Category: Colossus

4/30/2015

Twisted Colossus Backstage Tour #4

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!!!

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4/12/2015

Twisted Colossus Update #20

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.

3/27/2015

Twisted Colossus Tour #3

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.

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