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^I fully expect this ride to go up very quickly. I wouldn't be surprised to see it up in less than two months from the day it goes vertical.

I'm going to assume, based on your post, that you aren't looking forward to Fury very much? Seriously, how can a dedicated roller coaster enthusiast NOT be excited about this massive coaster? Even if it isn't a top-10 coaster (which it probably won't be), it still looks a heck of a lot of fun! I would absolutely ride it if I made it to the Carolinas and some point in the future. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Sorry to switch the topic here, but if you have some spare time, check out Coaster-net's newest video titled "Cedar Point's Five Year Plan." I don't know that I agree with all of it, but there was some very interesting info that I hadn't heard before (apparently Tony Clark mentioned something about this year's winter chill out in 2014).

^Short trains and tons of downtime. It closed due to gray clouds in the area, before rain even arrives (in my experience). It was down at least six hours the three days I went last summer.

^When RT was built, it was an intense, menacing coaster. As the park stated, preferences changed as technology advanced, and it became less popular. In that time, it's niche changed to that of a family coaster. Intense, record breaking coasters are more marketable for SF, so I assume this is what they would go for. They don't want another family coaster just to have another family coaster, they want to draw in more guests. Again I don't think an RMC is necessarily the best fit for the park, but realistically I think this is ost likely. Look at what they've done the past few years. Just like Cedar Fair has with B&M, they know what's working for them right now, and that's RMC.

^Because this is a coaster enthusiast site. It's great and very important to have a well balanced park (which Gadv has been improving lately, other than losing RT), but it's hard to turn down the potential of having two of the best wooden coasters in the world. I personally don't think it would make a big difference that El Toro is already incredible. No, and RMC isn't necessary or the best choice, but its a potentially amazing coaster at a fairly low cost. Hard to say no to RMC.

^Gatekeeper can be dispatched a good bit quicker than Millennium Force. Even with the cable lift, 6,600 feet of track with no mid course vs. less than 4000 feet on Gatekeeper before the mid course makes a difference. Also, MF can't drop off the lift until the previous train pulls into the unload station. It all adds up, not to mention Gatekeeper is new (and has a crapload of attendants. It's insane how many people run Gatekeeper).

^I immediately did the exact same thing. Gatekeeper's drop isn't a huge surprise to me. Also remember the water main break, attributing a small decrease. Also, you can say all you want about Millennium Force, but 15 years strong still dropping those numbers is really impressive.

^Looks great! I hope they keep dishing these rides out to as many SF parks as they can, they're really fun rides.

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Thank you. Thought I was missing something for a minute there.

Sorry is there some reason to trust that post is the first place? It was the users first post, and he has yet to return. Does this happen on occasion, or is there any reason to believe they have some insider information?

^Agreed. I'd put Fury 325 higher than Justice League; certainly higher than the Knotts dark ride. Really? The tallest/fastest giga is less anticipated than a few dark rides that we really don't know all that much about at this point? May be a little biased.

Curious if it'll be on Fast Lane Plus. Surely it'll be more popular, but it's very high capacity with three trains and might not produce quite the following of those on FL+ (Dragster, Maverick, GateKeeper). Also, in my experience, GateKeeper really has no need to be on plus. That ride has really impressive capacity. I'd be perfectly fine with just Dragster and Maverick on plus.

"oh but it's SFMM, they'll find the way"

^Unfortunteky, I think you're right. Looks like a full on mid course at this point. I hope it doesn't slow the train too much, it would've been really cool to rocket up the lift as in the animation. Still optimistic, and the coaster will still be awesome.

Please be more specific. Given this is your first post, you have no credibility.

Goliath is the first ground up RMC coaster Six Flags built. They chose a site that limited the space, and wanted a record breaking ride. There was an Alan Schilke interview recently, and he said that with larger rides, there are fewer elements. Six Flags wanted "Tallest, Fastest, Steepest," and that's what they got. With all that height and speed, the elements are very large, and therefore there are fewer. It wasn't RMC that decided "let's make a 3000 foot long coaster that breaks records," it was Six Flags. Gadv isn't as limited on space as Great America (or might not choose a TINY plot for such a coaster), so it really isn't fair to say RMC builds short coasters. GCI's aren't much longer than Goliath, but they aren't nearly as tall/fast, so they have more elements. That's just how it works. When you get down to it, ANY RMC coaster is more appealing to the general crowd Six Flags appeals to. Yes, they have El Toro, but that was 10 years ago. It's records are long gone, the hype is over (granted, still my favorite overall coaster). If Six Flags has $10 million to spend, they're going to choose the RMC eight days a week.

^As much as I love competition, at this point I don't trust Six Flags to maintain any new traditional wooden coasters (topper track and Intamin pre-fabs being non-traditional). I've heard Apocalypse at Magic Mountain is still running decently well, but as for fast, extreme wooden coasters (especially with inversions at play), I'd be much more confident sticking with topper track and prefabs.

