SFFT 2018 - Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster: RMC Raptor

Not only did SFOG make an announcment today, SFFT announced that Powersurge, the park's Intamin Shoot the chutes water ride, will close forever on July 23rd, 2017. This has been heavy speculated by people in the Texas Thrill Seekers group that it would be closing and as well Jeffrey Siebert has been fueling about a closure over the past couple of days/weeks.

We hate goodbyes but all good things must come to an end: Power Surge will be powering down and closing forever on July 23, 2017. Get soaked one more time and say farewell!

Post by CoasterCrazy.com.

matthew6969 wrote:

SFFT announced that Powersurge, the park's Intamin Shoot the chutes water ride, will close forever on July 23rd, 2017.

Texas is almost the worst possible place to close one of those. Unless RMC shoot the chutes is going to be a thing.

[mkingy]

Barrel Roll splashdown

^ Oh! One of the elements that we've dreamed of seeing - it'd be so much fun!

[Paradox]

There will be an announcement tomorrow at 2 pm CDT on the park's facebook!

[Mikey]

I predict a Huss Frisbee, Chance Choas, or a Justice League Ride.

Power Surge cuts hardcore into the cliff wall. If they remove it without a meaningful replacement, then it would almost be a Six Flags announcement.

World's First Single Rail Coaster
Debuting in Spring 2018: WONDER WOMAN Golden Lasso Coaster, the world's first single rail coaster, joins our Super Hero line up of BATMAN: The Ride and SUPERMAN: Krypton Coaster to complete the trilogy.

Six Flags announced today that Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster will open next spring at its Fiesta Texas location in San Antonio. The park says the new attraction won't look or behave like any thrill machine that preceded it. That's because instead of riding a set of two rails like traditional coasters, its narrow trains would soar along one 15.5-inch-wide steel track. It will be the world's first single-rail coaster.

"I expect it to be crazy smooth," says Larry Chickola, Six Flags VP and chief corporate engineer. "And crazy fun. There will be extremely quick twists and turns ??? quicker and smoother than regular coasters."

Before settling on "single-rail" to describe the new genre of ride, the engineer referred to it as a "monorail" coaster. But Chickola said the designation might conjure thoughts of the slow and poky vehicles used to transport passengers at airports and elsewhere. Wonder Woman, he insists, will be the opposite of poky: a "high-thrill and edgy experience." Above all, however, he emphasizes that it should be velvety smooth.

Why is Chickola forecasting a super-smooth ride? Traditional wooden coasters are known for knocking passengers around. Their rickety, rough-and-tumble ride experience is part of their charm. Steel-tracked coasters can mitigate some of the roughness, but even they have an inherent problem: Because they ride on two rails, the slightest misalignment between the left and right sides can result in moments of roughness. With Wonder Woman's single rail, nothing could get out of sync.

The coaster will be "visually stunning," says Jeffrey Siebert, president of Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It will be set against the multi-hued quarry wall that surrounds the park. Visitors may be surprised when they first encounter the ride. "It's just going to look wrong, but in a nice way," Siebert adds. Instead of a wooden coaster's lattice-like timber structure, Wonder Woman will have steel supports. But its ultra-thin track won't require as many supports as a typical steel coaster. Chickola says it will look like a thin ribbon of track suspended in the sky.


The eight passengers aboard the coaster's trains will have unique views as well. Each car will have a single seat. There won't be anybody sitting to the left or right. And when they look to either side, riders won't see any track either. The single rail, a scant few inches wider than a foot-long sub, will be underneath the train. If passengers lean over the cars, they'll see straight down to the ground. "You're going to feel like your gliding through the air," says Chickola.

Wonder Woman will climb a 113-foot hill, drop about 100 feet straight down at 90-degrees, and hit a top speed of 52 mph. It will include overbanked turns and the free-floating sensation known as airtime. Among its three inversions will be a "180-degree stall," in which the train will roll halfway over and suspend riders for a few agonizing moments before it unrolls and returns them right-side-up.


