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Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread


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Wow at the first drop. Please let Ghostirder be the next "re-do"...

 

I would cry in sadness.

 

--Jay

 

Why would you cry? Ghost Rider used to be a top 10 woodie, and was an amazing ride. Now its just painful...on a good day. Redoing Ghost Rider with this track or some other track would put it back to the way it was when the ride opened. It would be amazing!

 

And I'm really excited for this ride to open, if it works well, so many other bad rides could be rejuvenated!

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Wow at the first drop. Please let Ghostirder be the next "re-do"...

 

I would cry in sadness.

 

--Jay

 

Why would you cry? Ghost Rider used to be a top 10 woodie, and was an amazing ride. Now its just painful...on a good day. Redoing Ghost Rider with this track or some other track would put it back to the way it was when the ride opened. It would be amazing!

 

And I'm really excited for this ride to open, if it works well, so many other bad rides could be rejuvenated!

 

I dont want a smoother ride. I think its perfect, its my number 1 coaster it throws you around just enough, i love it!

 

--Jay

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You have to remember 2 things.

 

1. We don't even know yet how the reprofile and new track are going to be.

2. It is quite pricy to do this. You have to wonder how many parks would be willing to put up that kind of money to redo a coaster. The price of a new coaster is less than this redo.

 

I have not been on this coaster yet, but I have heard horror stories about it. How did it compare to mean streak? Was is just as bad, or worse?

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Mean Streak is just boring, which is ridiculous for a ride that size. As for Ghostrider, I'd rather see it knocked down completely- a lot of the issues that it faces, and many other CCI built coasters as well, have to do with cost cutting decisions made during the initial design and construction.

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Dear Six Flags, Please make the Rattler next.

 

When I first heard about how this project was being done, that was the first coaster that came to mind that should get this treatment next. I'll never forget how INSANE Rattler was the first time I rode it during it's inaugural season.

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..... As for Ghostrider, I'd rather see it knocked down completely- a lot of the issues that it faces, and many other CCI built coasters as well, have to do with cost cutting decisions made during the initial design and construction.

 

Ghostrider's issues have nothing to do with CCI construction. Not that some other CCI woodies did have construction issues. Ghostrider was WAY overbuilt due to CA earthquakes, if you look carefully at the contruction it has way more bents, supports, etc...then other woodies built in the last 15 years. The track is the same as most all other woodies built in that era, other CCI coasters run just fine because *some* parks invest in wood coaster maintenance, it appears that CF does not! Wood coasters need constant attention and re-tracking to run very well, and most parks simply won't do it, don't care, and/or maintain their woodies to simply be safe not fast or re-rideable.

 

Ask the GP, and most will tell you that wood coasters are rough..they bounce, shuffle,etc. The GP think that is norm because they only ride the large corporate theme park woodies that arn't maintained. Then go to a place like Holiday World, or a park with a new woodie that actually might run well, and see if the public likes the wood coaster(s)!

 

There is nothing wrong with Ghostrider that a re-tracking wouldn't fix IMHO. Ditto for TX giant and most other woodies in large corporate theme parks. IMHO the TX Giant redo is a tragedy, another great wood coaster bites the dust.

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^ I pretty much agreed with your post all the way up until the bit about the Giant makeover being a tragedy.

 

Would I PREFER that the Giant get put back to its original state and have it run like it did in 1990, and be properly and lovingly maintained to keep it like that?

Sure. However, I know that it's not going to happen. On a behind-the-scenes tour I took last year, one of the maintenance crew said that it cost them $225,000/year to maintain the Giant in its current state of unpleasantness (it was practically unridable that day). That kind of dollar figure for upkeep on a 20-yr old ride is craziness. YES, it would make some people happy and keep the ride from getting a bad reputation if they spent more and kept it running well... but by spending a bunch of money NOW for the makeover just makes much better business sense. [1] The steel track will DRASTICALLY reduce the money needed for upkeep [2] People are going to FLOCK to SFOT next year to try this out. I imagine that the GP, the enthusiasts, and nearly everyone in the industry are going to go to SFOT next year to see if this gamble paid off. It's on the news, it's in the blogs, it's all over the internet, and the whole amusement world is paying attention. That is going to get them buttloads more money and visitors than simply keeping a good coaster running well.

 

....and if it really does work well and other parks decide to fix up their once-great-but-now-crapheap coasters like this, then part of me will be sad because I will look at it and say "that used to be a good wooden coaster" - but at LEAST I'll be able to follow that statement with "and now it's a kickass steelie."

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Dear Six Flags, Please make the Rattler next.

 

When I first heard about how this project was being done, that was the first coaster that came to mind that should get this treatment next. I'll never forget how INSANE Rattler was the first time I rode it during it's inaugural season.

 

Heck yeh...I rode it my Sophomore year in HS. By looking at the drop I'm sure they could make it happen with the Rattler again.

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On a behind-the-scenes tour I took last year, one of the maintenance crew said that it cost them $225,000/year to maintain the Giant in its current state of unpleasantness (it was practically unridable that day). That kind of dollar figure for upkeep on a 20-yr old ride is craziness.

 

 

That is exactly my point, some parks DO spend several hundred thousand every year to maintain their coasters in very good condition while others neglect them, then later mgmt realized they need to spend a boatload to fix a problem, they created, after neglecting the coaster and they are spending more money just keeping it in a crappy state. I've heard figures from 50k to 500k a year being spent by parks per year on their woodies. One that needs painting can cost 500K to repaint! Rememeber, that wood coasters are cheap by coaster standards....to build, but coast a lot over time to maintain. Most of the woodies of the last 15 years were built for between $2 to $8 million, far less than any large steelie. However, proper maintenance on the structure, track, and tains is very expensive. Parks look at the "what will it cost me now", and not the long term. They are looking at getting people through the gate this season, but if some of these large theme parks looked at keeping their customers for the long term, things that bring people back...like cleanliness, good employees, maintenance, etc.....they would be in better shape. SF always seems to be looking for the quick buck.

The really good parks get return business because people eventually figure out (even if it is subconcious) that they had a good time or the visit was a good value. The problem with places like SFOT is they have no competition. The reason places like SFA (near where I used to live) do poorly, is that the competition like Hersheypark, KD (to a lesser extent), and BGW blow them away in these categories. We went to Hersheypark this year, and parking is NOT $20, the food is more reasonably $$ and good, the employees are excellent, the games are 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of SF, the park looks great even on a crowded day, and most of the rides are maintained well. We really loved our visit and will definitely return more. There's a reason that HP's attendence has grown from like 1.6 mil per season in 1995 to around 2.3 mil today, and they have a short season too. They've had a great expansion plan, that includes the things many other large themers leave out. I like SFA, they have some good rides and the park looks ok but it ends there. They suffer because they don't do anything else well and there's too much good competition. Funny thing is that SFA does maintain their woodies reasonably well (much better than KD), they do send their trains back to PTC almost every year for maintenance. They can do this though, because PTC is close by.

Edited by ansley
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OMG.....that first drop looks SICK!!!! I can't wait to visit next year!

 

Dear Six Flags, Please make the Rattler next.

 

Would Rattler make a good steel coaster?

 

On the other hand, Texas Giant was indeed better than Mean Streak. Lots of hills and a cruising layout. This re-profile looks SICK!

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I posted some construction pictures I took yesterday to my site. I won't specify the URL as it might violate the no-posting-links-til-50-post rule (yes, I actually read the rules!), but it's not hard to find... After all, it's a Guide to Six Flags over Texas...

 

The first drop looks really amazing in-person. I can't wait to see them start work on the overbanked turns...

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