ilrider

Are they going to bother to at least place the proper apostrophe in "It's" on that "Its Cajun Time" sign?

^I have been riding Eagle since the year it opened, and I still love it today. Such an iconic ride, and beautiful to look at.

At least it would've been better than telling you to go where you feel safe, but then they don't allow you where you and many other patrons would feel safe, in the pictorium. That might just be a matter of since the Pictorium is currently closed, the park couldn't afford to waste the resources for a staff member to supervise patrons in there. They certainly would not want to leave anyone unsupervised. Or, if there is any kind of work being done in the theater, it might not have been a totally safe place to be. Since it sounds like you were at the park, was there an announcement there was a tornado warning in the area at all beyond the sirens? Yes, many announcements were made but they were not loud enough, many people could not hear them. They said there was an F3 tornado warning for the area and to seek shelter for safety. Well, the fact the announcements were hard to hear backs up my claim maybe employees should also just tell people to take cover somewhere safe, but they did make an announcement, so it sounds like the park did what would be expected to notify everyone. There was no EF3 tornado anywhere, so I do not understand why they made that specific of an announcement. That would scare people unnecessarily, because that would be one heck of a tornado. There is no category of tornado warning. There is a warning or there isn't. The EF ratings are only issued after assessing any damage. Glad there was no actual damaging tornado at the park and everyone stayed safe. So, how is everyone enjoying Goliath? I love it!

^Yesterday they should have, yes, but in some cases a tornado can come with no warning, meaning stormy weather preceding it. It happened many years ago when I worked in Gurnee, near the park. The sirens went off, with only a typical gray sky and no storm, due to a tornado in western Lake County, and there was a customer who asked me what the sirens were and did not understand the concern, being from non-tornado country. Those are the people who need an announcement.

At least it would've been better than telling you to go where you feel safe, but then they don't allow you where you and many other patrons would feel safe, in the pictorium. That might just be a matter of since the Pictorium is currently closed, the park couldn't afford to waste the resources for a staff member to supervise patrons in there. They certainly would not want to leave anyone unsupervised. Or, if there is any kind of work being done in the theater, it might not have been a totally safe place to be. Since it sounds like you were at the park, was there an announcement there was a tornado warning in the area at all beyond the sirens?

^I think the big issue was whether there was any announcement to seek shelter at all, so that those who are not familiar with tornado sirens know what it means. I did not say employees or the park need to guide patrons to a specific shelter, but announcing over the PA to seek the nearest shelter and having employees echo that would be good. Keep it very general and let patrons make their own decisions. I could see them avoiding announcing specific locations for liability reasons in case people were injured where they were told to go.

^You are correct; the tornado warning box ended just west of Gurnee, and it was a severe warning technically for the park. The sirens did sound in the area, though, so the park still needs to have set procedures in place when the sirens sound. I still think those people complaining about not being allowed in an employee only area overreacted. Probably took them 10 seconds to find another shelter.

^^If that is a place that is off-limits to the general public, though, I could see a difference from if they were told to leave, say, a store or public restaurant in the park. They should have helped them find a particular shelter, though. As it ended up, no tornado ever touched down, as it was a rotating storm but no tornado ever dropped. It sounds like there definitely needs to be better communication on the PA and using employees to guide patrons to seek shelter in the nearest building open to the public, because as was mentioned, some people never hear tornado sirens in their part of the country (or world). I think most Midwestern patrons are smart enough to just find the nearest building. There really is no great place to shelter in place at the park, but a solid structure is better than outside, for sure.

So, was anyone at the park when the tornado sirens went off today? We drove through the storm coming home from Indiana.

^Yes, there is a separate gate by the stairs, and Flashpassers go up the right side of the stairs to the station. Did not see more than one pair of people using that entrance in the hour it took to get past it.

