Aceattack52 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 ^^ It looks like one side of the track in the foreground was done very recently and the other was done a year ago. The one that is topped with the red looks much newer than the other side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shivtim Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 The topper track portion is still the smoothest part by a fair margin. Overall I think it's re-rideable at this point, and I would not have said that two or three years ago. There are still some very rough parts towards the end. One of the re-done hills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephcissell Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ Well that's good. I would agree that it hasn't been re-rideable for quite some time, but it sounds like there has been enough progress to make it fairly enjoyable and re-rideable again, which is big for me. I'm happy to see this ride getting some of the TLC it definitely needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I know exactly what you're talking about when you say "it's still rough at the end." It's those few bunny hills and the airtime hill that is the station fly-by, isn't it. That is the worst part of the ride in terms of bumpiness aside from the valleys of the first three drops. Now that those are fixed, those bunny hills are the worst. It is disappointing that they didn't get more done during the break, I really wanted to see a smooth Georgia Cyclone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathbydinn Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Looks like Ninja's late opening is caused by a lift problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephcissell Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ Last time I was at the park in early September I noticed a distinct and very jarring bump about there on the lift hill on two consecutive rides. It felt as though the train had just run over a small animal or something and the lift actually slowed to a near stop for a second, but then resumed. At the time I dismissed it as nothing, but looking at that photo, I guess there was some kind of issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simaticable Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Could this finally cause Ninja to leave? (I know, won't happen, but one can hope!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lareson Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Looks like Ninja's late opening is caused by a lift problem. ^ Last time I was at the park in early September I noticed a distinct and very jarring bump about there on the lift hill on two consecutive rides. It felt as though the train had just run over a small animal or something and the lift actually slowed to a near stop for a second, but then resumed. At the time I dismissed it as nothing, but looking at that photo, I guess there was some kind of issue. Yeah, looks like the chain trough is completely damaged there. There must of been a bend or something already wrong there and must of gotten worse over the off season and probably ended up like that when they were doing the initial testing. First time I've seen that happen on a chain lift. Probably waiting on a new one to get made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOGdude25 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Alrighty, It's trip report time! As I said before, I'm not sure the park was really ready for the massive crowds on Saturday (the season pass processing line was insanely long all day). Operations everywhere were a little slow. However, on Sunday the park got its act together and did great! What was weird was that the crowds on Sunday were REALLY light all day. I was kind of surprised at that. It was very pleasant. Long story short, Saturday was pure chaos. Sunday was peaceful. Photos!! To give you an idea of the crowds on Saturday, here's how far the traffic was backed up for parking. Went to Superman first. No one in line when I got to it. That changed VERY quickly in about 30 minutes. Great American Scream Machine turns 40 this year!! She started going through mid-life crisis, so she got some new wood... Yep. Ninja won't be kicking butt until May. He fought too hard and injured himself pretty badly. (I didn't even notice the chain. How long ago was that picture taken?) Hey, this is new... The globe seems pretty grounded right now... Yeah, it's really tall. This is the first time I've seen one of these SkyScreamers in person. It was rather impressive. Takin' a break for an artsy (or a marketing) shot. Here's another crowd perspective picture. Dare Devil Dive opened late on Saturday, and that's the line for the ride stretching back to the snack stand. Mind Bender is 35 this year!! And yet the classic manages to ride smoother than any other ride in the park. Why am I not surprised? Oh yeah. Schwarzkopf was a genius. That's why Through the trees with a well-placed train. The Batman signal's lights were ON for the first time in a while (well, half on). Oops... Time to check out Georgia Cyclone. I can back up previous comments here. Yes, the ride was indeed pretty smooth with its retracking this year. The topper track is still holding up great of course. I managed to enjoy every ride I had on it this weekend. There are quite a few good pops of airtime on this thing. This made me happy. As a Looney Tunes fan, it brought me joy to see Six Flags bring back LT episodes on the queue TVs. This caught my eye. Cyclone's blue train was having issues all weekend. The lap bars would keep getting stuck. It would be nice if Six Flags got some new rolling stock for this ride, as these trains are definitely showing their age. Here's another look at the new track. Some work was done here... ...and here as well. What's interesting is that the track work seemed to reduce the crazy shuffling that usually accompanies a ride on the Cyclone, which helped the speed a lot as well. So yeah, on Saturday this queue was almost completely full. Sunday, it was like this... Going up... Dare Devil Dive had a bit of a rattle to it, but it didn't really take away from the ride. Signature shot. Goliath is suffering from really bad case of B&M rattle. I actually got more of a headache on Goliath than I did on the Cyclone. Nevertheless, the ride still delivers some great airtime on all the hills. That's all the photos I'll post for now. I may post some more later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayCoasterGuy Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Mind Bender *drools*. I gotta get back down there this year! I wonder whats up with GA Cyclone? I was under the impression