Goooose

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'm not blinded by anything. I'm using sound judgment. If they close Colossus and announce a wing coaster when everybody is anticipating an RMC, then the whole project will backfire. Run a cost benefit analysis and you will find that people would be happier with a broken down colossus than with a new ride, if that new ride is not the ride that the public is anticipating. In this scenario, why spend 10-25 million dollars if people are going to be upset? The answer is, you wouldn't. You wouldn't insulate yourself from your audience so blatantly. The fans and the public have approved of the closing of colossus under this one circumstance-that it is given the ibox treatment. Any other plan would be a huuuge risk and cause a public relations nightmare. On top of that, why would Magic Mountain close a ride without a plan for replacement when they are so competitive with Cedar Point to have the most coasters in the world? It works against their marketing/advertising strategy. They wouldn't close it at the end of 2014 without announcing a replacement project to be online by 2016. Given that it will be replaced in some way shape or form, the most likely project is an RMC based on recent trends. Lets look at patterns for evidence: New Texas Giant. Iron Rattler. Steel Medusa. Colossus is closing. No other project is really justifiable. With such a marketable and successful and attainable and popular option, to give it an Ibox treatment, why on earth would they tear down the existing structure and start over, building a steel coaster, for example? That is just.. not even worth talking about anymore. When SFGAm announced the closing of wizzer, people were upset. The replacement wasn't worth it to the general public because it wasn't a comparable replacement. They were trying to replace a classic family coaster that induces lots of nostalgia for a flying coaster. So, the park changed plans. Rolling Thunder was demolished, yes. The structure wasn't big enough to really open many design options for RMC, nor was the coaster iconic enough to keep. They likely have something in the planning phases for 2016 with that land, now that they have spent money on its demolition. Whether that's an Intamin or an RMC is another story; different park, different market, different set of circumstances. Based on Six Flags' successful working relationship with RMC, it could be getting a built-from-scratch one. On the other hand, they already have a successful new generation of wooden coaster with El Toro, so it might be worth it for them to diversify their coaster assets and build an Intamin steel coaster of some type.

Doubtful. That image I posted on 818 was around 130 today, and there were four cranes up around the ride and near to the track.

They would never remove colossus.. Think about the cost of removing it and the added cost of building from scratch. Why waste existing assets? Plus, its iconic and has brand equity. Keeping it around, even in a drastically different form, is good for business. Why would the park announce a final date to ride it with exclamation points all over the place if there wasnt a popular rumor to give it rmc treatment? Theyve done their market rssearch; they know what Mm fans have been asking for and they know they can get away with closing it for that one specific type of renovation. Look at the public campaign to fix revolution.. Some things become classics. Could you imagine the uproar of they closed it and at the end of august announced a wing coaster?? People would be picketing outside the gate and camping on the coaster to prevent bulldozers from moving in. In other words, youre getting an rmc so deal with it. If the rumor wasnt credible enough, six flags would probably ask TPR to remove their RMC tag from the Facebook post that started this conversation. And rocky montain would be upset too if they werent involved in the project but were getting tagged in posts about it as if they were. They wouldnt want misinformation. Since its true, they are letting the talk spiral put of control. Free advertising ahead of an official announcement. finally, omg, how fun would it be if there was a negative g float hill right inderneath a zero g stall, and the trains rode along together for a few seconds while riders tried to high five one another??? EPIC

The ride, like so many older coasters, has been neutered though. There are breaks where there once weren't, track has been flattened where there used to be good ejector air. With RMC's computer aided design, new trains, and newer lapbars/seatbelts/leg restraints, the coaster will be allowed to do things that it once was doing but have since been discontinued.

LOL it looks like the guy sitting next to him at 1:25 during the reverse POV is wearing iPhone headphones! As for the coaster, I'm expecting a higher lift, steeper drop, restoration of the double up, low bunny hills for negative G's, maybe even some zero g rolls, stalls, overbanks obviously. Maybe the tracks will even twist around one another rather than stay parallel but that may not be the case. A 2016 opening? It took nTAG two years.

