Zonga?

Does anyone know if it will be working this season?Since Skytower,Flashback, and Freefall at SFMM will be. Sharpio could have told them to start Zonga up again too.

It's possible, but don't get your hopes too high. :)

Why did it close in the first place?

Because SF felt it was necessary to totally castrate the most kick-a** coaster ever built after the Crystal Beach Cyclone.

I guess they toyed around with it until it is just a shadow of its former self. Of course this does not explain why it closed.

These days the world is not really nice to Antons best creations. Thriller was a sad loss, but now Flamingoland got rid of two of Antons best rides (Bullet and Triple Loop) in favor of a Vekoma SLC (clone of Shenlin in China). D´oh!

^ With the two Antons from SFAW, the two from Flamingo Land, the shuttle from PGA, Gillian's City Jet, possibly Frontier City's Silver Bullet, and even potentially the duo from Portopialand (that park is in trouble, right?)....you'd think *someone* would come along and piece together a COUPLE of operating Anton coasters...shortage of parts CERTAINLY shouldn't be an issue, right?

Don't know that I'd really blame SF specifically, the US isn't the best home for rides considered *extreme* even in the fair circuit. From what I heard from those that got to ride in Texas it was still run "pretty close" to original specs. Wieland's work on the trains seems to have been near-disastrous. Then again, moving an Anton knwn to have exceptional forces *to* CA was a questionable decision at best...perhaps they learned nothing from Revulsion? MANY bad decisions were made.

Regardless of how it would be run, getting Zonga and Flashback in '06 would be unreasonably good luck for me...and the new owners would reap heaps of my praise.

Now *that* is exactly what they're looking for... ;)

Not sure if this already popped up somewhere or not (sorry if I’m repeating old news) – but unless Six Flags has another one of these stashed away that I missed, it would appear Zonga is now for sale. It’s listed on the back of an IRM flyer included in the latest Amusement Today.

Guess that means it won’t be reopening soon.

(drat - formatting) *** Edited 3/3/2006 2:51:44 PM UTC by Odd Todd***

um..completely random/off topic but, I kinda like the looks of that custom SLC at happy valley, go figure they have already cloned it. Also, went to the Happy valley site, http://bj.happyvalley.com.cn/park/index.asp
why is there a picture of S:UF under the red bar? and do they have a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? lol

I know its off topic, so ill add to the fact that its a shame so many of these great coasters are tossed or castrated, since I wasnt around when alot of them started popping up and most likely will never get a chance to ride alot of them. *** Edited 3/3/2006 3:31:31 PM UTC by P18***

^Actually, they do have a Vekoma mine train similar to Big Thunder Mountain (rcdb entry: http://rcdb.com/id1682.htm). I have no idea why Superman would be on there though.

^Because they are currently building a B&M flyer.

That Vekoma SLC "custom" layout seems to become the newest Vekoma clone du jour. The same layout is now being built at Flamingoland (UK). This brings the count to three.

In order to build this, the park got rid of two unique Schwarzkopfs. (notice how i steer this back on topic :) ) Dreier Loop and Bullet.

I heard that Zonga isn't even on the park map anymore :(. My freind went to SFMW on Saturday and told me it is not there anymore. Can anyone tell me if this is true? the websites version has not been updated for a while so I don't know. I was also told that a couple of flat thrill rides are gone, maybe prepearing for '07?

I know someone at the park, and they said most definately Zonga will never be open again at Marine World. The park opened yesterday and the trains are all sitting around the station. There is also talk something cool may replace it sometime soon. :)

We can only hope, I hope its something big well not taller than 150ft.:)

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GoliathKills said:
There is also talk something cool may replace it sometime soon. :)

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Even if it's sod and manure I'd be happy.

As Odd Todd stated, Zonga is or WAS indeed for sale (along with 2 dozen or so other SF rides)

Here is one link (see bottom of page):

http://www.amusementtoday.com/irm.html

However, a search of IRM's website reveals no hint of this coaster:

http://www.irmpri.com/current.htm

My impression is that the ride is sold. I think this likely explains why SFMW was recently spotted testing the ride (for potential buyers?).

We shall see.

^

Not to get too far off topic, but there's a Vekoma Air Jumper (Time Warp) on there... the only one i'm aware of is SFNE's... is there another one?

It's interesting to see Zonga for sale again -

why did they even bother to re-locate it, re-paint it, "re-design" it, buy new trains for it etc. when they are finally just going to sell it...

?

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just give it to some coaster enthusiast to run it in their backyard? :)

Zonga is definitely omitted on the 2006 map. And the only ride removed was the train ride, which is a bummer since it was a nice scenic ride. But at least it was removed for a good reason, to expand the food court seating area, that whole area really needed a major overhaul. So goodbye Zonga, hello B&M!!!

I think they were hoping to salvage the ride, both in terms of ride experience and in terms of reliability. Unfortunately, it seems they failed at both.

But I still don´t get why the ride should have been unreliable. It was running up to five trains consistently on the fairs without any major downtime or safety concerns.

If it was unreliable now it must have something to do with the way it was operated.

SF should have learned from their experience with G-Force/Shockwave that fixing something which is not broken never leads to something good.

Sad. I remember the days when Germany's Thriller was one of the most highly-regarded coasters around. It was definitely a legend in its own time. Too bad it got neutered and is now being left to die. Send it back to Germany and let them turn it back into the coaster it once was. I'll probably never get to ride it but at least it will be doing what it was designed to do by the great Anton.