Texas Giant renovation begins

Nice article on the Giant.

Couldn't help but notice that a whopping 6% think Shockwave is the best ride in the park. Shorter lines for me I suppose... :)

Without Giant, it IS the best ride. With Giant, it is about tied. Unless you're Moosh. He has a thing for Flashback. ;)

What is wrong with you people? :-P

But if I were going to pick some atypical coaster in the park to be best (rather than Titan, Freeze, or Batman) La Vibora or the Mine Train would be my choices.

ApolloAndy said:
What is wrong with you people? :-P

But if I were going to pick some atypical coaster in the park to be best (rather than Titan, Freeze, or Batman) La Vibora or the Mine Train would be my choices.

I agree. I think the Mine Train is my favorite, although I can't wait until the new Giant is done. I actually did an RCT3 recreation of the Mine Train at SFOT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Gp5fXh6fk

Vibora is awesome goodness...and I'm one of the few with a real affinity for the Giovanolas. Always beena big fan of Snowy's Cones. Judge Roy delivers a fun ride. Love the mine ride. Chute-Out is an awesome nostalgia ride. But Giant and Shockwave, together in one park...crazy. I will be in Texas when Giant reopens...

*raises hand*

There seems to be an awful lot of Giant love in this thread. Am I forgetting something? I always got the impression that it was effectively Mean Streak South? That said, I've seen some POVs and am really excited about the renovation. If they can get a ride of this magnitude back in peak form and keep it that way (starts the "New trains! New trains!" chant)... it does look like it could be rather excellent.

It is Mean Streak south. The overwhelming opinion is that it's crap and desperately in need of renovation. For some reason Bill and Matt just can't seem to figure that out.

This still baffles me. $10 million for a renovation when they could most likely tear it down and build something new from GCI or GG for near that price? I just don't get it.

Also, is this a mistake?

The project is supposed to be finished in time for opening day, 2011.

They say 2011 in the video too. $10 million for rehab that is going to take over a year? Crazy if you ask me.

I love that Bugs Bunny is there working in a construction vest though. Nice touch.

ApolloAndy said:
It is Mean Streak south. The overwhelming opinion is that it's crap and desperately in need of renovation. For some reason Bill and Matt just can't seem to figure that out.

If Mean Streak ever showed that kind of aggression, I'd spend wayyyy more time in FrontierTown. ;)

I have to go with Bill here. In 2004 I got some amazing rides right after some major rain. It felt like Mean Streak, but with airtime and without the meandering. It also wasn't nearly as rough as any of the rides I've had on Mean Streak. So I guess I'm lucky and got good rides, but that's the only way I'll be able to remember TG!

To be fair, I'm sure Andy has 10x the number of rides I have on Giant. His opinion is probably based on a larger sample of rides. I've been to the park only a few times (from '04 - '08), and have about 8-10 rides on the one true megawoodie. I generally don't love the larger woodies (Herc, Mean Streak, Rattler). On the other hand, despite the admitted roughness, I'm a big fan of Hades...so aggressive.

But Giant was surprisingly smooth and kept amazing speed throughout. The drop off the midcourse rivalled Ghostrider. The second half had all the hills and twists and turns that Mean Streak doesn't. So yeah, I'm a Giant fan....but Andy prefers GCIIs. :~P

Bill, I bet Jill has more rides on Giant than Andy does. He's never liked it. Even when I was riding it with him and having a blast on it in 2005, he didn't like it. I somehow doubt he's ridden it even ten times since moving down there.

The only thing the Giant has in common with Mean Streak is its similar, big footprint. It's a totally different ride, regardless of how rough it is on the day you ride it. There are many more fans of the ride than just Bill and I.

There are many more fans of the ride than just Bill and I.

The older couple (70-ish?) that took the back seat from me after one of my rides. I told them as I was leaving (to get back in the non-existent queue) "you know, it's kind of ferocious back here". They smiled knowingly and shot back "yep, we know, that's how we like it". I want to grow up to be them.....well, him. ;)

Having ridden both Texas Giant and Mean Streak, I have to echo Viscosity - the two rides deliver two very different experiences. Texas Giant had a far more dynamic layout than does Mean Streak. Mean Streak has a lot of high sections that don't do a whole lot - large, ponderous curves that don't deliver much in the way of forces. Texas Giant had more dynamic, swooping turns and a lot of relatively severe elevation changes (21 drops versus Mean Streak's 8 or 9) that delivered a far more forceful ride than Mean Streak (MUCH more intense laterals), with much quicker pacing, especially in the final third, which was loaded with airtime, something Mean Streak completely lacks.

I am/was a Giant fan (although the last time I rode it was in 2002, my main rides being between '95 and '02), so I'm not familiar with how it ran in the last 7 years. I loved it when I rode it - always found it intense and jostling, but never painful. Mean Streak just bores me.

I'll look forward to seeing how the ride is changed when it opens in '11. Word's still out on whether the changes will be improvements - hopefully they will be.

Acoustic Viscosity said:
There are many more fans of the ride than just Bill and I.

Indeed. I have Giant ranked at #9, whereas Mean Streak sits at #33. Giant blew me away.

I have to ditto most of the compliments to Giant. I had never been to the park before this year. I went down on Giant's last weekend. Giant puts Mean Streak to shame. It only had a spot or 2 that was slow and reminded me of MS. I would trade MS for TG in a heart beat. I hope the ride is as fun when they are done with the renovation.

I've probably gotten 30 rides on it or so. The only place I can stand to ride it these days is in the front and I'll usually only ride it in front at night. It's not boring like Mean Streak, but it's exciting in a not good way. If the trim entering the first helix around the lift hill is on, it's especially shuffly while still managing to be slow. If the trim is off, it's a back breaker.

See Andy, there are at least three other people that love Texas Giant! ;)