jzoole Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Good question! I won't complain if NRAT goes the inversion route, but if I had my druthers, it would be more airtime-centric. SFFT has PLENTY of inversions. Not so much on the airtime. I also kinda hope they come with a name other than "New Rattler". I get that that's exactly what it will be when it opens, but what about when it's 10 of 15 years old? Will it revert back to just being called "Rattler"? Lol. Same goes for NTAG. (Speaking of which, I'm still not really sure where the 'A' in "NTAG" comes from...) End rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 An announcement will probably happen by the end of the month - last year, Six Flags announced all (maybe not all...when was King Kobra announced?) of their new-for-2012 attractions at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXman308 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 ^I believe August 30 is the date this year. At least that's what I've heard. I'm debating whether I want Six Flags to give us everything about this ride or go the way of NTAG. Either way this is exactly what SFFT needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webgoof Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Good question! I won't complain if NRAT goes the inversion route, but if I had my druthers, it would be more airtime-centric. SFFT has PLENTY of inversions. Not so much on the airtime. Betcha a tub of Dippin Dots that there's a barrel roll or two. There may not be room in the tunnel for it, but how awesome would it be if they put a barrel roll right through the tunnel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanGsatMCO Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 The tunnel will have to have some modification for IH track. The problem is the trains sit up quite a bit higher on the IH track than the Morgans or PTCs did. The tunnel is very low fit. If you have ever had the chance to ride lights on you know. It is about a 2ft clearance from the top of a tall persons reach. That being said I think that IH trains sit close to 2ft higher making it nearly too close. There are several options though for them to correct this ranging from using no wood and just bolting the rails to the bottom of the tunnel or carving out the bottom of the tunnel more. I don't think they will raise the roof as it is sealed already and that would be rather expensive. Ryan "The A in NTAG is a mystery from the depths of TPR.. some say it stands for New TexA$$ Gaint because the ride kicks A$$" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 ^^ Interesting point about the tunnel. As it is now, it is a very tight fit and the trains that sit on the IH track do sit up higher. I wonder how they're going to pull this one off. All of a sudden I'm having this feeling that nRat may not open in May (or if on SFFM time, July) as I thought it would and might be a 2014 coaster. Hmmmmmm unless they're working 7 days a week and have multiple projects going at the same time. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 ^According to RMC, they've got an original and an Iron Horse makeover for next year. So at least at IAAPA, they were expecting this thing to be a 2013 ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me007gold Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 . All of a sudden I'm having this feeling that nRat may not open in May. Hmmmmmm unless they're working 7 days a week and have multiple projects going at the same time. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I would expect it to be ready around June, our winters here are usually very mild, but even Skyscreamer didn't open until then, or it may have been very late may. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottom_feeder_13 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I suspect that part of why construction of Outlaw Run started so early was to make it so the RMC people could directly oversee the entire construction process of both rides and still have them finished on time. As for the tunnel I could easily see them making it bigger with axes or a little TNT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Of Spades Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I suspect that part of why construction of Outlaw Run started so early was to make it so the RMC people could directly oversee the entire construction process of both rides and still have them finished on time. That same thought just occurred to me the other day. RMC isn't exactly a huge company, so if this ends up being their other 2013 project, we'll know why they started Outlaw Run so bizarrely early this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 . All of a sudden I'm having this feeling that nRat may not open in May. Hmmmmmm unless they're working 7 days a week and have multiple projects going at the same time. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I would expect it to be ready around June, our winters here are usually very mild, but even Skyscreamer didn't open until then, or it may have been very late may. I'm pretty familiar with the mild winters San Antonio gets....I'm a former San Antonian and ex-SFFT employee. I'm not even gonna compare the construction time of Sky Screamer or any other ride to nRat just because many attractions have opened at different times. SKC opened right at the beginning of the season in 2000 as did Boomerang and Scream in 1999. I was just saying there is obviously a lot to do in 9-10 months considering NTAG took over a year to complete the revamp if I'm not mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nRoK Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 the ride is still very popular among GP and always has the longest line in the park. Why this is I have no idea. A few years ago Poltergeist and Superman probably had the longest lines, at least they did when I went. I was there last Sunday and Rattler only took like 35-40 minutes. Had it not of been for a "something went wrong" or w/e it was that took 10-15 minutes to dispatch another train around 4-4:30pm iirc I would have waited 20 minutes for it. The line was maybe 3/4 up the ramp to the station and the queue inside the station wasn't even being used. I got first car back row after the back filled up first(still don't understand that one). I don't think I need to explain how the ride was, other than it was my last coaster of the day. Only coaster I didn't ride was Goliath, everything else was 10-20 minutes with the exception of Boomerang which took 45 minutes. Can't wait to see whats finally announced for the next Rattler, should be a very interesting rest of the season and off season as the changes are being made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
