FeelTheFORCE Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 (edited) Apparently the coaster crown still matters to SFMM, at least from a marketing standpoint. They certainly didn't waste any time letting the world know they now have the most coasters! The headline to their latest Facebook entry, posted a few minutes ago: Six Flags Magic Mountain is proud to be the Thrill Capital of the World with more coasters than any theme park on the planet! Check out who the GoBigCam caught this week. Edited May 3, 2012 by FeelTheFORCE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougMJr Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 ^Shameless IMO. But really, there is more to a theme park than coasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intimidator305 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 It's great from a marketing standpoint, especially on Facebook to post that considering half the comments on amusement park pages are something along the lines of "u guyz need 2 build more r0llar coastrz!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelTheFORCE Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 ^^ Depends on the market, in my opinion. I know I've heard others on here say that their niche is advertising themselves to young adults as an "extreme" park with tons of thrills. If that's what works, then great. I just find it funny how quickly they jumped on the opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Yeah, it's perfect for Magic to claim this back, especially since all they have is roller coasters! I'm not the biggest fan of either CP or SFMM, but I can agree that CP is the more well rounded park experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgroodog Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 It was a sudden announcement, the ride had a crew selected and it was scheduled/budgeted to operate this year. The ride itself has seen its days and was ending its operating life as it was... out with the old and in with the new, they are just accelerating the removal... why waste your money when you can reinvest that money in newer better things for everyone. Its sad to see rides be retired, but in the end you still have the memories of the past to share in the future and you can make new memories year after year rather than live old ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfgamguy Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 *Sorry I'm late on the whole situation* WWWWHHHHYYYY?!?!?!?!? If you can tell, I was quite fond of wildcat, in fact it was #5 on my CP list. I'll really miss it, but I guess I'm happy I got to ride it last year. Hopefully this will lead to something new and greater! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 It was a sudden announcement, the ride had a crew selected and it was scheduled/budgeted to operate this year. It's looking more and more like the ride failed an inspection or something worse. Parks don't just up and decide to take a ride out this close to opening day because they suddenly decide they want to accelerate the removal. And like was said above, every indication was the ride would open with the park up to a few days ago. Strange indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linearinduction Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Retracking wooden roller coasters is annual maintenance that any decent park is essentially agreeing to complete when they purchase a wooden roller coaster. Blue Streak carries with it a local legacy of sorts, being named after the local high schools and at one point being an ACE Coaster Classic. You're honestly overreacting because you're a Schwarzkopf fanboy. Which I don't blame you for - he's one of the people I most idolize in roller coaster design. But you probably won't find many people who would tell you that this ride is a "classic" like Blue Streak, or the majority of other older roller coasters that do get preserved for future generations to experience. OK: Let me rephrase this a notch: Instead of scrapping a ride, the ride could have lived on in many ways: Cars, for example, can be restored and used on other Wildcats. Gerstlauer not only markets restored models, but also new ones- depending on the park. The track, I'm sure, is still in good shape. For the most part, steel coasters, including Schwarzkopf models, does not have the same general wear-and-tear that a wooden track does. Gerstlauer has already restored an older (And with greater mileage on it) JetStar II, and sold it to a park in Sweden- with restored trains no less. I think this is a case of "Penny wise and pound foolish" instead of actually the ride being something 'classic.' I'll agree, it isn't like a, say, Mindbender or a sooperdooperlooper, but it IS still a good ride- and one that still delivers a decent, consistent ride at that. I think the cop-out of "Scrapping it" is Cedar Point's cheapness showing, and not necessarily in a good way. Preservation doesn't necessarily need be confined to wooden coasters anymore- as if we don't start to keep an eye out on steel coasters, we will lose those as well. The reasons behind removal can be numerous; but in this case, I think it comes down to cheapness all over. I'm sure that anybody would have loved to see a Wildcat pop up at Great America, or Gilroy Gardens, where it would have fit nicely instead of seeing it head to the scrap heap. Any loss of a coaster, whether a Dragon wagon, or Big Bad Wolf, or Wildcat is a bad thing- and not something to look at as "oh well!" Cedar Point is going the cheap route without thinking it out, I think. The only reason I can logically think they'd scrap it is if there were substantial faults with the ride (Cracks, fundamental warping, etc.). If that were the case, why were they not maintaining the ride properly in the first place? Wildcats are well-built rides all over, and others operating in worse conditions, harsher weather, etc. are still operating with gusto. Portable models still spring up at fairs and carnivals to this day. Why is this model more in need of scrapping? There's a ton of questions I have- and hopefully Cedar Point will give us some answers sooner rather than later, as I don't think they're telling us the whole story. RD, It's always sad to lose another Classic Schwarzkopf Coaster. From personal experience, I can tell you that the older Schwarzkopfs like Wild Cats and Jet Star 2s were not built for a long service life. Lagoon has managed to keep their Jet Star 2 operating for so long only because they are welding on it nearly every day. The running track was the first problem Jet Star 2 had. Lagoon had Fabbriweld manufacture new track for the Carousel in the mid 90s and Lagoon re-manufactured it during the 2005 refurb. The only reason it's still there is because the owner of the park is the one who bought it and keeps throwing large amounts of money at it. The Running Track, the Uprights, The Base Frame.........it's all a Mess to this day. Concerning the Gerstlauer restored Jet Star 2, it's not like they received an old Original Jet Star 2. After being modified and re-manufactured by BHS (Maurer Söhne), it received a new base frame, new uprights, and new running track. If Gerstlauer re-manufactured it as well, it's pretty much new. As for why this model would have more Issues? I would say