Baby got back

Just buy a coke can at a grocery store near the park, like Jewel Osco on Grand Avenue in Gurnee, or a 12 pack. There should be a 20$ish dollars off discount on each can if I'm not mistaken but I'm not sure of the dollar amount this year so somebody else may be able to clarify. The big cans, not the little mini ones. If somebody can help him out right now that would be cool! Compare the discount from that + the price of the cans/case to the discount offered by purchasing on six flags' website ahead of time. Don't make the mistake of trying to buy the ticket on your iphone. Their website requires flash so you need a laptop or desktop. Again, not the end of the world, find a Starbucks with Wifi and bring a laptop and buy there the night before or morning of.

That's about an 8th, half a quarter. About 52 feet out of 415. 90 mph? Wow this will be wicked.

Can someone explain to me this missing support from the zero g stall story? Why would they throw a train through the structure if it isnt finished? If it isnt structurally sound? Or could you point out which piece is missing?

That speed already looked like it would deliver. I cant wait to see its full potential. There was a video posted that showed the train going through the fina overbank twist and shout, and this was the only part that looked slow. Most coaster do look slow from off ride, even when they are open to the pulic. So this thing will really feel fast from start to finish! As for the piece that flew off during the negative g float, maybe it was a decorative shield from the side of a car? Something nonessential obviously since the ride didnt come screatching to a halt.

Look at the speed through the break run!!! There will for sure be negative gs in all rows. Relieved.. ))))

I dont think great america got sued, because who wouldbhave sued them? I believe the chain sued Vekoma.

Grouting the inverted portion of the zero g stall. this HAS to be the end of it. Everything else has its red topper track.

They keep revisiting the steel/wood structure perched atop the top of the overbank. PLEASE dont let there be any structural issues! Glad to hear the lift is running.

The cranes kept revisiting the overbank and drop over the past two days. Since both were already totally topper tracked and grouted, I am guessing they were installing sensors. Now the cranes are lifting something to site from off site. Hopefully train cars!

Red topper track was added to the exit of the zero g stall! #finally #progress #whatsnext #sooneritopens,thesoonerillgoaway

Yea it is a recent trend isn't it. To have a descending break run that doubles as a floater, or kind of takes you by surprise and from 60 to zero. I agree with you tororific about the length. It is longer than outlaw run, but the elements are much larger, taller, and longer, so there are fewer of them. I am trying to hold back from questioning the park, as to why they didn't give up the wilderness theater land for Goliath, but it isn't worth it to complain before I even ride the thing. BUT had they given up the theater land, they could have had the first drop running alongside the train track like iron wolf, exiting the tunnel left into an outerbank turn, then having another negative g float facing perpendicular the first drop, sharp right turn into the existing negative g float, dive loop, zero g stall (all would be reworked, as the lift is moved, and then exit the zero g stall left into an el toro-style series of s curves, hills, a lateral float, ya never know. My computer in't new enough to create it on No Limits 2, but as soon as I can, I will. With that, can't wait to ride the actual beast we see every day on the webcam.

Judging by the video i just saw of steel medusa, this thing is going to fly. It will not lose any speed before hitting te reaks, whereas ntag is much longer and iron rattler spends much of its time going pretty slow as it is riding on top of the cliff, much higher than the altitude of its first drop where it gets most of its speed. Im imaging the best airtime hill imaginable after the overbank, as its only 60 feet tall coming off a 165 foot hill. If youve ever been on ntag, think of the negative g in the hills entering the first overbank after the first drop, or entering the mid course "break run" (trimless). As for the two overbank turns at the end, im not sure how those will rid but im expecting more negative gs on the entrance to the break run. Wont be as strong as the first negative g float but wont b positive gs either, or the break run would be flat and no descending. Overall, I like to think of it as an amazong hypercoaster before the mid course break run, where you catch your breathe and all the more forgettable bunny hills carry you back to the station. Im hoping itll ride like Nitro part one, ending at the helix-in terms of speed and pacing of elements.

