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ALL NEW FOR 2024! Sky Striker

Talk about anything that has to do with Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor here.
Postby ZachK238 on June 5th, 2024, 11:34 am
The commercial shoot is now rescheduled to the 14th. I can’t believe this stuff.
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 5th, 2024, 12:01 pm
ZachK238 wrote:The commercial shoot is now rescheduled to the 14th. I can’t believe this stuff.
No surprise. Saw that coming. As stated, electrical isn’t done and the ride would need to be state certified.


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Postby ZachK238 on June 5th, 2024, 1:01 pm
coasterfanatic wrote:
ZachK238 wrote:The commercial shoot is now rescheduled to the 14th. I can’t believe this stuff.
No surprise. Saw that coming. As stated, electrical isn’t done and the ride would need to be state certified.


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Just crazy that they would tell us it was on Tuesday, Friday, now next Friday.
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 5th, 2024, 1:20 pm
ZachK238 wrote:
coasterfanatic wrote:
ZachK238 wrote:The commercial shoot is now rescheduled to the 14th. I can’t believe this stuff.
No surprise. Saw that coming. As stated, electrical isn’t done and the ride would need to be state certified.


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Just crazy that they would tell us it was on Tuesday, Friday, now next Friday.
Six Flags isn’t known for having these things well planned out. Perhaps the electrical permits too longer than expected.


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Postby ZachK238 on June 9th, 2024, 1:06 pm
Good news. Was at GAm yesterday. Sky strikers light package is working and on. Control panel is installed and lit and best of all, American eagle is running.
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Postby Goku1910 on June 9th, 2024, 1:45 pm
I am also here today. No activity at Striker almost at all.

The only thing I saw of note is a person in the operator booth with a laptop. Most likely a programmer.
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 9th, 2024, 2:33 pm
At least progress is being made…but they are going to be pushing that Friday commercial shoot


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Postby Goku1910 on June 9th, 2024, 5:24 pm
Wind was crazy today, we actually saw Striker swing a little bit.

I figured that would have been locked.
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Postby Blue_Toad_Coasters on June 9th, 2024, 7:59 pm
During the commercial shoot, does the park close entirely or does the ride just run without the public being able to ride while the rest of the park is operating as usual?

On a side note, would anybody particularly recommend the food that is part of Flavors of the World and does anybody think that the Windy City Bar’s menu looks tasty?
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 9th, 2024, 8:13 pm
Blue_Toad_Coasters wrote:During the commercial shoot, does the park close entirely or does the ride just run without the public being able to ride while the rest of the park is operating as usual?

On a side note, would anybody particularly recommend the food that is part of Flavors of the World and does anybody think that the Windy City Bar’s menu looks tasty?
The park is open to the public daily. So unless the commercial shoot is before 10:30am, that should answer your question.

Flavors of the World is not any different quality from the food you’d normally get in the park, and last year, they substituted items without warning when they ran out of stuff.

I don’t think the Windy City menu will be any different quality. It’s burgers and wings.


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Postby CoasterRiderSC on June 9th, 2024, 8:51 pm
Goku1910 wrote:Wind was crazy today, we actually saw Striker swing a little bit.

I figured that would have been locked.


Speaking of wind, will Sky Striker be down when it's deemed "too windy" like Giant Drop ?
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Postby CoastsToCoasters on June 10th, 2024, 12:19 pm
Blue_Toad_Coasters wrote:During the commercial shoot, does the park close entirely or does the ride just run without the public being able to ride while the rest of the park is operating as usual?

On a side note, would anybody particularly recommend the food that is part of Flavors of the World and does anybody think that the Windy City Bar’s menu looks tasty?



