Olsor

^ Good point about the theming. I still remember when the park employees had different uniforms based on which themed section of the park they worked in. Ride ops for the Eagle wore old-timey clothes (not unlike this) to match the County Fair theme. And imagine my surprise when I went to the French Quarter in New Orleans for the first time and thought to myself, "These buildings look just like the ones outside Shockwave." There was definitely an attention to detail. Speaking of the Marriott days, here's an excellent website devoted to both the Gurnee and Santa Clara Great Americas: http://www.greatamericaparks.com/index.html

I remember the first few years Shockwave was open, the line would stretch all the way out to the train bridge near Power Dive. To give you an idea of how long that was, look at this picture from Joyrides and then put your finger about four inches to the right of the screen. That's how long the line was regularly. Shockwave was the shiz-nit. The first time I rode it, my friend and I happened to catch it right after it had been down for a few hours. We walked right on and got two more walk-ons afterward. On the third ride, I think I was pushing back on the headrest so hard that I must have pulled a muscle in my neck or my back during the double loop (or maybe I just got whiplash). It hurt just to inhale after that, and I honestly thought I had broken my neck. Luckily, I recovered and was able to ride Shockwave for another, oh, six years before I couldn't tolerate the beatings anymore.

Great TR, Ted. You were this close to some of the best barbecue in Texas at Rudy's in New Braunfels (and Schertz, and Round Rock...).

Nice pics. When I went to Dorney last year, I also pulled off the road to get some long-distance shots of the park. It's just kind of weird that you can see practically the entire park from the road. Even weirder is seeing pictures of Dorney from 20-30 years ago, when there was nothing but Thunderhawk.

Lastly... I loved those lights on the waves alongside the track. Such a good ride. And I just got the chance to ride it again at Kentucky Kingdom last month. That was a long 15 years between rides. Tidal Wave, in its first incarnation! (And its last year at SFGAm) Painfully good hangtime on Power Dive, the thinly-veiled ripoff of Top Gun. (Cue Top Gun guitar theme music...) A little Eagle, a little Demon, a little Splashwater Falls...

Back to the retro... Thirteen years later, no more water. Proof of global warming? I'm super serial. One of my favorite pictures. Notice all the water. Makin' it better. Tissues? Check. Lotion? Check. That's a fine first drop right there on Demon. Taken from Whitewater Rampage's line (which later became Roaring Rapids... lame). Ah, blackout goodness. Maybe if Ron Toomer had actually ridden one of his rides, he would've realized how much they hurt to ride. Through the damn trees. And efficient three-train operation. I remember being seriously irritated that Shockwave's drop didn't go all the way to the ground. This is what concerned me at age 13. By age 18, I was more interested in Shockwave being melted down. Sorry for the angle... I was trying to fit in the whole drop. Just tilt your head. If only it felt as good as it looked... Shockwave's towering first loop and the new-for-1991 Condor. Le boomerang. Notice the bike rack. Those of you who lived in the Chicagoland area will remember this ubiquitous shot of Shockwave's corkscrews... in commercials, in brochures, on Dominick's paper bags...

Bah, my computer funked up. More pictures to come.

Like I said... boredom + scanner + three-day weekend = retro photo TR These pictures are from a trip to SFGAm in July or August of 1991. The color/lighting are pretty off in some of the pictures, but I tried to pretty them up as much as possible in Photoshop. Parking lot. Coaster. (Again, check out the cars.) This was the first of what would be many pre-drop and twisting drops on B&M coasters. Iron Wolf with the classic trains. Ear-boxing goodness. The Eagle, as seen from Iron Wolf's station. POV! POV! Nice watch, dude. I wore a Timex Ironman, myself. The then one-year-old Iron Wolf, taken from Eagle's lift hill. (It was a smooth-ish ride then too.) Taken from the station on the red side. Look at how much the trees grew in 13 years. The Eagle was always a gorgeous ride. Shockwave's first loop... through the trees! (I'm telling you, I was a "through the trees" pioneer.) Shockwave loomed over the park entrance. You could always hear the clack-clack-clack of the lift hill followed by a whoosh and then screaming. Screams of pain, no doubt. Parking lot. Coaster. (Check out the cars... ugh) Shockwave as seen from the park entrance. Back when this ride was new, it was intimidating as hell seeing that mass of tangled track and supports. And it was actually a smooth-ish ride back then! The American Eagle, as seen from I-94. It was always awesome to see that massive helix as you approached the park.

