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GCI: Are Their Days Over?


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Best known for their Millennium Flier trains, GCI gave many park goers and enthusiasts something to scream about. Today, those same rides still give us something to scream about but not in the same way they once did. Words like rough, ouch, and I'm not riding that again are now common place.

 

Thunderhead, Apocalypse, American Thunder, Roar East, Roar West, Gwazi(RIP), and even my beloved Prowler are just a few that have seen better days.

 

Are parks simply not putting the love and attention into the rides, or is it that maintaining a new age GCI is too demanding on resources by requiring a complete re-tracking to make any difference?

 

Will parks opt for RMC over a ride that they might only get a good 3 years out of? Personally I think the days of GCI as we've known them are over.

 

What are your thoughts?

Edited by chadster
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The only GCI I've ridden that really blew me away was Kentucky Rumbler last summer. So at just around 10 years, that ride has managed to keep its "greatness". Based on this I think it is possible based on what kind of treatment the park is willing to dole out.

I've never ridden a new GCI so I'd like to try out Gold Striker ASAP.

 

Edit to add:

I'm sure GCI isn't "over" and they may have some tricks up their sleeve for the US. They seem to be quite busy overseas.

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I have been on quite a few GCIs.

 

Wildcat (Hershey)- I first rode it with the PTC trains in 2005 and it was considerably rougher than it is now. It seemed to be faster and definitely had way stronger air time. With the Millennium Flyer trains, it is smoother but still shaky last year.

 

Lightning Racer- The ride is the same as it was in 2005 as it was last year. Glass smooth and a ton of fun. This one has aged well.

 

Roar (East)- Very rough. The lack of Millennium Flyers was felt here.

 

Roar (West)- I had two rides on it last summer. At the beginning of summer, it was very rough and shaky, but the ride maintained its speed well and was quite wild. Later in the summer, the ride was a lot better and really enjoyable. I remember seeing photos that they retracked the bottom of the first drop between my rides, so it is possible they did other sections as well. Maybe it was just the placebo effect, but the ride was far enjoyable and makes me think sections just have to be replaced for them to maintain greatness.

 

Gold Striker- Outstanding. The ride is glass smooth and jam packed with air-time.

 

Apocalypse- The ride had great intensity right up there with Gold Striker. The ride wasn't glass smooth, but it was still quite smooth and I would have been able to marathon it no problem if I had the time.

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Funny thing, I was actually just thinking about GCI this morning in class and I remembered how much I loved Prowler and Renegade a few years ago. I'm eager to see what happens in the future with them, I'm convinced that they're not done. RMC coasters are definitely the fad right now, so only time will tell what happens.

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If I cared enough to look at Mitch's Wood Poll, my sense is that a lot of CCIs petered out without round the clock maintenance somewhere between 7-10 years into existence and the GCIs are lasting about the same amount of time. It is simply a limitation of the form combined with interest or lack thereof in providing the upkeep.

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They seem to have held up better than CCI/Gravity Group coasters, but I agree that many GCI's have begun to show their age. Apocalypse, while still one of my favorites at SFMM, really loses speed towards the end. Renegade is beginning to require more track work each season, and apparently nothing could be done to fix Gwazi.

 

My guess would be that with these more intense, modern wooden coasters, regardless of the manufacturer, they begin to need much more annual maintenance over time, and some parks do more than others to keep them running well. RMC can't really be evaluated yet, because their only wood-tracked coaster is just a few years old.

 

I'd like to see more GCI's in the US, so long as parks are committed to maintaining them well. I really enjoyed Gold Striker, and still love Renegade, Prowler, and others.

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Of the GCI's I've been on recently, most weren't terrible. Apocalypse was running really well last year, and definitely felt "wilder" than my previous visits, without being rougher. I liked PowerPark's Thunderbird quite a bit, not going to be in anyone's top ten but still a good ride. Even Gwazi wasn't as bad as I was expecting, there are definitely much worse woodies out there.

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I've ridden 2 GCI's: Apocalypse at SFMM (my number three wooden) and Thunderhead at Dollywood (my number 1 wooden). I have ridden both recently and I loved both. While they may not be the smoothest, they are relentless and amazing. I'm finding The Voyage, Boulder Dash, and El Toro this summer, so my favorite woodens will probably change.

