SFGAm riddle
BBSpeed26 said:
Do we have conformation that it is, in fact, a clone? Or are we assuming it based on the track color,
cha-ching. Nothing's been confirmed by anyone. It's all rumor at this point!
MRKARNO said:
(SF)Great American said:
Antuan said:
Yeah, well we have an excellent racing coaster that actually has maitenance done on it more than three times a year!It's like I said earlier. If Six Flags had decided to invest a little money, we coudl have had a custom layout that would have allowed us to keep Whizzer, Shock Wave, and still give us the new flyer. I think the only thing anyone's complained about is the fact that Shock Wave could have stayed, but it's going anyway. If it needs to go, how many peopel here are really going to complain? But now we have the double indigninty of having a clone plopped down in our park, and having a ride unecessarily removed because of it. No matter how great our "new" clone is, that's a prett big pill for an enthusiast to swallow.
Oh, yeah. The visual thing. Everyone who thinks that this will ruin the look of the park, especially from the front gate, is absoloutly right. A big part of the atmosphere of an amusment park is the look of its rides. Those of you not as familiar as we are with Great America will probably not quite understand the impact this ride had, becuse the few times you've seen it (if ever), you saw, simply, an oversized, head-banging, Arrow mega-looper from the 80's. To those of us who visited the park back when we were members of the GP, it was a very different mater.
Thank you for stating this. I share this opinion with you in every way.
Also, if we got a new themed area with at least 5-6 more flat rides along with the flyer, then we would have a more than fitting replacement.
I think if you're not from Chicago, you don't really understand the space that Shockwave sits in. Although Raging Bull is the best coaster in the park, it is not in a position of the park that says: This is Six Flags Great America. Shockwave was in that position. Shockwave represented everything that we want coasters to be(in appearance) It was tall, fast and had a lot of loops. It was like a monument to roller coasters. By putting the flyer in this spot, Six Flags Great Americas is saying: cloned rides which are fairly new, but unoriginal are in our future and what we're all about. Quite frankly it seems like this is the direction that they are going. 3 clones in a row is not a good track record.
This spot is right next to the entrance and would showcase the new coaster, but how long until it is thought of just as the Batman: The Ride clones are though of now? Flying coasters are going through the explosion that inverteds went through in the early to mid 90's and S: UF and soon they will be about as special as inverteds.
Maybe as a patron of SFGAm I am getting spoiled. Before V2 and Deja Vu, we had 3 excellent coasters in a row(Batman, Viper and Raging Bull) Now we have 3 clones in a row(V2, DV and S:UF). I think that Six Flags should put revolutionary coasters in the bigger markets instead of giving them clones.
The thing that bugs me most is that probably for another 2 years, we don't have a chance of having that amazing coaster than everyone wants to come from all over the country to SFGAm to ride.
PS. If you don't agree with me, that's fine, but I don't need to hear "cHiL owt dood" from anyone because I am not unhappy about the flyer. Just a little dissapointed in Six Flags.
I agree with both of you, and have my own two cents to add: SFGAm further compunded matters by taking Shockwave out at the worst possible time—after the park closed for the regular season and before it re-opened for Fright Fest. Originally, after announcing that Whizzer would be taken out, SFGAm gave people a chance to "ride it again for the last time," as the sign in front of the entrance said. Shockwave had no such luxury. It was left dormant for a month or so as Whizzer continued running. They didn't even consider retaining Shockwave for Fright Fest and re-opening it then so people could "ride it again for the last time." As a result, instead of Whizzer going out with a bang, Shockwave, after coming in with a bang, went out without even a wimper. For a one-time record holder, this is the worst possible kind of indignity.
MrHaroldG said:
As a result, instead of Whizzer going out with a bang, Shockwave, after coming in with a bang, went out without even a wimper. For a one-time record holder, this is the worst possible kind of indignity.
Believe me, SFGAM thought about this. However, they had the decision to either do one of two things:
1.) Keep Shockwave open during Fright Fest and have the new coaster delayed until later in the season.
2.) Open the new coaster on time.
