IdahoKat Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Goliath is a crowd favorite. Not my favorite by a longshot. I'm in the same boat. I've ridden Goliath a couple of times, and although there is plenty of hype, I overall was not that impressed. Then again, I am more of a thrill seeker. Tatsu, that's my favorite coaster. Goliath seemed like just "another coaster" and nothing over special to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genx24 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ^^ When I rode Goliath, my first thought when I got off was "it's a fun ride, but why didn't MM just wait and get a B&M?" Nitro blows Goliath away, and it's apex height is 25 feet shorter than Goliath's drop. But like you said, MM just cared about a record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ^^ When I rode Goliath, my first thought when I got off was "it's a fun ride, but why didn't MM just wait and get a B&M?" Nitro blows Goliath away, and it's apex height is 25 feet shorter than Goliath's drop. But like you said, MM just cared about a record. Legend has it MM approached B&M first but B&M I think either wanted too much money and/or didn't feel comfortable at the time building so high. Either way I don't see how B&M could've done much more with Goliath given the relatively small space it was put in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMountainMan Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 What is the story behind Giovanola anyhow? They were Intamin's coaster fabricator for a long time with Intamin acting as a pimp and then they decided to spin off and go out on their own? And then Giovanola made Goliath and Titan and went out of business? What happened there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewoplis Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ^^ When I rode Goliath, my first thought when I got off was "it's a fun ride, but why didn't MM just wait and get a B&M?" Nitro blows Goliath away, and it's apex height is 25 feet shorter than Goliath's drop. But like you said, MM just cared about a record. Legend has it MM approached B&M first but B&M I think either wanted too much money and/or didn't feel comfortable at the time building so high. Either way I don't see how B&M could've done much more with Goliath given the relatively small space it was put in. I agree. If you want to take a look at what B&M could have done, all you need to do is take a trip to SFGAm and visit their local hyper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyV Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 (edited) I understand why Goliath is a crowd favorite. It's tall, smooth, the drops and turns looks scary but are not too intense (except for the spiral). Kind of reminds me of Silver Bullet at KBF. A big ride that is gentle. IMHO, I like Goliath for those reasons. It's a solid ride that doesn't take a toll on you. Replacing it with a giga makes little sense to me. You'll have something taller, faster and maybe with some better hills and turns (if B&M does it) but I don't think that's enough to justify the investment over Goliath. What's interesting to me is that the trend seems to be moving toward better ride elements versus just going taller and faster. FullThrottle and even Twisted Colossus are good examples. Yeah, FT has the whole "worlds tallest loop" claim but the ride itself is short and has some great, simple elements to it. Twisted Colossus is using a similar formula. It won't be the tallest or fastest by a long shot, but the elements being put in to it looks to make it one heck of ride. SFMM needs a B&M Dive Machine. That's another perfect example of a ride that has some great ride characteristics without relying on height and speed alone. Edited March 30, 2015 by RandyV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Wait, are people seriously debating if Six Flags is going to remove one of their biggest rides? Have we gone that far away from sanity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewoplis Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I think the main reason MM isn't building massive record breakers anymore is mostly due to budget limitations. I think it was posted a little while back on this thread that SF parks can spend around $15 million per year, which when you consider the average price of a giga these days is in the neighborhood $30 million, that's probably probably why we haven seen anything insane like that in a while. But don't think I'm complaining. Thanks to these new restrictions, the parks seems to be focusing more on building rides that are just flat out good rather than a bunch of insane prototypes, as well as some much over due tlc around the park such as fixing up the kids area and Scream's new paint. That's not to say MM won't one day bring the west coast their very own I305, but for now I think it's just going to be smaller projects. (Which again, is a good thing!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylexy2298 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I don't see why the park doesn't save it's money and build a roller coaster every three years or so and invest into some smaller things in the other years. This way the park can get a complete coaster instead of these shorter rides. (Although Twisted Colossus does look like a great ride!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Monte Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ^Because they couldn't do that even if they wanted to. That's not the park's decision to make. I'd love to see what Chance/Morgan could do with 15 million and Viper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPTCOASTER Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I as well was dissatisfied with goliath the 1st time I rode it. We can all agree that a B&M giga would be epic & will complete the parks list of rides. But hell, Disneyland will have a giga installed before MM does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I'd love to see what Chance/Morgan could do with 15 million and Viper. I'd love to see a higher capacity version of Lightning Run, maybe a racing Hyper GTX model #pipedreams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire2box Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I as well was dissatisfied with goliath the 1st time I rode it. We can all agree that a B&M giga would be epic & will complete the parks list of rides. But hell, Disneyland will have a giga installed before MM does. I think I heard some aren't that thrilled with Fury 325. A Giga coaster would be nice for sure, but giga doesn't automatically mean it's going to be the next top steel of coaster polls/awards or worth the hype. TC, Super Man, X2, YOLO, Tatsu and Golath are enough for me. Then we still got 4 coasters that would be the headline at a hand ful of other parks. Medusa and Scream are the same experience for me and Scream never had much of a line. Meanwhile at SFDK a simular experince can be up to a 40 min wait on bad days. so to me, any new rides magic mountain wants to do is fine. I'd much prefer a dark ride at one or both Six Flags here in California. Then 1 or 2 years later do a Giga. