New life for old Arrows

I wonder how many older looping coasters could be profitably retrofit in a manner similar to the Phantom's Revenge? The PR is of course a unique example but there may be other coasters out there worth saving. Im thinking of the Shockwave at SFGAm. I bet a very interesting layout could be fit into the existing space utilizing the current infrastructure along with that great first drop (I love those twisting drops!).

The whole idea of redoing SP probally had to do with it's historical value, although I, too am interested in seeing if this becomes a new trend. New life to any old ride seems good, it'll give you something else to check out when you're at the park riding a remodeled coaster, ie. ".....and I remember when it used to go like this....." and so on.

I mentioned this a few forums back, but you are hearing it again from me.......if the Phantom's revenge goes well, then the next in line for Morgan will be the Drachen Fire. Then maybe Anaconda or one of the Six Flags giant loopers. Face it, it never was a bad thing to retrack a beat up woodie, or totally rebuild one, like when Hersheypark took over Lake Compounce and the Wildcat was reborn. Why can't engineers go out and make some classic steelies better for the general public.

It is way cheaper to rebuild than to remove and replace. Kennywood's whole intention was to salvage as much as they could from the Phantom. They even kept the inversions for another project. More power to Dana Morgan.

Couldn't they just put a different train on there? It seems like the problem is the slack between the rails and the wheels (and the harnesses). If you only redesigned the trains it would save a lot of money. Any ideas?

I think that all that they need is very
comfortable and soft padding on those horsecollars.
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What is life without geniuses?

I would like to see the Shockwave remodeled and THEMED! How could they put that coaster in the middle of a parking lot! Either that or put new trains on it with the very comfortable horsecollars that coastergenius said.

The ONLY thing I would do on Shockwave is smooth out that transition before the brakes. VORTEX (PKI) needs a little smoothing out and so does Anaconda after the brake run. Drachan Fire needs different trains.

We won't see any more of this Phantoms Revenge reprofiling since many large parks have multiple major coasters and Kennywood has one (and really only space for one) major high tech steel coaster.

Does that make sense?

I rode the Shockwave with my 11 year old son last September. Each loop had a strong bumpy quality (ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!). Also the mid course brakes and the hard left turn gave us a good jolt. We got big laughs out the ride and got right back on (the jolt was no where near as fun when we were ready for it). I don't remember this ride being as violent the first time a rode it which was about 7 years ago. At any rate I have been able to walk on the Shockwave any time I have visited in the last 3 or 4 years, even on busy days. You wonder how long the park will let this condition exist (similar to situation with the Mean Streak).