Ride Tribute
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RIGHT: A photo of Colossus ahead of its transformation into Twisted
Colossus ABOVE: The first drop will be re-profiled as part of the refurb
block brake. And by 2000, the ride was very rough, in serious need of re-tracking. In June of this year, Six Flags announced that Colossus as we know it would close for good. At the time, Magic Mountain spokesperson Sue Carpenter told the press: “We will announce exciting future plans for the park we think our guests will love at a later date.” And now we know – it will return in 2015 as a hybrid coaster called Twisted Colossus (see below). It’s not the first coaster Six Flags has given such treatment to in recent years, but can a “re-tracked” Colossus be promoted with any type of guaranteed return? The cost to re-track Colossus with steel could surely be used to open a newer, high-tech rollercoaster, something that would be a hit with young thrill seekers. I guess with 18 other coasters at their disposal, Magic Mountain’s guests aren’t starved of variety. The fact remains you can’t make money off us older folks who crave amusement park “purity”. Those wonderful classic coasters that have survived, such as the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s 1924 Giant Dipper, San Diego Mission Beach’s 1925 Giant Dipper, and Coney Island’s 1927 Cyclone, are protected by their respective cities and cited as State and National
TWISTED COLOSSUS
Great wooden coasters don’t die, they just get new steel track. Six Flags Magic Mountain has already embarked on a major transformation of Colossus, and plans to reopen it in 2015 as a world-record-breaking hybrid coaster, Twisted Colossus. The ride’s white wooden support structure will remain, but courtesy of Rocky Mountain Construction it will get new state-of-the-art Iron Horse track. The technology provides ride experiences never before possible on wooden coasters, such as over-banked turns and inversions. Twisted Colossus’ 4,990ft (1.5km) layout will feature a “Top Gun Stall,” an inversion where the train slows down upside
Historic Landmarks. Replacement of those rides would never be an option. Interestingly, Colossus shares a similar history to its historical neighbour, the Cyclone Racer. Besides being a wooden racer with a figure-8 design, Colossus will have lasted 36 years, the Cyclone Racer, 38. Both coasters were featured in major motion pictures, with Colossus’ most famous appearance in the fictitious Wally World Park of the 1983 hit film National Lampoon’s Vacation. The big difference, however, is that when the Cyclone Racer closed on September 15, 1968, to make room for the Queen Mary’s new home, it was still riding like a champ, trains racing and all. When Colossus closed on August 16, 2014, it went down with a whimper. Will Twisted Colossus bring back the glory days? One thing’s for sure, it will no longer be a woodie. Told you I was a purist!
Gary Kyriazi is the author of The Great American Amusement Parks, and the writer/producer of America Screams, the first pictorial history and television special about American amusement parks. He has been a researcher and historian on American amusement parks for 40 years.
down. It will have the western hemisphere’s first “High Five,” where two trains pass through an over-banked turn facing each other with the illusion that riders can reach out and salute each other. There will be a Zero G Roll where track twists 360°, a 128ft drop at 80°, 18 airtime hills and two lift hills. And unlike the Colossus of late, it will feature racing trains. Offering four minutes of thrills, Twisted Colossus will be the longest wood-steel hybrid coaster in the world. Alas, Gary Kyriazi probably won’t be the first in the queue to ride.
46 NOVEMBER 2014
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