SFGAM to receive a new stunt show from the creator of 24!

Hey guys, back in the day, SFGAm used to get a new coaster every other year, for the most part:

88- Shockwave, '90 Iron Wolf, 92 Batman the Ride, 95 Viper, 99 Raging Bull (Hmmm...a dark 4 year drought here...thoughts?), '01 V2/Deja Vu, '03 Superman. (Ragin Cajun in '04, though its not nearly in the same class as these other coasters-- I would label it a fairly "insignificant" addition).

Now, I will admit, the waterpark in 05 was an acceptable substitution for a new coaster. But still, making the questionable assumption that a coaster will arrive in 08, that's a "significant" new coaster drought that the park hasn't seen since, hmmm..maybe between American Eagle and Tidal Wave? (Was Z-Force before or after Tidal Wave?)

Anyway, not a great trend for us thrill seekers.

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Swoosh said:
^^Them to all be operational at the same time.

Did the TopSpin even open this year? I swear it was closed all 5 times I went this season.

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The Top Spin was open most days, every once in awhile it's closed because of staffing.

Unfortunally Great America had some bad luck with rides this year. Revolution, Sky Trek Tower, TrailBlazer, Giant Drop and one side of Eagle all had major problems at some point and were closed for good portions of the season.

They replaced the cables on Giant Drop, and were able to get 3 of the sides open in time for Fright Fest.

And they did ALOT of work all season long on Revolution and it surprisingly opened for the last 2 weekends of Fright Fest.

And then there was Triple Play...which had it's center hub sent to SFOT so they could open up their "new" Trokia this year.

Hopefully they can have a better year next year.

I am really glad they are bringing back a stunt show to the park, and I think it will be a great addition. The theatre the stunt shows used to be done in, has really been lacking in good shows since they removed the Western Stunt Show years ago. *** Edited 11/2/2006 7:15:09 AM UTC by CoasterDude316***

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Kevin Max said:
Hey guys, back in the day, SFGAm used to get a new coaster every other year, for the most part:

88- Shockwave, '90 Iron Wolf, 92 Batman the Ride, 95 Viper, 99 Raging Bull (Hmmm...a dark 4 year drought here...thoughts?), '01 V2/Deja Vu, '03 Superman. (Ragin Cajun in '04, though its not nearly in the same class as these other coasters-- I would label it a fairly "insignificant" addition).

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Just playing the flip side of things...kinda. But perhaps it's a case of looking for a trend where one doesn't exist.

All you have there is a park that installed a 'major' coaster with in two years of another 4 times in the past 18 years...and even then one was a replacement, not an addition.

However, at the same time, the park has never gone more than 4 years between coaster installations.

So take that for what it's worth.

I still think SFGAm could easily make it to the 2010 season without a new coaster and continue their success.

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This park needs a new coaster to generate some buzz.

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You're kidding, right? They installed the waterpark in 2005 and increased attendance by TWENTY FOUR PERCENT---an extra half million visits. It cost $35M. Name me any coaster installation---at any cost---that has performed even CLOSE to that number.

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Kevin Max said:

(Was Z-Force before or after Tidal Wave?)

Anyway, not a great trend for us thrill seekers.

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After. I beleive that Tidal Wave was the first coaster to be installed at Great America after it opened.

No, its not a great trend for us thrill seekers, but then again its not about us. It's about drawing in the families.

Whizzer and Turn of the Century, (which became the Demon) opened with the park. The Tidal Wave was the first new coaster added around 1978. The Eagle followed that around 1980/81. Z-Force showed up around 1985.

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Brian Noble said:They installed the waterpark in 2005 and increased attendance by TWENTY FOUR PERCENT---an extra half million visits. It cost $35M. Name me any coaster installation---at any cost---that has performed even CLOSE to that number.

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Twenty-four? Wow! That is HUGE...I don't think anyone predocted THAT kind of growth....and IIRC, my guesstimate was around 12-15%...which I thought was PUSHING it for a park with such a big base number...

Does go to prove even more...waterparks are STILL a license to print money... :)

And don't forget, they added the Tornado this year to the waterpark. By the way, we rode the Top Spin on June 12th and I believe it was open the following day as well.

'gator: you're not kidding. At a per-cap of $35, fully half of that waterpark was paid for in its first year.

It will be interesting to see if they sustained that attendance level in '06.

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Brian Noble said:

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This park needs a new coaster to generate some buzz.

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You're kidding, right? They installed the waterpark in 2005 and increased attendance by TWENTY FOUR PERCENT---an extra half million visits. It cost $35M. Name me any coaster installation---at any cost---that has performed even CLOSE to that number.

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I agree-- the waterpark generated buzz and increased attendance in 2005. Next season will be 2007, not 2005.

Just trying to point out that maybe one of the reasons this park has continued to perform well over the years has something to do with the fact that the corporation has invested in it consistently. Hopefully that will continue.

The reason the park has preformed well are:
-They are located between Millwaukee and Chicago with no real competiors (maybe Mt. Olympus in a few years but not right now)
-They have made constant strides in the last 15 years to improve their park image, in 1993 when I started going there were a lot of "undesirable" park guests and I did not feel really safe, now its much better.
-Did I mention the part about them being the only option for the 3rd largest city in the US and another major city?

*** Edited 11/2/2006 11:03:00 PM UTC by Touchdown***