Given the problems that Deja Vu and V2 were having at their opening (and Deja Vu had this year as well), SFGAM opted to have Shockwave removed as soon as possible. They gave us the chance with Whizzer, and they changed their minds for the public. But given that Shockwave wasn't all that popular, the decision was made that it would be better to open the new coaster on time (and gain reputation points possibly lost during the 2002 and 2001 seasons with guests), rather than having yet another new ride that opens late just so a few die-hard fans can ride the relatively unpopular ride. Furthermore, the earlier S:UF opens at SFGAM, the more revenue and positive publicity it'll bring to the park. The decision was simple...
-stealthnet
Also factor in that they may have had another protest campaign on their hands if they made Shockwave's exit known, and they would've looked like fools if Shockwave's support was louder than Whizzer's.
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SFGAm: 1)DV 2)V2 3)AE Blue 4)Viper 5)Bull
redman822 said:
ondrew hartigan said:
so does anyone have an update on wether shockwave track has been removed from the ride? i mean other than the little stuff that was noticed last weekend.
What...you mean other than the story published in a Chicago area newspaper and reported here in the news area?
CLUB site - http://club.coasterbuzz.com/news/news.asp?NewsID=4520
Non-CLUB site - http://www.coasterbuzz.com/news/news.asp?NewsID=4520
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Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.
Thanks Great America!
i seen this days ago. i was just wondering if large portions of track have left.
p.s. contrary to popular belief i am not an idiot nor i am i a child.
Sfgamfreak1169 said:
If i could choose which ride would stay I would pick SW. SW is more of an exciting ride then Whizzer. I wish that all the people who cried about Whizzer being taken out would have just shut up at let sfgam go along with the plans they had in mind, but then all these people cried about it and now we are losing a much better ride. how can you realy compare these rides they are nothing like each other. besides the demographic they serve is different too. whizzer is very popular with the kids and is an all around great famaly ride. shockwave was popular with enthusast but the genral public learned years ago to avoid it because it was soo ruff and gave many people headaches. when this ride is finaly put back together it will probably be reprofiled in the bad areas to fix the problems and keep the GP happy.
As has been stated many times, SFGAm could not sacrifice a very popular family coaster while keeping an aging, brutal, unpopular Arrow mega looper despite any possible protests from a comparitively small group of thrill seeking, masochistic enthusiasts.
Gotta keep the families satisfied because this is the demographic that spends. Dollars. More of 'em.
Bull fan said:
Godsey thinks they'll be slightly different. The one in NJ is definitely going to be called "Superman" and will be about 7 feet higher, so my guess is that they will be near-clones, with maybe one different element.
any idea on how close they will be to SFOG's Superman?
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-Bob (formerly Coaster Jedi)
Do any of you know how to build a sundial out of a pen and a donut?
uh oh, sounds like someone has a case of the mondays.
Also, Shockwave suffered another indignity besides people not getting to ride it for one last time. Its removal didn't even receive a lot of news—either on TV or in the papers. By comparison, nearly every newspaper in the Chicago area had an article on the Whizzer 1) in the days before its final scheduled run, or 2) after it was announced that it would stay, or both. Every local TV news station in the Chicago area also had coverage of one or both. The removal of Shockwave had no such publicity. Only one or two local TV stations reported the story; to my knowledge, the Daily Herald was the only newspaper to do the same. This lack of coverage is grim testimony that this one-time record holder was even robbed of its dignity in the news.
Mind you, I have nothing against either the new coaster or Whizzer, nor am I a "Shockwave Junkie"—I'm just disappointed at the way SFGAm handled things.
MrHaroldG said:
Also, Shockwave suffered another indignity besides people not getting to ride it for one last time. Its removal didn't even receive a lot of news—either on TV or in the papers. By comparison, nearly every newspaper in the Chicago area had an article on the Whizzer 1) in the days before its final scheduled run, or 2) after it was announced that it would stay, or both. Every local TV news station in the Chicago area also had coverage of one or both. The removal of Shockwave had no such publicity. Only one or two local TV stations reported the story; to my knowledge, the Daily Herald was the only newspaper to do the same. This lack of coverage is grim testimony that this one-time record holder was even robbed of its dignity in the news.
Mind you, I have nothing against either the new coaster or Whizzer, nor am I a "Shockwave Junkie"—I'm just disappointed at the way SFGAm handled things.
