It's Official: Texas Giant Gets A Makeover!

Nah. How about a wormhole instead?

Coaster fans, as owner of RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) group we have installed two of the Intamin tracks. We have seen the need to develop a track that can withstand the forces being applied to it. This track will be a smooth ride using the re-profiled wood structure. It is also going to have elements that cannot be done with conventional wood track. It is going to be exciting and new. I am sure you will enjoy the new experience.

Um, Didn't it say somewhere that it will have more airtime?! If that is the case, I see no need to complain.

[jayman]

i can understand the need to please the general public. many of us here would MUCH rather have the traditional rough out of control feeling of a wood tracked coaster any day over the new elements and smoothness. the smoothness and new elements are not for us, it's for the people who think about roller coasters for a few hours a year.. i,for one, can accept that. i will , however scream bloody murder if this happens to ghostrider.
as of now i'm pretty much off the hook when it comes to thinking i'd like to go to texas. that said i must say that it does look like you've come up with an ingenious way to keep the general public interested in rides with wooden structures. .

They better not touch my love Eagle.

[slosprint]

Or Boulder Dash... I'm not sure why they would though... Go ahead and touch Mean Streak, it needs it.

^Agreed.

For Six Flags, Rattler might be next.

[Mikey]

rmcgroup,

Just so you know I don't blame your company for the demise of the Texas Giant. I just hope that you can live up to the legend that once was the pile of wood you are now building upon. I have vowed never to return to SFOT, however I may make an exception.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I think you care a bit too much Mikey.

Anyways good job on the ride so far I hope it comes out a success. I wouldn't much call it a transformation, I'd call it a new ride. No need for everyone to be railing on the company so hard, I like what they're doing.

What's the point of vowing if you're so quick to make an exception? If you say it, mean it, or don't waste our time.

Originally posted by rmcgroup

Coaster fans, as owner of RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) group we have installed two of the Intamin tracks. We have seen the need to develop a track that can withstand the forces being applied to it. This track will be a smooth ride using the re-profiled wood structure. It is also going to have elements that cannot be done with conventional wood track. It is going to be exciting and new. I am sure you will enjoy the new experience.

I'm surprised and pleased to see a RMC representative doing the rounds, reaching out to coaster fans. You didn't really answer any of our questions though, such as how it's going to be smooth if the sections are straight as one article noted. As coaster geeks and simulators we get off on the technical details, if you come back around here we'd be glad for some more in-depth info.

I'm glad your company saw a chance to innovate and are taking what is probably a huge risk, for renovating a large and once well regarded woodie using unproven technology. I hope it turns out well.

EDIT: Fixed misplaced comma.

Originally posted by rmcgroup

Coaster fans, as owner of RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction) group we have installed two of the Intamin tracks. We have seen the need to develop a track that can withstand the forces being applied to it. This track will be a smooth ride using the re-profiled wood structure. It is also going to have elements that cannot be done with conventional wood track. It is going to be exciting and new. I am sure you will enjoy the new experience.

I just noticed that you're actually from RMC. [sillyme]

Anyways, it seems like a great concept. I just don't want to see this on almost every wooden coaster.

I actually thought about something like this a while ago (before this was announced) as an idea to build indoor woodie-styled rides. I hope it is applied to that.

[jayman]

again , the vast majority of park visitors do not care about the things we do. to people who are sincere about their love of classic rollercoasters texas giant was well regarded. to "darlene and her grandkids who go once a year" it was not well regarded. it is not being renovated.. it is being built as something completely different, something that will have way more appeal to the general public, which is who six flags has to care about. i dont think they are taking a risk at all.. i too am grateful that you reached out to people who's input truly has no bearing on said technology .. for what it's supposed to do i'm pretty convinced it will be a huge success.. which is what scares this coaster geek more than anything..

[Oscar]

It will be a huge success because they will market it as a total redesign and the general public will rush on over to ride the "new" ride. Six Flags doesn't make much money from us, the true fans. The reason is because most of us buy a season pass and go multiple times a year with it. Six Flags much more prefers to target the much larger, general public crowd which might go 2-3 times a year and buy a ticket each time. They generate more revenue. Also the GP tends to buy much more over priced crap, err I mean over priced merchandise than hard core fans. Will this work for SF? I think it will.

^That's also why Magiquest is perfect for Great America (and any other Six Flags parks that may be getting it).

[slosprint]

Originally posted by Zazu Yen
EDIT: Fixed misplaced comma.

It will be a success only if it continually brings in, and keeps in, enough people to the park to justify it's cost of construction and ongoing maintenance. We, collectively as coaster enthusiasts, are not a significant number such as can influence this one way or the other. I'm sure SF will advertise the poop out of it and that alone will bring big numbers at first so they can call it a success publicly. But if it closes within, say, five years due to low ridership or mechanical difficulties it will be a failure on the books, and every amusement park company who's watching knows this. When they do something this expensive it's for the long run, it must justify itself for years or it's not feasible.

RMC is taking a big risk not because of Texas Giant, but because they have sunk a huge amount of research and development into a new ride technology that might not work as planned. They are not a big company, if this fails, even if they haven't helped underwrite the renovation, it's going to hurt them.

Note that I called Texas Giant once highly regarded. I never got a chance to ride it but my understanding is that at it's opening it was quite popular with enthusiast and the general public. However it got rougher and rougher and depending on who you ask SF either couldn't, or just didn't, get it comfortable to ride again even after re-tracking it more than once. Thus the general public started avoiding it and it could no longer justify it's running costs.

Maybe we can have taller woodie styled rides, like this:

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Originally posted by Jonny Richey

They better not touch my love Eagle.

And someone posts this on Great America's facebook page...

"why dont they tear down the american eagle and make it out of steel and make it go faster thats what i would do personally take an original and make it better"

It's the GP. Most of them are retarded.

I'd bet, within the same age range, GP intelligence > that of "coaster enthusiasts."

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by Jonny Richey

Maybe we can have taller woodie styled rides, like this:

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And we could do corkscrews, loops and all other elements that steel coasters do...

No thanks, wooden coasters should keep their own more rough experience. That's why I don't like the Intamin woodies. They are too smooth and calculated out...

Coaster fans, thank you for your responses. The track you have seen is straight because it is the track for the lift hill. I will post pictures of the first corner track on Tues. The Texas Giant will have more air time. The track is going to be smoother because of the make up of it and the technology we have put into it. If you have any other questions we will be happy to answer them. Again, I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you ride the new hybrid.

Thx. Fred

Thanks for participating in our topic like you are. It really is helpful to us. I cant wait to see how this turns out.

Originally posted by rmcgroup

Coaster fans, thank you for your responses. The track you have seen is straight because it is the track for the lift hill. I will post pictures of the first corner track on Tues. The Texas Giant will have more air time. The track is going to be smoother because of the make up of it and the technology we have put into it. If you have any other questions we will be happy to answer them. Again, I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you ride the new hybrid.

Thx. Fred

So is the new track going to be the only new thing in the Texas Giant or is there any special FX going to be added as well?