Shapiro discusses re-vamping of Texas Giant. Also discusses Chang.

At first it sounds like it will get a pre-fab treatment like El Toro, then it seems that it won't.

Texas Giant.

Gerstlauer trains? No prefab track? Why keep talking about El Toro, esp. if Intamin isn't even involved?

I'm not sure exactly what's going on at all (much less why mention El Toro) - but this doesn't sound promising for the ride I truly loved.

...and the writer gets one-halfstar. I feel somehow even more uninformed now than I was before I read that story.

"themeing for the queue and during the ride (translation: Fire up the flame throwers.)"

Anyone else think that flame throwers and wooden rides sound like a bad combo? :)

No but seriously while I'm sick of every makeover of old SF rides adding flame effects and soundtracks I am happy to here they are retracking the Giant. While Intamin track would be interesting I agree with Chitown that the article tries to say it will and it won't.

The company that constructed El Toro is doing the work.

  A complete retracking and NEW Gerslauer trains. 

 The ride will also feature the steepest to date banking 

on a wooden coaster.

I wonder if those trains are coming from Twisted Sisters or Megazeph. They would be "new" to the park. Looking forward to see the finished product.

Why does he "despise" the CHANG name? It means "long" in Chinese.

What, steeper banking than Gravity Group?

Roz

Roz Stevenson said:
What, steeper banking than Gravity Group?

Roz

For now, TGGs trains are capable of corkscrews.

john peck said: I wonder if those trains are coming from Twisted Sisters or Megazeph.

Twisted Twin's trains are sitting in SFStL's boneyard.

An example of the "new" G-trains can be seen here:

http://rcdb.com/4065.htm?p=21644

Besides the lack of much padding, I don't think they look bad at all.

john peck said:

Why does he "despise" the CHANG name? It means "long" in Chinese.

Shapiro goes into detail on another Q&A about Chang:

"When I asked Mark about Chang he had an interesting response,explaining that he was always bothered by the ride, and felt it was aglaring example of what was wrong with the previous Six Flagsmanagement. You see, the name was odd and didn't exemplify what the ride did or the fun youcould have on it. It was just sorta slapped down without much effortand was never really a good fit for the park. When it reopens atanother park (still a mystery) in 2011 (not 2010), expect it to be awhole new experience, with a distinct theme, story, colors, etc."

I always thought that Chang was the sound of a lift chain breaking. Which Chang did, on its opening day.

It is also worth noting that Chang opened BEFORE Premier Parks bought Six Flags. Although at that point Premier Parks did already own Kentucky Kingdom. Kentucky Kingdom was, however, NOT a theme park at the time and in fact billed itself as, "The Thrill Park." To give Chang a theme and a story would have run counter to the style of the park it was built for.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

What if they theme Texas Giant to Terminator? That would be extremely original and cool! ;)

Mamoosh said:

Twisted Twin's trains are sitting in SFStL's boneyard.

In First Drop it was speculated those trains were going to run on Screamin' Eagle in '10. Can't say I'm overly thrilled, but at least the layout helps negate the most obvious problem with Gerstlauer trains....then one Dan alluded to in even their "new" product....not much in the way of padding.

I rode Mammut, the coaster with those trains and the padding is actually really nice. Nice thick and padded molded seats. The L shape bars are more comfortable than the PTC ratcheting bars and they don't even require seatbelts. One slight issue... They can't track. I rode Mammut within a month of opening and even through the builder was Cordes, which is the german company that supplies the track for the Intamin prefab, I never felt a coaster train shuffle as much! Each turn had a ton of shuffling and it felt like the cars could never found their "spot" on the turns. Maybe its the way the axles are set up?

I'm glad they're figuring out a way to do this. And I hope CP does something similar with Mean Streak. I haven't been on The Texas Giant but MS was a monster when they first opened it without the trims. I remember saying..."How are they managing to keep the train from ripping apart the tracks?" I remember being blown away but not hurt... like SOB. Anyhow, this is good.

aerodynamic said:
I'm glad they're figuring out a way to do this. And I hope CP does something similar with Mean Streak. I haven't been on The Texas Giant but MS was a monster when they first opened it without the trims. I remember saying..."How are they managing to keep the train from ripping apart the tracks?" I remember being blown away but not hurt... like SOB. Anyhow, this is good.

IMHO Mean streak has never been great. You could get good morning rides first year but that thing would shake you brian so hard you wanted off NOW! in the afternnoon.

I think G trains will make Screaming Eagle a fixuture again for the park. That ride screams airtime and speed and with the PTC's I experience one killer moment off the turnaround.. Mainly due to the shortest seatbelts on a woodie known to man.

Absim, Looking at the photo of Malmuts trains, they apear to have equal padding to PTC at minnimum. Not sure about seat bottom.

Chuck

Absimilliard said:
I rode Mammut, the coaster with those trains and the padding is actually really nice. Nice thick and padded molded seats. The L shape bars are more comfortable than the PTC ratcheting bars and they don't even require seatbelts. One slight issue... They can't track. I rode Mammut within a month of opening and even through the builder was Cordes, which is the german company that supplies the track for the Intamin prefab, I never felt a coaster train shuffle as much!

Maybe they're figuring that by *heavily banking* the ride that the trains will find a happy place on the lower rail? Is good to hear that Mammut has good padding, since the hard backs and bottoms were always a major issue for me and wood-train Gerstlauers...

RideMan said:
Kentucky Kingdom was, however, NOT a theme park at the time and in fact billed itself as, "The Thrill Park." To give Chang a theme and a story would have run counter to the style of the park it was built for.

I agree with your last sentence, but I clearly remember that several rides in the very early days of KK had signs out front which interlinked them in some way. I think they all had back stories and Vampire's sign even mentioned that it came from China. Not that anyone would really call KK a full "themepark" back in those days but the attempts weren't completely threadbare.

So even though I think you're correct in saying that going whole hog with theming for Chang would have been a bit unusual for the park I still think Shapiro's sentiment is correct: the installation is just stupid, and always has been from just about any angle you look at it. To build a record breaking standup coaster of that size in a park like KK was just dumb to begin with. The whole thing is very Roller Coaster Tycoon, and the only other park I can think of that's been more guilty of that sort of thing has been SFA.

I like this part:

Shapiro did say that the ride will feature the same steep banks that have always distinguished the Texas ride and that it will be "faster, smoother, and loaded with plenty of airtime for the coaster fanatics out there."

I'd think they would go with single-bench GCI trains to minimize wear and tear on the "new" ride. Well, I don't expect it to stay "smoother" for too long.

Acoustic Viscosity said:
I like this part:

Shapiro did say that the ride will feature the same steep banks that have always distinguished the Texas ride and that it will be "faster, smoother, and loaded with plenty of airtime for the coaster fanatics out there."

Airtime? I think he/they mean "uplift forces." I HOPE is has airtime, that would be great! (Thanks six flags Great America for going out of the way to keep woodies with airtime - thanks to the extra shocks on Vipers lapbars and non falling bars on Eagle!)