Just got back from riding Goliath, and it is an amazing coaster. Definitely my #1 or 2 woodie against the Voyage, though they are so different it is tough to compare. It is short, but very intense and fast. The drop is every bit of 85 degrees, the airtime hill is definitely ejector air, and the zero G stall is a very neat element. I was smiling the entire ride. Alan Schilke was on the ride platform when we got to the station. We got in line at 10:36, six minutes after chain drop, and still had to wait 2 hours, 15 minutes. The line is not 4 hours, as it was a bit shorter as we exited than when we got in line. Dispatch intervals were around 2:30, so the line moved slowly. They checked all seatbelts first, then the lap restraints could be lowered, and they checked those. I am 6 feet tall and found the trains very comfortable. I did not notice the shin restraints at all. Definitely a great addition to my home park, and my new favorite ride here.

So, is this going to be an ongoing problem, with the coaster shredding wheels? Was it just a bad wheel? It is a potential safety issue, with riders getting hit with pieces of the wheel, not to mention will cause downtime for the ride. Are steel wheels the solution?

The forecast is for thunderstorms all day long Thursday, so it could be more than just a little rain, as the lightning would of course close Goliath. Let's hope there are some dry hours.

Those who have chimed in on FB and SFGAmWorld have been very, very positive. All short comments, but one person said it is easily the best coaster in the park, which sounds promising! Hope to hear it is one of the world's best soon.

I completely agree. Even then, I can't wait to see some pictures and TR's of the line when it finally opens to the general public. With only 24 riders per train, even with a short cycle time, I can't imagine wait times under 4 hours the first day. Oh yeah, I expect very long lines. We will be sure to be at the park at open any time we want to ride it. Will be a fun endurance race to the back of the park!

I fully expect both Goliath trains to be operating from the beginning. This park is too busy to operate one train on anything but the coasters that have only one train (V2, Spacely's, Little Dipper). Someone reported on SFGAm World that the red train is on the track today, so it sounds like they will both get plenty of testing. I have learned not to put much faith into what some random employee says. On opening day, while standing at Goliath, an employee sweeping in the area talked to me about the ride, then proceeded to tell me 14 people have died on coasters at Disney parks this year, but they are so good at keeping it out of the media, nobody ever finds out. I figured I would have heard something about it at TPR!

Fire? What fire? As they say, there is no bad publicity. Everyone is sure talking about Goliath today!

Can this ride possibly have any more setbacks? I just about had a heart attack when I first read the post about the coaster being on fire on FB. I pictured the whole ride going down in flames. Hope the station is still structurally sound, or this could cause more delays. update from Marcus LeShock's FB page: Reports that there was a fire at the Goliath site at Six Flags Great America. Here is the official statement from the park... "Earlier today there was a small fire on the roof of the Goliath station. Park personnel quickly contained and extinguished the fire and Gurnee Fire department then responded to investigate. The roof sustained minimal damage and there were no injuries. This will not affect the opening or future operation of the ride." Photo of the damage here: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Fire-Reported-Near-Six-Flags-Great-America-Roller-Coaster-262149481.html

Noisy screeches. Will that go away after breaking it in more?

Someone I know well has an uncle who has been working on Goliath as a local contractor, so he has been feeding me updates, and he told me today in his uncle's words, "Nothing is going right" after that first test run. He did not offer any specifics, but he did say his uncle does not (and I am paraphrasing) have good things to say about the RMC faction of the construction crew right now.

Wow, that zero G stall is going to be amazing/weird! Now I see why they call it a "stall." I realize it will probably go a bit faster through it with a full train and after more testing. Thanks so much for posting the video. Yes, it is pretty much impossible to get the full circuit on video due to the trees, but I am sure people will post more vids of different spots on the ride in coming days. Think I have to go to the park tomorrow to see this!

Work has stopped due to the storms. May not do any more today.

The zero g stall went in in a day. The track work including grout will be finished by sunday. Everything else is done and they only ned to cycle each train 50 times before it can take riders. Thats what, a day? Media day is firmly scheduled for 9 am thursday and the exclusive ride times have been given to various coaster clubs and fans who have bought merchandise at the park over the past 2 weeks for the whole weekend leading up to a june1st or 2nd opening to the public. They should be able to do cycle those trains 50 times in a day no problem, assuming everything goes smoothly,I would think. I still see them getting this done by next week, considering they will work through the weekend.

The track is actually an orange color, though on the camera it looks red. I don't know if orange works better in combination with the brown in your mind, but it is definitely very unique and striking in person.

More zero-g track installed tonight!