Supports on site for Gadv's 05 Coaster

Do you really think that Six Flags is going to break Cedar Point's record? Don't count on it.

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Lord Gonchar said:
Wow! Hydra and this in the same season.

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Aha, so do you admit your trangressions against Great Adventure and is willing to join our legion of followers?? :)

If Great Adventure is not building anything huge then why supports in July?

Free advertising? ;)

I think I need to go change my underwear now.

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Antuan said:
Aha, so do you admit your trangressions against Great Adventure and is willing to join our legion of followers??

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No, I just know I'll be heading over to check out Hydra - so why not head the extra hour out and pick up this credit too? ;)

Hey, I went to SFGAdv 3 times in the 16 months I lived in Allentown!

Now if I can just get this mystery fence at SFA to magically turn into a new coaster, then I got myself a sweet little "new coaster weekend" coming in early 2005.

More on topic, it does look like Intamin supports and if this ends up being a rocket coaster will it finally kill some of the most popular misconceptions (IMO) of new installations? Those misconceptions being:

1. A park will not build a coaster type when there is another of the same type in their comp set. (for example: "SFGAdv won't get a rocket coaster because Hershey has one just 2 hours away" or "Dorney won't get a floorless because there is one an hour away")

and

2. Past ride histories at other parks determine what purchases totally unrealated parks will make in the future. (for example: "SFGAdv will not get a rocket coaster because of all the problems CF has had with theirs")

Of course, if this pans out to be anything but a rocket coaster, I'm dicked. :)

Well, I think your fine… I can bet you money that this is going to be a Rocket coaster just by those supports… That fence is at least five to six feet tall. So those are some larger supports compared to TTD there about the same size maybe a little bit larger…but I guess I wouldn’t know for sure because I can’t measure them, its just a guess but I bet its pretty close. Also with that size of support it would probably be pretty tall…so it might be something similar to TTD if it’s only 2480 ft… Well it will be interesting to see what happens...those are just my educated guesses. We might have a new tallest coaster in the world.

Sorry to be a naysayer but...

Those supports don't look that big at all, and by the pictures the biggest one has a different fastening system them what Intamin rides use. Also, compare the size of it to the size of these supports:

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery631.htm?Picture=3

Doesn't seem big enough...

To me, it looks like a heck of a lot like the Timberland Twister. Compare the largest peice of track to this picture:

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery2508.htm?Picture=19

...and you can clearly see the connection of the piece in this picture is identical to the support at SFGAdv right now.

Six Flags said they are going to go for the more family rides right now, and I think this is a continuation of that push, not a TTD beater.

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SFoGswim said:
Do you really think that Six Flags is going to break Cedar Point's record? Don't count on it.

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Remember you said that when you eat those words later... Hope you poured on the salt.

-clint, who might know...a nevermind. We've all heard its a record breaking Rocket by now.

Well it's really hard to tell with out something for refrence... I am trying to go off that construction fence which I believe is around six feet tall. I wish a person could of been in that picture. Then the person that took the pic could of been like well Joe is six and half feet. By putting him in front of the large supports it would give you a good idea. Those are Intamin supports... and with the smaller supports and the small amount of track it's most likely a rocket coaster. Have they started any footers yet?

You can see a construction trailer right next to the supports in the third picture. If we decided the trailer hitch was two feet off the ground -- which would be high -- the support is only two feet in diameter. Remember, the bottom of the support is wider to bolt it to the ground or another piece, and when they are that wide, I would only assume it would be for the ground.

Looking at an Intamin ride like Steel Venom / S:UE / whatever makes me at least realize that those supports are probably five feet in diameter -- much larger.

Then looking at the Timberland Twister pictures closely and seeing the exact same type of supports makes me think we could be looking at a new Gerstlauer spinner, which I don't think would be bad at all. But until we see a LOT more parts, I'm not going to hold my breath for a TTD-beater especially from Intamin at SFGAdv... and if it turns out that it isn't a TTD-beater, I hope people are okay with that.

