The Six Flags Ride Rotation Program

This program did exist at least for the coasters, I wasn't aware of it for the rides.

Z Force, Intamin stand up, and the bobsleds were the only rides I was aware of when they were in the program.

There was non-ride related death on Z Force in the last year of it's operation at SFOG. Many assumed the ride was removed because of the death. (I think it was a girl with a pre-existing heart condition that came back in to station unconsious.) But actually the ride was just in it's last year before the move.

I understand that Six Flags scrapped the rotation process because it wasn't deemed coast effective in the long run. I assume this was for the reasons listed above. People would be angry that a new ride would leave after just a couple of seasons as well.

One of the shortest stays was SFMM's Condor, which lasted less than a year from fall 1987 until spring 1988, when it was replaced as the "new ride" by the permanent Ninja. Condor was placed in the Viper courtyard that later housed the Tilt-o-Whirl [in one of it's many locations] where the Panda Express now sits.

Maybe it would have pissed off less people if they had advertised that a ride was only there for a limited time. It may have also brought more people through the gates to ride the ride before it would be removed.

I always liked the idea of a ride rotation program. In the long run it would make it easier to add to my coaster count.

Another ride not mentioned is Ultra Twister.

The rides I know of are Rolling Thunder (Bobsled) now at Great Escape, Tidal Wave now at SFKK, Condor now at SFGAm, Z-Force now at SFMM, Revolution the Ride now at SFGAm, Polyp now at SFA (It moved because it was broke.), Evolution now at SFStL, Star Chaser now at Great Escape, and I guess there are more these rides.

I don't think it's that great of an idea. You are spending a lot of money moving these rides. Just put the new rides somewhere else in the park. The more you move a ride, the more it deteriorates. Or maybe, just try to fix the ride. Look at Revolution from SFGAdv, and Evolution from SFGAdv. They weren't working that great, and then they decided to move them.

I dunno, doesn't seem unreasonable to move a ride that needs to be "mostly torn apart" to make major repairs, esp. if it wasn't too popular in the original park to begin with...

Sometimes the park may outgrow the ride's capacity....thinking offhand about Vibora at SFoT - while it was the longest wait we had on any of the coasters there, given SFMM's *limitations* ;), I can't imagine they'd get 1,00 people on that ride in a day...

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Ilovthevu' said:
The rides I know of are Rolling Thunder (Bobsled) now at Great Escape, Tidal Wave now at SFKK, Condor now at SFGAm, Z-Force now at SFMM, Revolution the Ride now at SFGAm, Polyp now at SFA (It moved because it was broke.), Evolution now at SFStL, Star Chaser now at Great Escape, and I guess there are more these rides.

I don't think it's that great of an idea. You are spending a lot of money moving these rides. Just put the new rides somewhere else in the park. The more you move a ride, the more it deteriorates. Or maybe, just try to fix the ride. Look at Revolution from SFGAdv, and Evolution from SFGAdv. They weren't working that great, and then they decided to move them.

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AFIK octopus @ SFA was new & not relocated from SFGRAM,it was added in 99 while SFGRAM's ride <east river crawler I believe> was still at SFGRAM.

Dexter,I don't believe UT was ever a part of the ride rotation program,as it was only moved once.

Reply to Ilovethevu':

Just to be picky, when the Frisbee was at Great Adventure, it was called Pendulum. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the Frisbee, it's just that the GM decided to take it with him to Chicago, where it wasn't moving anywhere the two days we were there this year.

As far as Evolution, that's a whole other can of worms. I think on five attempts (maybe fewer), it was never open. The closest I saw to any activity was when they had water dummies sitting out for testing. Now that it lives at St. Louis, it works just fine (o.k., it did have one minor breakdown the day we were there).

I've been told that Excalibur runs a much shorter program, so that may aid in keeping the ride open as well, and not for mechanical reasons. Apparently, protein spillage was a major problem with Evolution.

As far as the more you move a ride the more it deteriorates, I don't agree with that at all. As long as things are carefully taken apart, and things are refurbished (if need be), there's no reason why you can't move a ride multiple times.

Reply to BATWING FAN SFA

East River Crawler has been there since 1976, and it was called the Lobster before. I was talking about the Polyp that came from SFGAdv instead. Now, I think that SFGAdv got rid of theirs by giving it back to the company. The reason is what you can see in the pictures why below.

They got a new one, and gave it to SFA instead. If it can't operate right, SF is furious, and probably would sue them. I believe the new one went to your park, and the old one is at Sartori rusting away, or something.

The reason is because it says on another site that the Spinaker was 1999-1999, and the Octopus opened in 2000. Thus, this would make sense. The most important difference is the extra supports in the middle of the ride. They did more, but that's just what a new Sartori Polyp looks like. It's most likely a brand new one from Sartori because the old one wasn't right.

(SFGAdv)http://www.amusementpics.com/GA%20Rides/Spinnaker/19990008.jpg

(SFA)http://sfafans.com/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=214&album=19&pos=3 *** Edited 11/16/2006 9:45:47 AM UTC by Ilovthevu'*** *** Edited 11/16/2006 10:02:32 AM UTC by Ilovthevu'***

Organizing some things last night, I read a few old issues of ACE News and Roller Coaster magazine. Six Flags' "ride rotation program" is mentioned numerous times. Since ACE was pretty much the only coaster authority back in those days, I'm inclined to think they knew what they were talking about and the concept was much more than mythical.

^^Looking at the themeing of the SFGRADV/SFGRAM version vs SFA's it's easy to see that they're not the same unit.

SFA originally planned to add the top spin that ended up going to SFDL...I take it the spot where octopus now sits is where it was supposed to go.Prior to that there never was a ride on that pad....it was either a food stand of some sort,or green space,I'll take a look at my 1996 adventure world map just to make sure though.

Can add TTT/Zonga to the list. Was planned to only be at SFMW for 3 seasons before being relocated again. But those plans were scrapped thanks to the mess SF made of it before the move to SFMW.

I never heard that. I thought that SFMW was intended to be a permanent addition to the park.

^ Nope, everyone will see next spring what was always planned and intended for that area.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that nothing ever gave me the impression that Zonga wasn't long for SFMW. It was my assumption that the coaster was put there because northern CA supposedly had a climate that would favor the operation of the ride, and if it worked like it never did in Texas, it would remain their indefinitely.

Just wondering, wouldn't SFNE (for instance) have a climate more *suitable* for a ride that didn't work well in hot conditions?

I know NorCal isn't exactly Texas, but still, it's not MA, or upstate NY (DL, GE) either...

Then again, SFI always seemed to have trouble with weather... ;)

I'm not sure why one of the northeast parks wasn't chosen for Thriller. SFA, SFDL or SFNE all would have made sense. The decision to put the ride at SFMW was always a little odd.

^ SFA would have been an excellent choice as well, in place of that flying coaster that never really *fit* there....