 Good morning everybody, and welcome to yet another update in the continuing construction of Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It's been a couple of weeks since our last update so we have quite a bit to get to, as well as another "challenge" that we took on for this trip. But this one is a bit more straight forward, not silly and more directly related to what we do around here. Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon  Today we'll start off with looking at the ride from the parking lot, as that's really the only place you can see the ride from now. We're not going to take pictures through any holes in the fence or anything like that. Click on any of the pictures below for a larger view.  As you can see, green track has been added to the bottom airtime hill after the first drop.  More prep is taking place for the first turnaround.  Random thought while proofreading ... are the light posts still going to be used to light up the structure? How cool is that? Maybe with some awesome LED lights?  Going up!!   Going Down ...   Ok, so let me get this straight ... August 2014 the complaint was "they are going to be removing too much of Colossus, it's not going to look like that anymore" ... and now in January 2015 it's "I can't believe they are leaving those pieces of Colossus track there. It's going to look terrible. First, it's a structural thing. Second, I personally think it's kind of cool that some remnants of the old track are going to be there. Third, the piece of track shown here hasn't been used in so long, I'm sure most of the people complaining never rode that section of track. =)  RMC Guys: "Let's park our trucks right in front so people can't see what we're doing". Thanks guys. ;)  Half Colossus  What's up guys working in the station!!!    From what we could tell, absolutely nothing has been done on Scream yet. The trains are in the shed though, so they could be getting some TLC.  Yeah, that's gonna be fun.  Inside the park, the "Farewell Colossus" display has been re-purposed. I don't "hate" this, and I know that they aren't going to put the actual new trains out for people to ruin.   Still no artwork on the wall. There was a hole we could have used to get pictures of torn up concrete and what not ... but don't do that.  Around The ParkNot a whole lot else going on around the park, Holiday in the Park stuff continues to get removed.  Even though it was 75 degrees at the park, it's still "technically" winter. But Winter Wonderland is gone anyway.   Some new tables have been placed up near Superman (across from Laughing Dragon) but there are no food places up here to get anything. Huh.  This is why we suggest starting at the back of the park  Tidal Wave is closed, doesn't look like it's getting any work done, but it could sure use it.   We spotted some awesome new DC Domo Kun's in the games area, I'm not a big player of games, but I must get these. Again, you can click to see a larger version.
One other random note, while riding Apocalypse today, we saw them sandblasting/repainting a bunch of Jet Stream boats. Hopefully the work being done on them isn't just cosmetic. Ride Sign JourneyWe got a lot of great suggestions once again for our "Challenge Accepted" series, and we'll certainly get to them eventually. But today we wanted to have some fun so decided to take one from the first round and get pictures of all of the ride signs. We were trying to figure out how to order these, alphabetical, a loop around the park, by color ... but in the end, I thought let's be controversial and post them in the order I'd rank them. And then we can let you all put up your rankings as well. So here it is, Gregg's ranking of the rides of Six Flags Magic Mountain (both coasters and flat rides). Don't kill me, because I know most of you won't agree with me. Obviously once Twisted Colossus opens these will change. I also didn't include Scream as that ranking will also change once it's reopened/rethemed.
Alright, that's going to wrap it up for today's update. Hope you enjoyed it. Please don't hate me for my ride rankings, it's all fun. Feel free to share yours below or why you think I should give something another chance. Except Green Lantern and Slingshot. I'm not giving those more chances. =) Thanks again for reading and supporting the site. We greatly appreciate it.
