What's with Eagle

[super7]

I have not been to Great American for 3 years because of their operations. Depsite it has my favorite collection of coasters in one place. The last time I was there, they were doing that fiasco double rides promotion, that just jammed up the lines on American Eagle which normally has quick moving lines.
But at least then it was racing.

Now they are refusing to race it again. An employee said because it is "old." Does that mean it is not structurally sound to handle two trains side by side?

Its really disheartening that they don't race a coaster that was designed for that. That was 1/2 the fun of the ride.

On the flip side, the entire station and the lift hill appear to have been painted at some point. Although the red and blue paint are peeling quickly.

Weeds everywhere and lots of dead branches on trees. Sky Trek Tower is now closed in the middle of the day. Battle for Metropolis was down a lot. The new Hangover was closed most the day both days I was there.

[Ilovthevu']

Racing a roller coaster takes a lot more time because you are always waiting for the other side to be ready. They are almost never ready at the same time. With racing, you would have to wait much longer in line. The park also doesn't run both trains until 12pm, and they might even shut one side down towards the end of the night. When the employee said the ride is old, that might mean it's not getting the amount of people they want at those times, so they don't want to run both side early on, and later on. They are being cheap.

Justice League is down a lot because the ride just has too many things to go wrong - technologically.

Hangover is probably down a lot because it's a new design of that ride. All the other ones are not built the way that one is, such as at a carnival.

[Airboss]

I've been told from numerous ride ops and people that the structure has been deemed not strong enough to handle two trains at once. They can operate both sides at once, but they can't dispatch two trains at once. A few weeks back when I was there they were running both sides, but, even when the trains were ready at the same time, they purposely delayed one side in order to make them not race.

[RBullFan97]

I noticed on a recent trip that if you look to the right on the brake run of Eagle Red you can see large piles of wood. Have those always been there?

[SFGAM_Hog]

^ Yes, I believe so. It's time for them to retrack it with GCI or just anything to make the experience better.

[JaminOut]

The large pile of wood has been there for years. It’s just for ongoing work on the ride and in no way points to any new construction on the ride.

[RBullFan97]

The large pile of wood has been there for years. It’s just for ongoing work on the ride and in no way points to any new construction on the ride.

Okay that's what I thought thanks.

[ChicagoCoasters]

All aboard the RMC American Eagle train.
*ducks*
Let's be real, now that American Eagle isn't racing it just adds more fuel to the fire of converting it to an RMC. We all love Eagle but it has seen better days. Right now Cedar Fair is blowing Six Flags out of the water with Steel Vengeance, Twisted Timbers, Mystic Timbers, and Carowinds' new coaster in 2019. Six Flags needs a way to compete with Cedar Fair and I believe American Eagle is how they are going to do it. Look at Six Flags' big wooden coaster that could be RMC'd. We have American Eagle, The Boss, and Monster up at LaRonde. Boss and Monster could make very good RMCs but they are at lower ranked SF parks. Now if you RMC Eagle that is a big racing coaster that has a lot of potential that is also at a big corporate park. SFGAm was purposely designed to be built in between Milwaukee and Chicago. SFGAm is a cash cow for SF and SF has realized that. SF has a better chance of investing a lot of money in a big park like SFGAm or SFMM than LaRonde or SFSTL. Cedar Fair put in a huge RMC at their flagship park not a smaller park like Michigan's Adventure or Valleyfair.

People are gonna say, "They're not gonna RMC it, they are repainting it now." Or maybe they are doing it now so they don't have to do it later. You could probably expect RMC Eagle around 2022 or 2023 because they are most likely getting a coaster in 2019 so they would probably take some time off to save some money away for the RMC.

[Muck Finnesota]

Baseless speculation/pipe dream post on my part, but if Eagle is ever Rocky Mountain'd, I hope the turnaround is a significant part of the ride, and not like Twisted Colossus' turnaround. Add some height to the first drop(s), keep the out and back runs similar, and transform the double helix section into an impressive Steel Vengeance-esque mess of track.

