Zonga... For Sale

The ride was amazing when I rode it as Texas Tornado,but when I rode it as Zonga it wasn't as enjoyable because of the headbanging. However if you road an odd number row and kept your head back, you could avoid the headbanging.=). But as RollrCoasterCrazy said, the ride wouldn't need OTSR if people didnt' have the silly urge to grab supports.

But let's not forget that Thriller had OTSR's installed not long after it originally opened. They were in place long before the coaster made its way to the U.S.

^Yeah, but they didn´t cause headbanging. They would only crunch your spine as they would move down on you during the ride.

But it was worth it.

I road it at SFAW as texas tornado once when I was thier last time. When I road it as zonga in 2004 I hated the damn ride!

Anyone know what happend to this ride to make it so bad?

I think when it was sent to SFMW the track was modified again.

I rode it when it was only 3 days old (sic!) and exited with a condition in my spine - so there. (Must have been its 20ieth birthday this spring)
They changed it around, changed a section of the track (supposedly to make it safer for peoples backs), added akkordeon-type OTSRs (that crunched the backs anyway), with which it ran supposedly "without problems" for a number of years around the German fun fair circuit , then finally it got sold to SFAW so that Eurostar, the transportable invert (and the youngest of the portable coaster monsters that get shoved around Germany), could claim its place on the fair circuit.

It wouldn't run properly in Texas for years, so they moved it to the colder climate at SFMW, butchered the first drop to make everything more back friendly and even bought new trains that instead of crushing your spine now supposedly bang your head.

This baby always had problems - admittedly, the first drop was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced on a coaster, you are on this lonely rail on the very top, and then you just dip down and twist, it felt very close to freefalling, especially with the lapbar/seatbelt combination that was installed at first - and the ride just looked fantastic with its back to back loops all in dangerous red, but that's all obviously butchered now in a sequence of what seems almost Michael-Jackson-Esque "beauty" operations.
(And when it first came out, its name was "Thriller")

To be honest, I don't think it did anybody ever any good - it blew the limits in too many ways.

*** Edited 11/14/2006 7:48:44 AM UTC by superman***

Ahh, I was trying to remember who it was that gave Thriller/Tornado/Zonga negative reviews when it was in Germany. I rode it at Marine World and thought it was an abomination (apologize in advance gator...I know you love antons). Good luck with the sale!

I love Antons, it's true. But once they've been butchered, they're never really the same....

Ain't that right, SoCal peeps? :(

I'm thankful I've gotten to ride as many great Antons as I have, Zonga and Revulsion, just gotta chalk them up as "ones that got away".

I was *denied* at Thrill-Ville. Stupid park was CLOSED... :(

Otherwise, Lagoon - Spring '07 - SHOULD have been the last standing N. American Schwarzy for me...

My fondest (albeit faint) hope is that someone buys this and restores it....S. America seems to be *attractive* for Antons...polar magnetism or somethin'... ;)

"I don't think it did anybody ever any good"

Oh, it did certainly good things to Mr Bruchs bank account!

Alledgedly, he sold the ride at a very good price, which was around the same amount he paid for it! (Only bettered by Mr. Barth selling the "Dreier-Loop", which brought him even MORE money than its cost!)

Now add all those truckloads of money a ride like this generates during a two week play at Oktoberfest when it runs at full capacity (2800 pph) for 14 hours a day.

Oh, and it absolutely loved this ride! I rode it as well without the OTSR in 1986 and it is still one of the most kick-a§§ coasters i have ever experienced.

I've always been really intrigued by this coaster but have never been able to ride it. I just checked out a pov on youtube where it runs straight through the midcourse breaks and it looked intense.

The most appealing part of the ride for me is the first drop combined with the first two loops. I've never seen a coaster with two loops back to back in that way. Do any others exist? Is this part as intense as I expect?

I remember seeing pics of Thriller in Roller Coaster magazine and that first drop was unbelievable. POV shots from the top of the lift would show this skinny, twisted piece of steel plunging straight down towards the ground. It was like something straight out of a cartoon! Back then I wasn't even paying attention to the back-to-back loops, it was that drop that had my eyes bulging!

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mike okay said:>The most appealing part of the ride for me is the first drop combined with the first two loops. I've never seen a coaster with two loops back to back in that way. Do any others exist? Is this part as intense as I expect?

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^ Shockwave, SFoT....easily my favorite looping ride, period.

Of course, the old Arrow megaloopers (the terrible triplets of Shockwave @ SFGAm - RIP, GASM-II @ GAdv, and Viper @ SFMM) had/have back-to-back vertical loops, and they're not quite that good...LOL! Actually, Viper is OK, which is WAY more than I'd have ever said about the other two...

*** Edited 11/14/2006 5:07:16 PM UTC by rollergator***

I rode two of those three (never been to Great America) but the back-to-back loops were completely different from those that Anton penned (going by Dorney's Lazer). I think it was the shape of the loops, which felt more like continous curves rather than Arrow's odd teardrops that seemed to whip the rider through the tops of the arcs.

I have never heard of another similar one either - I think there was a rumor about a copy of it in China/Japan - but I am not sure if they actually went through to copy it.
Does anyone know about it?
(That might have been another ride, also)

Thriller is also one of the coasters the NoLimits Demo lets you ride (perfectly safe)

http://www.rcdb.com/ig492.htm?picture=6

Thriller is a one-of-a-kind coaster. You might be thinking of Drier Looping/Magnum Force (the Schwarzkopf now being reconstructed in Mexico City), which is very similar to Edmonton's Mindbender.

The Anton loops, singularly or in combinations, are just perfect...powerful, smooth, INTENSE as all get out...

Arrow loops, make you want to "get out"... ;)
...and then there was TN Tornado....crazy good.

Arrow loops make me want to search for the nearest chiropractor to adjust my neck... although I don't have a problem with the loops on Vekoma boomerangs, which are more or less identical. Go figure.

I've been on a bunch of anton loops before, including the double on laser which was extremely intense. I can't imagine what it would be like without the space in between the loops.

Shockwave is in the same vein as laser, with the loops one after another rather than two connected loops like on thriller/zonga

Yeah, eliminating that space must add an interesting dynamic to the ride!

I almost blacked out just watching the pov haha.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=21VoBGxrFy8 is from when it was at astroworld. The breaks dont grab at all, it looks really intense.