theonetheonlyJT Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 ^ That's what I thought they may have done and they could have themed it to a snake wrapping around but I'm not complaining IRAT looks epic enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texcoaster Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 They could've even enclosed the whole helix section... put a giant iron snake head at the entrance. Inside the building, have lighting effects, smoke, fog, lasers, music... kinda like an updated Chaos from Opryland, but with overbanks. Come to think of it, that kind of addition could've even made the original helix better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastercrzyjames Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Wow, thanks for posting the older "retro" photos of Rattler. It's definitely interesting to see what the ride was before they began drastically neutering and changing it. These larger wooden coasters from the 90s were cutting edge and probably being built ahead of their time; it's sad to see that they all didn't age well. Like with the Texas Giant, I'm a little sad that I never had the opportunity to ride the Rattler before undergoing the iron horse treatment, it'd be nice to have a before and after comparison. Totally looking forward to "iRat"though, the ride looks like a good improvement, and I really enjoyed NTAG, so I'm sure this won't disappoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texcoaster Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 ^ It might be best if you didn't ever experience the 2009 version of Tx Giant. I took my boyfriend on it for the first time in 2009. For maximum effect of what follows, it helps to know that he is a masochist - but I'll spare you the details on THAT any farther. Just trust me. Anyway, after we pulled back into the station he looked at me and said, "I can't believe they let people ride this. I enjoy getting roughed up, but not like that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkdcoaster Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Thank you for those Awesome pics from opening day! JEFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Those are some really fantastic opening day photos! Thank you for sharing them with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterfreak101 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Yeah, seriously awesome pictures. Actually the best I've ever seen of the ride, regardless of what stage of its life it was in or what year they came from! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozach626 Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Like with the Texas Giant, I'm a little sad that I never had the opportunity to ride the Rattler before undergoing the iron horse treatment, it'd be nice to have a before and after comparison. No dude.. it was terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUSHIE Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I didn't know so much of the ride had been changed since opening. I thought it was strange that the bottom of the first drop was so high up, but now I know it originally went much lower. It seems like many of the giant wooden coasters of that era had to change a lot because of how uncomfortable they became or because of wear on the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texcoaster Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 ^ 63 ft lower, if I recall correctly. It was a massive change to the one part of that ride that was seriously the best on earth at the time. Of course, having such a good first drop just enhanced and showcased the mediocrity of the stuff that followed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArizonaGuy Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 I didn't know so much of the ride had been changed since opening. I thought it was strange that the bottom of the first drop was so high up, but now I know it originally went much lower. It seems like many of the giant wooden coasters of that era had to change a lot because of how uncomfortable they became or because of wear on the track. First drop went from the original 166ft down to 124ft by 1996. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narkitty Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Anyone else a little disappointed with the Golden Ticket award results for this year? I was really hoping that FT would pull through and beat Dollywood for best shows. I thought that they did a fantastic job with the new version of Rockin' at Rockville High this year, and Ovation was pretty good too. I know that most of the focus here is on roller coasters, but I can't be the only one who loves going to FT for the shows. I just wish that they would bring back the Long Star Spectacular. I absolutely despise Lone Star Nights with a passion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XYZ Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Anyone else a little disappointed with the Golden Ticket award results for this year? I was really hoping that FT would pull through and beat Dollywood for best shows. I thought that they did a fantastic job with the new version of Rockin' at Rockville High this year, and Ovation was pretty good too. I know that most of the focus here is on roller coasters, but I can't be the only one who loves going to FT for the shows. I just wish that they would bring back the Long Star Spectacular. I absolutely despise Lone Star Nights with a passion. The GTA is a biast poll (*cough* Cedar Point *cough*) with supposed highly traveled people. I wouldn't trust with what they say as this is just a matter of opinion and there is no right answer. However, I'm not surprised that Dollywood beat SFFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narkitty Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 The GTA is a biast poll (*cough* Cedar Point *cough*) with supposed highly traveled people. I wouldn't trust with what they say as this is just a matter of opinion and there is no right answer. However, I'm not surprised that Dollywood beat SFFT. Oh, I know it's just their opinion. I take what they say with a grain of salt (I mean, really, look at some of their other choices. Ugh), but it would still be nice to see FT get the GTA for best shows again, since they won consistently for so many years in a row. