Speculation continues on Six Flags Magic Mountain's true intentions for Colossus

Can't wait till announcement day. This could be the most epic of the RMC coasters so far. I'm okay with connecting both tracks as well as leaving it as a racing coaster. So many possibilities.

That's sure a lot of benches which could be built from all that wood.

They should tear it down and build the worlds longest escalator. Now that's a ride.

That would be cool. I'm taking my son to ride it before it closes so that he can compare.

Might be a nice coaster year for Southern California next year. I hear that Knott's is going to do something in the Boardwalk area next year. So I'm not sure if that means no new dark ride. Then again, you never know.

Rickrollercoaster said:

They should tear it down and build the worlds longest escalator. Now that's a ride.

CNN would be pissed.

I like that escalator idea...

That kid... is back.. on the escalator again!

But CNN got rid of their rollercoaster

Six Flags only bought Magic Mountain so they could close Colossus - part of their long-range plan to eliminate all wooden racing coasters (Monstre, your days are numbered).

^How many wooden racers are anyones favorite coaster or in a top 10 list?

The maintence costs on them are just way too much and after so many years the parks just have to cut their losses and get rid of them, for newer and better rides.

^^ I disagree. Lightning Racer is in at least my top 20, and Rebel Yell is up there as well. Also, Wild One is 100 years old and is a fantastic wooden coaster. Thunderhawk at Dorney is 91 this year and still is going strong. With care and maintenance, these rides can be around for way longer than what some of them are.

[URL][IMG]Hope you guys like 5 minute photoshop

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Bunky, no offense, but you have a total of 16 wooden coasters, most of which are not very high on most enthusiasts lists.

Not a knock on you, nor am I trying to invalidate your opinion. LR is a good ride, but there are far better steel and wood out there.

Having said that, there aren't many racing wooden coasters that are highly ranked.

But there are several older wooden racers out there and one chain has gotten rid if ine and is either getting rid if or highly modifying another.

Parks surely aren't cutting their losses as gamer guy suggests.

Ahem...

Tek, I haven't ridden that many coasters PERIOD, so I'm sure that there are many woodies out there I would like better (I couldn't type that last part with a straight face). My main point was that racer or not, a wooden coaster can be very, very old and still give an excellent ride. Lightning Racer's not old, true, but with the care Hershey seems to give it, I can see it being around as long as Comet or some other oldies but goodies. I don't think a park always needs to "cut their losses" on a wooden ride or stop making them altogether. That seems silly to me.

I WILL say that if a coaster requires more retracking and rebuilding as a wooden coaster, I'm not opposed to the RMC treatment like the purists are. If a coaster is either going to torn down altogether or rebuilt with steel track, I think it is wonderful to conserve as much of the ride's history as possible. Plus, the retrack/reprofiling probably uses so much less in terms of materials, which is great news for the environment. All around, although I have not ridden a true RMC design, I'm thrilled they're doing this. I just don't think we should give up on all wooden coasters!

There just aren't that many racers out there period, with wood racers even more scarce. Let's see...what options do we have in the US...

Racer, Kennywood

Racer, Kings Island
Rebel Yell, Kings Dominion
Thunder Road, Carowinds
(all three basically the same ride)

American Eagle, Six Flags Great America

Rolling Thunder, Six Flags Great Adventure (demolished)

Colossus, Six Flags Magic Mountain (scheduled for closure)

Lightning Racer, Hersheypark

Twisted *s, Kentucky Kingdom (SBNO, not really a racer)

Add the rest of the continent and you add Le Monstre and La Montana Rusa; add steel coasters and you can include Gemini. That's a pretty small list. Except for Lightning Racer, the operating ones are also fairly old rides...Gemini and Colossus are both over 35 years old. American Eagle is...well, that layout is a special kind of silliness as parallel-track helii kind of destroy any kind of 'race'.

The point is, racers make up a pretty small percentage of the coaster pool, and their absence from favorites lists really shouldn't be taken as an indictment of racing coasters. In fact most of the racers available to us today were well received at opening and several were record breakers that were simply surpassed by later rides.

--Dave Althoff, Jr

^ Very good point. When a few of those coasters opened, they absolutely were enthusiast favorites. Colossus in particular was an iconic ride if ever there was one. But it's old, neutered and I'm sure expensive, at least until it was basically patched into wood and steel ibeam.

But to me, whether they are racers or not has very little to do with whether they should be removed/transformed or not.

Lightning Racers are two awesome coasters, still. They mat not be in the top ten anymore, but they are so much fun.

SFOT posted this on twitter yesterday: https://twitter.com/TexasThrills/status/480867161963892737/photo/1

SFNE is making their announcement of Cyclones closing date on twitter tomorrow morning.