SFGAdv Media Announcement Sneak Peak?

I'm not sure how much truth this holds, but according to Thrillride.com, Dragster may not hold the crown for much longer:

http://www.thrillride.com/hotnews/hotnews76.html

Yes, I know that according to current stats, the track length is shorter than Dragster's. But this would be unbelievable if SF's new coaster really does break the height and speed records. I would also be very suprised they are attempting this so soon, especially with all the problems TTD has. Anybody know how credible Thrillride.com is and can back it up with facts?

Oh, goodie...

An even bigger ride to be neglected at Great Adventure.

Yeah, I saw this over the weekend. I'll kindly remain skeptical until I hear an official announcement, or confirmation from a much more reliable source.

More reliable source? Robert said in plain English that this info came directly from a press invite to the announcement *from* SFGAdv.

Since when has he ever made anything up and posted it to his website?

Joe "this isn't Godsey we're talking about here" C.

Anybody have a scan of said announcement?

I just think we have a few Cedar Point fanboys who are worried they'll lose their newly aquired record to a Six Flags park. ;) Anyways, if this does hold to be true, which I'm guessing it is, I'm just glad that the world's tallest and fastest coaster will be much closer to home. I wanted to try TTD from the day I rode Xcelerator at KBF, but it looks like my oppertunity to ride a +100 mph +400' tall coaster will come sooner than I thought as I go to SFGAdv much more than I have the chance to get to Cedar Point.

Guess the next big question is how tall/fast will they go? Will they break 500' and coin a new term for coaster heights? Will they go to 425' just to break the record? Will it top 150 mph? I guess all will be answered in a little over a week. Should be interesting...

Not a CP fan boy here... Nearest I ever got to CP was Dorney (another CF park) and I can take or leave it. Personally, from what I can see... I would rather take Hersheypark's Storm Runner over CP's TTD. SR may not be as tall, but it does more than go up and down.

I'm just skeptical about Six Flags Great Adventure and their maintenance of rides. That's all.

Dont parks usually take a few years to plan a coaster out? It's not like Six Flags decided to build a record breaker immediately after Dragster opened. I'm guessing it had been in the works for quite a while. And so what if it breaks CP's record...I'm excited as hell about being able to go to Jersey instead of such a long trip to Ohio, and more power to Six Flags for building such a beast. Now if they just keep it maintained like it is supposed to :)

It took me a long time to find out why so many enthusiasts were dissatisfied with management decisions at SF. More and more I am starting to see why. They could have picked a worse time for this, with their funding problems, low stock, and debts, making a mega-million ride isn't the best option, especially where attendance will be driven for a few months, then they have to close due to weather.

I think they would be smarter to start advancing some of their other parks with newer rides, cleaner atmosphere, and update the chain with customer service training, this way the chain is more consistent from park to park, and this way the money is really being spent in a good way.

Will this ride bring attendance? yes, but I also feel that following in suit of the other intamin launchers (except SR, which apparently has been running very well) this will bring heavy maintenance bills. Not that I am knocking Intamin for problems, because when something relatively new like this comes about, their are going to be problems. I just think Six Flags needs to get their heads on track.

I'm worried that pushing the limit again will just equal more problems. I hope this thing is tested GOOD because I'd hate to see it go down constantly. Heck, even S:UF had loads of downtime and that's a near clone of the SFoG ride and it's a B&M too.

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Legendary said:
More reliable source? Robert said in plain English that this info came directly from a press invite to the announcement *from* SFGAdv.

Since when has he ever made anything up and posted it to his website?

Joe "this isn't Godsey we're talking about here" C.

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Fair enough. For the record, I rarely ever visit ThrillRide.com. Therefore, I'll take your word for it since I consider you a 'more reliable source.'

*** Edited 9/20/2004 5:10:20 PM UTC by Vater***

All I can say is Good Luck SFGADV!

"Industry people" have been talking about the ride for awhile, so it isn't much of a secret. The funny thing is that the conversations are rarely along the lines of, "It'll be bigger than Cedar Point's ride," rather, "What the heck are they thinking?"

This fanboy says good luck with that. With seven rides to date on Dragster in two years, I'm certainly not going to New Jersey unless someone flies me out there.

Have I mentioned that many of the maintenance folks that Cedar Fair canned from Geauga Lake now work there? That'll be fun.

"What the heck are they thinking?" is exactly what I was thinking. But only because I think the 'height wars,' or whatever you want to call them, are beyond ridiculous at this point. People want quality, not quantity.

'I know, let's make a ride that's taller and faster, yet shorten the track length so it'll be over in half the time. And with our exceptional record of ride uptime at Great Adventure, as well as Intamin's proven reliability, guests will be sure to come back again and again...y'know, because they weren't able to ride during the first seven times they visited the park.'

