Attraction Twisted Colossus (RMC Iron Horse)
- Thread starter Franco
- Start date
Maybe its just me, but I don't see how a 4 minute long roller coaster with 18 airtime hills, a dueling double zero G-roll, a zero G-stall, and a high five element could be considered "boring" and "mediocre".
OK so the park cut off 3,000 feet of track. I guarantee you 2,000 of that 3,000 feet of track was just brake runs and slow crawls anyway. Getting rid of it doesn't make the ride any worse.
OK so the park cut off 3,000 feet of track. I guarantee you 2,000 of that 3,000 feet of track was just brake runs and slow crawls anyway. Getting rid of it doesn't make the ride any worse.
I think the park and RMC tried to keep the silhouette and keep the same visual footprint since Colossus is such an icon.
Honestly, looking at this ride, I'm kind of disappointed it even got the RMC treatment. It looks like to me the ride would've been more memorable without it. I'm disappointed because they've taken a classic, iconic ride and shortened it with no real benefit. Maybe the airtime is better but I'd rather have the classic feel of a wooden coaster.
After talking about the coaster with a few local enthusiasts, I can see why the park decided to do this.
1. Like Gwazi, the park only kept half the ride running. It probably hasn't raced since the mid-2000s. One side of the structure went to crap.
2. The ride sits off the main pathway in a (now) dead end area of the park. The renovation will likely bring people back to the area. The coaster itself never had a line outside of busy days anyway.
3. SF has pretty much neutered the original ride over the past 20+ years. The drop was shortened, the double up was replaced with a brake run (after somebody unfortunately fell off the ride), and there's been quite a bit of reprofiling done over the years to tone it down. If the ride was still in its original state, I'd be against converting it, but in its current state, I think this is for the best.
1. Like Gwazi, the park only kept half the ride running. It probably hasn't raced since the mid-2000s. One side of the structure went to crap.
2. The ride sits off the main pathway in a (now) dead end area of the park. The renovation will likely bring people back to the area. The coaster itself never had a line outside of busy days anyway.
3. SF has pretty much neutered the original ride over the past 20+ years. The drop was shortened, the double up was replaced with a brake run (after somebody unfortunately fell off the ride), and there's been quite a bit of reprofiling done over the years to tone it down. If the ride was still in its original state, I'd be against converting it, but in its current state, I think this is for the best.
So six flags does a bad job caring for a classic coaster, and then completely defaces it to make up for it? I'm not really having any of this
It beats just letting a potentially kickass world class wooden coaster rot to a shell of its former self and not doing anything about it (Ghostrider) or keep retracking it in hopes of it bringing a return (Mean Streak) or letting it deteriorate so far that there's no hope of bringing it back so they just replace it with another coaster that most enthusiasts call bland (Hercules).
You are kidding me right? This looks freakin epic!
"It's only 5000ft long, shouldve used the whole 8000"
You're joking. The thing is unusually long for a coaster, and what modern coasters are being built with two lift hills on a continuous circuit anymore?
There are 18 airtime moments.
I prefer faster more intense rides with inversions and forces, but this looks like it does, and will deliver on all fronts. Come on, a stall illusion inversion? Turns? 18 airtime moments. Speed?
What is everyone so bent about?
"It's only 5000ft long, shouldve used the whole 8000"
You're joking. The thing is unusually long for a coaster, and what modern coasters are being built with two lift hills on a continuous circuit anymore?
There are 18 airtime moments.
I prefer faster more intense rides with inversions and forces, but this looks like it does, and will deliver on all fronts. Come on, a stall illusion inversion? Turns? 18 airtime moments. Speed?
What is everyone so bent about?
Yes there is a place for classic coasters in every park, but is there a point in keeping a coaster that rarely commands a line of any sort unless the park is very busy? Is there a point in keeping a coaster that nobody ever talks about? I'm pretty sure the only reason the park kept the coaster in its former state for so long was because of its iconic status more than anything. If it wasn't so iconic, it would've been torn down with Psyclone to build something else long ago.
The park did a pretty cool sendoff to the coaster too putting out props from the movies it was featured in, putting on a full special event for the ride the day before, and giving passholders a last chance to ride the day it was supposed to close down. Not very many other parks do that sort of stuff for their old rides.
If this was being installed in BGW, everyone would be going apeshit, not critiquing it so hard. This seems like a worthy replacement for Colossus, and maintains it's charm. This is coming from someone who grew up with it. That was my primary concern, is that it would look absolutely different and not look back to the original at all.
This is exactly what was needed, and certainly has all the makings of an epic ride.
I guess you guys don't understand the dynamics of the park...
This is being installed into a park with nothing but in your face super forceful/borderline down right terrifying coasters. The first ride you see upon entering the gates is a 200ft coaster with a vertical drop with spinning seats that shoots fire at you. When coming from the north all you see is a ball of twisted steel. They NEED something that's not THAT crazy... But still maintains their reputation with the local crowd. This is the ride that is "crazy" but still not that crazy. This is a slam-dunk move for the park, and respectful to it's heritage.
This is exactly what was needed, and certainly has all the makings of an epic ride.
I guess you guys don't understand the dynamics of the park...
This is being installed into a park with nothing but in your face super forceful/borderline down right terrifying coasters. The first ride you see upon entering the gates is a 200ft coaster with a vertical drop with spinning seats that shoots fire at you. When coming from the north all you see is a ball of twisted steel. They NEED something that's not THAT crazy... But still maintains their reputation with the local crowd. This is the ride that is "crazy" but still not that crazy. This is a slam-dunk move for the park, and respectful to it's heritage.
Maybe I wouldn't be so harsh if they had left the full layout in tact & if the inversion wasn't there. Either go full out crazy and have multiple inversions, or play it safe and just remaster the existing layout. Don't do this weird in-between. I've never ridden colossus though, so I'm sure your opinion is much more seasoned than mine.
Totally stick by my original post: One side keeps the old layout and the other gets RMC-ified. I want to see a hybrid twisting and rolling over and under a retro out-and-back. One side named Colossus and one side named Twisted Colossus. I think it would had been brilliant.
Zachary said:
It's an awesome idea but I bet there would be a few problems implementing it. Not saying it's impossible but the practicality would be questionable. It also makes no sense to rebuild a traditional wooden out and back at Six flags Magic Mountain. People go there to ride arguably the most intense collection of coasters on the planet.
It is what it is... and what it is isn't bad. That's all I'm saying.
I am very happy with the announcement and I think the ride will be fantastic.
Fleshing out Zach's idea a bit, I think the could have made it one full circuit like they did and done the first half of the ride classic with maybe Topper Track and the second half crazy with Iron Horse. Though RMC has proven that Topper Track is capable of doing anything Iron Horse can do, so the whole ride could have been Topper Track. But anyway, I love the idea of combining the two sides into one layout like the park did.
Since they didn't decide to keep one half classic and one half crazy, I am still happy with the end result. It looks fantastic and I need a reason to head back out to the Mountain. Ninja is calling my name.
Fleshing out Zach's idea a bit, I think the could have made it one full circuit like they did and done the first half of the ride classic with maybe Topper Track and the second half crazy with Iron Horse. Though RMC has proven that Topper Track is capable of doing anything Iron Horse can do, so the whole ride could have been Topper Track. But anyway, I love the idea of combining the two sides into one layout like the park did.
Since they didn't decide to keep one half classic and one half crazy, I am still happy with the end result. It looks fantastic and I need a reason to head back out to the Mountain. Ninja is calling my name.
YIKES! Colossus erupted!
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