Just got back from riding Goliath, and it is an amazing coaster. Definitely my #1 or 2 woodie against the Voyage, though they are so different it is tough to compare. It is short, but very intense and fast. The drop is every bit of 85 degrees, the airtime hill is definitely ejector air, and the zero G stall is a very neat element. I was smiling the entire ride. Alan Schilke was on the ride platform when we got into the station.
We got in line at 10:36, six minutes after chain drop, and still had to wait 2 hours, 15 minutes. Those saying the line is 4 hours are wrong, as the line was a bit shorter when we got off than when we got in line. Dispatch intervals were around 2:30, so the line moved slowly. They checked all seatbelts first, then the lap restraints could be lowered, and they checked those. I am 6 feet tall and found the trains very comfortable. I did not notice the shin restraints at all.
Definitely a great addition to my home park, and my new favorite ride here.
ilrider wrote:Just got back from riding Goliath, and it is an amazing coaster. Definitely my #1 or 2 woodie against the Voyage, though they are so different it is tough to compare. It is short, but very intense and fast. The drop is every bit of 85 degrees, the airtime hill is definitely ejector air, and the zero G stall is a very neat element. I was smiling the entire ride. Alan Schilke was on the ride platform when we got into the station.
We got in line at 10:36, six minutes after chain drop, and still had to wait 2 hours, 15 minutes. Those saying the line is 4 hours are wrong, as the line was a bit shorter when we got off than when we got in line. Dispatch intervals were around 2:30, so the line moved slowly. They checked all seatbelts first, then the lap restraints could be lowered, and they checked those. I am 6 feet tall and found the trains very comfortable. I did not notice the shin restraints at all.
Definitely a great addition to my home park, and my new favorite ride here.
Good review, I am glad the line was a manageable two hours, and not three or four. I plan on going on July 4th, and arriving very early (8am or before), and doing the ERT on that day and getting to Goliath before the 10:30am chain drop, hopefully me and my group get to it fast enough and hopefully we get a line that is two hours or less. I look forward to riding it!
Just got back today. There is a test seat. The crew was averaging about 3 minutes between dispatches and the line maxed out at about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The overflow queue never completely filled.
Regarding the single rider line, the second time I rode today, the security guard at the bottom of the stairs collecting the boarding passes asked if I was a single rider, and then sent me up the Flash Pass lane. Still no official signage.
By far the best roller coaster at SFGAm, but the airtime wasn't as forceful as the other RMCs. New Texas Giant and Outlaw Run made me think I was going to have bruises on my thighs I'd rank Goliath 4th overall behind New Texas Giant, Outlaw Run, and El Toro.
I was put in the back row with my brother, so we got the fastest seat. The drop was amazing, took our breaths away. The overbank was a turn, then practically a second first drop. The airtime hill, oh, was amazing. The ejector weightlessness of a good RMC. The Diveloop had some intricate architectural design inside. The best element was probably the inverted Zero-G stall. Inverted weightlessness is one of the best feeling anyone can experience on a coaster. The twist and shout was pretty good. It was kinda slow, but still good. The picture was kinda iffy. They didn't put any "Colloseum" or "Gladiator" border, heck, it doesn't even say Goliath! But we still bought it.
The only bad parts of the experience were that it was a 2+ hour wait, it was a long dispatch, and my bro got cut in the back of the leg. When they say keep your feet flat on the ground, KEEP YOUR FEET FLAT ON THE GROUND! Other than that, it was an amazing ride! Easily #1 or #2 in the park. We did notice that the employee driveway did get a roof over it.
Also, I know this part should go into the GP thread, but this was just too funny. So as we were waiting in line, someone asked if American Eagle was taller than Goliath. <Insert Facepalm Here>
Haha....that is my friend's friend who got them tickets for Media Day. She won them on a radio show and took him with her. That's the funniest thing I have ever seen!!!
CoasterMike wrote:From what I heard, they are expecting 6 hour lines tomorrow for Goliath!!! If the line is that one, NO ONE will like it and will get negative reviews because so many people waited in line for 6 hours for a short ride.
Also it seems like not too many people are liking Goliath. I knew the ride would be underrated.
I know you made this comment yesterday and you may have addressed it since but I'm reading through and your comment caught my eye.
I was at the park earlier today and left about 3pm so I don't know what the lines like were later or now or will be this weekend but when I was there, it seemed like the line never exceeded two or three hours so not bad all things considered. Anyone expecting a line shorter than that for opening day for such a much anticipated ride just isn't being realistic.
Also, it seemed like most people enjoyed the ride that I saw. Most were clapping, cheering, etc. Every train that pulled in, you could hear mostly positive comments. So I don't know where you the idea that most people didn't like it. Even the length which is short is the norm for Six Flags Great America so most fans probably wouldn't think of it after Iron Wolf, Batman, Superman, X-Flight, etc.
johnntay01 wrote:was wanting to know if there is a test seat for Goliath or is it going to be a wait in line for 4 hours and find out you don't fit kind of ride know this has been talked about a lot but haven't seen any thing about a test chair
This may also be addressed later on but there is a test seat I saw somewhere. I will say that in my opinion, the restraint is roomier than either American Eagle or Viper. It was fairly comfortable by comparison and seems like it would be more accommodating than either of those when it comes to bigger riders. Even myself, I usually only have a click or two to spare on Raging Bull but didn't feel like I felt even close to being too big for Goliath. The seatbelt seemed to have plenty of room for me to cinch it tight and the bar went down fairly far it seemed. Hope that helps.