australianalex Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Judging by the awesomeness that is New Texas Giant, and the insane layout for Outlaw Run, I think we're in for a real treat if RMC are indeed refurbing Rattler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 New Texas Giant was also the first thing they did, so I'm sure it needed more time to figure everything out. With all of the experience and things they surely learned from NTAG, I'm sure the process would be a lot faster now. There has to be a reason work is starting now. If it was planned to be a 2014 coaster they could have just left it running through the rest of this season...the ride is still very popular among GP and always has the longest line in the park. Just my 2 cents. You bring up a very good point. I figured since ntag was RMC's first IH project, I figured it was a longer project for a reason. Now that they have the process somewhat "streamlined" they can probably move a long quite a bit faster especially since there's a lot of empty land on top of the quarry wall to work with as well. I have a feeling Wagon Wheel's removal is going to play a part in the nRat makeover. Hope we see and hear more about demo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texcoaster Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Not only was NTG their first big makeover project, but the worksite for that ride made things difficult. The layout is basically two giant circles with Johnson Creek running through the middle. If you watched the webcam shots, it sometimes took them many hours to move a crane from inside the circles to outside. Rattler has the upstairs/downstairs difficulty, but I don't really see them having to go from top of cliff to bottom over and over like they did with NTG, having to go back and forth across the creek. Add that to the learning curve, which is already shorter after their experience with NTG and I'm betting this thing will rise pretty fast by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 ^^ True.....it all makes sense. I'm sure everything is going to pan out fine and since Six Flags isn't afraid of taking their time with some west coast attractions, I'm sure they really don't care about when they open it as long as it's sometime in 2013. Anyone see any new developments around the park lately???? New pics??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me007gold Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 ^^True.....it all makes sense. I'm sure everything is going to pan out fine and since Six Flags isn't afraid of taking their time with some west coast attractions, I'm sure they really don't care about when they open it as long as it's sometime in 2013. Anyone see any new developments around the park lately???? New pics??? I went by Monday, and another section of the helix was gone, Didnt bring my camera though. Ill be able to go again on Saturday, so expect some pictures then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narkitty Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Stopped by the park today for an hour or so. I couldn't get a very good picture of the helix, but only about 1/3 of it is left. The bottom "level" seems to be completely gone, and they had a crane there today taking apart the top sections. Sorry about the poor quality. I had to zoom in a lot to get the shot. you can't see the crane in this picture, but it was behind the tree to the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Gone as in supports as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narkitty Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I'm not sure since I couldn't get close enough. From where I was, it just looked like the track was gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jps294 Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Well with the picture above it looks like the back half of the helix is gone, cause in this picture from CoasterGallery shows that you can see the back half! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 ^^ Hehe....I was about to look at other pictures to compare as well. Thanks for posting and pointing out the difference. I'm sure the best pictures of the demo are going to be taken from outside the park.....either at the Neiman Marcus parking lot or Mira Vista Apartments.....or even La Cantera Parkway (depending on how thick the brush has grown in the area) In any case thanks for the update guys! Looking forward to seeing and hearing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanKgtr Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Gone as in supports as well? There was a picture posted a few pages back showing that all the wooden supports had been removed, but the concrete footers remained intact. Might RMC still have plans for that part of the ride that don't involve the train moving at 5 MPH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11slataus Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 ^ Even RMC might have a hard time making that section of the ride interesting. The ride's so slow there even without the trims. Still, might be a good spot for a low-to-the-ground roll or some switchbacks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonetheonlyJT Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 ^ Over banked triple helix anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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