 Yesterday we were invited back out to Six Flags Magic Mountain to get a final up close and personal look at Twisted Colossus. To say this thing is impressive to see in person would be a gross understatement. Unfortunately the ride was not testing during our tour. Later in the day however, CoasterMatt was at the park and was able to get some great pictures and video of the ride testing. So we'll share those as well. Get ready to see some great pics!! Before we get started with any of the pictures ... TWISTED COLOSSUS WILL OPEN ON SATURDAY MAY 23!!!!! So make your plans accordingly. We still don't know when media day is or if there will be any kind of "preview", but as soon as we know, we'll certainly let you know. But maybe try and get a couple days off towards the end of that week just in case. =) We're also trying something a little bit different today for those of you who like to see video, a full video walk-through of the tour. If you like this let us know and we'll do more of them in the future. Alright, lets get to some pictures of the tour. From outside the park, it was a beautiful morning.  Who thinks the best kind of G's are Zero G's?  
According to the park, about 45% of the total wood on Colossus will be replaced by the time opening arrives on May 23.  This just seems unfair to all other coasters.  Who thinks the best kind of G's are insanely crazy ejector positive G's?  
The final Double-Up which I'll be honest, seemed like a "eh" thing until I saw the video below.  Later in the day, CoasterMatt was able to get some great pictures and video of the ride testing. Cresting the lift hill ... click to see a larger version.
Heading into the High Five element   Right about here you're are probably going to be quite happy the ride has seat belts.    In addition to a tour of the structure, we also got to look at the station and the rest of the Steampunk District stuff. Purple and Blue, ready to do their business. Green will be coming later as it won't be needed until one of the existing trains goes down for refurb. There will also be a building going over the storage track at some point.  Fully functional ride op panel  A look at the station. Standing on where in August would have been the track of Colossus was very weird.   Queue entry, the left will be the normal line, right will be ADA and Flashpass.   OG Colossus signs.  Stairs (check), twisty bushes (check), drought resistant plants (check)   They are also doing some really cool Steampunk'y art type things in the planters.    Love this one.  Looks like they are getting ready for the new entry display to the Steampunk District.  Finally, the new Gearworks theater is looking great. I like the way they went with this.   They were working on the Marquee  Alright, that's going to wrap it up for our last look at Twisted Colossus prior to media day. A special thanks again to CoasterMatt for getting the great testing video and pictures later in the afternoon. Much appreciated. I'll also be heading back up to the area later today for an NFL draft party, if I get any indication that the ride is testing I'll stop by and get some more pics and video. Thanks again for all the support, we'll see you on May 23!!! If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram. Also, be sure to join our new Mailing List to receive our newsletter (will be sent out about every two weeks)
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 It's time for another Twisted Colossus update. Today we had kind of a last minute trip to the park but we figured we'd better do an update this week since it might be awhile until our next one (more on that below). We'll also take a look around the park and at a great new program that aims to recognize great employees at the park. * Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon  The Top Gun Stall on the green track has been completed as well as the airtime hill on the blue, which almost could be another kind of high-five moment, just from a totally different perspective. =)     They've wasted absolutely no time on moving into the next set of elements on the ride.   This is where the blue track will come out of it's zero-g roll.  The start of the zero-g roll.  Just like with the top-gun stall, the side of track on the bottom (in this case green) is being installed first.   Where the green track currently ends.   Under the zero-g  The lowest part of the ride  A rare piece of straight track. =)  They were working on the final turnaround today. I think it's safe to say the ride is about 80%-85% completed. But this is only the track work, there's still a lot of support work going on.   Looks like they'll be completing the circuit somewhere around the end of the zero-g roll as they are working from both sides now.    An overview of the work that's been done in the last month or so.  Our first look at the twisty final turnaround.    Inside the park, REALLY liking the look of the theater.   Elsewhere, the park has introduced a nice new program for employee recognition. From what we were told, random guests will be given these when they enter the park and they can give them directly to an employee who has gone above and beyond to offer great service. The employee will then give them to their manager so they can keep track of their performance. It's a nice "instant recognition" thing that employees and HR love. =)   Goliath is closed while they replace the lift chain. Unsure of how long it will be down.  Noticed that the gates have some kind of extender on Full Throttle now, anybody know how long these have been there? Were they having issues with people sticking their hands through the gap?  