The legendary Great American Scream Machine (Six Flags G.A.)

The legendary Great American Scream Machine, even though it is not about the serious culture, it was become one of American people's symbols, so that someone has also dedicated the tribute. When in May of 1989 I saw on television its spot, I was a kid, and I wanted to give me from my parents a trip to America, only to ride the GASM. Not so much fun, but for the reason that it was one of the roller coaster more "artistically" well-made in the world (I remember the Italian advertisement, but it is not there on youtube).
I read (not sad news because these are not the bad things that happen in the world; now the world is French, recalling with maximum respect the victims of Charlie Hebdo) news that on July 18, 2010 GASM was taken down to be replaced by another modern rollercoaster.
Does anyone know if it was dismantled to be sold in another park in some other part of the world, or has been completely erased from the face of the earth?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Scream_Machine_%28Six_Flags_Great_Adventure%29

^I recall hearing that they scrapped the metal. However there are a few arrow loopers very similar to GASM.

I remember that ride. It was fun as hell and rarely had a long line right before it was taken down. Once I decided to marathon and ride 7 times in a row, once for each inversion

wy was it taken down at all ?

@Coaster Hero. Thanks for the infos.

In this website there is still a great NL reconstruction. I strongly advise against to cancel it because it is very good documentation both technical and virtual!

See here:

http://www.coastercrazy.com/exchange/detail.php?track_id=9331

mama123452 wrote:

wy was it taken down at all ?

To make room for a crappier coaster that wasn't even new.

^Hell no, I never ridden scream machine but i've ridden green lantern and I thought it was awesome, despite it being a recycled coaster

I've ridden Scream Machine what maybe 15 times as GAdv has been one of my home parks for a while...don't think you were missing much. The loops were very intense for better or worse, the transition into the brakes was pretty harsh, the pacing through the batwing was fairly slow, sometimes it stopped completely on the midcourse brakes and other times it still had some speed (depended on the day and/or year). Sometimes the trims after the first loop were on, but for a while they turned them off completely. I remember the tracking being fairly smooth and the transitions being the source of any headbanging. Trains were also not tall people friendly. Rode front row 2x (they were giving everyone double rides) on the last day of operation, almost didn't want to take the second ride but figured might as well given the line was so long and I would never ride it again.

Always thought it was a cool/iconic ride and heard people talking about it before I was even into coasters and sometimes after, but it was not up to par with the other coasters in the park. I haven't ridden Green Lantern in a couple years, but I think it's pretty fun and it was smooth for me. My only real issues were that the trains/riding position are uncomfortable, and the Gs are high but the transitions are smoother than I like for a standup. I'd prefer the opposite, not so high positives on a Standup, and quick transitions. The first drop is weak but in particular the hop before the MCBR is really fun. Surprised to hear people are getting headbanging, my head is pretty high in relation to the restraints so that's not usually a problem for me, but I think it tracked fine when I rode it.

I've ridden most of the Arrow custom loopers (SFGAm Shockwave, Demon, KI Vortex, GASM, SFDL Viper, Anaconda and Drachen Fire).

The only one that was really any good was Drachen Fire, although it was certainly a violent ride. It was also *interesting*, which is more than I can say about most of the rest. Vortex is decent, and at least has a straight first drop. Viper at DL is probably the smoothest of the bunch, but also one of the least thrilling. The SF 7 loopers generally brought out the worst in the Arrow trackwork, and the layouts and pacing are actually pretty meh.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I rode Shockwave a bunch (almost the same ride, the transition into the MCBR was worse than on GASM though. They made a loop go the other way on GASM to give it more room and make that transition less violent.

The three loops were frigging amazing, but the rest of the ride was pretty not-so-good. The batwing did the stupid "lets banking it exactly 180 degrees at the top" thing so it would always give you a good whack, and the corkscrews were standard Arrow corkscrews that everyone has experienced. The turn after the corkscrews was really awful if I recall as well because it was lumpy and Arrow shouldn't "do" lumpy turns ever.

Then again what always mystified me is why the Arrow suspendeds had such nice flowing banking (look at it some time, seriously) and then the Arrow loopers built a year later or the same year had garbage transitions.

