EricGarbo

The thing is, there will have to be trims about every 100 feet or so (vertically speaking), and that's being generous. Because of the nature of the ride you're constantly turning, so the faster you go, the heavier the positive Gs will get. Imagine a ride where every time you pick up any serious speed, you hit a trim or a block brake and slow way down again. True, you have the added thrill of being so high up, but that'll only last for the first few elements. This is why people are skeptical. It might still be a fun ride, but it'll definitely be an interesting design challenge. Any element you have, any airtime hill, whatever, must be done while also turning. Going in a different direction here, think of ride with multiple lift hills. Big Thunder Mountain survives very successfully with three lift hills. What about The Beast? The Beast is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world and nobody is going to dispute that, but the ride has two lift hills. I've seen complaints around the internet that polercoaster shouldn't be considered the tallest roller coasters in the world because they don't have the worlds largest drops. The point I'm trying to make is that rides with several elements that are usually considered 'boring' or 'lame' to riders can be used very effectively to give an even better ride experience then they would without them. Starting at ground level, climbing a 570' tower, and finishing on ground level is going to be an amazing experience. I understand sticking to tradition and having preferences for traditional roller coasters, but having alternative experiences is what makes this industry so exciting. Even if it's not the most exciting experience it's different, and the differences give us new perspectives and information we can use moving forward.

I have some photos hidden on my phone somewhere from the opening weekend of Hades 360. Timberliner trains have a similar suspension system as well.

^^^^^ Johnny on the spot here. Those were posted less then 30 minutes ago. The ride is incredible, I really must say. You know, I've been thinking this all winter but looking at the photographs from this angle really does it for me: I think Goliath is going to have possibly the best first drop around. Outlaw Run and New Texas Giant really surprised me with the way the first drop really got the thing going. It was like taking the fall from the top of the Dragster or Xcelerator but amplifying it and putting it in the form of a first drop. Outlaw Run's first drop was incredible because it gave that wooden roller coaster feel on top of this perfectly formed very steep tall drop. As an aside, I think anyone who has ridden Outlaw Run agrees that it is a wooden roller coaster. It's the people who judge the ride from the technical specifications that seem to think it isn't. If a ride is defined by the experience had by the rider there is no doubt that Outlaw Run is a wooden roller coaster, as that's how it feels. Maybe it's not as rough as Hades 360 and feels a bit different than any GCI out there but for those who have ridden both it's very similar to El Toro by feeling. Moving on, I feel that by knowing how much more intense the first drop on Goliath is going to be I think this ride was designed to pack as huge of a punch as possible, not give a very long ride. I think the first drop alone on here is going to be what I line up for each time and the rest of the ride will be bliss. I really enjoy a ride that gives me everything I want and I just enjoy the rest. Renegade at Valleyfair has a great first drop, two airtime hills separated by a turnout, and the rest is bliss to me. On Goliath the turnaround, airtime hill, dive loop, zero-g stall, and final turnaround are all going to be that bliss. Looking deeper into the photographs look closely at the one that looks down on the overbanked turn and the final turn into the brake run. Look at how the track is slightly overbanked only by a few degrees but juts in and out. It reminds me of how GCI crams every drop of airtime out of each situation like on Goldstriker and how Schilke gave us so much air on the sideways camelback on Outlaw Run. I think these turnarounds are going to be the hidden gem of Goliath, giving us the most unique experience we weren't expecting.

The Goliath shirt I bought for the originally planned Midnight ride says "It's better on Top." Of course, I'm 25 years old and I could care less about sexual innuendo associated with it: it simply is going to be awesome when you reach the top of that lift. It's most definitely a double standard, though.

It would have been interesting if one of the parks that purchased an Intamin impulse did something similar to Mr. Freeze.

Anyone still up there know how Zippin Pippin's riding this year?

We will be on the Scandi trip during media day, and traditionally at Six Flags media days, they only let you shoot rider cam with the mounted cameras they provide. I most likely would not have been allowed to shoot our own POV anyway. Does TPR have representation at media day at this point? I'm assuming that even with the dates flopping around like they have there will still be some Club TPR members to join us out here on that day.

If it's anything like X-Flight last year you can use it twice but the two times you use it have to be scheduled at the time of reservation.

Sideways airtime is my favourite part of Outlaw Run, totally unlike anything else at all. I've been watching the construction here and I am very impressed with the results. This should be one fantastic ride, and I cannot wait to be there next month. The sideways airtime hill is amazing! It's my all time favorite ride moment. The trick is that it actually pops outwards to eject you out of the seat still while you're on your side. It's so subtle that it's hardly noticeable, but looking at the photographs you can see it. I remember my first ride thinking, "Holy crap this is amazing but the double barrel roll is coming up. First we have this sideways things. WHOA. What the hell was that? I need to do that again!"