Unless they do it way before open, then sadly they will run into some issues with this as they open their attractions so late in the season seeing the park is open every day of the week. In 2017 when I did Joker's commercial shoot,
People legit left the shoot to go ride other rides since they got in for free. Meaning they never waited around for the commercial shoot. So we had a lot of the same people riding. They even thanked us for not bailing on them & allowed to go ride other things once we wrapped up. We also had a ton of people coming up to the ride thinking it was open with people sneaking into the queue. They were having to do lanyard checks before anyone could ride. It was sadly a mess. So hopefully they keep that barrier up for Sky Striker's events.
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Postby Blue_Toad_Coasters on June 10th, 2024, 7:23 pm
gottastrata33 wrote:
Blue_Toad_Coasters wrote:During the commercial shoot, does the park close entirely or does the ride just run without the public being able to ride while the rest of the park is operating as usual?

On a side note, would anybody particularly recommend the food that is part of Flavors of the World and does anybody think that the Windy City Bar’s menu looks tasty?



Unless they do it way before open, then sadly they will run into some issues with this as they open their attractions so late in the season seeing the park is open every day of the week. In 2017 when I did Joker's commercial shoot,
People legit left the shoot to go ride other rides since they got in for free. Meaning they never waited around for the commercial shoot. So we had a lot of the same people riding. They even thanked us for not bailing on them & allowed to go ride other things once we wrapped up. We also had a ton of people coming up to the ride thinking it was open with people sneaking into the queue. They were having to do lanyard checks before anyone could ride. It was sadly a mess. So hopefully they keep that barrier up for Sky Striker's events.


Knowing SF, they learned nothing and it will probably be just as big as a mess this year since there hasn’t been a new ride added to the park in five years, way longer than the gap between Goliath and Joker’s opening dates. The GP will probably be even more restless. I asked because I think it would be pretty sick to ride American Eagle and get some great views of Sky Striker in motion from the lift hill. Speaking of American Eagle, is the lift chain any better than before? Faster, perhaps?
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 11th, 2024, 10:45 am
Blue_Toad_Coasters wrote:
gottastrata33 wrote:
Blue_Toad_Coasters wrote:During the commercial shoot, does the park close entirely or does the ride just run without the public being able to ride while the rest of the park is operating as usual?

On a side note, would anybody particularly recommend the food that is part of Flavors of the World and does anybody think that the Windy City Bar’s menu looks tasty?



Unless they do it way before open, then sadly they will run into some issues with this as they open their attractions so late in the season seeing the park is open every day of the week. In 2017 when I did Joker's commercial shoot,
People legit left the shoot to go ride other rides since they got in for free. Meaning they never waited around for the commercial shoot. So we had a lot of the same people riding. They even thanked us for not bailing on them & allowed to go ride other things once we wrapped up. We also had a ton of people coming up to the ride thinking it was open with people sneaking into the queue. They were having to do lanyard checks before anyone could ride. It was sadly a mess. So hopefully they keep that barrier up for Sky Striker's events.


Knowing SF, they learned nothing and it will probably be just as big as a mess this year since there hasn’t been a new ride added to the park in five years, way longer than the gap between Goliath and Joker’s opening dates. The GP will probably be even more restless. I asked because I think it would be pretty sick to ride American Eagle and get some great views of Sky Striker in motion from the lift hill. Speaking of American Eagle, is the lift chain any better than before? Faster, perhaps?
Of course it’s going to be a mess. They’ve literally pushed the date back three times already. That tells you everything you need to know.


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Postby Goku1910 on June 11th, 2024, 12:21 pm
Rode Eagle once this passed Sunday,chain feels exactly the same besides the beginning. It doesn't feel like it's hopping anymore.

Does offer a nice view of Striker though.

Edit: Sky Striker is finally doing test runs today.
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Postby UnclePennybags on June 12th, 2024, 10:43 pm
So, we were on Sky Trek Tower at 8:00 PM (just as the park was closing) and I was surprised to see Sky Striker all lit up and swinging full 360 degree swings. I didn't know they'd gotten that far in testing until I checked back in on this forum. It's actually a nice looking lighting package.

I made a quick trip to the back of the park and took a picture of Sky Striker, then a short video so others could see the movement of the lights, even when the pendulum wasn't swinging. I was hoping I'd be able to get a close-up video of it making another full 360 swing, but my phone battery ran out of juice (sigh).

