Shockwave @ SFGAm

Has anyone heard anything new about Shockwave? Has it found a new home yet?

As of now it is still sitting in the back lot at Great America. You can see most of it from the top of most of the coaster's lift hills.

All I really know is one by one, the track pieces are being moved from the hill. Most likely, they are trting to fit it all in the parking lot, and they will put it into storage until they can find another place for it. It's wierd though. One would think by now at least where it was going to go. However, not in the direction of melting it down to become part of a car or something like that. I do have a feeling nothing good will come out of the process, though.

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Who: Man
What: Can now fly
When: 2003
Where: SFGAm
Why: For A Fast-Paced, Heart Pupming Energy Rush
How: On S:UF !!!!

You asked for it asking a question like this, brace yourself.

*ducks for cover

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

ugh, another King Cobra situation
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Scooby High Score: 1830 as of May 3!

Sadly I don't think it will end up in automobiles any time soon :(

Granted I never rode it, but from the pics I've seen Shockwave looked like a great ride... Was it really so bad that NOBODY wants this ride in their park? Or is SFGA asking too much? For that matter what is SFGAm asking to take Shockwave off their hands? Really I'm surprised that Six Flags didn't move this to the new SFNO last year as opposed to Joker's Revenge aka Jester...

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"You think you know me..."

I don't know who pointed this out on another forum, but if you go to rcdb.com they have now put SW back on the list of Current Coasters for Great America with the word "Storage" by it. I thought it seemed funny, becuase it's been shown as a past coaster for maybe a year or so now. So this might be a cluse as to what happens to it next.

My point being: Maybe the fact of re-constructing it again at GAm is a possibility.

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Who: Man
What: Can now fly
When: 2003
Where: SFGAm
Why: For A Fast-Paced, Heart Pupming Energy Rush
How: On S:UF !!!!

Or that the owner of rcdb.com is updating it to the correct status which is storage. It is still on the property so technically it is not a past coaster. I don't see them putting that coaster back up again. Not too many of their customer's miss it.

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 14 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

SFGAm won't be putting it back. For one thing, they simply don't have the space. For another, it wouldn't exactly be welcomed back with open arms by the general public (or most enthusiasts, for that matter).

Coaster ToCoaster, it was not a great ride. It was eye candy, to be sure. And it had an awesome first drop. But almost the entire rest of the ride was rough and painful. Was it worth a spin while it was there? Yes. Do I miss it? No. This ride would not be welcomed at any park with a decent B&M. Add in the footprint, and I don't see any place for it. Perhaps you'll get to ride it someday, when it's part of your car. The ride will certainly be a lot smoother.

PS. Just ride GASM at SFGAv to get a taste of SW; the rides are nearly identical.
*** This post was edited by (SF)Great American 10/5/2003 5:22:31 PM ***

cameraman:

didn't you used to be affiliated with the website CoasterWire.com?

lemme know pkidelirium@yahoo.com

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-PKIDelirium

I personally loved the Shockwave. I was sad to see it be disassembled. I hope it goes somewhere else. It would be ashame to find out it would be melted down. Instead of Shockwave they should of taken the Iron Wolf down. That ride hurts you head so much. Can't wait till they take that one down.

I agree that IW is (now) an incredibly painful ride. In fact, I haven't ridden it in two years. I wouldn't mind to see it gone. But taking it out won't clear enough room for SW to come back. Let's hope that something better replaces IW, if/when it goes ('cause it will go someday...).

I don't think Iron Wolf will be taken out any time soon. Every time I go there its line is always in the switchbacks and it is always full. It will get taken out some day, but I don't see it being taken out in the next few years...

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Shockwave @ SFGAm R.I.P 1988-2002
Top 5 Coasters at SFGAm 1)RB 2)S:UF 3) DV 4)V2 5)Viper
Smell ya later!

Given the fact that GAm's GM has stated that Iron Wolf is his favorite coaster at the park, I don't see it being removed anytime soon (not to mention the more important fact that it's still very popular).

The first time on Iron Wolf I found it perfectly acceptable. Now, several hundred rides later, I can honestly say I've never had a "rough" ride on it, and it's far and away my favorite standup.

-Nate

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CoasterToCoaster said:
Was it really so bad that NOBODY wants this ride in their park?

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Having ridden its SFGAdv clone, I can say that it probably was pretty awful. But SF has plenty of awful coasters, and I don't see that as the problem.

The issue is, there is most likely no place for this thing to go. Most of the "big" SF parks already have big multi-element coasters: SFMM has Viper, SFOG and SFStL have their Ninjas, SFGAdv has GASM, and a bunch of parks have Boomerangs. There would be very little for one of those parks to gain if they added Shockwave... what could they say? We already have a six-loop coaster, but this one has SEVEN loops! It would be tough, even for those crafty marketing people!

The only parks that could use a ride like this most likely don't have the room for it. Its a big ride with a big layout, and would probably kill a good portion of any small SF park's parking lot (also known as future expansion space). The coaster would probably completely cover Enchanted Village!

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

That is the thing about Shockwave and Gasm, they just take up sooooo much space. I think someone said it best when they said the design of these coasters looked like a 12 year old designed them on No Limits putting vertices randomly everywhere. Just a huge waste of space IMO. What were they thinking? I think the best of these multiloopers is Viper @ MM in terms of the way it uses space. It is compact compared to Gasm and shockwave and have heard it gives a far superior ride than the 2. Point is, I don't see this ride going anywhere.

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This space will forever be dedicated to Hercules-R.I.P. 1989-2003

Dante, that was my comment about the No Limits, and I agree wholeheartedly that Viper SFMM is what these megaloopers *should* be. Even with X and Deja Vu there, Viper was my favorite coaster at SFMM. The thing did not have half the banging that even CP's Corkscrew has, and it was just a fun, intense, high speed ride the whole way through, and compact to boot! Was Viper the last of the three? If so, its a shame they stopped making them once they finally got it right.

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore

They stopped making them once B&M came on the scene & began offering a similar product without all the roughness.