Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread

[weetopia2]

^Actually what stopped the Arrow Suspended Corkscrew Coaster was the fact that the train required a lethal amount of centrifugal g-force in order to stay perpendicular to the tracks. That was why in the model the corkscrew was about 1/3 the size of the actual drop and the train zipped through it.

 

Very interested about this project since this could definitely compare to the Intamin Prefabs.

[cb0688]

I'll be at SFOT this Sunday....I'll take pics of the progress!

 

update - Our hotel room overlooks the park and I must say...the drop looks INSANE!

Edited August 22, 2010 by cb0688

[ghost007jas]

Not to be a spammer, but I was able to ask Brian Houser (the guy who was interviewed in the Six Flags Blog a few pages back) some questions about The Texas Giant rehabilitation. I can tell you now that there will be catwalks all around the ride, just like there are now, and they will still walk the ride every morning.

 

You can read the rest of the questions here. It's a quick read, and the catwalk question is the one most pertinent to this thread, since it was something debated a couple of weeks ago .

[Zingoman]

 

When things go right, it will of course sail through the overbanked turn with considerable speed. Things don't always go right, though. Wheel assemblies can fail (Expedition GeForce), stuff can get caught up under the train (that pancho on the Eurofighter), and numerous other mishaps that can cause a train to lose proper speed and stall. It's rare, but such occasions have to be considered when designing a ride. It's this very thing that kept the infamous Arrow suspended corkscrew coaster from becoming a reality.

 

I'm aware that things can go wrong and you have to plan for it. My point is that the new track system will be stronger than the old system, and the old system would have been quite capable of handling such an incident.

 

Went to the park yesterday and they were in full swing working on the ride. Here are the goods.

A lot of work progressing on the lift. the stairs are done all the way to the top, and work on the handrail is coming along.

the chain trough is going in as well.

they also installed track on the back side behind the black brake! The 3rd drop looks to be about 30ft deeper than the old Giant's. Shockwave has a great view of it, but obviously I can't get shots from there.

A crane was putting up another piece of track just as I got here

Not much going on in this direction but I'm dying to see that 4th drop get installed!

got to ride under on the train during some of the action, and you can see the VERY steep new ascent up to where the block brake was. this picture made it difficult to see so I just traced over it with a red line.

also they did this bit of fun to Shockwave

Here is how the sell-out train looks on the course. I liked the Axe look a lot more.

They did try to tie it in with the ride a little though. I can respect that.

and the latest progress in full. catwalks, and more track on the curves, and from Titan you can see they added more ledgers to the 3rd drop.

[G$ Kurt]

Nice, thanks for the update!

[Funky Cold Medina]

Very nice. Very very nice. Thanks Zingo!

[chadster]

Not to be a spammer, but I was able to ask Brian Houser (the guy who was interviewed in the Six Flags Blog a few pages back) some questions about The Texas Giant rehabilitation. I can tell you now that there will be catwalks all around the ride, just like there are now, and they will still walk the ride every morning.

 

You can read the rest of the questions here. It's a quick read, and the catwalk question is the one most pertinent to this thread, since it was something debated a couple of weeks ago .

 

this only makes sense, I'd wrote a few weeks earlier that I thought this would be the case as the giant still has a wood frame which must be inspected regularly, if it were a solid steel structure, there wouldn't be much of a need with the exception of a few key areas, glad that has been cleared up once and for all.

[cb0688]

Went to the park yesterday (22nd). The park was completely dead! The longest we waited was 5 minutes for the front of Titan.

[Guy T. Koepp]

That last photograph is beautiful. You get a great angle of the ride in it. It doesn't hurt that the Titan is in the background either.

[wiyoh1984]

Looks like the new Texas Giant is coming along pretty well. I am anxious to check it out next year.

[Hayzle]

I never realized just how close the Cowboys' new stadium was to SFOT.. I think it's crazy how Astroworld was right near the Texans Stadium and SFOT is right near Cowboys Stadium. Ironic no?

