Galvan Investigates: Could SFGAm take to the sky with a Sky Screamer?
The Following post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of SFGAmWorld.com, its webmaster, staff or its readers.
Roughly a month into the season already, and we are all still in awe of the gift that is X-Flight, taking to the sky in an absolutely amazing B&M creation, many of us are undoubtedly wanting more “sky”.
Then it is only fitting that the most logical ride that SFGAm adds to our park is none other than a Sky Screamer tower swing ride.
Standing as tall as Giant Drop, a Sky Screamer ride would be an almost instant hit with the general public, a ride that would once again remind us all how much of a well-rounded park SFGAm is, a ride that would be relatively inexpensive to build, and also as important, add some life to Yukon Territory (where I am proposing the Sky Screamer to be built)
For those unfamiliar with Sky Screamers, they are extremely tall (200+ feet) swing rides. (Envision Whirligig 200 feet in the air) have good capacity 32 riders per cycle and offer a small foot print.
The Sky Screamer rides are very thrilling rides, and made this person who usually skips most flats wanting more when I rode the Sky Screamer at Six Flags St. Louis this year.
Feeling the wind, and swinging in the air 200 feet above the ground is extremely thrilling especially given the fact that unlike Cedar Fair’s Windseeker rides, Sky Screamer’s hold you up in the air by a series of chains (exactly like Whirligig)
Besides the overall quality ride experience that a 200 foot tall swing ride would give you. There is another reason why I am advocating the addition of a Sky Screamer to our park, and that is because Yukon Territory is now what County Fair was before X-Flight, a dull, lifeless and long stretch of the park with nothing to experience besides an array of gift shops, face painting booths, the smell of go-karts and blacktop.
Yes, the area from Little Dipper to Camp Cartoon is a major dead zone right now, and the addition of a Sky Screamer to this area would make a tremendous amount of sense at this point.
I envision the removal/relocation of 2 or 3 buildings in this area to add the ride. With its location being along the water that is under V2, and in front of the go-karts. Which right now is the site of Claim Jumper's Chicken, a Wizard Shop, Toy Barn and a Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes mini-store.
My envisioned site for a Sky Screamer is shown above, As you can see this area is prime real-estate for the addition of a ride like a Sky Screamer, and while it is in the back of the park, it can also allow for a better site then former Iron Wolf location for a ride of this footprint (shown below at Six Flags St. Louis), as well as give an amazing view of the park by looking down on rides like Batman, X-Flight and V2. While still keeping the Loggers Run and Wilderness Theater, which could be used for future expansion in the years to come.
Courtesy of -G
But, adding a Sky Screamer to our park is without some questions as well. 1st one being the fact that Six Flags St. Louis already has this ride as well. For people who use that argument, I say that Batman the Ride is featured prominently at both parks, as well as other attractions that can be ridden at other Six Flags parks.
A Sky Screamer addition would also need a height variance to be added as well which should not be too much of an issue as the Village Board almost always approves whatever Six Flags' requesting.
Also, adding a ride of this type in this section of the park is a better option then adding a similar ride in say Southwest Territory which in my honest opinion would make for a terrible spot to add a multicolored ride to the wild west theme that is SWT.
The downside of adding this ride in Yukon Territory if you can call it a downside, is the loss of 2 to 3 gift shops of which is an oddly placed (this is Yukon Territory) Wizard Shop selling Wizard and Dragon merchandise but, relocating that to other stores around the park could easily be done.
I realize that there is a lot more too this concept then just "knocking down a few stores, and putting the ride up tomorrow" I understand that, but looking at this from a common sense approach, you've got an area of the park that could use a new thrill ride, said ride has a very small foot print, and it can be marketed very well as "yet another thrill ride" for SFGAm.
The overall pro's of this addition outweigh the con's definitely for the park to make a serious thought of adding this ride to SFGAm. Especially because like the Pro-Slide Tornado, Sky Screamers are the hot flavor of the month right now.
and building one would make a tremendous amount of sense.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to discussing this topic with you. If you have an idea for another Galvan Investigates topic, please do not hesitate to message me about you idea, if it is good enough to launch and investigation on I will certainly credit you for the idea. Thank you for reading.
Having just been to St. Louis and riding it,it would be a great addition to the park. I agree that Yukon Territory could certainly use another attraction but I would put it in the area where Iron Wolfs corkscrew used to be so there is a little more room between swing rides, even though they are vastly different.
-Remember there's nothing but air beneath the chair.
