GoBears

They are aiming for Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day 2014 is May 26th so probably May 24th is when it'll open. Brandon Bruce told me that they're planning on having a season pass exclusive opening like they did with X-Flight so it might open a week early just for season pass holders.

I rode Iron Wolf about 30 times in my life and I always found the first half to be okay. It was the second half that hurt because of standing position plus it makes really quick transitions in such a small area. In other words, it paced quickly in the 2nd half but the turns are really tight so it jerked you around. They never added the blocks before the corkscrew (which is why the track is dipped down the way it is in case they wanted to add them I believe). It might have helped a little by slowing it down but probably wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Corrected: This is the 2nd time this station has been reused. It first belonged to Iron Wolf in 1990 and now Goliath in 2014. Brandon Bruce told me it will undergo heavy renovations (which we already knew) and it'll be extended to accommodate the trains which are longer than Wolf's. He said we should also expect a themed entrance portal and station. EDIT: Six Flags Great America posted this yesterday of the floater hill on their FB page:

Caught a pretty cool picture this morning of Goliath's construction site on the webcam.

Favorite On-Ride: "Kickstart my Heart" on Hollywood RRR Favorite Background: "Ready to Go" at Dragster's station

They are adding a queue block where the karaoke stage outside of Iron Wolf was.

I've heard pretty good things about Furius Baco as far as intensity goes.

Whizzer at SFGAm

Steel: Top Thrill Dragster Wood: Mean Streak... until Goliath opens at my home park next year.

X-Flight is far from my favorite coaster but I still find it pretty fun. Nothing too thrilling but it's smooth and has cool elements. I ride it a few times a month during the season as long as the lines aren't too bad. I've never been on Gatekeeper though and I don't plan on riding it anytime soon.

I sent it in the questions earlier so I could get a response by this morning. Brandon was really quick to answer. I chose the 10 questions that were asked the most from this site and mine since I didn't want to bother him too much. Here you go: Thank you to Brandon Bruce and for everyone who sent in those great questions. My Original Post

Will there be ANY theme to match the train design or will it just be generic? Was there really any discussion about giving American Eagle the Iron Horse or was it just a coverup? Will igNite be returning? What were the clues in the teaser videos, since I don't know if anyone figure them out? I'll ask about Ignite and the theme. Brandon said in an interview on August 29th that the rumors about American Eagle were started when a staff member put up fliers at the station that the blue side would be closing early. That was just a notification for the staff to let them know that was the last day before they switch the blue train around backwards.

How long has this ride been planned? Will there be a test seat outside? Will there be lights in the tunnel? Why did you pick the name Goliath? A couple of these were answered from interviews back in late August. They chose the name Goliath because they felt it was fitting for the tallest wooden coaster. There will be a test seat outside. Gary Pohlman of maintenance said the ride was in planning for a couple years. I'll ask about the lights in the tunnel though. Good question!

I have a quick interview with Brandon Bruce from the park's PR later so if anyone has any questions regarding Goliath or the 2014 season, let me know. Also, it appears they have more supports up for Goliath but it's hard to see on the webcam because of the way the clouds are spreading the sunlight right on the camera.

I wouldn't be surprised as that's what they did with X-Flight. That's one thing that sort of irks me about Great America, I don't get why they wouldn't want their new coaster to be open to everyone on opening day. For those who only go once a year, it would seem like a ripoff if they went to the park early in the season only for Goliath to not be open yet or only be open to season pass holders. It's good marketing for SFGAm for more people to purchase season passes. I was at X-Flight's season pass exclusive opening day back in May 2012 and there were a lot of people getting turned down at the entrance. However, as I went through Hometown Square after getting a couple rides in on X-Flight, I saw a lot of people upgrading their tickets to season passes just to go on X-Flight that day. It might not seem fair, but it's actually pretty smart on SFGAm's part. It's also a good way for the ride crew to get some more experience on real crowds.

Even complex steel structured coasters can go up fairly quickly. It depends on the crew though and how much time they spend each day. Typically, steel coasters are much quicker to put up than wooden coasters. Here's from SFGAm's Twitter today:

^That's because they don't work on Sundays unless they're falling behind schedule or they couldn't work a certain day during the week because of weather. Right now they're actually slightly ahead of schedule. I guess with how unpredictable weather is here in northern Illinois, there's no such thing as being slightly ahead of schedule. Here's the latest from today. It appears they've made more progress on the trench too.

It looks like it's in that general area. Here's a better look at their progress today while there was still some sunlight...

More wooden supports are going up now!

Big photo update of Goliath... The rest of the photos can be found on their FB page or here. Vertical construction will begin next week according to park president Hank Salemi.

I'm having a little bit of difficulties with uploads right now. Thanks "willthegolfer".

Goliath's construction site as of this afternoon. Footers are being added for the overbanked turn and the twist and shout. [attachment=0]Screen Shot 2013-11-07 at 2.35.31 PM.png[/attachment]

From SFGAm's Twitter:

I've only been on one which is The Incredible Hulk but it's one of my favorite coasters of any kind I've been on. I didn't have a rough ride on it at all.

Some footers have been poured and the 15 foot trench for the bottom of the first drop and the bottom of the zero-G stall is being dug up now. They're using some precast footers which should help with construction time, especially since the weather is getting quite cool here in northern Illinois which is hard on fresh concrete. From SFGAm's Twitter

Thank you for your responses.