*** Edited 9/20/2004 5:23:13 PM UTC by Vater***

I don't think it's *that* crazy for Great Adventure to be adding this. It would be crazier for it to go into Great America and probably one of their dumbest decisions ever if it was added at Magic Mountain. A record-breaking coaster like this (or so the invite claims) at Great Adventure is good for their competition with Dorney, Hershey, and other parks in that area plus they have probably the largest amount of people for a seasonal park in the US to draw from, so they have a lot of possibilities to increase attendance and guest spending. My guess when Dragster was announced about which park would most likely add the next record-breaking coaster in height/speed was either Great Adventure, Great America, Blackpool, or Kings Island with GAdv being the most likely, so I wouldn't say it's a surprise at all.

It sounds like they made a big attempt to improve guest experience in 2004, so hopefully that will prepare them for this and give an additional reason for guests to buy season passes and return.

Maintenance folks from SFWOA being at GAdv couldn't really hurt them, especially if they're additional. Maybe they could even teach them something about running a woodie (even if Raging Wolf Bobs has only moved from horrible to plain silly) with RT or even when/if they get a new one. They've dealt with Intamin rides before that still don't work perfectly for Cedar Fair.

+Danny

Yea, but if Cedar Fair dumped them from WoA, that means they didn't feel they were doing a good job with the (apparently) infinitely easier to maintain rides at that park. Now they're going to be in charge of keeping one of the (apparently) most complex pieces of amusement park hardware yet built - yea, as Jeff said, good luck with that.

I think SFGAdv is hoping for the type of publicity CP got when TTD opened. I think the only problem with that theory is that all the morning shows and news magazine programs that are the "money" of a ride like Dragster (IMHO) already did their story. They're going to come, look at the coaster and say "it's the same thing as the one we did two years ago" and it's not going to bring the advertising they're hoping for.

I am in some way annoyed that a SF park now will have the height/speed record, especially one that's notorious for having maintenance problems, but more than that I think it's just a bad move from a PR standpoint. To people that don't know that these things take years to plan out (and in the case of this project, I know it's true, but I still find it hard to believe that the opening and subsequent buzz around TTD had NOTHING to do with the final height/speed, heck even TYPE of this coaster) it just looks like "hey, look at me, we can build that too!". CP looks like the original ones, GAdv looks like the ones who are just trying to catch up ...

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+Danny said:
I don't think it's *that* crazy for Great Adventure to be adding this. It would be crazier for it to go into Great America and probably one of their dumbest decisions ever if it was added at Magic Mountain.

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We already have our 400-ft. tall "coaster to nowhere" that never works.

"What are they thinking" is the first thing that came to mind when I heard of the media day bait this morning.

First, Six Flags is putting in a 25-30 million ride in one park, plus a 35 million water park at SFGAm. That is about 65 million out of their 125 million cap ex budget. Not a wise move putting so much into only two parks when they have a system wide attendance problem.

Second, while this ride may be bigger than Dragster, it won't have the media thunder that Dragster had. It's more of a been there, done that type thing, even if it is taller and faster. Plus, Dragster didn't even give CP a record year in attendance.

Third, this isn't something that will bring in the families with money. It's something that'll attract coaster nuts and teenagers who don't spend a lot of money. SFGAm water park will prove to be a much better investment IMHO.

Fourth, CP's maintenance, arguably the best in the business, had their hands full with Dragster. It will be amusing to see how the people that were let go from Geauga Lake deal with this ride.

Will this ride become the East Coast's version of "X", or will it run well? Will this ride help set attendance records at SFGAdv, or be the straw that broke the camel's back for Six Flags? Who knows, but I do think Six Flags could have made a better choice.

PKI has been going after the family business, building less extreme rides that appeal to the entire family, with great success. I think Six Flags should go that route, rather than putting most of their eggs into one possibly problematic ride at one park.

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Impulse-ive said:CP looks like the original ones, GAdv looks like the ones who are just trying to catch up ...

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This is sort of like one of the silliest things I've read in awhile and this only compares their only real SF competition west of CP.

Great America --> Cedar Point

Shockwave --> Magnum
Batman The Ride --> Raptor
Giant Drop --> Power Tower
Spaceley's --> Woodstock's
Raging Bull --> Millennium Force
Vertical Velocity --> Wicked Twister

+Danny

Assuming it is bigger and faster I am curious. Yes rides take years to build. Do you think there was any questions to Intamin about someone else trying to outdo them. Just curious on how you work with a company like them and not be aware of what else they are doing. Not to mention the employees having to keep remembering to whom they are speaking and what they may know.