^On top of that, SF hasn't done business with GCI for a few years. When was the last time a Six Flags park built a family coaster, anyways? I'm curious (by "family" coaster I mean non-kiddie coasters, and not simply a coaster with a 48" restriction. A standard GCI is much more of a "family" coaster than any RMC, B&M looper, etc.).

Gadv is an intriguing case concerning 2016. I think it is almost a given that 2016 will be the park's big year in terms of capital. Beyond that, there have been so few credible rumors going around that it's very difficult to speculate what this investment may be. Since Green Lantern was the last coaster addition back in 2011 (5 years is a good amount of time for one of the largest SF parks), I think a coaster is the most likely option. As boldikus mentioned, with El Toro on hand as a stand out, extreme wooden coaster, an RMC ground up coaster may seem a little repetitive, if not counter intuitive. That's not to rule it out, IMO (see Carowinds/Canada's Wonderland- two B&M hypers), but it isn't an obvious choice in the least. The other possibilities as of this point would seem to be a B&M wing coaster or a custom/Batman clone S&S Free Fly. On one hand, this park hosts almost 3 million, and needs the capacity of the B&M. On the other, this park already has four B&M looping coasters- Gadv's only inversions are B&M. A Free Fly might be a welcome change. If 2016 is not a coaster year, Justice League is almost a no-brainer. I'd imagine a coaster in 2017/18, depending on the scale of that coaster. Honestly I'd be ecstatic with any of these additions. The park has done a great job beefing up the family/thrill ride collection since Green Lantern, but it's a good time for something major from this park. They've been fairly quiet in the coaster department since El Toro.

I would imagine the mid course brakes would remain about where they are, similar to the Texas Giant. Mean Streak and the Texas Giant had nearly identical layouts, so I assume this potential refurb would look very similar to the Giant's (possibly a steeper drop, maybe an inversion or two).

Although the park appears quiet from a visitor's perspective, behind the scenes, the guys upstairs at Frontier Forest have never been so busy. On May 19th, 1996, Frontier Entertainment Company was acquired by a private investor group for a reported $61.7 million, including Frontier Forest and its sister property, Frontier Lake in Pennsylvania. Included in the sale were the transfer of all the prior ownerships' assets and debts. Ownership and management of the parks officially changed hands upon signing of the contract. All senior management was removed and replaced on May 19th, 1996. The new ownership released a statement concerning the acquisition. "Acquiring these parks has been quite the process over the past several months, but it will certainly pay off. Frontier Forest has the potential to one of the premier regional theme parks in the United States; our goal is to enable the park to realize that potential." The following day, the new ownership changed their name to Frontier Theme Parks, Inc. Reactions to the buyout... "This is a much needed change. The park was getting stale and the newest rides just don't compare to the leaders like Paramount's Kings Dominion or other companies like Six Flags. "I truly hope they don't ruin the family atmosphere of this unique park. I love bringing my kids there, and I love being able to sit in a nice shady area, unlike other parks, or even the playground." "Does nobody get it? This isn't a simple acquisition; this is a hostile takeover. This new group is just gonna make a fortune off this would-be gem of a park, and then sell of its assets. Get with it, guys. The Virginia park is good as gone." Frontier Parks filed for permits to clear out a significant number of mature trees in the following months, but has not petitioned the height barrier just yet. Images below are from the fall of 1996 as we await an announcement of 1997 additions. Comments appreciated! The Frontier Forest name was temporarily removed from the entrance gates Now THAT is a large clearing. A prime piece of land, I might add A possible kiddie ride expansion, I assume Overview, fall 1996. Prepare for a big announcement in the coming months.

I'd be happy to tell you! My main sources of income are park entrance tickets, which average round $3000-$4000/month and food/drink/merchandise sales, which total around $1000/month. The rides are free, but I earn a rather negligible sum off ride photos, about $100/month, although that may increase slightly as newer rides are introduced with on ride photo systems (currently there are only two in the park). The main expenditures include ride operating costs (~$1000/month) and loan interest, which varies depending on the loan amount (which hovers between $40k~$80k), generally around $500/month. Variable expenditures include ride construction and landscaping, ranging from ~$5000-$40,000 in a year. In a standard with no major construction, the profit margin is between three and four thousand dollars. I think this one of the more unique aspects of this park. Say, perhaps, I reach my max loan at a given time in game ($100,000). At that point, I could not continue construction, just as any real world park would. It severely limits my freedoms in terms of landscaping and terraforming, but as the budget becomes available and the time is right, I do what I can in a realistic manner. Thanks for asking!

I've also ridden the Huss Frisbee at Cedar Point. If I had to choose one, I'd ride that over Zumanjaro. Also, I doubt frisbees cost nearly what Zumanjaro cost (rumored around $10 million). I also doubt they have the problems Zumanjaro has, and the capacity it no comparison. So, why don't they get one? Hard to market a record for a giant frisbee, as it would have to be larger than the Cedar Point version, which is not heavily marketed as a record breaking ride.

^Anywhere