Z-Force Memories
- Glorfindel7
- Tidal Wave
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:18 pm
- Location: Chicago Suburbs
Z-Force Memories
What can I say, used to love this ride... sorry it no longer exists in SFGAM
(All of my experience was with the Z-Force in Gurnee, never rode the one in SC)....
I remember when they were first building this ride, they had taken out the Whirligig and the Ferris Wheel and put up a construction sign with Bugs Bunny and a Hard Hat. Going past the construction site made me wonder what type of ride was operating.
I also remember about a month before "official opening" while they were testing the ride watching it in operation. At that point I couldn't wait to ride it. (I got my chance at a Postal Employees Union day in August..I believe it opened in July.)
One thing that always fascinated me about this ride was that it appeared that the loading station was "in-between" sections of the ride, and the cars would pass both over and under, so you could actually watich people on the ride while waiting to ride. (Heightened the anticipation.)
I believe that Z-Force was only capable of running one or 2 cars at a time, but loading time for one car was incredibly "SLOW". In fact on the first day I rode it it happened to be raining at the park. I went back for the ride and saw a time for wait of "3 hours" As it was the only ride operating it was time to "call it a day".
I think I remember asking someone why the ride was taken down, his answer was that "it tended to break down when it got cold" (meaning the ride was only good for summer months, Chicago was having some less than normal temperatures in the spring and fall. I think this might have been one of the reasons)
One other question, the Z-Force commerical shown on TV was for the one in Santa Clara... Exactly how did this one differ from the one in Gurnee.. I know the first hill wasn't the same as the one in Gurnee had to go straight down from the lift hit before banking into the first turn.
(All of my experience was with the Z-Force in Gurnee, never rode the one in SC)....
I remember when they were first building this ride, they had taken out the Whirligig and the Ferris Wheel and put up a construction sign with Bugs Bunny and a Hard Hat. Going past the construction site made me wonder what type of ride was operating.
I also remember about a month before "official opening" while they were testing the ride watching it in operation. At that point I couldn't wait to ride it. (I got my chance at a Postal Employees Union day in August..I believe it opened in July.)
One thing that always fascinated me about this ride was that it appeared that the loading station was "in-between" sections of the ride, and the cars would pass both over and under, so you could actually watich people on the ride while waiting to ride. (Heightened the anticipation.)
I believe that Z-Force was only capable of running one or 2 cars at a time, but loading time for one car was incredibly "SLOW". In fact on the first day I rode it it happened to be raining at the park. I went back for the ride and saw a time for wait of "3 hours" As it was the only ride operating it was time to "call it a day".
I think I remember asking someone why the ride was taken down, his answer was that "it tended to break down when it got cold" (meaning the ride was only good for summer months, Chicago was having some less than normal temperatures in the spring and fall. I think this might have been one of the reasons)
One other question, the Z-Force commerical shown on TV was for the one in Santa Clara... Exactly how did this one differ from the one in Gurnee.. I know the first hill wasn't the same as the one in Gurnee had to go straight down from the lift hit before banking into the first turn.
- SFGAmfreak4life
- Willard's Whizzer
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2005 1:38 pm
- Location: Chicago, IL
- redfishpaw
- Tidal Wave
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- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:58 am
- Location: Milwaukee
- Contact:
- SFGAmfreak4life
- Willard's Whizzer
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2005 1:38 pm
- Location: Chicago, IL
I don't think the general public knows why Flashback has been SBNO. I'm guessing that they haven't taken care of it and decided to close it down for rehab. MM finally go around to if the rumor is true and it's going on now. If it's not going on now then it probably will during the season. I think it will be open this year since Shapiro wants a better park experience. A better park experience means trying to operate as many rides as possible. Flashback shouldn't have been closed this long and Shapiro knows that. Getting Flashback open is probably one of the top things in his improvement list for MM. If it doesn't open this year I know Shapiro will explain why instead of making up a stupid excuse like it can't operate the same time as Hurrican Harbor.
- Glorfindel7
- Tidal Wave
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:18 pm
- Location: Chicago Suburbs
I wonder if with the Ride rotation, there's any chance that Great America would get it back? (I've never seen that happen, but I've done it quite a bit in my Rollercoaster Tycoon Parks... why not?....)SFGAmfreak4life wrote:Z-Force ran 3 trains. Z-Force was in the ride rotation program and that's why it was sent to Six Flags Over Georgia. Z-Force is the only Space Diver in existence.
I liked it when I rode it at Magic Mountain and wish it was still at Great America. Too bad it's been SBNO since 2003.
If that is the case, probably the only thing they could probably put back into Gurnee at this point would be Tidal Wave...
- redfishpaw
- Tidal Wave
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re: Condor. I remember during the off season between 90/91 I asked someone in management what the new ride was going to be. I was told "something really lamn". I knew that Condor was used, but I didn't realize that is was part of the ride rotation program, which I thought had already ended. Anyway, I personally never cared for Condor, but I have read that there are not that many in existance.RLAiello wrote:I thought the ride rotation program thingy was kabashed years ago. That's how Gurnee got the glorious Condor. Whee. (no offense to anyone that may like that thing, of course! )
Last edited by redfishpaw on Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
- SFGAmfreak4life
- Willard's Whizzer
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- Great America Guy
- Buzzy Bee
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:26 pm
- Location: Wisconsin
I don't think the ride rotation program ever really 'ended', but it did seem to go away for a few years throughout the late 90's/early 00's. It seems like most of the relocations happened around the late 80's, and then randomly thoughout the mid to late 90's.
It seemed to really fire up again around 2003/2004 with rides like Zonga/Texas Tornado, Frisbee/Revolution, Canyon Blaster at The Great Escape, Tidal Wave/Viper/Greased Lightning, Jester/Joker's Revenge @ SFNO, Xcalibur @ SFStl, and now alot of SFAW rides. Not to mention there are probably alot more flats involved.
Now other chains(especially Paramount) are starting to move rides around, most notably PKI's Flyers, and of course, Stealth.
It seemed to really fire up again around 2003/2004 with rides like Zonga/Texas Tornado, Frisbee/Revolution, Canyon Blaster at The Great Escape, Tidal Wave/Viper/Greased Lightning, Jester/Joker's Revenge @ SFNO, Xcalibur @ SFStl, and now alot of SFAW rides. Not to mention there are probably alot more flats involved.
Now other chains(especially Paramount) are starting to move rides around, most notably PKI's Flyers, and of course, Stealth.