[CoasterEricHP]

That.. is.. beautiful! Such a great idea and that new first drop looks sweet! If this transformation rides anywhere near as good as it looks we're going to be seeing this approach all over the place! I can think of a bunch of wooden coasters that have so much potential! Too bad this wasn't an option for Hercules.

[jynx242]

^ I am hopeful that other rides will receive this treatment. Let's remember though, this is not cheap. I could see that being an issue with parks. Why spend this kind of money to re-vamp an old structure? Will it increase attendance?

 

I truly hope so, since I think that this is amazing...but I am just a lone coaster enthusiast and not a decision maker at the Park Management Level.

 

D.

[Guy T. Koepp]

^That could be the case, however this is a prototype, and prototypes usually cost more. If the technology is successful, I would imagine the cost would come down a bit as the fabrication process is already in place. I have a sneaky suspicion that Six Flags may have few of these retrofits already loaded in the barrel. Their just waiting for the first shot to hit the bullseye before they start pulling the trigger on the next few. If it does hit it's mark. I would imagine several other chains would start using this caliber of weaponry as well hopefully decreasing the cost a bit more.

 

Guy "Cause guns n' ammo always make an awesome analogy." Koepp

[jynx242]

^ Good point! I forgot to add in the "prototype expense" into the equation in my head. This raises my hopes some. Perhaps The Boss at SFStL will get this treatment. Huge coaster with a unique layout that seemed like it wanted me to pee blood during the SFStL day earlier this month.

 

D

[Guy T. Koepp]

^Seemed?! I let loose a crimson stream after the first turn around.

[Zingoman]

haha. Surely I am not the only person who finds Boss to be the only ride that the Gerstlauer trains are not completely wretched. I don't want many woodies to change to this at all. Maybe Son of Beast, Mean Streak or Rattler. That's all I would find acceptable for this. Woodies are woodies because they are timeless and different than Steel. Putting Steel on a wooden coaster does not make it a good woodie. you lose the wood coaster and gain a steelie.

[TexasGiant1982]

This is gonna be one sick ride. I am SO looking forward to heading to Arlington next year and riding it.

[jynx242]

haha. Surely I am not the only person who finds Boss to be the only ride that the Gerstlauer trains are not completely wretched. I don't want many woodies to change to this at all. Maybe Son of Beast, Mean Streak or Rattler. That's all I would find acceptable for this. Woodies are woodies because they are timeless and different than Steel. Putting Steel on a wooden coaster does not make it a good woodie. you lose the wood coaster and gain a steelie.

 

My personal opinion - The Boss had an amazing layout, but was EXTREMELY painful to ride. The helixes were just about unbearable to me. If the TG treatment works, It could take rides with awesome layouts (like The Boss) and make them not only enjoyable to alot of people, but re-ridable.

 

D,.

[SaweetDude04]

I jsut got back from a quick trip to SFNE with some interesting news. An employee at Bizarro informed me that the flame cannons from Bizarro will be heading down to Texas, I'm assuming for this ride. They said it costs $6 per shot per cannon and SFNE just can't afford it, which would explain why the fire hasn't worked in quite some time. They said they are using the remaining propane in the tank and that once its finally empty and the park is closed, they will start to dismantle the flame system. Not sure how much of this I believe, but I guess we will find out!

[texcoaster]

^^ I rode The Boss in its first or second season and didn't find it bad at all. There was even a guy (can't remember his name, but he's the one who's always doing the marathon records) riding it non-stop for 100 days that year.

In a utopian scenario, rides with amazing, unique layouts would be cared for by their home parks and the TLC would keep the rides in good enough shape to provide great rides throughout the life of the coaster. There are plenty of examples of coasters much older than Boss or Texas Giant or Rattler that still give great rides. (Yes, their layouts are simpler and not as extreme, but you get my point)

 

We don't live in Utopia, though. The sad reality is that budget cuts, poor maintenance, brutal weather, and a host of other things can turn a once-great ride into a sadistic monster. Once a ride reaches that stage, a lot of parks opt to tear it down completely (Hercules comes to mind). While I will certainly mourn the passing of the once-mighty Giant, knowing that I'll never get to experience again the way it rode back in the early 90's, the fact is that those days were ALREADY gone and never to be seen again. If the options were [1] let it run like crap [2] taer it down or [3] retrofit it with Iron Horse track, then I applaud SFOT for taking the risky, but ultimately better road. No, it won't be the Giant I once loved, but it could very well be a hella good coaster in its own right.