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I rode Rattler several years after the re-profiling and still thought the first 30 seconds of the ride were insane, can not wait to see what RMC does with this thing when it's all said and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyfire Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I personally liked the helix. I wish they would have kept it and just made it more banked and NOT trimmed. I think this ride will lose a lot of time because of the removal of the helix. Yes it looks fun but it will be over 1 minute earlier than normal. Thats what I liked about this ride. The helix added time so the ride ops could actually load 2 more trains. I liked the capacity of this ride when six flags weren't being too cheap to only have 2 people working the whole ride. The mystery is what's going to happen after the tunnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willh51 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 The New Texas Giant has three trains, so I bet Iron Rattler could, too. As far as I know it hasn't been confirmed either way. Those original opening day pictures look epic. I think what happened here was the boundaries were pushed on new design technology and corners were cut by extending the drop, which led to a less-than-deal final product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I'm still very curious to find out what is going to happen after the tunnel. It seems weird to not show that part of the ride in the video, unless they want to keep part of this a secret. The ride is still going to have a ton of energy in it after exiting that tunnel so it seems kind of wasteful to just straighten out into a brake run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I kind of like that they're not showing it. Keeps people guessing. Of course, if it just goes into the brake run, then it' won't be all that exciting... dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I personally liked the helix. I wish they would have kept it and just made it more banked and NOT trimmed. I think this ride will lose a lot of time because of the removal of the helix. Yes it looks fun but it will be over 1 minute earlier than normal. Thats what I liked about this ride. The helix added time so the ride ops could actually load 2 more trains. I liked the capacity of this ride when six flags weren't being too cheap to only have 2 people working the whole ride. The mystery is what's going to happen after the tunnel. just my opinion, but Fiesta for a couple of years now purposely runs only 1-2 trains, to force folks to buy the "Flash Pass" they might be great to have, but, yeah, we're not going to pay that much to upgrade every time we visit just because they purposefully slow down the lines to get folks to buy them. seriously, once we waited over an hour for Pandemonium -- and that was because they only had THREE cars on the tracks, and this was on a slow day. (and we only waited because the kiddo with us really, really wanted to ride it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 The New Texas Giant has three trains, so I bet Iron Rattler could, too. As far as I know it hasn't been confirmed either way. Those original opening day pictures look epic. I think what happened here was the boundaries were pushed on new design technology and corners were cut by extending the drop, which led to a less-than-deal final product. At the park, they have videos and photos of the new Iron Rattler. They also have a fact sheet with some stats on the new coaster. One of the stats listed on the sheet is that the coaster will have just two trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willh51 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 The New Texas Giant has three trains, so I bet Iron Rattler could, too. As far as I know it hasn't been confirmed either way. Those original opening day pictures look epic. I think what happened here was the boundaries were pushed on new design technology and corners were cut by extending the drop, which led to a less-than-deal final product. At the park, they have videos and photos of the new Iron Rattler. They also have a fact sheet with some stats on the new coaster. One of the stats listed on the sheet is that the coaster will have just two trains. Makes sense. I actually thought it did have a MCBR. It takes a lot of staff and talent to make using 3 trains worth it. No point stacking two on the brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLegend Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I don't have a screenshot handy, but there is a still from the promotional video that more or less shows the whole ride. You can see the brake run, and it's in roughly the same position as the old one. If that's the case, the angle coming out of the tunnel is too sharp for the ride to just shoot out into the brake run. So I'm thinking the post-tunnel will include some sort of turnaround, however brief it is. Then again, Six Flags is okay with having a 160-foot drop go straight into the brake run, so who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzoole Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 ^That's what it looked like to me as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsdude360 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 SFOT was running all three NTG trains on labor day. And doing so very efficiently I might add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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