The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[DonGeorge]

Where was the Kingda Ka and Expedition Everest one? I never saw either of those but would love to.

 

I saw the Kingda Ka one on Travel Channel back in 2012, and then the Expedition Everest one was somewhere on Youtube.

[singemfrc]

"No one will ever do a better ride than this." -Tim Burkhart, about Tatsu. LOL.

I'm trying to upload the Megabuilders episode about Tatsu to youtube but it gets stuck at 0% processing. Must be due to an old codec or something.

[boldikus]

Kingda Ka megastructures doc is still up. Seeing this in summer 2013 single-handedly got me up to ride it and completely back into coasters. Ironically, its one of my least favorite coasters.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaMuo1ge6c

 

Edit: the Tatsu doc was up too on Youtube a while back but can't seem to find it now.

[singemfrc]

Tatsu doc is still up in French, but not in English.

 

I'm still trying to upload it but it keeps getting stuck at 0% processing, even after I re-encoded it to a much more friendly MPEG-2 format. Robb/Elissa, since you upload a lot to youtube, do you ever have that happen? Any idea why/how to fix it?

[nicman]

Post Deleted By User

[ioio]

"No one will ever do a better ride than this." -Tim Burkhart, about Tatsu. LOL.

 

It's still the best flyer in the world But yeah, best ride goes to a few others, including (for me) X2.

[nicman]

^I even prefer F/u/l/l Throttle over Tatsu for some reason , but I do still really like Tatsu.

[MrSum1_55]

I prefer Manta over Tatsu. While Tatsu may have the slight edge on the layout, the overall experience with the interaction, theme, and operations make me prefer Manta. When I visited, Manta had both stations open with three trains, even though the crowds were light. Good luck ever seeing this on Tatsu.

[nicman]

The only thing I think about Manta that is better than Tatsu, is the theming, other than that, for me Tatsu is better.

[Manic Monte]

I had a recent ride on Tatsu that was just glorious. To me Tatsu is one of the most underrated B&Ms in the US. The terrible operations probably hurt it.

[vedved82491]

I know there's a clip on YouTube that showcases how Steel Phantom turned into Phantom's Revenge.

[singemfrc]

"No one will ever do a better ride than this." -Tim Burkhart, about Tatsu. LOL.

 

It's still the best flyer in the world But yeah, best ride goes to a few others, including (for me) X2.

I love me some Tatsu, but no it isnt, not even close. It's the best in the US, but Starry Sky Scraper/Scrapper/Ripper in China is 100x better than Tatsu; it's one of the best layouts of any coaster anywhere.

 

If you havent seen this, listen to the reaction when it hits the brake run, keeping in mind these are seasoned TPR riders.

 

[singforfood]

Just out of curiosity, colossus_queen, how

are we talking?

 

Oh come on, I had erased this from my mind last year, now I have to go through it again. So much for sleeping tonight...

 

Pssst...

 

 

 

 

 

....gimmie yer fluids.

 

 

WHHUUUUUTTTT?????

[WFChris]

"No one will ever do a better ride than this." -Tim Burkhart, about Tatsu. LOL.

 

It's still the best flyer in the world But yeah, best ride goes to a few others, including (for me) X2.

I love me some Tatsu, but no it isnt, not even close. It's the best in the US, but Starry Sky Scraper/Scrapper/Ripper in China is 100x better than Tatsu; it's one of the best layouts of any coaster anywhere.

 

If you havent seen this, listen to the reaction when it hits the brake run, keeping in mind these are seasoned TPR riders.

 

 

I do agree that Starry Sky Scrapper looks excellent, but I can't help but think it looks like B&M's attempt at a Vekoma Flying Dutchman layout. Other than the twisty thing after the egg turn (like that? ), it's almost identical.

[MrSum1_55]

^That is actually very true, not that I have that pointed out.

 

I actually like the Flying Dutchman layouts a little better than the B&M flyers in the US. In fact, I like Firehawk better than Tatsu and Manta. It is very smooth with far more variation to the layout than the American B&M's. Oddly, Nighthawk is considerably rougher, especially in the end. (This made me very glad that they changed the ending for the new ones).

[nicman]

If anyone has the Tatsu documentary, I would really like to have a copy of it because I really want to see it. Thanks

[singemfrc]

Yeah unfortunately it aired years ago and the channel it aired on (I forget which) never sold a dvd, reran it, or put it up for streaming anywhere, so it's very hard to find.

Edited January 18, 2015 by singemfrc

[Jew]

We should NOT be encouraging or discussing distributing copyrighted material.

[singemfrc]

I still don't see TC having any major setbacks. I could easily see it opening in May. Tatsu managed to open in May and it had to go through 5-6 weeks of testing.

 

I'm curious to see more photos over the next several weeks, especially the Screampunk District contruction and Scream's paint.

Tatsu was supposed to open much earlier though, it had several setbacks. I want to say the opening was delayed 2 or 3 times.

Went back and looked it up, it was originally supposed to open on April 8 until B&M had a problem with track fabrication delaying shipments of track by 4 weeks, then there was an engineering mistake where they had the bottom piece of track in the pretzel loop running right through a concrete foundation. Following the long days that mistake caused, a few of the steel workers quit. Construction was delayed again due to weather and it ended up opening on May 13.

 

Lold when Tim Burkart he hoped for normal operations to dispatch a train every 40-45 seconds.

 

I found an interesting Revolution trivia tidbit as well..according to one of the workers on Tatsu who was also there for the Revolution install he said Revolution stalled at the top of the loop in it's first test run and it took the park a week of towing to get the train back to the station.

[vedved82491]

Well it seems the majority of those things were out of the park's control. If I remember correctly, there was quite of bit on wind and occasional rain when Tatsu was being constructed, and wind especially prevented them from installing the higher pieces.

 

I'm not sure who would take the bait for the engineering faults though.

 

Either way, work on TC got started pretty soon after the ride closed. Time will tell, I suppose.

[thrillseeker4552]

So is Tatsu the only B&M coaster that had true engineering issues/delays? I can't think of any other B&M coaster that hasn't opened on time.

[singemfrc]

So is Tatsu the only B&M coaster that had true engineering issues/delays? I can't think of any other B&M coaster that hasn't opened on time.

I'm sure it's not, but there isn't usually a camera crew following construction.

[coasterlvr]

 

Lold when Tim Burkart he hoped for normal operations to dispatch a train every 40-45 seconds.

 

 

that was funny. so it opened a few days over a month late. i think the program made it kinda sound worse than it was.

[thrillseeker4552]

^I think it did too. Having a roller coaster open in May is still quite reasonable. It's not like it opened in June/July like Full Throttle, Green Lantern, and Lex Luthor.

[X2coasterfreak]

^ Or nearly two years late in the case of Roadrunner Express/Mr. Six's Dance Coaster.