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 Happy New Year and welcome to our first Twisted Colossus update of 2015. There has been a LOT of work going on at the site over the past couple of weeks, not so much of things being built, but more things being torn down. We'll also bring you the first edition of "Challenge Accepted" Journey. Because really, how many pictures of dirt and track do you need to see? And how many do we really need to take?  The Holidays are over, Holiday in the Park is over so now the focus shifts squarely to Twisted Colossus, the ScreamPunk District and everything that goes along with that including Scream(ing) for Sandwiches (see what I did there?). As seen from the lot, a lot of the Colossus structure has been removed. I know this is disconcerting to a lot of people because it's not as big, but bigger isn't always better (see Phoenix at Knoebels).   Green Track ready to go somewhere. They were working in this area with the crane as I was leaving later in the day.  Colossus ... you have been chopped.   You can pretty much see all the way into the station from the parking lot now.      More work being done on the first turn around, looks like track could be ready to go up at any time.  They were also digging a hole ... like a VERY big hole. I don't recall this from the artwork or the animated POV. We'll keep an eye on it.  Sorry for the sun flare, it was bright. But basically the hole is deep enough where you can't even see the tractor that is digging it.  Signature Shot   Crane is ready to move some track  Inside the park ... a wall. I'd assume some kind of artwork will show up here shortly like they did for Lex Luthor and Full Throttle. Hopefully we'll get another hard hat tour once there is some work done. (hint hint)   "Fire Hydrant" JourneyEarlier today on our Facebook and Twitter pages we posted a question asking what else, other than coasters, people would want to see in our updates. We figured we'd see things like "Gardens" or "Games" or "Ride signs". But the first one we got was from Jim at Westcoaster, and being Jim it was a request for Fire Hydrants. Every Fire Hydrant in the park. So Challenge thrown out, and challenge accepted. We'll be doing more of these in the future, because we got some really great suggestions, and why not have some fun with these updates and let you guys decide what they are about. So if you have more suggestions, please share them with us, we'll certainly be up at the park enough to get through all of them. =) So without further ado ... The Fire Hydrants of Six Flags Magic Mountain. If you can guess where they all are, you'll win absolutely nothing. 88 lines about 44 hydrants ... (well, 44 lines about 22 hydrants)  This is Priscilla. Note to readers ... don't go to Urban Dictionary for your definition of P.I.V.. Seriously, you'll have to clear your internet history.  This is Floyd, the most popular hydrant in the park. You should be jealous. He gets a lot of action. Just not from Priscilla.  Howard just laughs at the dude with glue in his hair. What does Got 2b Glude even mean?  Chelsea is camera shy and totally tried to run away when I was taking her picture. No TMZ update for you.  Drew is just waiting ... waiting and waiting. Smokey the Bear isn't amused at the reason Drew is waiting.  Ally is hiding in the bushes ... never trust Ally  Bruce is just lonely because Bruce used to have his own action show.  Clark is in disguise.  Nigel thinks he's a ninja. Nigel the Ninja. Who comes up with this crap?  Harry likes to disappear. Seriously, I walked by this one twice.  Franz is happy because he lives by the best ride ever.  Alex likes to eat healthy, but he can never seem to find it open.  Edward lost his marbles, and whatever covering goes there.  JB, which stands for Jemmifer (yes, Jemmifer) Bumblebee. You can usually find her down at the abandoned sports bar on the Old Road (if you know what I mean).  Mary is just hanging out, trying to catch a wave.  Jay can get your fire out in a flash ...  Diana just had some work done and likes to remind everybody. For some reason they can't seem to find her.  The Dude. He Abides. But can't find his rug. It really tied the planter together.  Walter is just waiting for his ride to reopen. Dude, seriously. What's up with that ride?  Vanessa warned me to stay away. Apparently there were zombies here not too long ago.  JONES!!!! (You know what I mean)  And last but not least, James. James is the life of the party, standing in the dance circle, never able to get out. Must be all the beer flavored Jelly Belly's. Alright, that's gonna wrap it up for this little update. We hope you enjoyed our little bit of silliness to go along with another update. We promise we'll get a little more clever the next time around. We've already got some ideas for some of the suggestions we've had. We should have another update soon.  Welcome to another Wednesday Twisted Colossus update. There's not a whole lot of change this week but fear not, they are indeed working hard and are still on schedule for the ride. We've also heard that the lift has now been topped off and they are likely working on the drop now. * All pictures by Gregg Condon 
The supports on the lift are complete and as of today the lift has been topped off. 
Lots of work being done in the lower portions of the ride. 
A couple of closer shots of all the supports that are on the lift and drop. 
More supports ready to go up on the structure. 
Expect this area to close after Holiday In The Park for it's transition into "Screampunk District". 
Say goodbye to the Lemonade stand. Not sure if this is going to be demo'd or moved. 
One thing is for sure, you can see the ride a lot better now. 
Nothing really new going on in the station 
Have to admit, one of the things I'm most looking forward to is Scream getting some love. These banners are long due to be replaced. 
And of course, a paint job. 
You can really see Goliath a lot more now. 