Here's the static picture I took. I also have a two second video of the lighting movement, just as my phone died, but I don't know if I could post something so short to YouTube.

Image
Last edited by UnclePennybags on June 12th, 2024, 11:20 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Postby CoasterRiderSC on June 12th, 2024, 10:56 pm
I was at X-Flight right side tonight (6/12) until 8:45 PM! Something caused X-Flight to have an hour delay (had just ridden it 4x with no issues).

Well I got to watch Sky Striker's lights being tested as well as some test cycles of it running! And, there were 2 people riding it!!

I was told by X-Flight operator that they were big bosses on the ride.


The installation of Sky Striker is one more reason for me to believe that Eagle (in its present form) is going away.
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Postby Goku1910 on June 13th, 2024, 7:38 am
What does Striker's install have to do with Eagle's "removal"?
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Postby CoasterRiderSC on June 13th, 2024, 8:17 am
Goku1910 wrote:What does Striker's install have to do with Eagle's "removal"?



Here is an excerpt of what I posted on the other forum (sfgam-chat on Discord)

^They add this brand new shiny Zamperla ride to the area and make it look really nice, and we have amazing X-Flight too, meanwhile we have this decaying and dilapidated Eagle right behind it......
It's like they're doing the barest amount of upkeep possible for Eagle. I don't blame them. They probably know it's coming down so why waste time and $$ on it! I think at minimum they could paint the areas where riders can see such as lift hill and parts of the helix. And those lights on the railing on outside of helix look sooooo cheap!

Iron Eagle: Soaring to New Heights!! Either 2026 (park 50th) or 2031 (Eagle's 50th)

I just really don't see them keeping Eagle. Nobody really rides it that much like its heyday. What better way to get a huge draw of people than to put the Giga that we all want in its place! Nobody is that enthralled with racing wooden coasters nowadays.

And I grew up riding and loving Eagle! I was 10 when they were building it!
It's gone from an I-Con to an Eye-Sore......


most people my age (53) don't want to ride Eagle because it's rough. And the kids want the cool new rides
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Postby Goku1910 on June 13th, 2024, 8:23 am
Eagle isn't even close to the roughest Woodies I've been on,despite not racing it's actually running fairly well.

Also,that logic makes no sense. Did they "spruce up" camp cartoon when Goliath came in? Nope, if anything it's gotten worse and more decrepit. What about hangover, or Maxx Force? Also no.

What about Joker?
Okay, maybe there's an argument there.

Just because a new thing opens in the vicinity of an old one, it doesn't mean that old ride is doomed immediately.
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Postby staticshadows on June 13th, 2024, 8:37 am
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 13th, 2024, 9:38 am
Exactly. I personally don’t think Eagle is going anywhere. They did just paint it a few years back.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of the capital investments come from corporate. So corporate could have said “your getting a giant swinging pendulum ride”

Great America takes care of their woodies. And Eagle still draws lines (and having a new ride like Sky Strike likely draws more attention to it.

Also, as has been discussed, the park typically celebrates the milestone “seasons” and not the anniversary. 2025 is the parks 50th season, which will likely be celebrated.

(They did that at 40, they celebrated the 40th season, not the 40th anniversary).


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Postby Goku1910 on June 13th, 2024, 10:26 am


Now I'm getting annoyed. Why is it so difficult to nail down an opening date? "Coming Weeks" Jeez.
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Postby coasterfanatic on June 13th, 2024, 10:30 am
Goku1910 wrote:


Now I'm getting annoyed. Why is it so difficult to nail down an opening date? "Coming Weeks" Jeez.
Well given the fiasco that was the media days/commercial shoots (rescheduled multiple times). I don’t think they want to give an opening date until they know for sure they can meet that date.


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Postby HCF on June 13th, 2024, 12:46 pm
I hope they can do that passholder preview event soon, also with the shiny new toy right next to X-Flight I hope GAm can find the time to repaint it, you could make the argument that Bull needs it more, but I believe that the old, faded look fits bull somewhat, whereas X-Flight definitely looks to have seen better days
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