Higher than Hades 360! Alright, the bar has been set. I don't think we can go much lower. Gah, I really love the layout for Hades 360 and I think the new section really keeps the intensity going and makes it stellar. Every spot with proper retracking is awesome and when it was new it blew all of us away. Such a shame.

I swear, if someone wasn't in their restraints they would fly 1,000' from their chairs on those airtime hills.

Did they retrack it with some Jersey Boys fliers? By next year instead of rider instructions the operators will say, "El Toro, proudly presented by Takis. Can you handle the heat? Check out Takis on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; all proud partners of Six Flags Great Adventure by Coca Cola."

Nobody in line at park opening, beautiful weather: It's gon' be a good day. Edit: Steel Venom still holds on the back spire? Oh man it's now a toss up between this and Vertical Velocity at Discovery Kingdom. I really really miss that effect at the Great Am.

Dang, that's a pretty big burn.

This is typical of most tall roller coasters, really. Usually the lift + first drop + turnaround takes up the entire length of the ride and extending it even further is reserved for rides that have a lot of horizontal space.

Waiting in line for American Eagle at Six Flags Great America last weekend. They put up a bunch of Blue Man Group advertisements this year. Be: me Don't be: two high school girls behind me high school girl 1: "Are they actually blue or do they paint themselves blue?" high school girl 2: "Hmm..." *in a thought provoking tone* A conversation proceeds to take place actually discussing the issue for several minutes.

I work on major projects where he hire outside contractors. Can confirm: The other contractors labor are crap. They always are.

So at Six Flags parks the ops do their pre-ride check to make sure that everything is in order, in which all of the operators need to give the all clear. Was this not performed? At Six Flags parks the dispatch operator asks to 'take five,' verifies that all of the operators are in agreement, then they give the go-ahead for the launch command. It seems that they either did this and something happened after the all-clear or they never performed their check.

I am going to be visiting the park for the first time on Friday. Should I expect any serious crowds? Also, what should I head to first to avoid longer lines later? It would seem that Renegade or Wild Thing are the most popular rides, but I'm not sure what the local GP make a habit of heading to first.

I honestly think the audience that MM targets will eat wing coasters up. Remember, most of their customers are not coaster enthusiasts and are not aware of any potential this project can unleash. In fact, I'm willing to bet most of them don't even know what a Rocky Mountain conversion is. I agree with you here. Also, I don't understand the attitude that Goooose has where it's a Rocky Mountain conversion or a wing rider. Why not something else? The better part of me believes that a water park expansion is highly probable. Or, why not something totally outlandish? Here's some speculation of my own: Imagine the park building a new front entrance over that way. It's centrally located in the parking lot and there would be more then enough room for a massive renovation to build a whole new front entrance. Then, they take out the old front entrance to the park which is located way out of the way now, take down the old structures, and build a new major roller coaster over there, by the Full Throttle plaza. A serious park restructuring for the better, a larger water park, and a new roller coaster. That would be exciting to me.

Oh, my home park is Six Flags Great America, I'm already getting a Rocky Mountain startup. The park industry enjoys speculation, and when they don't no harm seems to come from positive speculation. This isn't a game of guess who; park representatives are not going to tell us when we're wrong. That's just how every single Six Flags advertisement looks. It's a Photoshopped image of people having a ball on a roller coaster train with some text highlighted against a colorful background. I'm going to speculate that similar advertising was put up at Great Adventure announcing the closure of Rolling Thunder. In the art of speculation people are blinded by what they want to happen. The advertisement is clear: Colossus is closing. Given a different perspective where we want the ride to simply be removed we would be looking forward to our new parking lot space, not speculating maneuvers like we are.

I highly highly doubt that they remove the ride. Alright, well I gave you my two cents about it, so lets discuss it. Why do you think that?

I gotta be honest here, and I mean it in the best way possible just to discuss it, but I would not have guessed that the description you provided was for Magic Mountain. Just breaking it down: X2 and Tatsu are very much top ten worthy. Goliath is tall but it is extremely long at the same time (As is Tatsu, X2, and Viper), and the park seems to be lacking high capacity rides at this point, especially with the recent addition of Full Throttle. Comparing Cedar Point against Magic Mountain it's very easy to see which park went for high intensity+low capacity and which went towards lower intensity+higher capacity.

Isn't it far more plausible that they're simply going to remove the ride outright? I mean, they did just install a new ride last season. I'm seeing speculation online that there's some super-mega-dueling dragons-esque RMC makeover, and while that would be awesome it doesn't seem practical at the moment, especially given that Full Throttle opened < 1 calendar year ago. I'm all for some awesome speculation, but I think in this case we need to be a little more practical.

I'm at the park right now. The liftchain is currently being tested.