I can see your point... Also, Shockwave had an accident late in the season with one of the trains, and all the trains were taken off the track at that point to inspect. I'm guessing SFGAm decided one of two things:
1.) Once the accident happened, they decided it wasn't worth it to fix the reopen the ride this season because the train fix might take long, or it was just to save operating costs when the attendance would be dying down. This is because at this point they planned on scrapping Whizzer, and keeping Shockwave.
2.) They planned on opening Shockwave late in the season (for late August/September or Fright Fest) once the trains were fixed. However, when they decided they would remove this coaster instead of Whizzer, they decided it wasn't worth the money to fix the trains, reopen the ride to the public for another month or so (operating costs), and to delay the opening of S:UF next season. That's three negatives right there, and I'm guessing this is what happened.
I like using lists if you can't tell... ;)
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Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.
Sfgamfreak1169 said:
I think a custome designed flyer would be better then a clone. I dont think that we will get a major attraction in 2004 maybe a couple of small flats but no coasters.
What leads you to believe so? A B&M flyer is pretty cheap considering that they didn't install much for 2002.
*** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 9/28/2002. ***
I just dont think we will unless we find a place w/enough space to build on. Do you think we will get anything major in 2004?
If it isn't 'Deja Vu'(pun intended) with this new coaster. I'd expect either a small-medium sized steel, a new thrill ride other than a coaster, or a medium-large sized woodie.
*** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 9/28/2002. ***
OK, I am now going to throw my two cents into this thread after reading 14 pages of several reoccuring themes. The reoccuring theme I want to respond to is the fact that people are *****ing that this might be a clone of the existing Superman ride at SFOG. My feeling is get over it. The ONLY people who will know it is a clone is a bunch of spoiled enthusiasts. Everyone else is going to go into that park the day that ride opens and go "Holy S**t, that looks like lots of fun! I cant believe we got such a cool coaster here!"
The other thing that Great America has a problem is keeping those kines to a managable level that people dont start not coming (yes a double negative, Im sorry) to the park because it gets the reputation as a place to go wait in line and only getting to ride 3 or 4 rides in a day. This is what we call park capacity. The bottom line on Shockwave was that it wasnt creating lines to take away from other lines in the park. Solution, tear it down, give it to another park where it will create lines, and get something that will create lines. I think a new Superman flyer will do that job very well.
Bottom line, non-enthusiasts wont give a rat's a$$ if there is a similar coaster in Georgia and in New Jersey and they are building this coaster for business reasons and not to make a few spoiled enthusiasts happy.
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Bob Hansen
A proud CoasterBuzz Member
Operation Wicked Twister - Goal: Lose 50 lbs by next season to ride it! (updates soon)
First off. To all enthusiasts who rag on clones shame on you. Secondly to sfgamfreaks question. "I" would put a small-medium sized steel coaster in the unoccupied space of shockwaves lot for 2004 or have it where power dive and cajun cliffhanger and the unopearting new orleans grill used to reside. As for wood I think they would be able to get tgg(The gravity group) to make a custom layout in that space but probably they(and "I") wouldn't want a woodie in that space seeing is how it would be very visually unattractive. But, the solution for a woodie would be to take out Ice mountain spalsh and or loggers run and get TGG to build them a nice out and back in that area. Great America really has no good spots that would visually appeal to the GP for woodies. IMO.
EDit: Does anyone know law-wise if The village of gurnee police would allow them to build coaster track over the highway? My answer to that question is of course not. But does anyone know if it is against the law? and or If Great america has to have approval to do so. (These circumstances all agree with the fact that the track would not exceed 125 ft.
*** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 9/28/2002. ***
CobraRoller said:
It's really not a riddle of where this ride will go either. Over the past year a couple of flat rides have just been mysteriously disappearing like the Power Dive and East River Crawler (or whatever the name of that ride is). The signs are all there.-----------------
Deja Vu doesn't have fastlane, but it has a fastlane line.
Actually, BullGuy has pics of the east river crawler with more parts on it then before. So there still may be hope for it. I still think that they will destroy the vacant new orleans grill and maybe east river crawler and tie it in with the batman/marvel theming.
Closed topic.