I know this has been here for awhile, but this was the first time I'd seen it. Maybe I need to do a loop around the opposite direction next time I'm at the park. Who knows what else I've been missing. =)  As more schools are opting to have their Grad Nights at Magic Mountain instead of Disneyland due to increasing costs/decreasing value, the park looks like they are stepping it up a bit. Nice to see.     Work is still being done on Lost Temple Rapids in advance of Hurricane Harbor opening next month  Speaking of Hurricane harbor, they did a nice power wash on Tornado. Looks like it was just freshly painted. Glad to see SFHH getting some more offseason love.  Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We will NOT have a park update next week as we'll be at Star Wars Celebration all weekend (Thursday through Sunday) but be sure to follow along all weekend for that fun. We'll have more details on where you can find that coverage on Wednesday. Have a great week everybody!! If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram. Also, be sure to join our new Mailing List to receive our newsletter (will be sent out about every two weeks)
If you have any comments, please share them below.  Today we were once again honored to be invited up to Six Flags Magic Mountain to get another close-up look at Twisted Colossus. I know we've said this before, but it bears repeating ... WE ARE SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED FOR THIS RIDE. We seriously want to pull an Eric Cartman and freeze ourselves until the ride opens. But we also really do like seeing the progress of the ride. =) Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon Click on any of the pictures below to see a larger version.  We've got a LOT of pictures to get to, so let's just cut right to the good stuff today. Our first look at the purple train. It's really awesome.   The detail on the trains is amazing.  Look Ma, Comfortable restraints!!!  For those that like to see how things work.  Moving down into the ride itself  LOTS of track waiting to be placed  Not sure if it's all here, but it looked to be very close to all from what we could tell.  Supports are starting to go up on the final turnarounds.   And for the next elements to be done.  Close up of the two new lift motors, each is 200hp.  The new trains are about 500lb heavier than the Morgan Trains Colossus was using when it closed.   Safety first!  This is all new wood, and obviously new steel.   More stuff ready to be installed.  For those that were worried, they are painting the structure. Although anything that is in direct contact with track will remain unpainted. This is to give it that "steel" look, and also for track inspection.  Oh yeah, there are some new elements up on the ride to show you. =)  Don't cross the streams!!!!   And how do they get to the top gun stall? Like this.   Insane!!    Airtime!  Nerd shot  Moving further down into the structure  Exiting the High Five  Another interesting tidbit, RMC only is responsible for the track and any replacement of wood 10 feet below the track. So anything under that 10 foot mark has to be done by the park, which they are doing now, as you can see.  More twistyness  HIGH FIVE!!   The High Five and first turn-around  More of the Top Gun stall  No caption necessary ...  Watch out for that Train!!     There's not one piece of straight track in this entire picture  Coming down the drop  Moving over to the station  All of the bushes that were here are gone  Not sure what's going here, we suggested a beer garden. =)  New fence around station exit. So don't go in there!! =)  Ride Control panel!!!  New exit bridge Moving over to Scream, it's re-paint is pretty much done.   New fence installed around parts of the ride.  And last but not least, a look at the progress of the Steampunk District.  Really like the way this turned out. And the trees are nice and trimmed down. We also asked what was replacing the Cool Zone, not sure. We did suggest another Beer Garden. =)  Very nice  Sandwich place, won't be "Subway" which is a good thing.  Lots of landscaping and new concrete going down   They were pouring concrete so we couldn't get to the other side. Also really do like the colors on the theater. Wasn't sure about it from the concept art, but that's very nice looking. Alright, that's going to wrap it up for our tour. Thanks again to the park for having us out, we are so glad they are doing these and they did say there would be another one next month. We are also a few weeks away from any kind of opening date announcement, so as soon as we know anything, you will too. Thanks again for all of the support. We all appreciate it.  Happy Monday and welcome to another Twisted Colossus update. Our updates are now old enough to vote, and I think this week they are voting Green side because, as you'll see, it's looking pretty amazing. Not to take anyway from Blue side, but it's gotten most of the wow-factor attention up to this point. =) We'll also take a look at Scream and around the park at a few random things. Yep, still looks Colossal.  The Double Down on the Green side has been completed since our last update. It basically dives down below the blue track and heads into it's inversion.  That's gonna be fun  The Blue track headed towards some pretty nice airtime  The start of the twist   What looks to be the rest of the twist ready to go up     It was a very hot day, but they were still working. I'm guessing they were welding because they were using water as well. And well, we don't need another repeat incident. =)  One last look at Mr. Twist.  