Well, there were flat rides, too, but that was it for the coaster selection. You younger TPRers missed those years when even major parks only had a handful of big rides. Just look at what CP and SFMM had in 1988, and you will freak out. What was weird was that the Ninja had only been at the park for two years when I first visited, and there was at worst a one-train wait in the station. Screamin' Eagle was about 30-45 minutes the whole day, and it was a 15-year-old ride at the time (now 30). One of my lasting memories from the park was how the Colossus was lit up at night to look like a working clock. Very cool. And I still think Screamin' Eagle is one of the most beautiful looking rides there is, perched up on the hill. (But the station was awful... one of those where people entered at the front of the train instead of the middle, and EVERYONE lined up for the front, backing up the line.)

Boredom + three-day weekend = scanning old pictures for hours. My family and I took this side trip to St. Louis back in early July 1991 to visit a friend of mine who had moved. This was shortly after the Axl Rose incident/riot in St. Louis. Remember that one? Good times. There wasn't much credit whoring to be done at SFOMA back in those days. I think my friend and I rode Ninja 5 times, Screaming Eagle 4 times, and the Mine Train 2 or 3 times. I remember loving the park and the rides, and especially the setting. Well, enjoy! Lights on. Nothing like a night ride on the Screamin' Eagle. Ninja at dusk. The log flume... extreme POV! In front of Screamin' Eagle, you can see the new addition for 1991 - Tidal Wave. Taken from Colossus. I always loved this picture. Taken from the Buccaneer. From the station. POV, baby. Forgive my poor photography... I was 13, and I'd only gotten my camera a month earlier. I loved that ground-hugging helix at the end of the ride. First up - Ninja. With classic red paint job. Not a fan of the new black on white scheme.

After 200+ pages, the "news" is met with a resounding thud. Hey, how about that Griffon ride!

How about giving some props to the site where you got those RailBlazer and Jet Scream pics: www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Reef/6776/top RailBlazer did reopen with additional seatbelts, if I remember correctly, about a month after the accident. It ran that way for the rest of the season, and then the old sit-down trains were put back on.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... that blog site has some pretty bad info. The concept map for "Six Flags Magic Landing" is a map of Blackpool Pleasure Beach (can be seen at themeparkbrochures.net, link below). www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/2003/blackpool2003.html Then it claims SeaWorld was a Six Flags partner (try competitor) and followed Fiesta Texas to San Antonio (SeaWorld preceded Fiesta Texas by four years).

Nice TR. Glad you had a good time. Screamomatic, believe the hype. Just rode Voyage for the first time last week. Klockster took the words out of my mouth: most intense and insane ride ever.

Check out this page: www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Reef/6776/top Click on the link on the left for Rail Blazer and Jet Scream.

4.5 hours in an unofficial line waiting for Dragster to open up in May '03. Robb's got a video of that line somewhere (where I can be seen for .02 seconds). It stretched all the way back the midway to the Sky Ride, I think. Once the ride actually opened, I was on in five minutes.

The Edge actually debuted in 1983. The accident was in 1984, and The Edge wasn't removed until the end of the '86 season. Read more on the accident here: www.greatamericaparks.com/edge.html

Same here (Wild One). After that, Dorney's Thunderhawk (1923).

If money's not an issue, you might as well hit both. If you're specifically looking for airtime, though, then hit SeaWorld. Steel Eel's got some good drops and nice floater air. And SeaWorld barely ever has lines for anything, regardless of when the shows are. A lot of folks in San Antonio still don't know that SeaWorld even has coasters. You won't get any airtime at SFFT (except for the zero-G on SKC), but it has more coasters and an included waterpark. And it's cheaper. So, like I said, if you can swing it, you should try to visit both parks. They each have their own strong points.

Enough with the drama! They're simply considering their options right now. That's it! No bulldozers are coming tomorrow. No bulldozers may ever come. Seriously, some of you need to take a business class. Amusement parks don't operate for the good of the public, nor are they magically funded by some unknown source. They're businesses, and they need to be profitable. It's not personal. Six Flags doesn't want to screw over southern California. Six Flags wants to stay in business, and it might just take selling SFMM to do that. But maybe not. We don't know yet. But it's not personal, so quit acting like Mark Shapiro's out to get you. Was there this much of an outcry when the Raiders and Rams left town? Houston lost a football team AND an amusement park. As far as I know, the city hasn't crumbled into chaos, nor has anyone's life been ruined.

That was Expedition Ge-Force on the computer. Designers would be careful not to show future designs during an interview.

Bad messed-up moment: the bottom of the "butterfly" element on Anaconda. Good messed-up moment: taking any inversion backwards (see also Wicked Twister's rear spike)

Here you go... Pretty, ain't it? Plenty of good parking available... The original "Cliffs" amusement park... And some from Massachusetts...

Not unlike the time John Kruk got hit in the groin by a ball thrown by Mitch Williams. The incident led to an examination where it was discovered that Kruk had testicular cancer. The bad throw ended up saving his life. Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kruk But I digress.

My contributions... An exclusive! No one has EVER taken this picture before. If only it felt as good as it looked Delicious airtime