Anaconda next on chopping block?

[halfabee]

My fave Anaconda commercial featured an announcer in a suit and tie, mic in hand, casually interviewing people while they were all actually on the ride, tie whipping behind him in the wind as they flew through the course.

I distinctly remember him claiming, “The Anaconda has six loops,” then seeing the completed ride and realizing it was a lie. That sucked.

But I still liked that ad more than the young-to-old-people spot.

 

[----------------------]

My fave Anaconda commercial featured an announcer in a suit and tie, mic in hand, casually interviewing people while they were all actually on the ride, tie whipping behind him in the wind as they flew through the course.

I distinctly remember him claiming, “The Anaconda has six loops,” then seeing the completed ride and realizing it was a lie. That sucked.

But I still liked that ad more than the young-to-old-people spot.

Was it supposed to have 6?

 

[bill s]

I rather like the lake as it is now. It's kind of intense going up the walkway to Anaconda, which I walked often.

 

[halfabee]

Was it supposed to have 6?

I've seen that claimed here, never anywhere else. I asked for more context on that idea back in October... maybe @RollyCoaster can fill us in...? I'd love to learn about it.

By the time they shot that commercial, though, there was no excuse for claiming six. The ride was built, riders were on it, and it obviously had only four inversions. Calling that sadistic butterfly thing "loops" was like calling Magnum XL-200 a "double-looper." PR speak won out, though, which was easier to achieve in that era. Some media outlets parroted the six-loop claim, trying to shoehorn the butterfly into some notion of a "loop," but to my recollection there has never been a public and credible story about the ride originally being designed with six bona fide inversions.

I genuinely would love to be corrected on that history if I'm off-base here.

Another random memory: my dismay upon learning that Anaconda was an Arrow ride. I had originally assumed it was supplied by Vekoma, because it seemed so different from Arrow's other loopers -- in a ponderous and negative way. In 1994 I learned: no, it was Arrow. Such a bummer. Arrow had already created much larger loopers at three Six Flags parks, not to mention Vortex which had been a record-setter when it opened at KI... and I wanted KD to have something truly equivalent.

Of course, three of those other four Arrow loopers are long gone now, and Anaconda still stands. But that's not necessarily a good thing.

 

[----------------------]

I've seen that claimed here, never anywhere else. I asked for more context on that idea back in October... maybe @RollyCoaster can fill us in...? I'd love to learn about it.

By the time they shot that commercial, though, there was no excuse for claiming six. The ride was built, riders were on it, and it obviously had only four inversions. Calling that sadistic butterfly thing "loops" was like calling Magnum XL-200 a "double-looper." PR speak won out, though, which was easier to achieve in that era. Some media outlets parroted the six-loop claim, trying to shoehorn the butterfly into some notion of a "loop," but to my recollection there has never been a public and credible story about the ride originally being designed with six bona fide inversions.

I genuinely would love to be corrected on that history if I'm off-base here.

Another random memory: my dismay upon learning that Anaconda was an Arrow ride. I had originally assumed it was supplied by Vekoma, because it seemed so different from Arrow's other loopers -- in a ponderous and negative way. In 1994 I learned: no, it was Arrow. Such a bummer. Arrow had already created much larger loopers at three Six Flags parks, not to mention Vortex which had been a record-setter when it opened at KI... and I wanted KD to have something truly equivalent.

Of course, three of those other four Arrow loopers are long gone now, and Anaconda still stands. But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Ah, I see. Six flags over Georgia still claims a “non inverting loop” for mindbender. So I suppose that claim, while rather dubious is not unheard of.