it would be the hours operating and cycles over it's life. I'm sure other models have had less hours operating and fewer cycles during their life. I'm sure if Gerstlauer really wanted it, they would buy it from Cedar Point. - Sid (Just another Schwarzkopf Fan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CpBluestreakCp Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Yeah, pretty much saw it coming. It was an okay coaster but nothing that needed to be there, it was almost a "filler coaster" in my opinion. People ride the big rides and come to this one for the heck of it. So long. Now I wonder how much bigger Celebration Plaza will be? And, I just tried reading some of the comments on Cedar Point's Facebook about the removal...let's say I lost a few brain cells in the process. People can be so ignorant, haha. It makes for a good laugh, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galindoverhere Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I have to say, I saw this coming, and I don't think I'm the only one who did. WildCat was a really fun coaster, and one of the first Schwarzkopf coasters I've ridden In my POV, Cedar Point still has a really good coaster collection, even with the loss of WildCat, and I'm pretty sure CP has some special plans in the future, so I'm excited to see what CP has in store for the future.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownStreak Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 It was a sudden announcement, the ride had a crew selected and it was scheduled/budgeted to operate this year. It's looking more and more like the ride failed an inspection or something worse. Parks don't just up and decide to take a ride out this close to opening day because they suddenly decide they want to accelerate the removal. And like was said above, every indication was the ride would open with the park up to a few days ago. Strange indeed. That has to be it...with the park opening this weekend, that means that the ride ops began cycling their respective rides this past Monday unless they haven't cleared inspection at which point the ops would get jumbled around to other rides. So the question is whether Ride Ops touched the ride at all or if it never passed inspection in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Yeah, pretty much saw it coming. I have to say, I saw this coming, and I don't think I'm the only one who did. I am going to go ahead and call it and predict that Millennium Force will be removed sometime before the next millennium. You heard it hear first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CpBluestreakCp Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 ^Good call. I'll put money on that with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrownStreak Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 ^^The name already sounds so dated...I mean that is sooooo 1999! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSum1_55 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 (edited) All I can say is one thing: Dammit! I visited twice and never got my credit. I was just planning a trip to go next summer, and was planning on finally getting it. Oh, and why not move it to GCA? It is desperate enough for a new coaster. Imagine if the park got TWO new coasters for 2013? Edited May 3, 2012 by MrSum1_55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus1971 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 If they don't want it anymore, they can send it to me. I will paint it in 24k Gold and store in a jewel case. A wildcat was my 2nd coaster and I am so into any Schwarzkopf coaster. I can understand it may not have the marketing appeal for the general crowd, but CP is a coaster heaven and should keep Wildcat as a historical reference... Sad, sad, sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyBreak95 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Im actually rather fond of the decision to remove Wildcat, I was wondering how they thought it would fit in with Celebration Plaza. A nice slim and sleek, down-to-the ground coaster, wrapping around the plaza and utilizing the Turnpike cars location will be the icing on the cake. But Maverick already has all that, so never-mind......*crys* lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Linn Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Rode WildCat once when I was there in 2000...enjoyed it from what I can remember, but didn't bother riding it the next time I went. Sucks that there's one less roller coaster for families/smaller kids to ride, but such is life in the amusement park business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I'm actually surprised they had kept Wildcat for as long as they did. Given it's recent history of accidents it was only a matter of time before it was gone. Plus it's one less ride they would have close during Luminosity. I enjoyed my years riding Wildcat though I had stopped riding it a long time ago. The slow moving line didn't make waiting for it worth my time and the small, cramped seating wasn't exactly comfortable as I got older. People have mentioned Mean Streak, Iron Dragon, and Disaster Transport should be removed next. Funny how no one mentioned Corkscrew even though it is one of CP's most iconic rides. It also has low ridership and old school Arrow loopers have started to leave the amusement landscape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtman316 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Another 3 point challenge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopThrill182 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I'm left wondering, though, what is the park realistically going to have time to do to Wildcat's spot before opening day? Ouimet has said (at least I think he has) that he doesn't want the midway looking ripped up once the park opens. It's probably going to take a few days to take the ride down, and then removing the concrete underneath the ride for any sort of landscaping would probably fill up the rest of the remaining off-season time by itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiobrandon Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 The Wildcat always looked so junky and out of place. When it was painted white, it looked run down. Then when it was neon, it just was awful to look at. The queue moved far too slow. It just seemed like something that should be at a trashy state fair somewhere. The carnival roller coaster sitting next to Millennium Force always seemed off. Poor feng shui. I'm thrilled for its removal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Curt Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 This is a very good thing for the midway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 The Wildcat always looked so junky and out of place. When it was painted white, it looked run down. Then when it was neon, it just was awful to look at. The queue moved far too slow. It just seemed like something that should be at a trashy state fair somewhere. The carnival roller coaster sitting next to Millennium Force always seemed off. Poor feng shui. I'm thrilled for its removal. I was going to write something almost exactly like this...but you already said it...so yeah...what he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now