You missed a couple powerful loops, but nothing much beyond that. Also it wouldn't surprise me if GASM had a zero tolerance earrings rule like Shockwave because earrings owuld get ripped out if they jammed in the harness.

Coasterkidmwm wrote:

Then again what always mystified me is why the Arrow suspendeds had such nice flowing banking (look at it some time, seriously) and then the Arrow loopers built a year later or the same year had garbage transitions.

.

I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the way the track itself was designed and manufactured rather than than the design of each ride. Considering Vekoma used the same track and was also pretty rough, but both Schwarzkopfs I've ridden we both pretty smooth.

This ride was my first big coaster and I agree with you that it was very beautiful. The way you could see it standing high above the "Boardwalk" area of the park was just incredible, it dwarfed everything in sight and really was visually amazing in a way that Green Lantern couldn't match. Unfortunately it was scrapped in 2010, after ShockWave at SFGAm couldn't be sold they didn't bother trying to sell this one. I remember how when you walked to the station you went right under the 2nd corkscrew and the way the trains floated out of that and over a hump before stopping seemed so graceful.

CoasterKid is right though in many respects, the ride had a zero tolerance policy for earings etc. since it was very rough in it's later years. The ride also, unlike ShockWave to the best of my knowledge, would come to a complete and jarring stop during the MCBR. This combined with the tight turn into the MCBR really made for an interesting, to say the least, experience. I also remember that in it's final two seasons, when it was sponsored by Axe and Got2BeGlued, the non ad-wrapped car had a very loose front left seat restraint.

Either way for better or for worse I loved that ride and I am sad to see it go, I still have the 2010 park map framed and hanging on my wall to remind me of the good times I had. I still remember how great it looked at night, all lit up, with the train lights on. Ohh the memories.

@
Coaster Hero
mama123452
SkyArrow
mrcrolly
dcs221
TylerE
Coasterkidmwm
CKidd

Many thanks for considering my thread on GASM document.


But, before I opened this thread, I had to inform me of this:

http://www.amusementtoday.com/2011/09/26/industry-legend-ron-toomer-dies-at-81/

... i did not know and I'm really sorry

However, in this article:

http://themeparknostalgia.blogspot.it/2013/08/shockwave-six-flags-great-america-june.html

and in this

http://www.coasterforce.com/cfforums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=34941

... I understood GASM was released before with the name of Shockwave at Six Flags "Great America" on 1988 (always art opera of R. T. and it was closed also (1995).

Shockwave and GASM were similar, but not identical.

rutherfordio wrote:

@
Coaster Hero
mama123452
SkyArrow
mrcrolly
dcs221
TylerE
Coasterkidmwm
CKidd

Well I'm offended! I spill my guts out to you and I don't even get a shout out. Harumph!

[Paradox]

I miss Arrow and their messed up transitions. The things they could have done if they were still in business today!

[TTD03]

It was replaced with Green Lantern, which no one likes...

@CoasterJed and all

Automatically thank you and all the members who answer me!

I remember always wanting to ride this as it was the only arrow looper in the area, but my one and only trip to great adventure was the year Green Lantern opened. If I can find the SD card I actually have a picture of a piece of GASM used as jungle gym in the safari

It's not my favorite, but I like Green Lantern.

i rode it once and didn't enjoy any of the 2 min of pain that i went through, now vortex was amazing and same with alot of other arrows i have been on, but this is one i wont miss,

and 7 million is expensive .. roflmao

Sad to say that a ton of OLD "Kingda Ka" on-ride videos still show GASM alive! The iconic vertical loop ahead - seen from Kingda Ka's large airtime hill...

Where do you see those I want to see it but can't find it

TTD03 wrote:

It was replaced with Green Lantern, which no one likes...

Well then Kentucky would love to have it back.

No Florida can take it
Edit-
Found this awesome video you guys might like

Green Lantern is brutal for me at least. The headbanging is really bad because I am rather tall, but not to the extent that my head is above the restraints. The g's are also painful on my ankles, as stated above. But GASM was also rough from what I remember.