[IssaCoaster]

All aboard the RMC American Eagle train.
*ducks*
Let's be real, now that American Eagle isn't racing it just adds more fuel to the fire of converting it to an RMC. We all love Eagle but it has seen better days. Right now Cedar Fair is blowing Six Flags out of the water with Steel Vengeance, Twisted Timbers, Mystic Timbers, and Carowinds' new coaster in 2019. Six Flags needs a way to compete with Cedar Fair and I believe American Eagle is how they are going to do it. Look at Six Flags' big wooden coaster that could be RMC'd. We have American Eagle, The Boss, and Monster up at LaRonde. Boss and Monster could make very good RMCs but they are at lower ranked SF parks. Now if you RMC Eagle that is a big racing coaster that has a lot of potential that is also at a big corporate park. SFGAm was purposely designed to be built in between Milwaukee and Chicago. SFGAm is a cash cow for SF and SF has realized that. SF has a better chance of investing a lot of money in a big park like SFGAm or SFMM than LaRonde or SFSTL. Cedar Fair put in a huge RMC at their flagship park not a smaller park like Michigan's Adventure or Valleyfair.

People are gonna say, "They're not gonna RMC it, they are repainting it now." Or maybe they are doing it now so they don't have to do it later. You could probably expect RMC Eagle around 2022 or 2023 because they are most likely getting a coaster in 2019 so they would probably take some time off to save some money away for the RMC.

I really hope that if they RMC Eagle, they are allowed a large amount of money to do it right. They could make that drop huge too.

[SFGAM_Hog]

Two RMCs at our park would be amazing and I would love to see RMC Eagle, but would Six Flags really put two of them in one park?

[ChicagoCoasters]

Remember Goliath is a wooden coaster with topper track. RMC Eagle would be a steel hybrid with I-Box track. Think about it we would have the most RMCs at one park if we got RMC Eagle and a Raptor/ T-Rex in 2019. We would have 1. Goliath, 2. Joker (RMC made it's track so I guess it kinda counts), 3. 2019 Single-Rail, 4. RMC American Eagle. What elements do you guys think could be on it? They could do a lot with Eagle. Some sweet airtime, inversions that interact with the other side, a way steeper drop, taller height. Although SF better not screw up the turnaround they better use that to their advantage.

[SFGAM_Hog]

I hope RMC Eagle would focus on airtime and not much so inversions. Goliath is an RMC for the inversions in my opinion. Inversions don't do much for me, and American Eagle already has incredible airtime so I'd love to see it get even better.

[IssaCoaster]

I hope RMC Eagle would focus on airtime and not much so inversions. Goliath is an RMC for the inversions in my opinion. Inversions don't do much for me, and American Eagle already has incredible airtime so I'd love to see it get even better.

Agreed. I would like to see the drop extended significantly higher than what it is. As tall as possible. But to convert over 9,000ft of track..... is that even realistic for six flags?

[_FuryBull_330_]

^ At this point I'm leaning toward yes.
Over the information of the new Mack coaster coming to MM it's said to be 20 million dollars so it seems like Sit Flags is probally doing something really big for one park every year. Who knows.

[ChicagoCoasters]

We know Steel Vengeance cost over $20 million and RMC Eagle would almost be twice the track length. So would SF really do it? Hopefully. They would probably add no other coasters or any additions to some of the smaller parks that year.

[Ilovthevu']

They have been "cheap" for awhile (as compared to what they used to build) as a corporation. I don't see them spending $20 million+ on the Eagle. To me, I think they went with RMC because they WERE a cheaper company, and it's cheaper building those rides than building B&Ms, and Intamins. Now, RMC is famous all of a sudden, and they want lots more money.

I think X-Flight was probably the last actual really expensive coaster in the entire corporation.

[IssaCoaster]

They have been "cheap" for awhile (as compared to what they used to build) as a corporation. I don't see them spending $20 million+ on the Eagle. To me, I think they went with RMC because they WERE a cheaper company, and it's cheaper building those rides than building B&Ms, and Intamins. Now, RMC is famous all of a sudden, and they want lots more money.

I think X-Flight was probably the last actual really expensive coaster in the entire corporation.

Yeah. I'm leaning towards no still. Eagle would be a huge project. The cost would be ridiculous. I want to see if what FuryBull says is correct about Magic Mountain before I start having hope. Maybe in the future yes. There is no way Six Flags is going to keep up with the maintenance for the rollercoaster forever. I just don't think it will happen anytime soon.

[AirTimeDaz]

Here's an "interesting" video re: coaster-net discussing Six Flags & Cedar Fair's new financial report.

https://youtu.be/9BHm7ba7PRw

Around 24:24 sounds like SF, aided by their recent strategies, has gained a bit of capital, so who knows, they may be preparing to reinvest some of that in their key parks. There is already speculation of MM getting something large, so I don't think it's beyond the pale to think we may be headed for something huge in the not too distant future. Will I get my hopes up? uh h*** no, but I'm feeling a bit more optimistic for the parks future.

