The rebirth of Six Flags ride rotation?
For speculation purposes, let's consider a few recent rumors to be accurate:
SFOG's Viper/SFGAm's Tidal Wave is going to SFKK.
SFGAm's Shockwave is going somewhere.
SFAW's Texas Tornado is going somewhere.
An old mine train that SF has had sitting around for quite some time is going to The Great Escape.
Sure sounds like something of a ride rotation program to me!
Six Flags must have, what, about a dozen coasters in storage? Mine trains. Arrow shuttles. Perhaps an Arrow corkscrew or two? With the corporation trying to cut costs and return to profitability after a few years of intense expansion, is Six Flags about to blow the dust (and rust) off of some of their older, in-storage coasters and put them in the lesser parks in order to add new rides? Or will coasters like SFGAdv's Viper, SFMM's Flashback and SFStL's Ninja eventually way for new coasters and make it into other parks. Look at Jazzland... SF probably saved a heap of money by buying a used B&M inverted instead of a new one!
As Six Flags "trims down" to three of four brand-new coasters each year, does the future for many parks lie within used rides instead of new ones. Ride rotation? Ride recycling?
What do you think?
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-Rob
Don't forget to vote for your favorite wooden coasters @ http://www.geocities.com/wcoasterpoll - the polls are open until November 30th!
John Odum did more than *suggest* that we'd be seeing some rides brought back to life, and I am happy to see it....what some call "old", I prefer to look at as "experienced". Viper was virtually guaranteed to go somewhere, and he STRONGLY hinted this was "a (Tidal) Wave of the future"...if you'll excuse the pun....
Funny thing is, the older I get, the less I choose to see things in terms of OLD and NEW....;).
bill, who wanted to start a thread specifically based on Odum's comments, but waited long enough and found a thread that didn't NEED "hijacking"...:)
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John
Albany Entertainment:
http://albany.n3.net
These rides are only 'used' to us. To everyone else they're new.
Moosh
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Bill, with the exception of Viper... all the rides SFOG has taken out and put in the boneyard are dead. They're beyond any hope of repair. Unless you wanted to rename the Highland Swings "Superman: Swings of Rust."
Honestly, we've heard that Viper was going to SFKK since before its removal started... I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it's unlikely IMO it will go anywhere.
I would hesitate to call this a ride rotation. It seems more like they're just doing what they need to do (get old rides out of the way for new ones).
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*** This post was edited by General Public on 11/11/2002. ***
Yes, some of the rides are removed because you can't modify them for the better, without dumping more money than you would like just to "bring it back" in a sense.
Tidal Wave/Viper (SFGAm,SFoG) is a maintenance nightmare and is a very old ride. I doubt this one will be resurrected. Same said for ShockWave, for other reasons.
GP, pretty sure he was saying (in SFoG terms) Viper, and that other "back from the grave" rides would be coming from *parts unknown*....well, unmentioned...;). No rides were specifically named, (like we'd expect to have any rides called by name, yeah right)...but he definitely *HINTED* at defunct rides returning to thrill again....
There is definitely work to be done in terms of cleaning up surface rust just to evaluate, replacing any track with "defects", repainting, replacing chain lifts, brakes, etc....let's face it, you really *shouldn't* leave steel out in the weather to....weather....;).
But it really does make sense given the current financial situation at SF to try and get SOME of these rides up and running....then SCRAP the rest, and not have to store stuff that really has NO value to the company....for a long time now, the boneyards have been used to store "skeletons", it's about time that SF "flesh out" the situation and decide what's good to play on and what's just "bones for the stock pot"...
Do any of these coasters (that arent going to be reassembled), get stripped down for parts to use on similar coasters that are operational?
I would think this could save the company even more money. If a car junkyard can do it, why not with coasters.
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2 superheroes in Gurnee next season? Oh the humanity. :)
This may not be the resurrection of the ride rotation program as it was in the past, but definately a step in the right direction. Coasters in storage = not good, for any reason. (TOGOs = the exception to the rule)
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Does anyone know if Shockwave is going into storage for a few years until they decide if/what particular park is going to use it, you know... let it get some rust and chip away...
...or do you think that they have a park already chosen out for the future location?
I really wonder how many other rides Six Flags is hiding out on us that are truly good rides... they're just not used anymore... if there are a few out there that just need a new lightbulb or fan belt... send 'em to SFDL!!!! ;) We're getting boned for the '03 season, and I'll take a used Tornado :) at this point!!!
If the Great Escape coaster is indeed the runaway train that has been sitting in the SFEG employee parking lot for the last few years, I don't know how it will run. It never ran when it was at SFEG, it is small, and it has been sitting around for years. All I can say is, good luck.
Of course, if it isn't the one I am thinking of I will go and stick my foot in my mouth.
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When I mentioned the rebirth of "ride rotation," I wasn't implying that the current situation is the same as the one during the late eighties/early nineties... I was merely suggesting that various Six Flags coasters could be moving to different parks to give them new rides. Exactly what the ride rotation program did.
Rollergator is right... some older rides are "experienced." I have never been on a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, but from what I have heard, I should make an effort to get myself on one. Mine trains aren't very thrilling but will always make great family rides. And even a simple Arrow shuttle loop will offer a simple thrill to the patrons of a park that has never featured such a ride. Mamoosh hit the nail on the head- what is old to some is new to others.
To make things more interesting, Six Flags could take advantage of the opportunity and turn some of those older, less-than-state-of-the-art coasters into new, interesting rides with a modest amount of money and creativity. Can you imagine an Arrow shuttle in the dark, or an extensively-themed mine train? Its unlikely, I know... but SF seems to have a golden opportunity with some of these coasters Let's hope that they see that!
Rob Ascough said:
I have never been on a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, but from what I have heard, I should make an effort to get myself on one. Mine trains aren't very thrilling but will always make great family rides. And even a simple Arrow shuttle loop will offer a simple thrill to the patrons of a park that has never featured such a ride. Mamoosh hit the nail on the head- what is old to some is new to others.
Better get yourself to one of those Anton loopers soon, the "count" is getting dangerously low....
P.S. Where WAS this kind of thinking five years ago, when many/most of the rides currently residing in *boneyards* still had meat on them? Oh, that's right...almost forgot....we were lost in the middle of an economic boom with seemingly no end.... Now that cash is tight again, conservation becomes an issue...and "everything old is new again"...
*** This post was edited by rollergator on 11/12/2002. ***
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