Zonga SBNO??

sorry to ask lol but i was looking through rcdb and realized zonga at marineworld is sbno.. it only been there for a year and a half of operation or so and now its sbno.. what happened to it?

Don't know the official story, but it never ran consistently and everyone I know who rode it agreed that it sucked....bad.

If my memory serves me correctly the ride has major issues when its windy out. The trains stop mid loop. Possible they are waiting for a different train design to correct the problem.

Ditto what AA said.

Zonga never has valied at SFMW, but it does has numerous issues. It hasn't operated since Sep 2004.

I personally liked it and have found it to be an extremely moody coaster. Hope to see it open again soon.

Thats what happens when you castrate the most awsome and boldest coaster on the block.

As Thriller it was kicking so much a€€, used to run five trains, day in day out for up to 14 hours and was hurled across the Autobahn up to ten times per season.

Since it arrived at SF it suddenly became unreliable. I understand that the climate in Texas was a huge problem for the tire-drive. But I don´t think that the Californian weather could be much of an issue with the ride.

Yes, the accordeon restraints were horrible, but they were in no way worse than the retro-fit on Revolution or any Arrow/Vekoma/Togo attrocity which are still operating.

What is the point in buying the most notorious G-force laden coaster on the planet with the best drop under 180 ft, if you are going to ruin it?

A smaller park should get the ride, bring it back to its original state and watch the people going crazy during the most insane ride since the Crystal Beach Cyclone.

Or even better: re-import it to Germany along with the equally wonderful Dreier Looping which is rotting away towards an unsure future at Flamingoland.

Those coasters are too great to be lost after such a short time.

I understand the coaster is getting new trains.

Sounds hopeful....GarlicFest '06 anyone? :)

Even Revulsion is better than an Anton rotting away like PGA's old shuttle... :(

bill, hoping for Premier trains. Wieland, I'm not sure, can you disown a child in the afterlife? ;)

We were lucky to housed Thriller in Houston.

It was the second best coaster we had, only behind the Cyclone. Even if the tire issues were fixed, it had to be chopped to tame it down.

Blame it on:

1. SEN. Markey harping on G forces. It was getting a lot of negative attention for SF's because of him.

2. People in the states are whiney and law suit hungry. It was problematic for customer relations.

It was in AW's best interest to get this out of the park. It was trouble from day one. However I really miss it. God.. unbutchered it was an awesome ride.

The coaster should have never been moved to the States. It would still be in tack and alive over seas. I suspect SF's has learned a hard lesson and will stop throwing money in it. Last time new trains were delivered they did not work out. But who knows...it's SF's and they do have a history of making non logical moves.

Why was the coaster sold to Six Flags? I thought that it was pretty profitable in Germany?

^ Yes, but those large coasters can only play on the big fairs and after a few years the sensation is waning, even for the best coaster.

At one time there was the Dreier Looping, Thriller, Olympia Looping and Alpina Bahn sharing the big fairs between them. (note that big doesn´t mean long: There are fairs which only last four days but they tend to attract up to 3 million visitors during their short run.)

It was almost oversaturation and good businessmen (and Showmen should be very good at this) always need to upstage each other.

In 1995 there was a sad incident when a young woman suffered a heart attack during the ride. She was dead when she arrived at the station. There was much bad press and maybe the owner lost his interest in the ride.

Shortly before Thriller was sold, the Barth family sold their Dreier Looping to Asia. Alledgedly they got more money for it as they paid for in 1983!

There were rumours for years that Barth was going to build a new multilooper which was going to break a few records. But this will probably never happen. People spend less money on fairs while the costs for transport and maintenance are rising.

Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea someone died on Thriller and I'm sure that contributed to a loss of interest in the ride.

Are Alpina Bahn, Olympia Looping and EuroStar the only big traveling coasters still on the German fair circuit?

There used to be a traveling coaster with world finiest shows (conklin) that used to come to canadian national exhibiton (CNE) every year but they brought it down to florida and it has never returned... it supposovly broke down and got sold to a carnival group in florida.. too bad.. it was canadas only traveling looping coaster... "doppel looping" <-- one kick ass ride... although someone fell out of it on the loop abut 4 years back.. it hasnt returned to canada in about 3 years.:( i miss it being at the cne.. its sad to go there only to find wildcat now.. without no doppel looping..

Doppel Looping is/was the same as Dorney's Laser. I drove by a fair in NY state a few years ago and saw it there- too bad it was early in the day and the fair was closed. I would have liked to have ridden it.

Are you sure Conklin sold their Doppel Looping? It's still listed on their website.

-Nate

well one employee i asked about it last year said it was sold.. but it might just be stuck down south somewhere..i know it hasnt returned to canada in 2 years so im not quit sure.. i miss the thing though.