[_FuryBull_330_]

They have been "cheap" for awhile (as compared to what they used to build) as a corporation. I don't see them spending $20 million+ on the Eagle. To me, I think they went with RMC because they WERE a cheaper company, and it's cheaper building those rides than building B&Ms, and Intamins. Now, RMC is famous all of a sudden, and they want lots more money.

I think X-Flight was probably the last actual really expensive coaster in the entire corporation.

Yeah. I'm leaning towards no still. Eagle would be a huge project. The cost would be ridiculous. I want to see if what FuryBull says is correct about Magic Mountain before I start having hope. Maybe in the future yes. There is no way Six Flags is going to keep up with the maintenance for the rollercoaster forever. I just don't think it will happen anytime soon.

Hey it's a big rumor I got from screamscape. I hope it's true.

[Sven18]

Here's an "interesting" video re: coaster-net discussing Six Flags & Cedar Fair's new financial report.

https://youtu.be/9BHm7ba7PRw

Around 24:24 sounds like SF, aided by their recent strategies, has gained a bit of capital, so who knows, they may be preparing to reinvest some of that in their key parks. There is already speculation of MM getting something large, so I don't think it's beyond the pale to think we may be headed for something huge in the not too distant future. Will I get my hopes up? uh h*** no, but I'm feeling a bit more optimistic for the parks future.

SF reiterated again they are still sticking to the 9% of North American revenue formula even with the 5 new parks. Those are more mouths to feed. The 23M for revenue in Q2, 21M which excluding foreign parks translates into 1.1M more in the ride budget based on Q2 numbers alone. SF also stated that while the new parks will help Q2 and Q3 they will hurt Q4 b/c they will be primarily closed. Also, adding frightfest to the new dry parks will have front end costs.

A theoretical 100M increase in revenue would bring just 5.4M to the ride budget. With 5 more mouth to feed SF will still be in the cheap ride market. Expect, Skywarps to be new Larson loop and Raptors the new cloned coaster of choice, taking over from 4D's

FYI, SF missed the street projections by a little over 5%. The numbers aren't as good when you dive into them. SF was flat to down on attendance in 2017 and are in 2018. The 2 new water parks in 2017 and the 5 new parks make the top line look up. SF refused to answer whether attendance and revenue would be down w/o the 5 new parks. That means it was down b/c Anderson would be touting if comps were up. He avoided the question 3 times to not confirm what the analysts could easily discern looking at the numbers.

[JackGlass]

I don't think they will do a full scale RMC conversion due to the astronomical cost. However, I could see them doing a patch job for its 40th anniversary. Making the lift hills taller, Installing topper track on rough areas, getting new trains and possibly a new lighting package.

Years ago they installed topper track on rough sections of the Georgia Cyclone, while leaving the rest of the coaster traiditonal wooden track.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ggmdw4yNnc

[super7]

Based on previous Six Flags RMC conversions, a converted Eagle would be shorter than the original. IU believe that all of there conversions were shorter than the original coaster. They took out a complete circuit of Colussus, plus removed the racing aspect so they could save payroll $ at the station.

Goliath at Great America was built hype and not so much quality. It is a short coaster that could have done more, especially considering its height.

Cedar Fair on the other hand is keeping the original layout of the rides. Its a general statement of the quality of Cedar Fair experience vs Six Flags....

They helix of Eagle is one of the best parks in my opinion. Starting slowly, picking up speed until it spits you out with some airtime. It is personally one of my favorite coaster moments. I would hate to see that destroyed.

Eagle is still an amazing ride. Even when it raced, the lines moved quickly because it is 4 train operation. New track such as topper track would make it amazing, keeping the same layout. There are few racing coasters that exist. The racing aspect makes it fun and exciting. Every racing coaster I have been on that races you hear the winning side cheer. Cheering people are happy people and happy customers. It's a shame that Six Flags is missing that opportunity at giving customers a better experience.

[batmanfan80]

For me, it's been running great the last couple years. I only ride red side. The ride I had the other day was near perfect. All the thrills, rush, and airtime with things being almost 100% smooth. No need for me to grip anything in the helix or during the last part of the ride. That doesn't happen much at all. Ride quality varies a lot and may be weather-dependent to a degree. Don't see a need to RMC it.

[Dan The Coaster Man]

I like eagle, red side is awesome. I do not see the need to RMC it. However, if the park NEEDED to convert a Woodie to a RMC, I would vote Blue side AE. I think it would be cool to keep one side wooden and the other a RMC, but only if I had to choose one wooden in the park.