Post
by WestBurbs14 » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:06 am
The first I heard of the American Eagle was in a newspaper story sometime during the 1980-81 off-season. It had a photo of an artist's rendering. I remember how impressive the ride structure was at first. On closer examination, however, it seemed odd that the first hill was the only notable feature.
The turnaround looked good until I realized that the steep hill went up, not down, and that the spiral seemed overly long. Between the first drop and the turnaround, there were very minor hills in each direction. And as my brother, Dave, pointed out, the twin spiral before the brake run was impressive until you realized that because of the twin tracks, you only rode one of the spirals.
Nonetheless, I thought it was best to judge the ride from the actual ride experience than from a picture. Our household got a mass-marketed coupon envelope that included a discount for GA admission, so prodded by the ending date of that offer, Dave and I made a trip to the park. Dave was 26 and I was 19.
Since we came in from the south along the tollway, our first view of the Eagle was from the road. To this day I think the structure is visually impressive. Many years later when I was flying into O'Hare from Dallas, we approached O'Hare from the southwest and flew over and past the airport all the way to Lake Michigan before turning around and approaching the runway. While we were still heading northeast toward the lake and the plane was a few thousand feet high and maybe five miles south of GA, I could clearly see the white mass of American Eagle wood.
After Dave and I entered the park, we made our way to the Eagle. The line used much of the queue under the circus tent, but it seemed to move at a decent pace. I'm guessing we waited close to an hour to board.
We saw something interesting when we were on the queue bridge that crossed the park service road. We watched two guys get out of the line. The trouble was that they were in a section of line adjacent to the service road, and when they hopped over the railing onto the road, they unwittingly exited the park. It was somewhat amusing to watch them walk along looking for a place to get back onto the midway while gradually realizing there was no way to do it. I can’t blame them for being confused. It seems like the park should have put some landscaping or walls with paintings of park attractions or something along the queue to separate it from the backstage area.
The whole day it looked like there was a threat of rain, particularly as my brother and I reached the loading area. Luckily the rain held off and we got our ride in.
I remember little of that actual first ride other than that it confirmed what I'd suspected: good first drop, bland everything else. I was hoping it would somehow be more than that, so I was disappointed. One problem was that less than a week before, I'd ridden the Beast at Kings Island, which other than the mid-ride chain lift was exciting from beginning to end, sometimes horrifyingly so.
The Eagle just did not give Beast-sized thrills. While the latter had a decent first drop, accentuated by the miniscule-looking tunnel entrance, it followed it up by a good second drop, many twists and turns, and a screaming-through-hell finish. The Eagle couldn't match that combination of thrills.
One of the things that bugged me Eagle-wise was the recycled name. In 1976, Six Flags St. Louis heavily promoted the Screamin' Eagle on Chicago TV. I went on that ride in '76, and it was thrilling and well paced. It seemed that GA took that name, made it less creative, and slapped it on a ride layout with a big first drop and not much else.
I remember reading an interview of a famous coaster designer - I think it was John Allen, but I could be wrong - who complained about the emphasis on coaster stats over pacing and features. He’d had an inquiry from Marriott to do the Eagle, but he refused because it wasn’t going to be a good coaster – just the next one to be tallest and fastest. He was right.
That day in 1981, Dave and I decided to give the Eagle a second chance. After having our expectations lowered, we enjoyed the second ride a bit more than the first. Still, today I like it far more for the beauty of its structure than for the actual ride experience it delivered.
(So naturally I missed the last season of a couple of great rides....)
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