tell you that I have 429 Skycoaster flights on 5 different Skycoasters at 6 different sites and have paid for only 4 of them. It usually helps to up your count when you work them for several years! It was my favorite ride to work, hands down. One of my favorite travel stories is my 5-hour trip to Dorney Park. I was there by myself, park was practically dead. It was my first time there, so I tried to ride everything I passed. But Hercules was closed, and closed, and still closed every time I checked. I had to do it; it was a Dinn & Summers just like my Texas Giant. I rode everything I liked twice while waiting for it to maybe open. Right when I gave up and picked up the phone to call my dad to come pick me up, I heard them run a train. I waited and waited, and was there at the entrance when they let people in. I rode it twice in the front. Two months later I was telling this story to some ACE friends, when I found out that they had closed it down and were in the process of demolishing it. I work in a very small credit union (155 employees) and I image our consumer/member documents into a digital imaging program. For the pay and the hours, this ranks right up there as the laziest job I have *ever* had. The only downside is it's 16 miles from my house. Though I plan to leave here and be a full-time momma before the end of the year. Oh and I am a very descriptive talker...... Short sentences can never describe any story I have to tell..... I'll have to upload a pic of myself later, cuz things like that (including MySpace) are banned here. Thanks for having me!