National Lampoon's Vacation

I watched National Lampoon's Vacation with Chevy Chase (the original) the other day, and I couldn't help but wonder where the roller coasters at Wally World actually are. In the movie it appears that there is way too much footage of the rides, so it seems that they could not be made up for the movie. I was wondering if anyone knew where the rides were/are? Thanks.

------------------
as always,
Vote Bob.

Six Flags Magic Mountain, they showed Revolution before the over the shoulder restraints and braking, and they showed Collosus with the double down which is now a depressing brake run.

They used to have lots of filming at Magic Mountain. It would appear in movies like Vacation and Roller Coaster. It was often a location in Knight Rider and Chips and The A Team.

Hey coasterkid16, I haven't been to SFMM in about 12 years. Where is that *new* break run at? Collossus is still my favorite large woody, but only because I haven't been on any others big woodies since about 1990.

Dave in Minnesota

The "new" brake run was installed in 1991 where the double-dip used to be (about mid-way through the ride). It serves as a mid-course brake run to increase capacity. The thing that erks me is that instead of just running both sides of the ride to increase capacity, they added a MCBR and never use both sides at once other than during Fright Fest. Oh, well. Here's a shot of the brake run and where the double dip used to be: http://www.joyrides.com/sfmm/full/colossus5.htm

I love that movie, but it saddens me to see how Revie and Colossus used to be :(
*** This post was edited by Dusa65 7/21/2003 3:30:37 AM ***

OMG!!!

You can still see where the track USED to be! That is depressing. That was a great spot for air too. Bummer, dude.

Dave

Classic movie guys! It's the inspiratiob for my name, Whipper Snapper.

------------------
Life is Short, get one

Sorry folks, park's closed!

------------------
Veck
http://www.bcptars.org/
"Park in Arizona? It will happen!"

Actually, I kinda like the brake run....;)

------------------
"SOME people have NO class!" - Mom from the Whizzer queue

I have never seen that picture before. That is sad. Fortunately, I got a chance to ride it before they butchered it.

A little trivia. Vacation was originally intended to be about a trip to Disneyland. In fact, there is a scene in the movie when Clark is going to buy a gun and gets it from a store near the beach. Of course, Magic Mountain is not near the beach.

The folks at Disneyland didn't want to close the park for filming.

it turned out better this way.

------------------
Veck
http://www.bcptars.org/
"Park in Arizona? It will happen!"

I always thought that Colossus DID have a midcourse brake, on the second turnaround. It was when it ran PTC 3-bench trains and had skid brakes. Skid brakes can operate on a turn.

Therefore, the real reason for the new midcourse was because they switched to Morgan trains (to lighten the strain on the tracks) and they could only use fin brakes. Therefore the brake run had to be a straight one.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

------------------
SCREAM with me... in 2003!

---

CRVeck said:
Sorry folks, park's closed!

---

The Moose out front should have told you!! :)

Definitely a classic film. Since Disneyland supposedly didnt want to close the park for filming, did they shoot the footage at Magic Mountain during the offseason when the park is closed during the week?

------------------
Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

Happens alot DaveinMN, the Cyclone at SFNE still has the track from the original first drop there. It's like the park is tryin to rub it in!

The reason is Disneyland is never closed like Wally World is.

Disneyland is open 365 days a year.

------------------
http://coasterplace.web1000.com
*** This post was edited by Code823 7/21/2003 2:39:03 PM ***

---

Soggy said:

Therefore, the real reason for the new midcourse was because they switched to Morgan trains (to lighten the strain on the tracks) and they could only use fin brakes. Therefore the brake run had to be a straight one.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

------------------
SCREAM with me... in 2003!

---

Well The Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz runs Morgans with skid brakes... but I guess Magic just wanted a more reliable brake system.
------------------
www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com

That's not really a double-down, is it? It's more of a. . . tiny dip. I was always under the impression that a double-down doesn't go back up at all, just down-level-down.

------------------
--Maddie--
What do I Listen-To?
May the Schwarz be with you.

Soggy - I don't recall skids on Colossus.

Maddie - Some double downs [and double ups] level out, others do dip a bit before the second part of the drop.

------------------
A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Glibido - all talk and no action.

Is it just me... or does "Roy Walley" (portrayed by the late Eddie Braken) have a Walt Disney look to him?

------------------
Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 7/21/2003 3:36:06 PM ***

I always thought that Collusus was a bit tame, before now I didn't know what people were talking about when referring to the "double dip". What do you think it would take for these classic rides to be retored?

------------------
"I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines."
-Mr. Furious

Restoring Colossus would take a lot more than bringing back the double dip. Over the past few years SFMM has ripped out most of the layered track bed and replaced it with steel I-beam, to lower maintenance costs. Colossus is no more a wooden coaster than Gemini.

Restoring it back to the glory days of the mid-80's would require millions of dollars...it's just not going to happen.

mOOSH

------------------
A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Glibido - all talk and no action.