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Thunderhead is still a top 5 wooden coaster for me. I definitely wouldn't call it rough.

 

Agreed

When I rode in 2012, it was up there with El Toro and Phoenix for me. BUT, having ridden Apocalypse yesterday, that ride is far from what it was a few years ago. Still solid airtime as it flies through the course, but it's taken a beating. Pretty rough.

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Thunderhead in 2012 (9 years old) was insane!!

Apocalypse has gone to crap, very bumpy, it's quite weird.

Gold Striker and White Lightning are both great as well! (But they're still very new)

 

I don't think they're going anywhere soon.

 

I rode Apocalypse last summer and I wouldn't call it "crap" exactly. It certainly wasn't as bad as Wildcat or Roar East. Is this just relative to how it ran when it first opened?

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Lightning Racer is still in great shape. I've never had a bad ride on it. You would figure that it would be more difficult to keep up the much bigger racing woodie than the much smaller Wildcat. Wildcat has it's rough spots, but is still a great layout. Could easily become one of the best RMC conversions!

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Will parks opt for RMC over a ride that they might only get a good 3 years out of? Personally I think the days of GCI as we've known them are over.

 

Well, I hope competition brings out the best in everyone moving forward. It’s like RMC has made "traditional wood coaster" a passé term. In addition to its new woodies and major overhauls, RMC's topper track may also go up against GCI's rehab services, which in my opinion have been excellent in their own right when they repair older rides, but oddly haven't made a huge difference on their own coasters.

 

Shake-up competition like RMC doesn't come along every day, but it doesn't mean that everyone else in the industry just shuts off their lights and goes home. The B&M invert never stopped Vekoma from selling oodles of SLCs, with one even under construction in Poland today. When El Toro debuted at Great Adventure, I also recall the "oh, %@#!" fan speculation that Intamin would squash other manufacturers and own the playing field in multiple coaster categories within a few years. Intamin prefab woodies were supposed to pop up in every other backyard throughout the world (and I still dream that dream), but it didn't quite happen that way.

 

GCI and GG both have some Jekyll/Hyde tendencies across their coaster portfolios. When they're good, they're AWESOME. In terms of ride-feel, I think Lightning Racer is just about perfect. I believe a "traditional" ride experience like that would have a place in any park's coaster lineup for decades to come, even if it stood next to an RMC coaster. Then I think about Roar (East), the only coaster that's literally beaten me to the point of laughter as a defense mechanism, and I do begin to wonder how that ride experience and the maintenance implications you brought up are considered by a park when it reviews GCI's body of work. The same applies to GG with a great ride like Ravine Flyer II vs. Hades 360...just day-and-night experiences.

 

As a coaster fan, I haven't been this excited since the 2000-2003 coaster wars, which seemed to mostly be a battle for record-breakers among parks...but now, I hope RMC is lighting a fire among manufacturers that leads to some fun, funky, and easier-to-maintain rides for all of us to look forward to in the future.

 

** If RMC is ever brought in to rehab a GCI coaster, the following year IAAPA should put their booths, along with the Chinese knock-off manufacturer that always tries to sneak in, in one corner and just see what happens.

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I don't think a major player in the industry will fade away just because they have competition, especially if they are selling a lot overseas as someone above mentioned. Also, people and parks can't seem to get enough of woodies these days, and RMC can only build so fast, so I don't see business just drying up completely for GCI. They might not be the most popular right now, but they make solid, fun rides that bring bodies to parks, so they will be fine for at least a few years.

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RMC has built 7/8 of their coasters for Six Flags parks, which is quite interesting. Granted they are building a massive coaster in Wildfire, but currently have nothing else planned for 2016. Unless RMC can come out and do business with companies other than SF I dont see them overtaking GCI as the primary Wooden Coaster supplier of the world. Gravity Group is still probably the best wooden coaster builder in terms of quality and have done most of their business overseas in the last 4-5 years. GCI is probably going to start doing similar, simply because there is a lot of business available overseas and probably at a higher mass than there is in the US/NA, now that they have the resources and reputation that GG has/had.

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