 

That said, I think Boss and Rattler are two coasters that have gotten to the point of being beyond a mere tune-up. They simply aren't ever going to run like they used to, no matter how much retracking they get. Let's mourn the passing of their glory days and look forward to the possibility that they could get a makeover like Giant is getting. Losing a woodie to a bad-ass hybrid based on the original design is far preferable to having it torn down and losing it completely.

 

(Already drooling over the prospect of Rattler's first drop returning to the insanity it had on opening day)

[jawharp1992]

^^ I rode The Boss in its first or second season and didn't find it bad at all. There was even a guy (can't remember his name, but he's the one who's always doing the marathon records) riding it non-stop for 100 days that year.

In a utopian scenario, rides with amazing, unique layouts would be cared for by their home parks and the TLC would keep the rides in good enough shape to provide great rides throughout the life of the coaster. There are plenty of examples of coasters much older than Boss or Texas Giant or Rattler that still give great rides. (Yes, their layouts are simpler and not as extreme, but you get my point)

 

We don't live in Utopia, though. The sad reality is that budget cuts, poor maintenance, brutal weather, and a host of other things can turn a once-great ride into a sadistic monster. Once a ride reaches that stage, a lot of parks opt to tear it down completely (Hercules comes to mind). While I will certainly mourn the passing of the once-mighty Giant, knowing that I'll never get to experience again the way it rode back in the early 90's, the fact is that those days were ALREADY gone and never to be seen again. If the options were [1] let it run like crap [2] taer it down or [3] retrofit it with Iron Horse track, then I applaud SFOT for taking the risky, but ultimately better road. No, it won't be the Giant I once loved, but it could very well be a hella good coaster in its own right.

 

That said, I think Boss and Rattler are two coasters that have gotten to the point of being beyond a mere tune-up. They simply aren't ever going to run like they used to, no matter how much retracking they get. Let's mourn the passing of their glory days and look forward to the possibility that they could get a makeover like Giant is getting. Losing a woodie to a bad-A$$ hybrid based on the original design is far preferable to having it torn down and losing it completely.

 

(Already drooling over the prospect of Rattler's first drop returning to the insanity it had on opening day)

 

You use your tongue prettier than a $20 whore

[texcoaster]

^ Um... whatever. I'm pretty sure I was typing, not talking.

[Skycoastin Steve]

haha. Surely I am not the only person who finds Boss to be the only ride that the Gerstlauer trains are not completely wretched. I don't want many woodies to change to this at all. Maybe Son of Beast, Mean Streak or Rattler. That's all I would find acceptable for this. Woodies are woodies because they are timeless and different than Steel. Putting Steel on a wooden coaster does not make it a good woodie. you lose the wood coaster and gain a steelie.

 

My personal opinion - The Boss had an amazing layout, but was EXTREMELY painful to ride. The helixes were just about unbearable to me. If the TG treatment works, It could take rides with awesome layouts (like The Boss) and make them not only enjoyable to alot of people, but re-ridable.

 

D,.

 

Boss' layout is indeed spectacu-awesome, but I didn't experience that much roughness last Halloween when I rode it. I don't know if it was coming off some kind of track work or what, but I rode in the very front and very back at night and thought it was amazing. The back was definitely on the "aggressive" side, and I probably couldn't have ridden it more than 1 or 2 times (if that), but it wasn't in the same ballpark as TG, MS, or Rattler.

[DBru]

^ Um... whatever. I'm pretty sure I was typing, not talking.

 

Actually, I think that was a compliment...