Siebert says that it is going to be "odd to go upside down on such a tiny track. It will feel like you're riding Wonder Woman's whip." The ride's queue will include a crashed airplane, Greco-Greek architecture, and other references to the comic book world of the female superhero, whose popularity surged after the huge success of the recent Wonder Woman movie.

The stall inversion is a signature element of the coaster's designer and manufacturer, Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). The innovative ride company has developed its own take on coaster rails, which it calls "IBox" track. Instead of the tubular steel track that is used on traditional steel coasters, IBox track is flat on top and configured like the letter "I." The trains' side friction wheels, which help tether the cars to the rails, fit into the track's I-shaped channels. The unique track may account for the especially smooth rides that RMC coasters deliver.

The New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas was the first coaster to feature IBox track. The park chain followed that with Iron Rattler at Fiesta Texas. Both of the rides were traditional wooden coasters that had not aged well and were notoriously rough. RMC left the wooden structures intact, but removed the original tracks and replaced them with IBox tracks. Known as hybrid wooden-steel coasters, the two repurposed Six Flags rides are now gloriously smooth.

RMC's designers took the basic concepts of their IBox track and developed the single-rail system, which the ride company refers to as "raptor track." Using the next evolution of the breakthrough IBox track, Wonder Woman may whip its park mate, Iron Rattler, for slithery smoothness.

Source

Here's the ride's official website.

I think capacity might be a hold up for a major Six Flags park, but that's not enough for me to stop squealing like a little girl for a single moment. This is beyond what I was hoping for from the first RMC single-rail. Back row is going to be stupid good. And sitting in a car alone is going to make for such a comfortable experience. Yes lines are gonna get scary sometimes, but that's why you strategize your visits. When I went to SFFT, I walked onto Iron Rattler 9 times. Crap happens

*vibrates*

Looks like a Hot Wheels track.

[Mikey]

Oh, damn. I love it when I am so wrong that I am pleasantly surprised with the announcement.

In b 4 all of the capacity nightmare complaints lol. This looks amazing, especially with that setting. Finally a ride worth buying a Flash Pass for.

I am stunned! I don't think any of us expected this. The layout is so tight and that drop is going to be SICK, like exactly 90 degrees with that length of train.

According to RMC's Raptor track preview video, the theoretical capacity of the two train operation model is 400 riders per hour.

[Paradox]

I like the layout it's short but packs a punch. I'm also one of the capacity complainers since running 2 8-people trains with Six Flags operations and no MCBR seems like a nightmare.

For the capacity nay-sayers

[mkingy]

chickenbowl wrote:

For the capacity nay-sayers

Ride time for this (lift to brakes) is definitely a sub 1 minute to achieve any kind throughput.

[Paradox]

Even with 3 trains and a moving station the capacity on these things are quite laughable. Ride looks short but fun though. Looks like we're getting vest restraints as well.

Does anyone else notice a certain sequence of elements on there that was at their testing facility

[Dirk_Ermen]

Wow, this is going to suck on queuing. Single seat cars + short coaster + Six Flags loading/unloading = oh hell no.
24 people in maybe 2-3 minute cycle? 720 rph in the most ideal conditions.

Oh, and worlds first single rail rollercoaster? Did they suddenly forget about Steeplechase and such?

[Oscar]

Me gusta!

I still don't understand why they didn't make these 2 or even 3 wide.

[Paradox]

TylerE wrote:

I still don't understand why they didn't make these 2 or even 3 wide.

The Trex track and trains can accommodate 2-across seating.

[Turbo]

This is Raptor track, not Trex track. Trex probably would have been a better solution for a park of this size.

Looks freakin' cool with the Superman Krypton "Cliffside" Coaster!!! In a word, stunning!

I love how this looks. I hate the name. Why is six flags naming coasters "Blah Blah coaster"? Just leaving it at Wonder Woman is perfect. Its not like the GP is going to call it by anything but wonder woman