^ Roomier does not really apply here. Viper and Eagle don't have a "minimum" position, if it locks, you're good. Goliath's have to be down quite a bit for the control system to allow dispatch.
"Roomier" isn't the only comment I made though, that was just a part of what I wrote. I did my best to help but also made a comparison to Raging Bull which does have a minimum, at least by the marking on the bottom of the restraint 'pole'. If it were a click or two higher, it wouldn't be visible. I also mentioned the test seat but thanks for picking just one part of my comment to mention.
Jodon wrote:^ FYI, there's only an 18 foot difference in lift hill height between Goliath and American Eagle, so I could see why someone might ask the question.
Even though that's not the difference in height as DejaVu2001 said, Goliath was advertised as the worlds tallest, fastest, and steepest wooden roller coaster. You'd think they would have heard that before if they were coming to the opening day of the coaster.
I only made it on Goliath once today, the weather forced me and my friend to leave the line. The park was about to close anyways. Does anyone know if a queue line will be built.
Goliath was incredible!! Easily the best coaster in the park. So unique and exhilarating, the best pacing on any ride I've ever ridden. I actually got to ride it twice today, once around 11:00 which took 3 hours and the second around 5:00. The queue at 11:00 curved behind and around the railroad station which gave some great views. I'm not exactly sure how they are going to contain the crowds for the next coming years but we'll see. After an incredible first ride in the middle, my friend and I decided to come back later to ride again. We did and it was only about an hour and a half wait!! Again I can't stress enough how breathtaking this ride is. The greatest coaster I've ever ridden. I also saw Alan Schilke in the station along with a lot of Dameon Nelson. There was a test seat which turned a lot of "Larger," people away. I'm so happy they included this because who wants to get in that car and find out they can't ride?! Especially after possibly waiting 2+ hours for it! Anyway the rest of the day was filled with walk ons onto practically every other coaster. First time riding Demon this year and rode 5 times in a row! There was nobody in line! I also did this with American Eagle. The new Demon restraints are soooo much better than the old ones, I got practically zero head banging and it actually is a fun ride if you take away that factor. It was an incredible trip today and Goliath is truly one of a kind. Thanks RMC for all your hard work, its the greatest coaster I've ever ridden. P.S. While in line for the second time, someone actually fainted in the queue line. I really hope they are ok and that they received proper medical attention. They seemed to be in good hands and everyone was very kind about it.
Favorite Coasters I've Ridden: Steel:1.Maverick2.Steel Vengeance3.X24.StormChaser5.TwistedColossus Wood:1.The Voyage2.Renegade3.MysticTimbers4.TheLegend5.The Beast Great America:1.Maxx Force2.Goliath3.Raging Bull4.Batman: The Ride5.X-Flight
^Interesting about Demon and the new restraints. I wish I had checked that out. This is the first I heard of it. So my friend and I got to the park right before 10am and scanned in right at 10am and headed to our coaster of choice, Goliath. We got to the ride and got into the line that was already forming. It was hard to say how far back we would be. A little before the 10:30 opening, the let us into the actual queue and handed us our "boarding passes" with a number on it to help ensure no line jumping. Mine was #364 so I figured not too bad since I know the capacity was listed or said to be 800. If things went smoothly, we could expect to be on within 30 minutes. At 10:30am sharp, the first train with riders pulled out and people were excited. The second train was empty but from there on as far I checked, most trains had riders up to us riding. At about 11:15am, we boarded our train. Not bad wait at all and I'm glad we planned like we did.
The ride is fantastic. It's probably the best drop of any wooden coaster I've been on. The only other wooden coasters that would be close were The Voyage and Hades prior to it (Hades) getting to be so rough. The rest of the ride is filled with hangtime, airtime and just awesome excitement. I will say that I thought it was a little too short but considering how great it is, it's a fairly minor gripe. I will say that of any 40-45 second ride time coaster I've been on, it might be my favorite. I'm excited to ride it more hopefully this season and in the future.
After riding Goliath, the line definitely was longer than we entered obviously. The wait was said to be two hours and I heard reports of three hours. It did look a little shorter earlier and wasn't entirely filled the added queue in front of the train station. It does make me wonder what they're going to do long term for the queue. Eventually they will want or need that area clear for the train station and the regular queue just seems too short for this ride. Even with or because of the low capacity, that regular queue looks like it could only hold an hour or so worth of people. Clearly this will be fairly popular ride for at least a few years to come.
Anyway, afterwards we rode a few more coasters, all with 5-15 minute waits only. The weather was as good as expected since there was a possibility of rain and lightening. The only problem was the high humidity. Otherwise I couldn't have asked for a better day at the park.
I hope Goliath will get another queue line. The iron wolf queue line isn't enough for Goliath. The one set up right now around the front of train station will have to go eventually once the train opens up.