holy crap... Thats going to be better than rattler. It looks accodentally fast, like twice as fast as the concept art! It will be soooo fun. Maverick style relentlessness

I have been surprised to see it a lot. A few weeks ago I saw a commercial for the park numerous times with footage of x-flight, bull, and goliath, and maybe superman. And more recently, I have seen the goliath commercial and I saw it on billboards. People seem to be aware of the ride and articles are popping up quite a bit in social media platforms. For example, the delaying of media day created a lot of buzz and awareness that wouldn't have otherwise happened. As for Potter, yea, I was blown away. On Comcast/Xfinity On Demand, they have all Potter movies available as well as tours of/introductions to all the Wizarding World attractions. Watching TV, a train runs right by the bottom of the screen. They are sparing nooo expense with potter. They're hoping to increase revenues on the franchise in all mediums while increasing franchise awareness and ultimately increasing theme park revenue. If ever there was a project that had potential to bring Universal neck and neck with disney in terms of number of visits, it is this. The profits from this will fuel future expansions. All the media hype for Potter is totally unprecedented. In addition to everything mentioned before, i'll add that Jimmy Fallon will be broadcasting the tonight show from Orlando the week of Diagon Alley's opening. This is all possible because Universal Studios' parent company is NBC Universal and they own all of the television channels that are running nonstop potter ads, and they own Fallon. And who owns 51% of NBC Universal? COMCAST! So they are advertising their own ventures nonstop, around the clock, to drive Universal Parks and Resorts. Universal probably didnt pay for all of these ads. Since they are on their own networks and through their parent company's distribution network, they can pretty much get total national, even global for that matter, awareness of Diagon Alley for a fraction of the budget it would have required if they had to pay a competing company for the ad space. Six Flags on the other hand? Just a seasonal regional theme park operator, publicly traded, but not owned by any other corporation. Their budget for advertising and attractions/operations for that matter are much smaller than Disney or Universal's, which are a slice of a larger corporate pie.

Superman... Unbelievable. I havent been on it in 8 years because its line isso long. Why did ours not come with a double station like Georgia's?? What a bunch of cheapos.

X-flight... slowest queue in the world, behind deja vu. AmIright?

THey're grouting the exit of the zero g stall! Iiiii just wanna celebrate!

Poor guys are working 12 hour days 7 days a week and people are complaining! I hope they and their families get to ride it a million times during the testing period! Also, holy crap, look how cool the first drop and the floater hills look from that perspective!

In the Tribune article about Goliath on May 2, the park said that the winter freeze only delayed construction two full days. I raised my concern here about how rain could delay construction further, and everyone said "if they can handle the cold, they can handle the rain!" Except that when there is rain, there is lightning. And when wood is wet, it probably isnt as useful. They built most of the coaster in the past two months and on may 2 they announced the may 29 media day, but we have lost a week since then, at least, with wet weather, lightning, and lift / zero g stall installation delays. At one point they said the lift would be up by the end of the week, i believe it was mothers day weekend, and it took another 6 days and they had to uninstall and reinstall the zero g stall. I am not complaining, just pointing out my observations. I get a little annoyed when people blame the freezing weather. We probably lost a week over the entire winter due to chills, although the park said it was only 2 days, and then another week at least this month alone. Im not going to scream at them because, come on, two months ago there was no drop, dove loop, zero g stall, grouted track, roof over thedrop, station, transfer track, or queue/marquee. I have no idea what they are still doing with a crane near te overbank... But it isnt my job to know what tey are doing. I can only hope that they will finish putting topper track on today or tomorrow and do a pull through this weekend and have a solid 4 days of testing before friday. Wishful thinking i know. Here is a pic posted to sfgamworld and im sorry i have no idea who took it so i cant give credit. The member who posted it there simply said that he found it "on the internet." . In the time since this photo was taken, the chain has been fully installed and more orange cars have been added to the track.