Goliath at SFGAm.

I hear positive and negative of this coaster. Obviously, people should reserve judgement until they ride it, but it amazes me that this coaster at 3100 ft in length is to short to some, thus they are not impressed. Do we really need another 5000 ft plus coaster to satisfy?

Manufacturer is great, the layout seems great, and their only other built from the ground (Outlaw Run) coaster seems to get rave reviews.

What more do you want especially in the small footprint they have to work with./

I think it is going to be a winner.

My biggest gripe about it is the name. This makes the "Hawk" happy folks at CF seem like creative geniuses.

FAR and away the most exciting announcement for US parks in 2014.

I *guess* second-place would go to GAdv, but that's a long way down....(both meanings apply).

Enthusiasts complain when a coaster is so long that it runs out of steam by the end of the ride and doesn't have a proper "grand finale." Personally, if a coaster can keep up the intensity from start to finish, I don't mind sacrificing 20 or 30 seconds for that experience. I mean really, El Toro isn't a long ride either, but when I think of it I think of balls-to-the-wall intensity from the first drop to the brake run, not how short it is.

Not everything can be the Voyage.

Bakeman31092 said:

Not everything can be the Voyage.

You hit the nail on the head! :)

Im excited, if anything to have another coaster to ride at my home park, but having one by RMC sounds exciting along with the extra features and records it may break. On a given day at the park, I can ride all the coasters, sometimes twice. Another plus is the development of the old Iron Wolf area will complete the park.

Chitown said:

it amazes me that this coaster at 3100 ft in length is to short to some, thus they are not impressed.

It does?

If you are referring to the length, yes, it was mentioned by the park president at the ground breaking ceremony.

No, I'm referring to your surprise that enthusiasts would complain about it.

There's a 2,700 foot roller coaster just a few doors down from where Goliath will be that may well be the best of it's type despite also being one of the shortest - Kings Island is building one nearly 1,500 feet longer for 2014.

I'll admit when I first heard 3000ft. I was a little sad. But Batman is only 2700ft. and is one of the best rides in the park. Outlaw Run gets rave reviews for it's size which good to here. Besides we have nothing else like it at the park so I'll keep hoping and trusting RMC.

I was a little sad as well, but it still looks like an amazing ride.

I was devastated. Still am. I've been in tears for days. Only a bran muffin would make me feel better.

How about a short stack o' pancakes?

I'll get the popcorn (scented chemicals).

Walk-Off HBP said:

There's a 2,700 foot roller coaster just a few doors down from where Goliath will be that may well be the best of it's type

I'll miss that Zamperla clone....the horror at being sentenced to life at Six Flags America....

I think they could have made it longer and chose not to. They could have looped around the exterior of the ride one more time, and added some fun coaster hills, leading to the break run. The Wolverine Wildcat is 3,000 feet long, as is Phoenix, and look at how many hills they have. Not to mention the amount of hills of Great America's other wood..Viper, which probably covers the same amount of space, if not less.

Making Goliath into a double out and back, would probably make it that much better, and a lot more to get excited about. I just think it is going to be over very quickly, and you won't have much time to enjoy it. Also, comparing it to Batman is hardly a good comparison, as Batman is a totally different ride experience. Well paced, and well planned.

Well, Timber-Rider, you've touched on an aggravation I've had with Six Flags in recent years, namely their uncanny knack for building completely uninteresting rides. Some just weren't very exciting (SFDK's SUF, Dare Devil Dive), some seemed like exceptionally poor fits for the parks in which they were installed (Green Lantern at SFMM), and some seemed like they were victims of Six Flags's insistence on spending too much money on multiple additions instead of making the ones that were good ideas everything they could have been (Tatsu and Scream! were types of rides well-suited for SFMM, but both could have been so much more).

Now, most of that criticism was clearly volleyed at one park in particular, but seriously, the only Six Flags announcements that got me excited this year were SFDK's announcement about being open all year-round and RMC transformation of Mexico's Medusa. Gone are the Bizarros, Superman Krypton Coasters, and Titans that were absolutely perfect for their parks, giving so many that signature ride that they needed. I give them credit for the RMC transformations, about the only interesting thing I think they're doing coaster-wise these days. I also admire their draw-down of the number of coasters they're building each year, but even then, they still don't seem to be hitting the mark. I don't know why Iron Wolf had to live on, even if I think Six Flags did wonders to dress it up nicer than almost all of their other coasters. I don't know why St. Louis got a Boomerang when they didn't even really seem to need a coaster at all.

What I feel like I'm seeing is the transformation of Six Flags into Paramount Parks as far as coaster installations are concerned, becoming more interested in building concept rides than the tried-and-true favorites that so many of their parks still lack.

Wait, I just realized that I sound about inverts and floorlesses the way so many people do about Schwartzkopfs and Schmecks, and now I feel silly.

sirloindude said:

Gone are the Bizarros, Superman Krypton Coasters, and Titans that were absolutely perfect for their parks...

Oh you mean the overexpenditures that led to the bankruptcy of a multinational corporation?

sirloindude said:

...giving so many that signature ride that they needed

And that they have now.

I get what you're saying, X-Flight and Goliath and the others come off a little half-assed (though Tatsu is spectacular). I just think it's the result of a company that's trying to be extremely conservative for the time being, still stuck in the shadow of their former bankruptcy.

It wasn't necessarily some of those individual rides, but rather the alarming pace at which they were installed. Medusa at SFDK wasn't a bad idea. It was the Roar-Medusa-V2 in three straight years pace that drove them into bankruptcy. It was the Superman Ultimate Flights at the Great-A parks where they didn't accomplish much of anything that drove SF into bankruptcy. I'd argue the Superman - Ride of Steels and Titans were some of the most brilliant installations SF ever made.

I'm glad you referenced X-Flight and Goliath, though. 2 major coaster installations in 3 years. That's not the best example of conservatism. I think there's improvement over what there used to be, but in some cases I think that they could be doing a much better job of building a few rides that make an impact rather than making each installation a toned-down, low-budget version of what those rides could be. There's a happy medium between the excess they used to display and the almost hyper-conservatism they're showing now, and I'm not sure why they can't seem to find that sweet spot where the coasters are few but are well-executed.

I just stack up Goliath against Banshee, which successfully put KI on my 2014 wish list whereas Goliath doesn't really scream my name at all, and SFGAm is way more convenient to get to than KI.