Dan The Coaster Man wrote:I had never thought about which way it will actually swing. I always thought it would be over the service road and the cheesecake place, but now that you brought it up, I had never actually given any reason to WHY I think it would swing that direction. I can't tell from the footers/concrete.
It would be a cute little reference to how revolution swung over the gift shop next to it. That always confused me as a kid to how it never hit the building haha
Some time, on way to successful, first of steps of all of the steps to being successful steps are hardest of all of the steps to successing.
I thought maybe the footer placement would help us tell the direction it would face but I honestly cannot tell. I know someone originally mocked it up facing northwest/southeast so that it would swing over X-Flight's maintenance shed but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Looks like it's going to be swinging over the service road and the food place that I forget the name of because it's changed so many times. If I'm wrong and it's the opposite, it'd be going over the road in a different spot and Eagle's Queue.
Thanks for the links. No new construction evidence or prep for the new American Eagle or SS entrance portals. Hmm. Tick tock. I am really curious how this will all look in 6 weeks after so much demolition. I haven't been following this forum but it seems to me the new entrance for Eagle (scale, placement, investment) might tell us someting about the future of the ride. That crummy shared entrance with DDD was such a downgrade from the original grand entrance befitting a massive record breaking coaster.
ernstwhere wrote:Thanks for the links. No new construction evidence or prep for the new American Eagle or SS entrance portals. Hmm. Tick tock. I am really curious how this will all look in 6 weeks after so much demolition. I haven't been following this forum but it seems to me the new entrance for Eagle (scale, placement, investment) might tell us someting about the future of the ride. That crummy shared entrance with DDD was such a downgrade from the original grand entrance befitting a massive record breaking coaster.
Static is correct. The four columns form a rectangle, not a square. And the long sides of the rectangle indicate the same direction it will swing. Honestly, I am surprised its not the other way.
Sucker for a launch, custom audio and Viper | Coaster Count: 507
Thanks for clarifying this Dan. I can clearly see now how SS will be installed on the site. This has been a funny topic, a number of people quietly assumed which direction SS will operate, then wondered why they made that assumption. I was in camp - parallel to the midway - but now I wish it would danlge riders over our heads like DDD. Aw well, it is a great addition to the park in a great location. Any further news about an opening date? Rumor had it 4/20 but that seems unlikely now, one month away, and no marketing that I've seen.
Last edited by ernstwhere on March 20th, 2024, 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
There was some hope that it would be ready opening day given the mild winter and (all things considered) easy installation. Plus I think it was at No Coaster Con where the park was optimistic it would open with the park. But now opening day is a exactly a month away and I've been reading that we don't have a permit issued for construction and we don't even have any parts of the ride on site. Doubt its happening opening day now.
Sucker for a launch, custom audio and Viper | Coaster Count: 507
Thanks Dan for the update. Hmm. That's discouraging news, no construction permit. I wonder if that includes all the demo'd areas in CF and OP. I've been watcing YTvids from Great Adv, Over TX and MM. The parks seem to be leaning in on property upgrades, f&b offerings and spring break (= CF vibes). I wonder what's up in Gurnee.
Weird, mine def still has everything from Hangover to Revvy still there.
EDIT 4/1 - Staticshadows, you were right, I'm shocked. The new pic the park shared shows Sky Striker swinging towards XF. It looks like its gonna be close!
I dream of the 400ft "Great American SkyScreamer". x
Jodon wrote:So...the main ride structure and pendulum install takes a day? That's fascinating!
Wait, so it's already built?
(Unfortunately, "built = ready for operation" is not a true equation since SF will still need to test it, train staff, etc. before the ride opens so unfortunately, the ride will likely not make Opening Day. Also, has anybody noticed that the SFGAm official website was changed to say that Sky Striker is opening "Late Spring"?)
Last edited by Blue_Toad_Coasters on April 11th, 2024, 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Interesting, never seen one put together with only 3 cranes before. Soriani seems to have streamlined the process some. Kinda wondering if the supplementary supports are re-used every time a new one is built, or if they are just pitched and a new set made/sent with each ride. But yeah, the entire ride pretty much needs to go up in one day. Nothing good would come from leaving the ride supported by a crane overnight regardless of the temp supports.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 222, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 822, Wood: 178, Total: 1000
Dan The Coaster Man wrote:At least our ride is further along than SFStL's, and they are already open for their season.
I imagine that SF is prioritizing Sky Striker first since SFGAm is the overall more popular park, being near Chicago and all. I bet the crew working on Sky Striker will move to SFStL immediately after construction is wrapped up on Sky Striker so that they can work on Joker: Carnival of Chaos. (Bit of a side note, I think that Joker will get a funhouse queue like FT. John Krajnak seems to not mind pouring small amounts of cash logically* into these parks here and there. Take the various changes he has been making to the parks recently as an example. American Eagle chain replacement, new American Eagle entrance, new park entrance, etc.)
*NOTE: Unfortunately I had to add "logically" due to the whole Windy City Sports Bar/Bar and Grill/Sports Bar and Grill fiasco recently.
If the parks were serious about opening attractions when the park opens for the season, SFStL's would have been done at least 6 weeks ago, and then the same crew would have had plenty of time to make it to Chicago for ours to open for our opening day.
Sucker for a launch, custom audio and Viper | Coaster Count: 507
