SFGAdv's Medusa gets the X2 Treatement

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/six-flags-great-adventure-ann...aspx?guid={B218B964-97A8-4334-A381-90E2B9E52F46}&dist=hppr

Looks like SFNE's Superman isn't the only ride in the chain getting changes. With a second coaster getting these audio and visual effects, along with the new Terminator coaster getting them as well, I take it the X2 makeover was a very bug success. The only question is will these two rides be getting new trains as well, or just speakers added on?

I wouldn't mind Magnum getting these speaker trains. A little "Eye of the tiger" blasting going up the lift hill would be cool.

I think they should put the old school Batman theme (i.e. the one from the T.V. show) into Batman: The Ride. :)

Na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!

^I dont know, I think Van Halen's "Jump" would be more appropriate for that ride, right time period, and chorus fits with the airtime smorgasbord that starts on that third hill.

I really don't like that they are doing this. Yes it will be cool but in a park where I believe 17 rides have been removed since 2002 (I saw the list on another site), I would much rather see the park spend money on some flats/non coaster rides especially since Medusa is fine the way it is though with this change I hope they will have it open at park opening and not 12:00 like this season.

Hopman said:
I wouldn't mind Magnum getting these speaker trains. A little "Eye of the tiger" blasting going up the lift hill would be cool.

In what universe is that song cool under any circumstances?

In the same universe where it's somehow cool to take over a coaster platform by singing Rick Astley songs . . . ;)

Things to note about this "transformation" -

Medusa's greek mythology theme and name will be discarded.

I wonder what they'll rename it and what the theme will entail. *waits for Great Adventure to announce its transformation into "Terminator The Coaster*...

Jeff said:

Hopman said:
I wouldn't mind Magnum getting these speaker trains. A little "Eye of the tiger" blasting going up the lift hill would be cool.

In what universe is that song cool under any circumstances?

Plus, don't touch my baby.

I'm reserving judgment about all of these transformations since I have not been on any coasters with music (except Italian Job, where I only heard it once before it stopped working). It seems to me that coasters already do enough/are loud enough and don't really need anything else. I would rather see the money go towards park improvements, but I guess it's a cheap way to re-market an old ride.

I heart triangular bunny hops! :)

kRaXLeRidAh said:

Medusa's greek mythology theme and name will be discarded.

It never had a mythology theme (why SF called it Medusa in the first place didn't make sense). The side of the building says Medusa Mining Company and the queue has a few western props in it.

^ I was referring to what the Six Flags article said.

I recall Six Flags having a really vague (and really terrible) backstory to how "Medusa" somehow found herself in the west.

Bob Coker summarized it:

Call me a stickler for detail, but if I've one nit to pick, it's this: a ride themed to a snake-headed monster from Greek mythology seems mighty out of place in an area otherwise devoted to the early American West. To be fair, the park does make an effort to tie it all together with a coda to the original tale. See, they claim that Medusa, after her defeat by Perseus, was banished to an isolated frontier gold mine where she's been laying low since, waiting to strike again."

YoshiFan said:
I really don't like that they are doing this. Yes it will be cool but in a park where I believe 17 rides have been removed since 2002 (I saw the list on another site), I would much rather see the park spend money on some flats/non coaster rides especially since Medusa is fine the way it is though with this change I hope they will have it open at park opening and not 12:00 like this season.

I couldn't agree with this more - I've seen ride after ride disappear from SFGAdv with nothing put in its place, and now instead of spending money on a nice new flat of some sort, they are going to waste money on re-theming a perfectly good coaster (well... except for the whole Medusa/Wild West thing they have going on.... who was smoking what on the day they came up with that whole business.....)

And as I said in response to the news posting, what happens in a few years when all this re-theming and special effects start to break? Hello Dispatch Master Transport II: The Unwanted Sequel!

To SFGAdv's credit, they *have* done a lot of work to clean the place up and enhance the landscaping, but there is still plenty they could do. Spend the money there.

This will be something for Six Flags' next owners to fix since I am continually losing faith in the current ownership. There are plenty of things in the park that are broken, so why spend money on something that's just fine? Last time I checked, Medusa was one of Great Adventure's most popular rides. This is like resurfacing your deck when there's a big hole in the roof of the house.

^ Actually, it's resurfacing your deck AND putting in a kickass sound and light system and flame throwers.

^But the roof still leaks - I guess their idea is that it only leaks when it's RAINING... ;)

In that case, seems to rain a lot at Six Flags.

For what it's worth, I love the X2 transformation although I only had one ride on X versus 6 on X2. I can't speak for the rest of the rides they're considering this for, but for X2 it greatly adds to the experience. The most notable being on the lift. The combination of suspense building music and sound bites with the reverse lift really builds the anticipation. As for the rest of the ride, it took another 4 rides before I even noticed the music throughout the ride. Once I began noticing it, I really enjoyed it.

All that to say that provided you get a solid soundtrack, I can't see this sort of addition really ruining any ride.

Fine. How about Ozzy's "Crazy Train," for a coaster song?

Wow, you have staggeringly bad taste in music. ;)