Terminator themed GCI to open at Magic Mountain on Memorial Day weekend 2009

So I have a few days in Southern California coming up...should I go to Knott's or Magic Mountain? ;)

kRaXLeRidAh: Well yeah, matt. pretty much summed up my opinion. Yes, I find a Terminator themed woodie to be much goofier than any of your examples. All of your examples I'm able to draw some sort of tie-in with something that makes sense, wether it's directly with the ride or at least with the rest of the park's theming.

Terminator makes no tie-in with a current theme in the park, nor does it seem to make sense for a wooden coaster. I know it doesn't matter, and that there is no sense in arguing the point, but it is my opinion on the subject.

And if your next question is "What would make sense to you?" I would say something along the lines of an earthquake theme. California is known for quakes and even a smooth wooden coaster is pretty shakey, so something named "Earthquake 8.0" or "Richtor Scale" sounds good to me. Feel free to shoot down these ideas at will...

^ LMAO! In Psyclone's old spot no less. Talk about treading shaky ground.

What, Moosh, you don't think that SFMM's 15:7 coasters to flat rides ratio is good enough? ;)

Hey, wasn't the Belmont Giant Dipper once called "Earthquake"?

Anyway, I agree that it just seems like a stupid theme. The movie is futuristic. Then again, I think it is pretty difficult to theme a wooden coaster. Ghostrider fits right in with Ghost Town, but Evel?

Personally I would have gone with "The Incredible Spilikin Junction Arts and Crafts Coaster" ;)

^So when WILL you step foot inside another SF park? ;)

I bet he'd go back if they fixed Revolution and/or Colossus. I know I would be there in a heartbeat!

Actually SFMM has changed a lot since Jay Thomas took over as Park President. Lots of new paint, clean park, bathrooms, lights that have not worked in years all fixed, staff is mostly friendly. Of course it is a workinprogress but they working on it

Okay, so the ride's specifications have been released, the park is officially going to announce the ride sometime this week.

Name: TERMINATOR - The Coaster

Make: Great Coasters International

Cost: $10 million USD

Scheduled opening: Memorial Weekend 2009

Height: 100'

Top speed: 55 mph

Track length: 2850'

Ride duration: 3 minutes

Vehicles: Millennium Flyer

Number of hills: 5

Number of fan turns: 6

Other: First wooden coaster to feature on-board audio; visual special effects; station fly-by

In tradition with every new coaster they build, here's the cartoon mock-up of the new coaster that will eventually end up on the park's "Greatest Coasters Ever Built" mural -

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-10/Terminator-The-Coaster-S...006274.gif

Seems a little short and really expensive. I'm wondering how much the on-board audio and special effects are costing them. Or has the price of wood gone up dramatically. Evel Knievel cost closer to 7 million and let's not forget what a bargain The Voyage was for a rumored 6.5 million.

^ You're forgetting Southern California has very strict building and construction codes due to earthquakes. My take on the higher price tag may be the significantly grreater amount of wood required to build this ride.

If anyone remembers, I think it was Lifetime channel that mentioned GhostRider's structure (Knott's Berry Farm) consists of enough wood in its structure to build two smaller wooden coasters. The structure has to be incredibly dense to withstand a huge quake.

If memory serves, the footers have to go down MICH deeper as well, so that means substantially more concrete is needed which is an expensive component of wood rides since there are so freakin' many footers. ;)

^and it's on the park's website now:
http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/rides/terminatorthecoaster.aspx

And, of course, larger footers require more steel rebar, as well.

^^There's video on the park's website too.

^ Wow. There is nothing in that video that screams Terminator at all. Looks to me like a regular ol' wooden coaster.

Wow! The web site says one of its unique features is a loading station fly-through. Who ever heard of such a thing? ;)

Dolly Parton? ;)

I am more curious to see how they theme the ride than I am to ride it.

Thanks for the link, Acoustic Viscosity!

Awesome looking coaster! Stupid so-called "theme"!

Every park needs a few good wood coasters! What a great replacement!