Six Flags has a very interesting business model if they can afford to build a TTD size coaster for just one of their parks all the while a good number of other parks in the change have to make due with minimum capital improvements. It seems to me like they are trying to respin one of their faster spinning plates while letting other plates that are slowing down languish and practically break down.

Hmmm. I can honestly see both sides of this one.

Look at this piece from SFGAdv - specifically the end of the largest piece to the right of the photo.

Now if we compare it to the Timberland Twister pic we find a piece that is very similar is design and color. (especially that connector) - but what I see it that in the SFGAdv piece, there are only 2 'branches' coming off the biggest piece and they're both right near the end of the piece. (you can see they're the only 2 in this photo), while the TT photo shows more than a dozen 'branches', none of which are that close to the end of the piece they're on. However, we may not be comparing the same piece and I cannot deny the similarity.

Now compare this pic of the SFGAdv piece with this pic of a TTD support lying in the parking lot. To me it's almost as similar, just in the exact opposite way that TT look similar. There are 3 branches and they're right near the end of the piece and the 'branches' look closer in appearance to the piece at SFGAdv than TT's 'branches'. Also compare that SFGAdv photo to this one of TTD - you note the same similarities. If you like to guess at things, you can also see (well, at least I can) how these pieces *appear* to be similar in size based on their respective surroundings.

Now look at this pic from SFGadv (it helps if you size down the photo so it's all visible without scrolling) and compare it to this pic of TTD. Both shots near a crane-like vehicle. Both vehicles seem comparable in size (based on visual cues such as other 'normal' vehicles in the background) and you'll see that the SFGAdv piece and the TTD piece really are very close in size.

Add the standard disclaimer that I don't know jack. I'm just looking at the same pics everyone else is and while I do see very strong similarities between the SFGAdv pieces and TT, I see just as strong similarities between those pieces and TTD pieces.

What's funny is the difference in these two rides (The world's largest roller coaster made by Intamin and a Gerstlauer spinning coaster with a max height of 54 feet) and the fact that a bunch of us coaster enthusiasts can't figure out exactly what we're seeing in those SFGAdv photos. ;)

*** Edited 7/30/2004 8:35:41 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Just remember, Gonch, that some of us don't have to figure it out...;)

The thing that bothers me is the fact that there is no evidence of footers in place yet. The footers for TTD's tower were poured almost a year in advance because they were so massive and needed time to cure. If this one is really going to break TTD's record, then shouldn't we have seen a couple massive footers in place for some time now?

I thought the real reason they were poured a year in advance was because Intamin was already in the park, or something like that?

I thought it was because they needed to start work in like August on TTD and they didn't want to take out the midway during part of the peak season, so they poured before the people were in the park. I could be wrong though. I'm not convinced they're Intamin supports either. While they look very similar, I caught some picture of the Morgan coaster at SFMex and the supports look similar to Intamin ones. Could be just about anything at this point. When we see the box track, I'll be convinced =)

That being said, I guess the trip I'll be taking in two weeks will be repeated next year since there will be two new additions along the route!

thecoasterguy: I've been saying for months that this would be a Gerstlauer spinning coaster... thanks for making that observation. Call me crazy, but I'd rather see one of those instead of an Intamin Rocket that is going to break down all the time.

I don't no where I read this (was it here?), but apparently Six Flags has trademarked the names Max, Maxx, and Maxxx for the new ride (or something like that). Does that sound like a spinning coaster? I don't think so.

Don't you think 2,480 feet is a tad too long for a ride like that? Eh, who knows.

If this is not a rocket, I can't wait to see how all the Great Adventure fanboys will react :).

Watching Storm Runner being assembled all winter long, I'd have say that those are definately Intamin supports. The Gerstlauer supports do not have the ribs going down the support as Intamin's do. Storm Runner's supports are indentical to the supports on site at Gr8Adv.