That's going to wrap it up for this update. We'll try and get up to the park for an update this week and some pictures of the topped off lift hill, but we'll have to see how the weekend goes. We'll also have a Holiday In The Park update for you later today.  We were invited up to Six Flags Magic Mountain this week for a special treat, a hard-hat tour of the Twisted Colossus site and a close up of the work they are doing on the ride. To see everything up close and personal was a treat and I hope you enjoy. Thanks to the park for having us out and including us in the tour.  Before we head out for the tour, lets take a look at what the ride looks like from the parking lot. Most of the area where the first turn-around and high-five element is going to be has been prepped.   The lift hill is almost done and should be topped off very soon, and then they will start on the first drops for each side.   More of the turnaround ... are ya getting excited yet?   Inside the park, it was confirmed that this area will be fully redone with new concrete and a "Screampunk District" sign. So it will look like the picture we posted below a few weeks ago, just without the train and with fancier concrete. Should be nice.   The food location will be a gourmet sandwich shop called "Twisted Wich's" (not sure of the spelling). Something the park is lacking and will be a nice change.  Now the part you've all been waiting for, the Twisted Colossus tour.  Moving in towards the station   If you are entering the queue, the left side will be the regular queue, the right side (shown below) will be for ADA and Flash Pass.   Obviously this is going to look much different in a few months   I didn't catch what this is going to be, I'm guessing queue.  What lurks under the bowels of Colossus?   LOTS of station work is coming in the future  The park confirmed there will be 4 trains total. Colors will be Orange, Blue, Green and Purple. There will be 3 storage tracks and 1 transfer track. And they will be covered.   What's that I see out of the corner of my eye? Back for more in a minute.  Getting in the back row for a ride!!!   The new control room will be below the station  Pictures do not do this justice  Coaster Porn shot #1  Drooooool ...  I mean come on!!!  This little stretch of track probably has more pops of airtime than all other rides in the park combined. Amazing.   We tried to get them to put the train on and just push us down this stretch of track, but alas, it is not at the park. I knew we should have stolen it from IAAPA.  Lets take a look at the lift hills shall we ...  The crew confirmed that the tracks will be built in unison throughout the entire project  36 years of grease ...  Lots of footers that no longer need to be used   The track is BEEFY  Seriously, who do I have to bribe to get a RMC tool chest for my garage?  The end of the ride   Coaster Porn shots #2, #3 and #4    Once the track reaches the bottom of the first drop, that is the end of "phase 1" of the project. Phase 2 will include the first turn around, the high-5 element and the twists. Phase 3 will be the rest of the ride.  Anybody want some Colossus wood?    Artsy shot ...   The transfer track ... yes it's upside down.   Moving back towards the front of the ride ... THIS ... can't wait. I request back seat please.   We need something fast and "Whoosh'y" to clear off the tracks. Soon ... very soon.  The park also confirmed that Scream will be getting a makeover including a new color scheme. What it's going to include or what the colors will be we aren't sure, but this is a VERY welcome change.   That's going to wrap it up for this update. Thanks again to the park and Rocky Mountain Construction for allowing us to get a great look at the ride. Hopefully there will be more of these before the ride opens (Hint Hint) as I know we all love them. Stay tuned later as we'll have another update for our preview of Holiday in the Park ... which you definitely should be making plans to visit.  Another week, another Twisted Colossus update. A bit more wood (?) / steel (?) has been added to the lift to replace what was damaged during the fire and we found a new spot to get some pictures while not breaking any rules or getting any of our employee friends in trouble. =) Twisted Colossus Construction on Twisted Colossus continues to steam along. While it may not look like much is happening week to week there is a great deal of work being done inside the structure. Once the work on the lift/drop is done they should start working on the outside part of the track which will make it a lot easier to see the construction.  Lets hope the remaining portions of the structure are going to get a beautiful white paint job to match what's been added. It looks kind of odd right now.  Lots of new pieces ready to go up.  Moving inside the park, I decided to take a spin on Goliath and managed to catch this spot to get some good pictures.   You can see some of the pre-lift in the picture below. If you'd like to see a good view of construction, just take a ride on Goliath, but please don't take any pictures from the ride as it's against park rules.  No new work has been done on the "Steampunk District".  I'd guess that work will begin in this area after Fright Fest as the Total Darkness maze is in the theater. Nothing in this area has been prepped for Holiday in the Park, so perhaps the entire area will be shut down after Fright Fest. Which is probably a good thing.  I did photoshop in some of the artwork in the picture above to show what the entrance to the area could potentially look like. Looks pretty good. I'm sure it will be a bit bigger than that, but I didn't want to distort the image too much.  Nothing new in the station area, but they were working on removing some more of the old Colossus track.   Doesn't really look much different from this angle.   Around The ParkNot really much else going on in the rest of the park. This is your VERY last weekend to visit Fright Fest for 2014. In fact, only Friday and Saturday. Hard to believe it's already over. You can see our full Fright Fest review here. We'll likely be there on Saturday night to say goodbye to all of our favorite monsters until next year .  Noticed these in a couple of the stores, and they seem to be a trend at a lot of parks now. They are "don't scare me necklaces". IMO, if you don't want to be scared, don't go to a Halloween event. Although things like this make a bit more sense at Six Flags than other parks since the park doesn't close in before Fright Fest starts. With all of the recent issues with people at Halloween Events, I'm guessing this will become more of the norm.  Because we do so many updates I don't always go into the park to ride stuff, although I do attempt to ride at least every coaster in the park once per year. There were only 2 I haven't ridden yet, Riddlers Revenge and Tatsu. (I haven't ridden Green Lantern: First Flight, but I don't count that as I'll never ride it again). So I decided to take a spin on Riddler's during my visit. I actually got a front-row solo ride. Something to be said about starting your day in the back of the park. Since this is a theme/amusement park site, guess I should include some coaster photos once in awhile. =)   Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We won't have a Twisted Colossus update next week even if we do end up at Fright Fest as we'd only be going up in the evening. If anybody ends up at the park this weekend and would like to share pictures, feel free to contact us. We always give full credit for pictures. =) |
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