there would be a bit more topper track this year? Looks like the wheels have a grey coat on them now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Very nice trip report. It's great to see Mindbender and the Scream Machine doing well. With all these great things coming in about the Cyclone, I may need to try it for myself when I go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgtgwazi Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Very nice trip report. It's great to see Mindbender and the Scream Machine doing well. With all these great things coming in about the Cyclone, I may need to try it for myself when I go! Just wanted to add my two cents about the Cyclone. I've been coming to the park for years and my ride yesterday (Sunday 3/17) was the smoothest ride I think I've ever had on it. The topper track they installed last season makes for an incredible first two drops which you can now enjoy without bracing yourself, and they replaced other track on some of the most notorious offender portions of track, including the third drop as mentioned, as well as the second turnaround and 4th drop. Besides the topper track, I really liked that they re-tracked the 4th drop. It's wicked in the back seat but there used to be a nasty jolt that slammed you back into your seat really hard when riding in the back that knocked the wind out of you. That's gone now. There was also new track on the all of the other turnarounds except the last one, if I recall. If they keep up the maintenance and retrack the rest of the ride, you're going to see this jump up a number of spots on people's lists, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbear30 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^I will second that opinion. I have hated the GC for a while now due to it being so rough. I was there yesterday with all my buds and decided to give it my yearly whirl after seeing the retracked parts and to be completely honest, I was very surprised at how well it was running. It was far from smooth but it definitely was (as Shivtim said) the best it has ridden in years. A lot of it smoothed out with the occasional bumb here and there. The 4th drop was awesome as usual in the back. Ejector Air! I was also pleasantly surprised at how light the crowds were yesterday. We rode all the majors in the park with a 10-15 minute wait, excluding DDD, which was an hour (mostly due to really slow ops and sending out trains with only 3 or 4 people in them.) Skyscreamer was looking good and almost finished. As for Ninja and it's broken lift, dear God let this be the straw that breaks the camels back, PLEASE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 (edited) I may be able to she'd some light on this. Looks like Ninja's late opening is caused by a lift problem. I took these pictures last August. It was either as soon as the park opened or pretty early at least. In the first picture, it looks like they installed some kind of wood block or something like that to keep the chain in line. Does anyone else know anything else about this? ALL HANDS ON DECK! Edited March 18, 2013 by Aceattack52 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephcissell Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 As for Ninja and it's broken lift, dear God let this be the straw that breaks the camels back, PLEASE! I second that wish! I get that in some ways the Ninja checks off the park's need for a reasonably big multi-inversion coaster, but when I've been at the park recently, ridership has been consistently VERY low and I just don't see it improving. Among the GP I know, the ride has unsurprisingly garnered an awful reputation for a painfully unpleasant ride experience and it seems that with every year the ride is getting progressively worse... I'm not one to just bash a ride, but this ride has kind of earned it over the years. Here's to hoping there are plans somewhere for possible replacements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgtgwazi Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 As for Ninja and it's broken lift, dear God let this be the straw that breaks the camels back, PLEASE! I second that wish! I get that in some ways the Ninja checks off the park's need for a reasonably big multi-inversion coaster, but when I've been at the park recently, ridership has been consistently VERY low and I just don't see it improving. Among the GP I know, the ride has unsurprisingly garnered an awful reputation for a painfully unpleasant ride experience and it seems that with every year the ride is getting progressively worse... I'm not one to just bash a ride, but this ride has kind of earned it over the years. Here's to hoping there are plans somewhere for possible replacements. In my opinion, this would be a perfect space for a compact GCII woodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephcissell Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ I agree that this would be an interesting space for a compact GCI woodie, but perhaps the park is holding out for something bigger. The 50 year anniversary of the park is just 4 years away now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFOGdude25 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Very nice trip report. It's great to see Mindbender and the Scream Machine doing well. With all these great things coming in about the Cyclone, I may need to try it for myself when I go! Just wanted to add my two cents about the Cyclone. I've been coming to the park for years and my ride yesterday (Sunday 3/17) was the smoothest ride I think I've ever had on it. The topper track they installed last season makes for an incredible first two drops which you can now enjoy without bracing yourself, and they replaced other track on some of the most notorious offender portions of track, including the third drop as mentioned, as well as the second turnaround and 4th drop. Besides the topper track, I really liked that they re-tracked the 4th drop. It's wicked in the back seat but there used to be a nasty jolt that slammed you back into your seat really hard when riding in the back that knocked the wind out of you. That's gone now. There was also new track on the all of the other turnarounds except the last one, if I recall. If they keep up the maintenance and retrack the rest of the ride, you're going to see this jump up a number of spots on people's lists, in my opinion. Yeah, I noticed the lack of the snap on the 4th drop as well. I remember that part just about killing me last year. It is still sort of there, which isn't really a bad thing . Georgia Cyclone has a lot of potential to be a top 10 woodie, and it's great to see Six Flags investing in the notorious ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krandor Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ I agree that this would be an interesting space for a compact GCI woodie, but perhaps the park is holding out for something bigger. The 50 year anniversary of the park is just 4 years away now... After seeing the outlaw run POV, I'd love to see SFoG do a large project with RMC - either something totally new or something like the RMC treatment to scream machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ I agree that this would be an interesting space for a compact GCI woodie, but perhaps the park is holding out for something bigger. The 50 year anniversary of the park is just 4 years away now... After seeing the outlaw run POV, I'd love to see SFoG do a large project with RMC - either something totally new or something like the RMC treatment to scream machine. You know, that sounds exciting and all, but I would not like to see them change the Scream Machine like that. It would be smooth, fast and an all round better ride experience, but the thing is is that it's been around for so long. It's different from other woodies that have been around for 10 years or so and now need the Rocky Mountain Treatment to make it a hit again. The Sream Machine is part of the park's early history; it was one of the first attractions to be built outside of the railroad. It's one of those coasters built during the age when new innovations in ride design were coming up all over the place. It was the highlight of the coaster world when it first opened, being the tallest and fastest. (Probably didn't last for long) It's kind of like putting all steel horses on the Rigerview Carousel. Sure the new horses could be more comfortable and would certainly last longer, but the carousel is part of history, unlike modern day carousels that can be changed to go faster, ect. That's all right because those aren't significant in history. Now sure, steel horses are probably not going to outfitted on any carousel, I was just trying to get m point across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krakenmaniac Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Is it just me or does Skyscreamer look awkward in that spot. I don't know if its the colors or that I am a huge Wheelie fanboy it just looks out of place to me. Does anyone agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krandor Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ I agree that this would be an interesting space for a compact GCI woodie, but perhaps the park is holding out for something bigger. The 50 year anniversary of the park is just 4 years away now... After seeing the outlaw run POV, I'd love to see SFoG do a large project with RMC - either something totally new or something like the RMC treatment to scream machine. You know, that sounds exciting and all, but I would not like to see them change the Scream Machine like that. It would be smooth, fast and an all round better ride experience, but the thing is is that it's been around for so long. It's different from other woodies that have been around for 10 years or so and now need the Rocky Mountain Treatment to make it a hit again. The Sream Machine is part of the park's early history; it was one of the first attractions to be built outside of the railroad. It's one of those coasters built during the age when new innovations in ride design were coming up all over the place. It was the highlight of the coaster world when it first opened, being the tallest and fastest. (Probably didn't last for long) It's kind of like putting all steel horses on the Rigerview Carousel. Sure the new horses could be more comfortable and would certainly last longer, but the carousel is part of history, unlike modern day carousels that can be changed to go faster, ect. That's all right because those aren't significant in history. Now sure, steel horses are probably not going to outfitted on any carousel, I was just trying to get m point across. Definitely a good point. A new RMC coaster would be better anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simaticable Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 ^ I agree that this would be an interesting space for a compact GCI woodie, but perhaps the park is holding out for something bigger. The 50 year anniversary of the park is just 4 years away now... After seeing the outlaw run POV, I'd love to see SFoG do a large project with RMC - either something totally new or something like the RMC treatment to scream machine. You know, that sounds exciting and all, but I would not like to see them change the Scream Machine like that. It would be smooth, fast and an all round better ride experience, but the thing is is that it's been around for so long. It's different from other woodies that have been around for 10 years or so and now need the Rocky Mountain Treatment to make it a hit again. The Sream Machine is part of the park's early history; it was one of the first attractions to be built outside of the railroad. It's one of those coasters built during the age when new innovations in ride design were coming up all over the place. It was the highlight of the coaster world when it first opened, being the tallest and fastest. (Probably didn't last for long) It's kind of like putting all steel horses on the Rigerview Carousel. Sure the new horses could be more comfortable and would certainly last longer, but the carousel is part of history, unlike modern day carousels that can be changed to go faster, ect. That's all right because those aren't significant in history. Now sure, steel horses are probably not going to outfitted on any carousel, I was just trying to get m point across. Definitely a good point. A new RMC coaster would be better anyway. Hmm, a RMC I-Box hybrid and Georgia Cyclone fleshed out with Topper Track... Sign me up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jps294 Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Is it just me or does Skyscreamer look awkward in that spot. I don't know if its the colors or that I am a huge Wheelie fanboy it just looks out of place to me. Does anyone agree? I completely agree with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her0ofLime Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I have stayed away from Cyclone after hearing stories of rough rides, so I've never ridden it, but with all the talk about topper track and retracking, i'm thinking about giving it a go. So, on a roughness scale, how would it compare to the original Cyclone, Rolling Thunder at SFGAdv and GASM in a wheel seat? *shudder* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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