I agree with the ride, but not the location. Personally, I like having a nice quiet stretch of the park. It's good for relaxing or if you want to have a more private conversation. I agree that the area could use something new, but something that wouldn't be such a major draw like a family flat ride would be better in my opinion.
Side note, you mentioned the ride would look bad in SWT, if we were to get one there I'm sure it would have a different paint job. SFFT's doesn't have the usual bright color scheme.
Agreed that this would be a good addition, but most likely they would use the space where the East River Crawler once stood. That ride is 30+ years old and we have to wonder if SFGAm is going to invest money on a flat ride that old (don't know, just saying) In addition it already has the queue line that can handle a decent amount of people. They could even use the queue behind the Batman snack stand if necessary.
It's only time until we get one, but as I said previously I think Condor will get it which I really don't want to leave the park. Sure, I love your idea of taking away shops in a dead area of the park, but Six Flags sees differently with the merchandise side of things. The dead area probably helps them with getting more sales for the Go-Karts also. I have been on Windseeker, and it's nothing more than Sky Trek Tower with music, but yet you are outside. I understand that this ride is supposed to be more frightening, but I see it as a simple ride that is meant to scare people by using a gimmick as height. If it comes to be oh well, but I doubt that I will be overally impressed by it.
I think Max Air / Delirium & Revolution (at Dorney Park) were the last best "built for an amusement park" flat rides. That's been about 9 years ago - Delirium (2003) & Revolution (2004).
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
^I agree with the whole "height as a gimmick" thrill thing. I rode Windseeker a couple weeks ago and found it incredibly boring. Not saying my opinion matters, but you know. The only "Height as a gimmick" ride that had me scared was Insanity in Vegas (900+ feet? yeah that'll do it). I understand the whole "affordability" and small footprint thing, But as far as flats go, I would honestly rather see a MaxAir/Delirium or Skyhawk type of ride (Seeing as we already got Revo, well...).
^The park could possibly get one of those Max Air rides because that ride is much different than Revolution, but I don't have high hopes. Revolution (at SFGAm - different that Dorney) is in the order of the Gravitron where the forces happen because the ride is lower (the degrees compared to the other version) & spins faster, but yet a Max Air / Revolution (the other type) / ride found at carnivals is called KMG Freak Out / KMG Fireball (Afterburner), it's more about being higher up in the air, and than the forces go on a person.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
As far as the "Thrill" of the ride, I rode Windseeker at Cedar Point as well and though it was relaxing. Not thrilling, just relaxing. It's pretty much the Sky Trek Tower but with Whirligigs chairs and goes a little faster. I think it would be a good addition to the park though!
When Galvan and I talked about this, there was another spot we thought would be good. However, taking into consideration the whole situation of that end of Yukon Terriroty being a dead zone for quite some time (even when Iron Wolf was there) makes this location a second best option.
For anyone who doesn't know where this is, this is between Buccaneer Battle and Lost & Found. I like this location a lot because it is as close to the center of the park as you're gonna get. I've personally never seen BB with a long line so I think it's safe to remove the overflow queue. Some might say that's a bad idea but they did remove Viper's and that hasn't really come with any negative side effects.
Plop it down on the grassy area there, and queue on out. Worst case is you have to relocate that ladder game to another location which I'm sure wouldn't be too difficult.
Again, a second best option. With X-Flight bringing life back to a dead space in the park, I don't know if County Fair needs another attraction just yet.
^ The biggest problem with putting Sky Screamer (or any ride) there, is it will reduce the amount of space available for when the park finally comes to terms with the fact that Buccaneer Battle is a complete failure.
It's possible that the park would be able to put Sky Screamer in both the locations posted above (boardwalk by V2 and Buccaneer Battle) but I would much rather have it by the extra queue of Buccaneer Battle. I love the boardwalk by V2 because it's secluded and is only noisy when V2 is operating. Sure if you remove Logger's Run's extra queue (the one that isn't shaded) you could fit in a Sky Screamer without removing the Toy Barn or any buildings.
But honestly, I would just put the ride in Trailblazer's old spot. It's already themed nicely, and it's a nice fit. I know Giant Drop is already in the area, but why would Six Flags care to add another tall ride in the same area of the park. Just imagine a Sky Screamer in this location rather than Trailblazer.
RobSFGAm wrote:Agreed that this would be a good addition, but most likely they would use the space where the East River Crawler once stood. That ride is 30+ years old and we have to wonder if SFGAm is going to invest money on a flat ride that old (don't know, just saying) In addition it already has the queue line that can handle a decent amount of people. They could even use the queue behind the Batman snack stand if necessary.