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Six Flags is too cheap to spend money on a giga. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'd take a ride like TC over Fury 325 anyday (not that there's anything wrong with Fury). SFMM doesn't need a 20th coaster right away, but the strategy of adding coaster after coaster seems to be working well for the park. Then again, corporate may choose to focus on other parks for a few years and give SFMM some more flats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 ^I still don't think its the fact that SFMM is 'too cheap' to buy a giga coaster. I just don't think they want one. They have already been done, they take up a ton of space (which comes at a premium here in SoCal), and SFMM likes gimmicky rides. They always have. I agree with the other posters that we have an excellent selection of coasters, and what would benefit our collection right now would be a Dive Coaster or a Maverick style coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^I still don't think its the fact that SFMM is 'too cheap' to buy a giga coaster. I just don't think they want one. They have already been done, they take up a ton of space (which comes at a premium here in SoCal), and SFMM likes gimmicky rides. They always have. I agree with the other posters that we have an excellent selection of coasters, and what would benefit our collection right now would be a Dive Coaster or a Maverick style coaster. No Six Flags park has gotten a ride over $20 million in a while. I'm guessing the last one was Kingda Ka (I may be wrong about that). The chain wants to add a new ride to each park every year, which means they can't spend a lot on a single ride. Edit: But yes, a Dive Coaster would fit in perfectly at the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willh51 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^I think it was Goliath at SFOG in 2006. That was $20 million. The next season, someone in Six Flags upper management mentioned how they wouldn't be adding rides like that for a long time, as that is what got them into debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^I think it was Goliath at SFOG in 2006. That was $20 million. The next season, someone in Six Flags upper management mentioned how they wouldn't be adding rides like that for a long time, as that is what got them into debt. Exactly. Every since SF went bankrupt, they've been very smart with their money. I mean, they may not be adding giant B&M hypers or gigas, but who really cares? The RMC coasters they've been adding more than make up for the lack of gigantic investments. Anyways, back to Twisted Colossus... This ride is shaping up to be incredible. I wonder if they'll do anything with the queue to match the steampunk theme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdude Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I think it's highly unlikely that SFMM (or any Six Flags park) will ever install a giga primarily because of cost. Six Flags has gone on record to say that $20+ million coasters are not likely to happen in the near future, and as long as they maintain their program of new attractions at every park every year they can't really afford a quality giga. Sure, you could build the world's tallest traditional coaster without exceeding the $15 million cap Six Flags seems to have, but it would probably be a drop, turnaround, and maybe two airtime hills before the brakes. I can't think of any Six Flags park that could really benefit from a ride like that, especially not one that already has a hyper. I think it will probably be several years before SFMM gets their 20th coaster, especially since they've gotten five coasters in the past five years. The park needs to take at least a couple years off from major additions to focus on other areas and Six Flags has other parks in need of major additions. When the time is right (possibly the park's 50th anniversary in 2021) they can add something impressive for coaster 20. If it's a B&M, I'd hope for a dive coaster, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something more unique (at least to the US market). As for the coaster removal discussion, Goliath has very little chance of being removed until the ride must be retired. It is a GP favorite and possibly the most re-rideable coaster at the park. While I will agree that it isn't the best example of its type, I still consider Goliath a top tier coaster. If any coaster is to leave SFMM in the near future, it would most likely be either Viper (though I think that will stay unless it needs to go for a replacement) or Green Lantern (which would only leave for relocation to another Six Flags park). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^No need to hate on GL. Many people like it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenA07 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I would be stunned if the park made it to 2021 without a new coaster. History says a new coaster is coming in 2017. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodie Warrior Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 I would be stunned if the park made it to 2021 without a new coaster. History says a new coaster is coming in 2017. I'm sure they will get at least 2 in that time frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire2box Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^No need to hate on GL. Many people like it Maybe the people who don't want kids but like sex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 The big balls excuse is about as convincing as a loud motorcycle. Learn how to position, gentlemen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterlvr Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 ^^ When I rode Goliath, my first thought when I got off was "it's a fun ride, but why didn't MM just wait and get a B&M?" Nitro blows Goliath away, and it's apex height is 25 feet shorter than Goliath's drop. But like you said, MM just cared about a record. Legend has it MM approached B&M first but B&M I think either wanted too much money and/or didn't feel comfortable at the time building so high. Either way I don't see how B&M could've done much more with Goliath given the relatively small space it was put in. I agree. If you want to take a look at what B&M could have done, all you need to do is take a trip to SFGAm and visit their local hyper. Raging Bull is a great ride. Love the first drop with the pre drop to get some speed. Those comfy B&M seats, really fun ride. I like Goliath, but hate what they've done to it with the mid course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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