Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread

[Sir Coaster]

Yikes! It's not very often that you see a Six Flags park getting flooded...

 

 

I'm sure the park will drain soon, a week at most...

[SharkTums]

Here were two pictures from the article in case any of you are too lazy to click.

Overview of the area.

Closeup where you can see the water on the Mine Train.

[Fooz]

I am sorry for those who died as a result of this.

Edited September 9, 2010 by Fooz

[chadster]

I haven't yet found out anything about Schlitterbahn NB, my friends say they evac'd about 1k people in the area but don't know and haven't heard anything on the news about the park itself. Nothing on their FB page either

 

Lots of video of rescues in the arlington/dallas area, if anyone wants to see them I can post them, however nothing else on SFOT. Up a few hundred miles in OK, we are expecting 5 inches of rain overnight, however, it's a steady rain and flash flooding shouldn't be an issue, just have to worry about flooding in general in the low areas and shallow creeks.

 

^ not insane, I was thinking the same thing!

 

**edit** guess NB made it through according to this article, so guess they made it.

Edited September 9, 2010 by chadster

[chadster]

^ That's good to hear! I'd say based on what my friends tell me in the Dallas area, that SFOT will be open this weekend, they are closed to the public Friday and I think they too would be very verbal on damage on the FB page and news releases.

 

Sad that a few people lost their lives.

[cedarpointfangirl]

Good Ole Johnson Creek. We got pounded here. Had a few tornadoes. Still under a Tornado watch till 1am. I know they said around Six Flags they got almost a foot of rain.

[AllenA07]

I actually just saw a report on the news about this, they say that it is pretty common that the park floods in that area, and that they are not terribly worried about damage. Still however, in my little area (about an hour and a half north of SFOT) we had about 8 inches of rain today, I'm not sure how much they had by the park but as I understand it they had more then we did. As the above poster said the entire area is under a tornado watch. Fun times!!!

[texcoaster]

Please, please, PLEASE tell me that there will be more substantial support added to those turns. There's just no way the current steel-hanging-onto-wood-by-a-few-bolts-on-one-end turn support is adequate.

[larrygator]

Please, please, PLEASE tell me that there will be more substantial support added to those turns. There's just no way the current steel-hanging-onto-wood-by-a-few-bolts-on-one-end turn support is adequate.

 

There will be more substantial support added to those turns!

 

You're Welcome.

[A113]

This picture reveals just how much the drop curves... I think it shows how insane it will be.

 

[atem122]

OK, that picture makes me SLIGHTLY erect.

But yeah, I also share the sentiment that this thing is gonna collapse. I'll trust the engineers, but those over-banked turns REALLY look like they'll need extra bracing. Through an engineer's standpoint, hopefully, but most likely certainly those turns will hold, but from the common sense standpoint, the structure looks WAY too weak. I just hope that it doesn't scare the GP off from riding, because if I didn't know how much science went into coaster design, there's no way in hell you'd get me on that.

[A113]

I confess I don't trust this really advanced technology to be constructed on a used Dinn Structure...

[triggernel]

I like how close the tracks come to eachother at the bottom of the first drop.

 

Looks kinda interesting!

[eskater132]

Just speculation.

this is probably heavier than the steel.

[BrandonR]

Yeah, people forget how heavy multiple layers of wood and steel overlay plates weigh, versus the hollow steel box-sections of this track system. They weigh about the same, according to some press release I read a while back, which is the whole reason this project is possible.

[FeelTheFORCE]

^ This isn't the first time the weight of the track has been discussed. Page 22 and page 46 are two of many instances.

 

As already said, reinforced, and reiterated by BrandonR, and many many other people multiple times, this track weighs about the same!

[Fooz]

I would say that this looks like it could be in the running for one of the best rides ever!

Steep drops, overbanks, and most importantly, high speed air hills? Yes please. Now to figure out how to get to texas...

[BrandonR]

^ This isn't the first time the weight of the track has been discussed. Page 22 and page 46 are two of many instances.

 

As already said, reinforced, and reiterated by BrandonR, and many many other people multiple times, this track weighs about the same!

 

Yeah, I hate sounding like a broken record. I'm positive some smart engineers know more about this track system than some coaster enthusiasts examining pictures online and have verified it will work.

[texcoaster]

In case the above comments were in response to my saying that the turns appear to need more support, it's not the weight of the track that has me wondering... it's the reprofiling, which puts forces in completely different directions and angles from the original layout.

Some of those turns have T-shaped steel track supports that are only anchored on one end. I'm assuming that more structure will join what's already there so the ledgers will at least be connected to SOMETHING on both sides of the track...

[Kooky]

i wondered that know one talks about it here, but in german forums is video were you can see the flooded coaster from the "hermine" storm at the time 0:34 (hope you can view this video from the US!):

http://www.bild.de/BILD/video/clip/news/vermischtes/2010/09/09/tropensturm-hermine-texas.html

hopefully not to much is destroyed!

i take a picture from the report if you can´t watch it:

Source: http://www.bild.de/BILD/video/clip/news/vermischtes/2010/09/09/tropensturm-hermine-texas.html

[SharkTums]

^We do have a thread about the flooding, but this happens almost once a year at SFoT so it's not that big of a deal.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=56729

[chadster]

I find it fascinating how fast information is transmitted and received, not to mention that the flooding is being talked about in Germany. I need to get over there one day, maybe I can put that 5 years of german language class in middle/high school to good use.

[Funky Cold Medina]

^^^Well it did rain pretty damn hard and for about two days straight. I haven't seen it flood this bad but at least it went down in no time.

[texcoaster]

I find it fascinating how fast information is transmitted and received, not to mention that the flooding is being talked about in Germany. I need to get over there one day, maybe I can put that 5 years of german language class in middle/high school to good use.

 

I had fun using my school German in Germany. While in line for a ride, I would chat up some locals. They realized that I'm a native English speaker and they were excited to use their English when talking to me. I would reply back auf deutsch. For the most part, we all understood each other though each of us would occasionally have to explain a coaster-specific term from time to time, since those aren't usually covered in school language textbooks. I found that folks in the queues at Holiday Park were especially friendly and eager to chat.

 

Be warned, however, that very little of your schoolbook German is going to do you any good in Vienna, or most of Austria for that matter. Folks could understand me, but I could rarely make out what was being said back in return.

[Zingoman]

Some news is developing on one of the great mysteries of the project! The mystery at hand being whether or not the ride will have a midcourse brake section. If you look at the time lapse cam on the park's site you can see the old midcourse section has some track up (but appears to have an absense of ledgers?)! Can't wait to find out what the profile is since the angle from the tower makes that impossible to see. http://www.sixflags.com/overTexas/rides/TexasGiant.aspx

Edited September 11, 2010 by Zingoman