Great Escape-Nightmare Not Opening

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/07/18/news/latest/doc469e2040c733b039867191.txt

In my honest opinion, this is ridiculous. Why in the heck isn't this ride not opening for the season if there's nothing wrong it? The park only has 7 coasters, and knock another one away, and they have 6. Maybe, this ride isn't the best ride in the world, but what's the point of not operating a roller coaster for no good darn reason.

If they are starting to remove it in the next week, than fine, I understand, but it's been like this the whole year. I don't know if this ride is a good ride, but it very well might be. It's just stupid, Six Flags.

They're probably just sick of getting complaints from people who waited an obnoxiously long time for a terrible ride. :)

SFNE Central- Online Six Flags New England Resource

Exactly. The ride cranks through less than 200pph. That's an absolute joke, even for a small park like TGE. With major capacity issues that apparently can't be fixed, it makes the most sense to close the ride until it can be replaced with something better.

-Nate

You do know that it costs money to operate a coaster, right? If the cost outweighs the benefits, then you close it.

http://cse.umich.edu/

Isn't the thing a Jet Star? How can that be considered a crappy ride?

I remember the days when 7 coasters was a lot.

Who said it was a crappy ride?

-Nate

Rob Ascough said:
Isn't the thing a Jet Star? How can that be considered a crappy ride?

Exactly! And yes, RCDB lists it as an ENCLOSED Jet Star, how cool is that?... *** Edited 7/26/2007 3:41:06 PM UTC by jshorerzd***

I'd bet it has as much to do with the costs of ventilating the building as PPH...

But all rational/business thoughts aside, a Schwarzkopf in the dark? Wow. I want on!

-'Playa

NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.

It ultimately comes back to PPH. If that ride was cranking people through, there wouldn't be a problem with paying for operating costs, staffing, building ventilation, etc.

But for less than 200pph? Forget it.

-Nate

coasterdude318 said:
Who said it was a crappy ride?

Uh, maybe the person that posted right before your first post?

It certainly isn't a problem with ventilation... it was usually quite stuffy in there, even in the queue line. Unlike when it was located at Darien Lake for 3 seasons, the queue line is not air-conditioned (it was also well themed inside the building's queue vs. Great Escape).

It was more a matter of capacity. When Nightmare was at Darien Lake, it was loading up 4-people per car without any problems at all. When it was relocated at Great Escape, they had a max of 2-people per car (one in front, one in back). Never did I ever hear or see if more than 2, which is pathetic since it's the exact same ride & ran without problems when it was 4-per ride.

If you increased the amount of people per car, then you effectively double the PPH. That's the two main factors that the ride remained a long & disappointing experience: Long/slow moving lines & a boring hot queue.

Next year, if they install the Serial Thriller ride, I don't think many will be disappointed to see Nightmare go, so as long as it'll be properly replaced with something, either in the building... or replace the building with something that'll fit in the Ghost Town location.

Maybe Magic Forest down the street would buy the coaster for its small park.

CoastaPlaya said:I'd bet it has as much to do with the costs of ventilating the building as PPH...

It was ventilated? Really? It was hot in there, and SLOW-moving, and crowded...but then i got on....

But all rational/business thoughts aside, a Schwarzkopf in the dark? Wow. I want on!

It was a REALLY good ride...I wanted on again - just wasn't prepared to wait another hour for it. I sincerely hope they're doing something to increase throughput, becasue shutting this ride down for good would be an absolute shame...

Oh, I wouldn't know anything about the ride personally. My first look at the RCDB pics was about an hour ago!

A former GE rideop friend in has been bugging me for years to visit...if it reopens, I'll probably take her up on that offer. More than probably!

-'Playa

NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.

The Nightmare operated with two per car because of an incident when the ride was in Kentucky. I'm surprised to hear it ran with 4/car when it was at Darien. Really surprised, actually.

The ride is a goner. It won't operate at TGE again.

-Nate

I remember adoring Starchaser at KK. I'd love to ride another of these, enclosed or not.

Having never ridden an enclosed Jet Star, I'd probably enjoy an outdoor version more. The visuals are a big part of the Jet Star experience!

a Schwarzkopf in the dark?

I remember it as "mostly dark"---you know, dark except for the poorly-fitting corrugated tin walls, and the light that leaks from unload and/or load.

It's a unique and fun ride though. I'm glad I had the chance.

http://cse.umich.edu/

Take it out of it's box! The way it was meant to be! Tig'ger at Indiana Beach is a great ride, think it runs 4 cars. Still not high capacity, but a better steel coaster than most B&M's and Arrows....

Putting the ride in the dark was a great idea - but from what I understand, that curve at the bottom of the first drop was the cause of lots of injuries.

I rode Tigrr at Indiana Beach and it was lame! The thing was going so slow after the first drop that we were affraid we were going to valley... Plus, they only had 2 cars running!

I really enjoyed Nightmare and beside my visit in 1999 (2 hours wait!), I got lucky each times after as it was a walk on! One day, I got like 6 rides on it before they shut down the park due to excessive rain.