Would it be cost effective to modify Shockwave?

Just was looking at phantom revenge pics. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to have shockwave converted by either S&S, Vekoma, or Morgan. Isn't most of the cost associated with a new construct the station,trains and lift hill? How much did it cost Kennywood to change out Phantom? It would be a great for Six Flags to redo or sell to another park or coaster manufacturer to recycle this coaster into a jr. hyper. *** Edited 5/26/2004 5:44:44 PM UTC by Cedar "Counter" Point***

What portion of Shockwave are you proposing SF keeps?

Station, trains (concerted to hyper trains) and lift hill (ascent and descent).

Moosh, probably the only thing that might be "salvageable" to recycle it into a Jr. Hyper would be the brake run and station, lift hill and first drop. Whether it is a viable option or even an option is up to whether Six Flags has the money or not.

But the Shockwave really only needs to have it's transition into the mid course breaks redone, IMO and it could be very re-rideable again. Outside of that one area the ride was decent. Sure there was some shuffling but nothing that would ruin the ride. *** Edited 5/26/2004 5:50:35 PM UTC by beast7369***

I never had the opportunity to ride original. But as shockwave or a hyper it would be nice to see it up and running once again either at Six Flags or another park.

I'd bet that Six Flags is just going to relocate Scockwa... I'm sorry, Shockwave, as is. When you look at the history of the rides Six Flags has relocated, you'll notice that most of them were reputedly uncomfortable before they were even moved.

Not to say that Six Flags might not someday pull a Phantom's Revenge, but I think that putting that amount of TLC into existing rides is more common to smaller parks like Holiday World, Kennywood and Knoebel's.

(I wouldn't be shocked if Elitch's follows up Halfpipe with a certain TOGO from New Jersey...)

By the way, "Counter," Shockwave was one of those rides that was good when it was new, but aged poorly. I hear SFGAdv's version (GASM) replicates that experience pretty accurately. *** Edited 5/26/2004 6:02:52 PM UTC by Olsor***

I wouldn't say "most" of the cost in a ride is the station, lift, and trains. Certainly they're expensive, but even at that Phantom's Revenge was rumored to have cost the park $7 million.

Was that cost-effective? Undoubtedly, but then Steel Phantom's lift hadn't already been dismantled.

It's just one of my dreams that it would be converted. Hell I'd like to see it revamped as a jr. hyper and put into a park that really needs it like SFKK or to be sold to Cedar fair and have it pop up at MA.

Plus, to connect current threads, you'd end up with masochists like me gettin' all teary eyed over what their lovable old headbanging Arrow looper has been neutered into ... ;)

I don't think it's very cost effective to modify it once it's already out of hte ground. Plus, one of the biggest knocks on those Arrow megaloopers, other than Viper SFMM (IMHO) is that they take up so much space. If a park did want to relocate Shockwave to their park, they'd need a LOT of space to construct the ride, either that or it'd require some major sitework to weave and wind it in with other attractions. That being said, the infield of GASM SFGAdv is one of the bleakest areas of land in a park!! *** Edited 5/26/2004 6:46:53 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

It has a huge footprint (it was constructed in the parking lot) which would eliminate SFKK. Also, isnt there a height restriction w/ SFKK because of the proximity to the airport?

I'll agree with Greg on this. If Shockwave were still standing and SFGAm saved the station and lift and grafted on new track it would be less costly than an entirely new coaster. But Shockwave is dismantled. The only thing I see happening is SF moving the ride to a different park with a population unfamailiar with the ride and touting it as a new attraction.

mOOSH

I loved Shockwave, one of the few arrows that actually amazed me with it's forces. I found out after the first ride how to not get knocked in the midcourse and rode it like nine times in a row.

Chuck, who agrees with that Chicago reporter refering to Superman "We gave up Shockwave for this?"

The only thing I miss about shockwave was its first drop, a beauty if it was converted into a jr hyper it would definatly start off on the right foot.

I would actually PREFER your solution Moosh....unfortunately, I'm seeing an increasing likelihood of Shockwave sitting around rusting away like so many of those defunct rides at Old Indiana....if SF really wants to re-install the ride, the sooner the better, and time IS a-wastin'....

Of course, I'm so gullible I think the ride could be saved by replacing that ONE section of unbanked turn...so what do *I* know?

Shockwave won't ever become a copy of SFMM's Viper, but it SHOULD be able to become someone's decent mega-looper...and it'll *never* be as bad as PKD's Sh**wave, LOL....:)

Can someone please explain this "Jr. Hyper" thing to me? Seems like it's a purely enthusiast term for something that has yet to truly be built. Isn't the whole idea of a "hypercoaster" to be over 200' drop? And has there been a Jr. Hyper built outside of RCT?

I actually thought it was fine. But, I sat in the very last seat, so that opinion could change if I sat somwhere else.

I don't think it would be very cost effective, at all. Too compcact for a Jr. Hyper, with a strange footprint.

Goliath, Steel Eel...Expedition GeForce

Steel Eel is a Jr. Hyper, too.

I think the term "junior hyper" is used by enthusiasts to describe coasters like Steel Eel at SWT and Goliath at SF Holland. Inversionless, air time, the qualities of a hyper, but under 200 feet. Just more contributions to the enthusiast myth that marketing terms like "hyper", "giga", or "strata" have something to do with height. Who could forget the made-up "teracoaster" rumor from a few years ago?

Edit: You guys beat me to it. *** Edited 5/26/2004 8:55:44 PM UTC by bigboy***

I just gotta laugh at a coaster in the 150 ft range being referred to as a Junior anything. Next thing you know, someone will build a coaster that is inversionless, has air time, and all the qualities of a Hyper but is only 125 feet tall and people will start calling it a Kiddie Hyper.