Last Season F/Eagle @ SFGAm

i was getting off the american eagle at sfgam last week and as we are all heading to the exit, a man infront of us asked a ride op about the futrue of the coaster. he replied that this was the last year for the coaster and that it would be ripped down. could this be true? i know the coaster is getting old and hard to maintain. i certainly hope not. the eagle is a statue at that park, its huge and one of the only racing woodies left.

Why would they do that. Both sides were retracked just a year or two ago. Also, the park president (the names on the tip of my tongue) said that they were in the business of building coasters, not taking them down.
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"We are no longer the knights who say Ni! We are now the knights who say eckyeckyeckyeckypakungloopoingengzourjin." "Ni"

I find this unlikely, but if they do, I want a huge CCI or a 4D. Or better yet, both ! :)

Do you know how long I have heard that. I would swear I have heard that rumor year in year out for about 10 or 15 years now. I seriously doubt that will happen as the ride is still really popular with the general public. And besides that it is a time-less classic icon of the park. There are other things that they could do besides tear down a coaster. At no-coaster con SFGAm reps stated that they are not in the business of removing coasters anymore.

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Welcome to Deja Vu...home of the world wide wait.

Doesn't seem very logical to me.

Is SFGAm running out of room? It seems like a park that is targeted for ride removal rumors all the time (Wizzer, Eagle, Demon), none of which seem very likely to happen.

yea they do seem to be running out of room but i have a feeling that we will be getting an x clone within the next 2 years. IF and i mean IF it turns out to be a successfull ride>.

I don't think that this is AE's last season. IMO, I think that's a bunch of bull. The only coaster I would like to see replace it is a CCI woody*COUGH*Shivering Timbers*COUGH*. But seriously I don't think that the ride is going down anytime soon.

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Don't fight it, Ride it, Raging Bull!!!
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/Coasterz

im sure your all correct. because there always are rumors that its going to be ripped down. i just wanted to see if anyone else heard anything about it. also anyone have news on the delay of deja vu and the entertainment village thats supposed to be built?

If any ride is to be removed at SFGAm, I would think Shockwave is the best candidate for this. If SFGAm does have space issues, this would be the logical choice, since Shockwave gets little traffic. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to remove it, and replace it with an X type ride. X would look pretty good in that spot!

As for the American Eagle, I would like to see a restoration of this coaster. It is a mere shadow of it's original self. I wonder if this ride could be restored using the new Intamin track (I think this was originally designed by Intamin). It is painfully slow at some points during the ride, but it has good potential in it's design - and would be worth restoring.

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First we Rock - Then we Roll!

Dave is correct. Shockwave would be the coaster that should be removed if any. Demon produces a better ride and has cool effects, and the 2 coasters overlap--they are exactly the same type of ride. I say B and M floorless in that spot! What a claim that could be, 4 B and Ms in one park!

AE could be the greatest racing coaster in the world, if the timing issues were fixed, and the severe braking into the huge helix was eliminated. Its one of the best wooden coasters i have ridden--big drop, fast, smooth and the helix! Just needs some maintenance and some ride ops that put effort into racing it.

ROFL. Good one, AE getting removed. LOL! Why would they remove a ride with good ridership? They would more likely do what Dave said, remove Shockwave.

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Cyclops. 1900 feet of CCI goodness.

I think that American Eagle does take up a lot of room but I heard that expansion could be possible behind the rides between Shockwave and Iron Wolf, for those of you that haven't been ther THAT IS A LOT OF ROOM! But I also heard of plans of adding a waterpark accross the street on the vacant land and possibly a bridge or underground pathway system. I think Shockwave is seriously underrated. Has anybody ridden it in the back? You get a lot more G's in the loop and at the top of the hill, you get whipped over better than any other coaster in the park. I think Demon should get taken down!

SFGAMDie HARD said:
"I think Demon should get taken down!"

Why should it be taken down? Because you said so? It pleases crowds, usually maintains a 10-20 minute line (unlike Shockwave's 0 minute line). And even if it was taken out, not a whole lot could be done with that land. It's in the middle of the park, on a narrow strip of land... hmmm... SFoG, take down Viper and send it back! Lets throw up Tidal Wave where the Demon currently is!!! Other than a shuttle loop and the Demon, not many things can fit there.

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Cyclops. 1900 feet of CCI goodness.

I totally agree with TrBiggar. I happen to like the Demon, and he is right about the lines. For the most-part, the line is pretty full. Well there's not much more to say, TrBigar covered most of it.

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Don't Fight It, Ride It, RAGING BULL!!!!!!
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/Coasterz

The Demon is still a popular ride, whether people like it or not. For its age, it is still relatively smooth. While I like Shockwave(only in the back) it has been reduced to almost non-existent lines. The only time I see this coaster with a full que is during Fright Fest.

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Chitowns 6 year old daughter says "Daddy, Dippin Dots are nasty!!" I must say that I agree!!

So there are two sides on the Eagle? I though there was just one?

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SFGAm Trip - July 13-17, 2001

Yes, the American Eagle is and has always been a racing coaster. It (I believe) still the world's tallest racer. It is a classic, and with a little TLC it can be a top 10 coaster again. And I say, let's not remove ANYTHING. I like every coaster in that park, and if any of you have seen how much more land GAm has to work with, why bother removing any rides. They have more than enough un-developed land surrounding it.

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"Before you see the light, you must DIE!"
-SLAYER

I think the biggest reason Shockwave has no line is it's location in the park + the fact that Raging Bull is so popular. Once Raging Bull went in, the focus of the park shifted to the Southwest Territory. It's not that Shockwave is that bad, it's that Raging Bull is better, and Shockwave is sitting all by itself in the corner of the park. I rode it today and it was pretty smooth, and like mentioned above, the Gs in the rear seet through the loops was great !

Joe Carroll said:
"I think the biggest reason Shockwave has no line is it's location in the park + the fact that Raging Bull is so popular. Once Raging Bull went in, the focus of the park shifted to the Southwest Territory. It's not that Shockwave is that bad, it's that Raging Bull is better, and Shockwave is sitting all by itself in the corner of the park. I rode it today and it was pretty smooth, and like mentioned above, the Gs in the rear seet through the loops was great !"

One would think that Shockwave would get more traffic - it is right in the front of the park - it is fairly close to V2 and BTR, which get heavy traffic. My last 4 visits (over a year and a half) was walk-on conditions in the queue. Regardless of opinions on the quality of the ride, however, the lack of ridership will ultimately cause SFGAm to look at better uses for the space, because low ridership=low return on investment. Plus, the ride is in a very visible location - a location that is ideal for an "attention getting" ride such as a fourth dimension. Yet, people go right by Shockwave to other rides. From a strictly economic sense, it makes sense to replace Shockwave. I am not trying to upset fans of this ride or give it a hard time, but Shockwave is not making SFGAm any money. I envision its replacement with something new, attention getting, that will draw crowds. My opinion on this matter is only reinforced by SFGAm's firm hold in the Chicago market, plus the fact that SFGAm is one of SF's best parks - a park that SF is sure to pump dollars into in the future.

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First we Rock - Then we Roll!

Ok, the American Eagle will not go for a long long time. Lets see, its only 20 yrs old, its not the oldest ride there. It doesnt take up space, its on the end of the park. Its a beauty, a classic for sfgam people. Its also getting rebuilt in all places, whoever said that is a liar, my friend ran the ride, he never mentioned it once.