Six Flags Great America seeks zoning variance for Chang roller coaster

Tekwardo said:
For the record, GASM is better than Shockwave (and I liked Shockwave, R.I.P.).

This.

I loved Shockwave back in its day, but GASM doesn't really do it for me anymore. No loss.

I'd rather have Orient Express back. :)

Acoustic Viscosity said:
but GASM doesn't really do it for me anymore.

That's usually a sign of old age. :)

Don't they have pills for that? ;)

Oh man, I LOVED Shockwave. GASM was always good, but Shockwave was just awesome, to me.

Of the three, I've only felt the need to re-ride Viper at SFMM - the other two, while having their place in coaster history, just didn't provide a ride I continued to enjoy as the years rolled along.

Looks like everyone only has until July 1st to get one last ride on Great American Scream Machine (wouldn't it make more sense to keep it open through the July 4th holiday when they park will be busy?!?!)

I absolutely HATE when parks decide to pull out a ride and don't give enthusiasts, whether they be coaster or just park fans, a chance to get in one last ride or take their last photographs. It always feels to me like again the paying customer who has been a loyal patron of said park is just an after-thought or inconvenience in the way of progress.

So are you complaining that you don't have enough time? Or are you praising the park for having given you a warning instead of just closing it and tearing it down?

Jason Hammond said:
So are you complaining that you don't have enough time? Or are you praising the park for having given you a warning instead of just closing it and tearing it down?

Just expressing thoughts, nothing more. The park has made no offical announcement thus far.

I did'nt much care for GASM when I rode it, not a bad ride, but certainly nothing stellar either. It was one of Six Flags early Parking Lot Coasters. There is no theming, no greenery, no nothing, just a coaster plopped in a vast field of concrete. It wasn;t looking to hot last time i rode either.

If you look at the aerial, you think Arrow could have compressed the layout. It is a massive space waste.

Chang would be better suited.

Another coaster lost. Bummer, they will probably expand the water park rather than add a major thrill ride. Big downer for me. I would rather hit the Dells.

Maybe SFGAM can install something worth while. We have been suffering since the install of Superman. Everything built since has been minor. Time for a new big coaster. They still haven't replaced Shockwave.

If nothing is built next year it will have been 8 years since the last major thrill ride.

The Dark Knight, Little Dipper and Rajin Cajun just don't cut it.

The couple of times I have been to the park this year, it is apparent that they don't need a major thrill ride, as they seem to drawing a nice crowd without one. However, the water park probably does need an addition since most of the summer it hits capacity.

Completely agree with most of the posts. SFGAM needs to take note of what Cedar Point and other parks like Magic Mountain do. Parks like that don't get rid of coasters like Shockwave. How do you just scrap a coaster that was 188ft. tall and the tallest in the world until Magnum XL-200 came along? They should have left Shockwave and fit Superman somewhere else. SFGAM is always the guinea pig when they debut coasters, Iron Wolf and Superman are terrible compared to other parks with the same type.

They have to keep Chang if they want to be considered a great coaster park. Also in a few years they need to build a Giga-type coaster which is taller and faster than Raging Bull. Adding 2 coasters of that caliber would be amazing and long overdue. Why on earth does Great Adventure need another elite coaster. I am all for Chang being either Stand-up or Floorless. It would give SFGAM almost every type of coaster. Imagine how great it would be if Shockwave were still here too and you added these 2 coasters. They desperately need something else to lessen the lines at Raging Bull and Superman. Compared to the elite coasters at Cedar Point, Raging Bull might rank outside the top 5 compared to Millenium Force, Maverick, Magnum, Top Thrill, and Raptor. Cedar Point finds a way to add new coasters without taking any out...SFGAM needs to take note. How about trying to top Kingda Ka while we are at it ?

Thoughts ???

Cedar Point has removed 13 coasters over the years...that's almost as many as they currently have.

But they would never remove a coaster as tall and as classic as Shockwave...

Shockwave, a classic?

The best, and only tolerable part, was the drop, after that it was 1.5 minutes of pure boredom with intermitent extreme pain. It was a torture device. In its last years it hardly ever drew a line, and had the reputation around the park (from GPs) that Mean Streak now "enjoys" (stay the heck away from the blue coaster its so rough.)

Not to mention every coaster CP removed was a classic, yet they removed it...

Cedar Point hasn't removed a coaster since 1978--32 years ago.

Yes, it is true CP removed coasters in 1909, 1917, 1928, 1940, etc. I'd argue they are not particularly germane to a post criticizing SFGAm for removing 5 coasters since CP last removed 1.

Yeah, but what I was trying to say in more words than I'm about to now that Cedar Point is a whole different ball game than SFGAm, and you shouldn't judge what one park does by saying it'd work for another. And to point out that Cedar Point has indeed gotten rid of coasters in the past.

In the past 20 years, SFGAm has removed 4 coasters. They've added 11. I'd say they've found ways at Great America to add coasters without taking an equal amount out, which was the counterpoint to his argument. Oh, and for the record, even though Cedar Point hasn't taken any coasters out in the last 20 years, they've only added 8, and when you look at SFGAm, they've added and taken away, but still have kept 7, in the end being only 1 less than CP. So GAm hasn't been destitute in the coaster dept. compared to CP.

All I am saying is that you can't even compare the quality of coasters SFGAM has built compared to Cedar Point...It isn't even close. Asisde from Raging Bull, none of the coasters are in the same league as Cedar Point. They are both midwest parks that are only open from May-October so the money factor is essentially the same.

My arguement has always been the quality of coaster that SFGAM puts in. The Dark Knight Coaster was terrible. Superman is average at best compared to Tatsu and other modern Flying Coasters. And you can't even count Ragin Cajun. I'm simply comparing the recent additions of Raging Bull, V2, Superman and The Dark Knight vs. Millenium Force, Wicked Twister, Top Thrill and Maverick...Cedar Point has 4 coasters over 200 ft. (Magnum, Millenium Force, Wicked Twister and Top Thrill) SFGAM has 1.

I'm not just getting on SFGAm for getting rid of coasters, the only one worth keeping was Shockwave. It just looked awesome from the parking lot and gave SFGAm another "big looking coaster." I'm mostly upset that SFGAm hasn't built the quality of coaster that Cedar Point, Great Adventure or Magic Mountain has. Why couldn't SFGAm build a floorless coaster back in the early 2000's like Scream and Bizzaro (Medusa) ?? Magic Mountain build Goliath in 2000 and followed it up with X (X2) 2 years later. I agree that Cedar Point is on a whole different level, but why is SFGAm lagging behind other current Six Flags parks.

Add Chang and then build a Giga Coaster in 2013 and I will be happy.