dave41580

Very cool, I have a similar shot of Tidal Wave from '88 that was taken from the same Sky Whirl/Triple Wheel gondola vantage point. Interesting to to note that both Tidal Waves at SFGAm and CGA were able to tout "world's tallest" upon release due to the fact the footers used were 4' to 5' higher than normally used on your standard shuttle loop. You can make out the elevated footers by reviewing the supports leading up to (and including) the counter-weight tower. I believe the same height record tactic was used on Great American Scream Machine at SFGAdv to easily usurp (albeit briefly before Magnum opened) the record set by its near clone Shockwave at SFGAm the year before.

With the various mentions of Goliath reusing the Iron Wolf/Z-Force station to some degree, it got me to thinking, speaking of Z-Force, do you think that ride was already in the Marriott pipeline for Gurnee when Six Flags bought the park in '84? The timeline between the park purchase by Six Flags in '84 and the opening of Z-Force in '85 was just over a year. Also, The Edge Intamin drop ride was specifically *not* placed in the same County Fair location as it's Edge counterpart in Santa Clara, possibly because Marriott was already planning on purposing that area for Z-Force instead. It has been documented that the Gurnee park was more successful, and received exclusive rides that the Santa Clara park did not, such as American Eagle, White Water Rampage/Roaring Rapids, various flat rides, etc. 1983 - Marriott placed The Edge in the Orleans Place section at Gurnee/County Fair section at Santa Clara May 1984 - Marriott sold to Six Flags July 1985 - Z Force opened in the County Fair section (same location as where The Edge in Santa Clara was located) Just a theory/idea that popped in my head amongst all the new ride talk...

Did anyone notice in the small "Shuttle Loop" description is a picture of the Tidal Wave from Santa Clara sans the weight-drop launch support under the high-end tower? Because it's small I can't tell for sure, but I'm guessing that picture is an artist rendering as both Great America's operated weight-launched shuttle-loops. Any ideas? Santa Clara Tidal Wave - Great America

To me, this ride fits in alright...a fair usually has a mish-mash of rides/themes along the midway, and it being a "county fair." a random water ride doesn't seem so out of place...across from the Demon no less. Now if you want to talk strangely places rides, let's focus our attention to Batman: The Ride in Yankee Harbor, Superman: Ultimate Flight in Orleans Place, and The Dark Knight in Orleans Place. While Batman is still one of my favorite rides and themed rides at Great America, I still sort of wish it had gone on to be named The Hurricane like originally planned. Time Warner bought the park in 1991 and to coincide with the release of Batman Returns changed the then unnamed inverted coaster to Batman. Tidal Wave fit the Yankee Harbor just a bit better... But back to Buccaneer Battle!