Next backstage tour we need to see if the park will let us go up on the tower of Tornado or even the racing slides, because that will be nice.  Signature Shot ... because we can  Ok, I lied about the last picture being our last look at Mr. Twist  A closer look at the Double Down and blue track diving.   On the backside, even more track is on site.   Moving on to Scream, it appears the repaint is done.  Not sure how well you can see it, but it appears the maintenance bay has been painted with the blue.   It did look like a couple of supports in this area weren't completely done, but that could have just been the reflection of the sun.  It appears the track up to the station is painted, but that seems to be the only station work that's been done so far.   As we reported on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages on Saturday, there is a new "Drink Free All Season" Sports Bottle for only $19.99. This is a GREAT deal, especially considering how much we go to the park. We've also confirmed with some of our site friends (Texas Thrill Seekers, SFNE Online and Coaster ChitChat) that these were at other parks. So if you will be travelling it's an even better deal.  And yes, they do work for the Coke Freestyle machines in the park. Will be interesting to see how much we save this year.  The Flash Pass office got some new paint and a new name. It looks great.  Looks like there has been some activity at The Swashbuckler, but doesn't look like it's going to open anytime soon.   The new asphalt they added last month has been painted and looks nice. Even if they'd do something like this to the bottom of Scream it would improve that parking lot immensely. Heck, I'll come out and volunteer to do it. I'm sure we could have a big Park Journey Scream Painting party. =)  Tidal Wave opened back up over the weekend  It was only running 1 boat, but if I had to guess, the park hadn't planned on opening the ride this weekend. But temperatures were in the 90's so I'm guessing they got it opened before they wanted to.  Moving outside, the park continues to update Handicapped facilities, such as wheelchair ramps at the ticket booths.  And new pavement at the bus load/unload stations.   With all the recent changes adding more handicapped spots and obvious work on this front we aren't sure if the park wasn't meeting some ADA requirements or they just felt they needed to update that aspect of the park. Either way, it's nice to see.  Alright everybody, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We hope you enjoyed a look at the park and hope you are getting excited for Twisted Colossus. As of now we have NO idea when the ride will be opening, but as soon as we know, you will too. Thanks for reading, have a great week everybody!!  Happy Monday and welcome to another Twisted Colossus update. There's lots going on at the site of both Twisted Colossus and Scream. The "High Five" element is now done and I think it's safe to say that construction of the ride is at least half done, probably a bit more at this point. Scream is almost fully repainted, hopeful now they'll be doing something with the station (as you'll see below, they haven't yet) We'll also take a look around the park and touch on a couple of random park things. * Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon 
The "High Five" is done, the Blue Track is dropping steep and the Green Track will go into it's Double-Down/Top Gun Stall Double whammy next. 
More track and wood ready to be placed on the structure. 
The High Five, can't wait to get into Hurricane Harbor to get some shots of this. 
Heading out to the back part of the ride (or the front part if you are watching from the parking lot) =) 
Signature Shot!! 
On the other turnaround, not really a whole lot different, but they are working away in there. 
An overview of the completed parts of the ride 
Inside, they are working away on the Screampunk District area, so additional fencing to keep employees out has gone up. 
Whatever changes are coming to the concrete inside will begin on this side of the wall apparently. 
The directional signs and the mural wall still show classic colossus for now. Hopefully they'll find a way to incorporate the new and the old into this. 
Moving over to Scream, the new colors really "pop" against the backdrop of the Southern California Sky (sorry rest of the country). 
Most of the ride is painted 
They were working on the brake run while we were there 
The Cobra Roll is one of the last elements to get painted 
As you can see below, work on the station hasn't begun yet, or been painted at this point. Hopefully this is coming. 
Back inside the park, not sure why but the Tidal Wave sign below looked "new" to me. I'm 99% sure I just hadn't noticed it before. =) 
Speaking of Tidal Wave, doesn't look like any work is being done on it while it's closed. Maybe they can send the paint crew that's working on Scream over here when they are done. =) 
Bathroom queue ... this is definitely new. 
Looks like they were doing some painting of the Midway here. 
Uhhh ... just gonna leave this here. =) 
This too. =) 
It was an absolutely beautiful day in the park. 
And we'll leave you with this great picture of Tatsu ... another ride that could use a repaint. 
Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We most likely won't have a SFMM update next week as we're going to have a pretty busy week elsewhere. Thanks again for all of the support of the site and our various pages. We've been absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of support, love and messages we've received appreciating the work. |
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