BrandonR

Are ou kidding me, the man has a very dry sense of humour, it's taken me YEARS to figure his gimmick out, but once I did, shazam! This definitely was funny. By "dry" do you mean telling unfunny jokes at which no one laughs at then nervously moving on (if he doesn't crack up at the jokes himself first)? Being nervous and fidgety and telling terrible jokes is most certainly not the same thing as having a dry sense of humor. Watching his late night show is like watching a train hit a school bus in slow motion.

Hey look, it's possibly the closest Jimmy Fallon has ever been to being funny.

You also have to remember that parks build new rides figuring that they'll bring in hoards of new visitors, and when that ride is no longer operating, they're missing out on that ROI.

As a mechanical engineer, I'm especially interested in any details of the ride's failures if anyone knows more info. And while on the topic, anyone know how Dodonpa has been doing? RCDB says it's still operating. Perhaps the park is just pouring more money into theirs?

Well of course there is going to be catwalks there, in case they need to evac passengers on the lift. I have my doubts there will be catwalks along the entire track.

I've been out of the coaster loop (pun most definitely intended) for some time now and was wondering whatever happened to Hypersonic XLC? Why was it removed? I vaguely remember reading it had become rather rough. Anyone know why?

I like how on one sign they proclaim steepest drop on a wooden coaster, then on another sign they have "#1 Wooden Coaster" with "wooden" crossed out and "super hybrid" instead... So they acknowledge it's not a wood coaster on one sign, then say it is one to claim a record on another.

W-o-w. Another relatively tiny bunny-hop after a big drop. This ride is going to be insane.

Yeah the construction seems to go in bursts. They laid the first drop and double-up in probably a week. And now it seems like very little has been done since then. I'll just chalk it up to it being a new technology and the Giant is somewhat of a prototype...

Well I was there today and all the supports on the turnaround are still definitely from the original ride. They haven't done any new work or re-profiling/rebuilding on the turnaround yet, so it could go either way really.

If they were planning on leveling out the turn it seems like they would have removed the turn's supports long ago at the rate they've been laying track down. Here's to hoping it will be an upward overbanked turn.

I agree that the new Giant will be a steel coaster, but technically even wood coasters run on [flat] steel rails.

I like the red but I do think it grows on you a bit. It makes the track's profile stand out more and looks a bit more elegant than if it was painted turd-brown.

Ohh fancy! I wanted to get an aerial shot of all that but the Oil Derrick (observation tower) was shut down due to high winds.

Went to the park today (July 20) and added a few more Texas Giant construction photos. Here are a few: The rest are here. They've completed the valley on the first drop and I must say, the pictures don't do the double-up justice. It's so much shorter than the first drop it's crazy looking.

I always thought that strange element was closer to a diving loop than a corkscrew, despite what they called it. And of course it'd be nice if it were made by a company that wasn't attempting to work outside its technical ability.

Meh, I've always thought a giant corkscrew after a first drop would be neat to have instead of the typical vertical loop being the first element. Yay for originality.

Horrible uncomfortable or crazily insane, I can see it going either way. Could produce a nice pop of airtime. But yeah, it does look pretty small compared to the drop.

Yep, the ride is scheduled to reopen next year, to coincide with the park's 50th anniversary. It'll definitely be a steel ride, with polymer wheels on steel track. I'm just curious if the wooden structure will "give" more than steel supports would, providing a different ride experience or feeling. I'll be sure to regularly update my site with new Giant construction pics!

I was at the park again today and took a couple more pictures of what appears to be an insane-looking double-dip-like element after the first drop before the turn. Now I really want to see how this thing turns out.

Well the old Giant's drop curved as well. But I have little doubts it'll be even more fun when its steeper.

I posted some construction pictures I took yesterday to my site. I won't specify the URL as it might violate the no-posting-links-til-50-post rule (yes, I actually read the rules!), but it's not hard to find... After all, it's a Guide to Six Flags over Texas... The first drop looks really amazing in-person. I can't wait to see them start work on the overbanked turns...