American Eagle celebrates 30 years.

[Chitown]

The wooden giant that shattered records when it debuted celebrates 3 decades of thrilling riders.

American Eagle

[tribar]

Cool

[Goku1910]

I love the Eagle!

[Cole]

American Eagle, when running well, is the best ride in the park. Way underrated.


-Cole

[Necropolis]

^Yes. Definitely underrated. American Eagle is in my top 5 favorite coasters at the park. My friends really don't like it for their dumb reasons but I love it. Oh man, the dips on it are awesome plus going fast= crazy fun time. Plus the wait time on it can be either a real long time or a real short time. Its always one or the other. Personally I can't really makeup my mind whether a topper track would be better for the ride or not. I think I wanna say that a topper track prevents the ride from shaking?

[woohoodude11]

Personally I can't really makeup my mind whether a topper track would be better for the ride or not. I think I wanna say that a topper track prevents the ride from shaking?

Topper Track will make the ride smoother-than-Raging-Bull smooth, as well as increase it's top speed by a couple. Look up El Toro or the New Texas Giant if you haven't already. The helix would be sick with topper track.

[RBullFan97]

^Yes. Definitely underrated. American Eagle is in my top 5 favorite coasters at the park. My friends really don't like it for their dumb reasons but I love it. Oh man, the dips on it are awesome plus going fast= crazy fun time. Plus the wait time on it can be either a real long time or a real short time. Its always one or the other. Personally I can't really makeup my mind whether a topper track would be better for the ride or not. I think I wanna say that a topper track prevents the ride from shaking?

Same here. Almost all of my friends dislike it mainly because it's "old" and "boring", but how on earth can 66 mph be boring?! I love the American Eagle, from the drops and hills to the sharp turns and the airtime. It is number 4 on my favorite coasters at Great America for a reason. And maybe Topper Track will shut people up about the ride's bumpiness. Thanks Six Flags and News Sun for paying tribute to this ride's awesomeness.

[Goku1910]

Personally I can't really makeup my mind whether a topper track would be better for the ride or not. I think I wanna say that a topper track prevents the ride from shaking?

Topper Track will make the ride smoother-than-Raging-Bull smooth, as well as increase it's top speed by a couple. Look up El Toro or the New Texas Giant if you haven't already. The helix would be sick with topper track.

Texas Giant isn't Topper Track, that's an H-Rail type which required new trains and wheel fittings. Topper Track does not require special trains. If Eagle gets topper track, I'd be disappointed. It would make it a very boring ride.

[FParker185]

I still don't understand how Topper track would make it boring. They wouldn't change the layout at all, if that makes it boring for you, then that means it's already boring for you now. The average rider probably wont notice any difference at all. 1/3 of the ride already has almost entirely steel track, the new stuff probably wouldn't feel any different from what you find from the first drop until the barrel.

[Goku1910]

There's a difference between Steel track and Topper track. Topper track is considered wood/steel hybrid. These hybrids are ridiculously smooth for a wooden coaster. American Eagle vibrating and jerking you around is just part of the experience. If it was topper track, it would be so smooth that I'd find it boring...Especially in Eagle's slow spots, like the top of the barrel and entering the Helix.

[Necropolis]

If a topper track will bring in more people then I can see the park installing it. Ive already heard complaints from people saying that Eagle is too shaky and creaks too much and blaming it on the ride's age. I keep telling em that, thats how wooden coasters are structured and purposely meant to do that but they are stubborn as a mule. Plus they add that with it's old age and creaking and shaking that it could probably break or something related to that. Again, I tell em thats almost impossible because maintenance checks all coasters a lot of times. Too many too count probably. They still don't believe me. Its pretty much all the reasons my friends do not go on the ride. If it wasn't for me wanting to go on the coaster, they would never ride it. But yeah I stick to my first sentence lol.

[woohoodude11]

If a topper track will bring in more people then I can see the park installing it. Ive already heard complaints from people saying that Eagle is too shaky and creaks too much and blaming it on the ride's age. I keep telling em that, thats how wooden coasters are structured and purposely meant to do that but they are stubborn as a mule. Plus they add that with it's old age and creaking and shaking that it could probably break or something related to that. Again, I tell em thats almost impossible because maintenance checks all coasters a lot of times. Too many too count probably. They still don't believe me. Its pretty much all the reasons my friends do not go on the ride. If it wasn't for me wanting to go on the coaster, they would never ride it. But yeah I stick to my first sentence lol.

I can understand people's fears of woodies...regardless if the ride is checked constantly ain't no one checking every single board for structural integrity. Albeit, the odds of that being a factor are slim and none but you get the picture. Here's something that hasn't been brought up yet...SFGAm is making a big stink about the 30 year anniversary...why no fresh paint??

[FParker185]

It still makes no sense what so ever to me. No one has ever ridden on topper track before, so you have no idea what it feels like. And if it's boring with topper track, that means it's equally as boring now.

And all of Eagles steel track is Wood/Steel Hybrid already. It's a Steel I beam, with 2 layers of wood and an extra wide strip of road steel on top, all bolted together through the I beam, and it's all welded on steel track ties/supports. Topper track just reverses that.

Basically all Topper Track is is an extra thick piece of road steel, it's still rests on and is completely supported by the wooden track bed. I personally think any ride with it is going to ride exactly like a wooden coaster is supposed to, just like all wooden coasters feel the year they open, nice and smooth. Also maybe with Topper Track in both helices SFGAm can finally remove ALL the trim's from Eagle. Most here are probably far to young to remember it or have experienced it, but all the CCI's in their opening years were butter smooth and flew from start to finish, if we are really lucky and Topper Track is well constructed, maybe, just maybe American Eagle can be "CCI Smooth" Just hopefully unlike CCI coasters, Topper stays smooth

[Necropolis]

Perhaps they will do Eagle backwards a decent number of times this season???

[Goku1910]

..........

[Cole]

^Actually, if Eagle Blue got alot of Topper I believe it could run backwards without alot of damage to the trains. I doubt SF would actually do that, but you can never count anything out these days.


-Cole

[tribar]

That would be cool. I was also too much of a wimp to got on the Blue side Backwards so i would love to do that

[FParker185]

Articulated PTC's are not designed to run backwards. Topper Track or regular it will cause damage.

[Necropolis]

I hope they just don't hype the 30th anniversary for now because the park just opened, and then by the time Frightfest rolls around, they'll forget about it. They really should run it backwards at least twice this season. What else can they do to really celebrate the 30th anniversary?? I haven't seen anything aside from the opening day cheap ticket deal. I really hope thats not the only thing they did for the anniversary, or else that would be kind of lame.

[tribar]

AE isn't the only one having an aniversey this year.
V2-10
SFGAm, Demon Whizzer and others-35
SF-50
Condor-20
Tornado-5

[Necropolis]

^Well then, this calls for more deals, surprises, and any other awesome things to celebrate anniversaries.

[woohoodude11]

AE isn't the only one having an aniversey this year.
V2-10
SFGAm, Demon Whizzer and others-35
SF-50
Condor-20
Tornado-5

Quite off topic...but did anyone else notice the neon on top of Condor missing??

[Cole]

It was gone last year too. Budget Cuts, I guess.


-Cole

[DejaVu2001]

^ and ^^ To conclude this off topic discussion, the letters have been back on Condor since Wednesday, but they aren't lighting up yet.

[RBull4life]

AE isn't the only one having an aniversey this year.
V2-10
SFGAm, Demon Whizzer and others-35
SF-50
Condor-20
Tornado-5

Technically, I don't think you can count Demon as 35, since it was Turn of the Century when the park opened, and a different ride.