If East River Crawler was going, 2011 would have been it's last year. But the fact the park has said it's coming back next year is a good sign that they want to keep it. I don't know if it needs a year long rehab because it was really that messed up or if they just didn't have the money to rehab it for 2012 or whatever. Regardless, if they planned on replacing it anyways, I'm sure they would have just used this as an early opportunity to take it out.
Jerrykoala2112 wrote:It's possible that the park would be able to put Sky Screamer in both the locations posted above (boardwalk by V2 and Buccaneer Battle) but I would much rather have it by the extra queue of Buccaneer Battle. I love the boardwalk by V2 because it's secluded and is only noisy when V2 is operating. Sure if you remove Logger's Run's extra queue (the one that isn't shaded) you could fit in a Sky Screamer without removing the Toy Barn or any buildings.
But honestly, I would just put the ride in Trailblazer's old spot. It's already themed nicely, and it's a nice fit. I know Giant Drop is already in the area, but why would Six Flags care to add another tall ride in the same area of the park. Just imagine a Sky Screamer in this location rather than Trailblazer.
Or, Or, Or how about an Interactive Dark Ride where Trailblazer was?
Not to go too off topic, but at the 2010 TPR day someone asked about dark rides, and we were told they very much were considering one and I believe even had some dark ride company people in the park, but it was decided to go with Dark Knight instead of a true dark ride. Now of course this was two years ago and there have been many management changes, but I could see Dark Knight used as a reason to not get a real dark ride.
DejaVu2001 wrote:^ The biggest problem with putting Sky Screamer (or any ride) there, is it will reduce the amount of space available for when the park finally comes to terms with the fact that Buccaneer Battle is a complete failure.
Any guesses how much longer BB will be there? Perhaps a good way to get rid of it, would be to convert into a Scooby Doo dark ride like at St. Louis.
^It would cost a fortune to redo the whole thing. Scooby-Doo is also indoors. They would be better off gutting the whole thing, and starting from scratch.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
You know the little square of flowers in the middle of Hometown Square? I would hate for it to go there, but Sky Skreamer could fit there. I like it just the way it is, but seriously, there are so many options for ride to go.
the number one thing parks thrive on is merchandising, games, then food. that jog to iron wolf is very quiet but good because of the Moose Lodge restaurant. There would be no flow with people watching the ride. East river crawler is becoming an old attraction but i absolutely still love it. I think they should upgrade it to something like this.
Taking down Condor would be another good spot but I was thinking instead of putting it where Iron Wolf was and save it for a coaster that everyone can go on, put it on the right side of yukon station near the funnel cake stand in that corner there. big enough area, no shops or classic rides are taken down and its in Yukon.
rluecht72 wrote:the number one thing parks thrive on is merchandising, games, then food. that jog to iron wolf is very quiet but good because of the Moose Lodge restaurant. There would be no flow with people watching the ride. East river crawler is becoming an old attraction but i absolutely still love it. I think they should upgrade it to something like this.
I have been on this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_-PLuHHcR4 and the regular ride was okay. The ending though was so much better. They almost stop the floor from rotating, and just the individual motors spin somewhat. The one Six Flags would be comfortable getting though is probably the Huss one which I have also have been on at SFOT. That one doesn't have the at the end better part. It's okay I guess. It looks better than it rides in my opinion. SFOT one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkKDaW6RcC0
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Coaster Justin wrote:How about place it above the Go Karts and remove nothing?
.
+ 1
The Go Carts are probably in the worst possible place they could have ever thought to place them. Plus that the center of the park so you would get a great view of everything.
I'm going to have to vote for the Buccaneer Battle overflow que location. I've never experienced BB, mostly because I don't care to be wet in my clothes, but it seems to never be busy when I'm there. That entire addition has bothered me since it was built, as it just seems to be such a waste of prime space. The observation area along the midway, and the overflow que area is too much empty space wasted for such a space constricted park. So much more could be done with that area. I'd love to see a Sky Screamer go in the que overflow area, as it wouldn't be as easy to miss like Hay Baler was, and it would bring another 'flat' ride into County Fair.
Then... (begin pipe dream) a Giant Frisbee to swing out over the midway where BB is, and re-installation of the antique car ride around the new frisbee ride/sky screamer, and thus the front part of County Fair would be complete!
