Reports out of socal are that Flashback has finally started to go under the axe and should be completely removed very soon. And from the way it sounds, they're not being very careful and pretty much destroyed any pieces of track they have removed so far so at least we dont have to deal with any re-location rumors .
In other news about MM X is now closed for rehab/Viper is supposed to re-open Jan 1 as it is currently being painted. This park has gotten a lot of cosmetic attention recently:
-Skytower, Ninja, part of Revolution, part of RRv, Viper, and X have been / are getting painted.
-Along with the paint X is also getting new trains and a tunnell.
-DejaVu's entrance was reconfigured/landscaped.
-Extensively rehabbed a few SBNO rides and got them operating again (Skytower, Orient Express, Freefall). I would assume Freefall will be gone soon though.
-Removed a few worthless clunkers in Psyclone and Flashback.
-Building Thomas Town, much needed kids area.
They still have an uphill battle, mainly with on operational kinks and they are removing a lot of their flats. SFMM didnt have many to begin with, but from what we know SF is not going to deal with the more insignificant rides that are maintenence problems so I would expect those to be replaced within the next few years with some better flats. They also still have that monorail thats been sitting there for years and is not in any shape to operate. Shapiro brought up the idea of investing on completely rehabbing it and getting it operating however clearly the budget has not gone through with that.
In my opinion X's new colors look total kick-a**
Z-Force/Flashback was a great ride when it was new here at Great America. I loved it- it was like a 4th dimensional wild mouse coaster. I liked it much better than Iron Wolf. Yet another reason to be upset with Six Flags if they destroyed it.
Picture by PURE from Theme Park Review. He also said they were just cutting off the track off and letting it drop.
Im glad their finally taking that nasty looking POS out, nothing good comes out of having a rusted out SBNO coaster at the front of the park.
I'm really sad to see Z-Force go down like this. It's too bad Six Flags let the ride get so bad over the years.
The only posts you read about are about how rough and ugly it was -- and those posts are right given how poorly it was maintained. The same thing would happen to any ride that hasn't been painted or taken care of for the last 20 years.
Of course, it wasn't always like that. When Z-Force first opened, like any new ride, it was very smooth and the light braking made the dives incredibly fun. The original shoulder harnesses were also very different. Why they changed to those bulky, hard-rubber, orange head-bangers is beyond me.
R.I.P. Z-Force. Truly a one-of-a-kind ride never to be experienced again.
not sure what OTSR's it had when it opened, but what was on it at SFMM was absolutely awful. I think if they converted it to lapbar only as it really didn't(not that it matters) even have an inversion, it would have been quite the fun and popular ride. Though I guess being so close to the waterpark it was unable to operate when the waterpark was open.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
Here's a screen grab taken taken from a news broadcast the local NBC affiliate did when Z-Force first opened at Great America (no idea who the people are). Sorry for the lousy quality, it's from a VHS tape that's over 20 years old:
I don't recall Z-Force being any louder than any other coaster. Of course, with as compact as the ride was, any noise it did make was bound to echo around within the structure.
I don't recall it making a lot of noise either while it was here at SFGA...the noise probably from being poorly maintained over the years since it left SFGA.
been a while since I rode Flashback, but I seem to remember OTSR's very similar to that that actually ended up drawing blood from my sunburned ears.
Also when I rode it for the first time in 1995 when I was shorter I dont remember having any problems on it. I remember actually looking forwards to riding it again in 2001 when I was there again, and man did it suck
I think a 5 car B&M speedcoaster train would have been just the ticket to get that ride tolerable and popular again. Well that and a coat of paint.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
FParker185 wrote:I think a 5 car B&M speedcoaster train would have been just the ticket to get that ride tolerable and popular again. Well that and a coat of paint.
The ride could not have lapbars because of clearance issues with the structure, which is why the trains had such big sides and restrictive OTSRs.
The ride did have lab bars in addition to OSTRs but they weren't individual bars for each rider. Rather, there were two lap bars per train that were wide and covered the two riders sitting on either side. My screen grab doesn't show it, but I can post another one.
Again, IMHO, the trains weren't the problem -- the long-term maintenance of the ride was the problem.
Is there anyone out there who worked Z-Force (ops or maintenance) while it was at Great America? It'd be great to hear from someone could actually shed some light on the maintenance aspect. Since the ride was technically a one-of-a-kind prototype -- I'm sure there were problems that maybe could not be solved.
One possible example I can think of is that the ride was heavily braked while at SFMM. The last time I rode it in 1994 the trains almost came to a complete stop on the mid-course brake runs (which RUINED the dive sensation) so I'm curious if there was a structural issue or if they were responding to complaints about the ride being so rough.
If anyone finds any other pics of the ride being dismantled, please post up links.
Well if that was in fact the case with clearance issues, then the park is definately making the right move. Has problems you cant fix, cant make it comfortable, cant operate it for 3/4 of the year, scrap iron is a good move in my opinion.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
"Sucked" and "roughness" are related opinions, but one doesn't make the other true. If a ride is rough, then it probably does suck. If a ride sucks, it isn't necessarily rough.
Nobody in this tread has said the ride was rough when it was new. And if people think the ride sucked when it was new, that's their opinion, which is fine. I didn't do an exhaustive search to see if others said it was rough when new.
I'm going off my personal experience and observations. In the seasons the ride was at Great America, I don't recall it being rough because friends and I rode it dozens of times. If it were that awful, none of us would have kept riding it. But that was also 18+ years ago and maybe I'm just being nostalgic.
However, when I last rode the ride at SFMM in '94, it was horrible and it was rough -- and it sounds like it stayed horrible through out its reamining tenure at SFMM.
Note the "IMHO" in my post -- that's why I asked for some input from anyone who may have more knowledge about maintenance of the ride than I do. In my opinion, its pretty easy to tell how much attention a ride gets by how it looks. And given how rotten the ride looked at SFMM, the logical conclusion is that it wasn't taken care of, resulting in the roughness.
Either way -- it's still too bad to see a unique ride like this go down. Unlike Deja Vu, at least, Z-Force lasted longer than 6 years -- even if you don't count the SBNO years...
The ride did not suck when it was new at Great America! I remember it being very smooth and I never banged my head on the shoulder harnesses. I remember riding it several times in one day with my friend in 1986 or 87, and I wouldn't have done that if it was a painful ride. We rode it so much that day, that at night, I was having dreams of being flipped over time and time again! True story! I thought Z-force was a blast, and am very sad to see it destroyed like this. I wish somebody somewhere would've saved and restored it.
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True story! I thought Z-force was a blast, and am very sad to see it destroyed like this. I wish somebody somewhere would've saved and restored it.
