GREATAMERICAparks.com

Lots of views and no comments? Wow ... maybe I am the only one who liked Z-Force.

This is borderline Marriott content, since Z-Force came in in '85, after Marriott sold the park -- but I figure Marriott must have had a hand in buying or designing the ride. Anyway -- Z-Force (Flashback at SF Magic Mountain) is slated to be taken down this winter, and put into storage, probably to ...

Wow! Great stories from the past. I'm curious, though. If the counterweight cable snapped, why would that cause the train to have more acceleration? If anything, I would expect the broken cable to cause the train to have less acceleration versus having too much -- meaning it might not make the loop ...

Hurt: Tidal Wave (it can take it!)
Heal: Z-Force (save the one-of-a-kind!)

Raging Bull: 8
Top Gun: 14
Demon: 13
Viper: 8
Invertigo: 14
American Eagle: 5
Stealth: 11
Whizzer: 7
Tidal Wave: 12
Batman the Ride: 4
Shock Wave: 4
Z-Force: 5

Given that other parks can't seem sell off their first gen free-falls, it was unlikely worth the time or money to properly dismantle and store it. Blasting it and selling the steel for scrap was probably cheaper and easier. That was sad to watch. I'm hoping to take my daughter on a first-gen free-fa...

Hurt: Vertical Velocity
Heal: Z-Force (it fell off the list without being down to zero!)

Raging Bull: 6
Top Gun: 14
Vertical Velocity: 5
Demon: 12
Viper: 7
Invertigo: 11
American Eagle: 5
Stealth: 9
Whizzer: 6
Tidal Wave: 12
Batman the Ride: 5
Iron Wolf: 2
Shockwave: 5
Z-Force: 6

Loggers Run for me ... bigger splash at the bottom.

Great topic! - The "clank" of the brakes on the Tidal Wave - The "clank" of the anti-rollbacks on the Demon lift hill - The "pssst pssst pssst" of the station brakes on the Demon - The "clank", "scream" and "whoosh" of cars dropping on The ...

Pizza Luigi right next to the American Eagle was always my personal favorite. There's nothing like sitting down with some pizza and watching the trains go over top and down the first drop.

So I have to ask -- how exactly did they go about training you guys? Did they have you shadow a shift, run the ride before the park opened, etc. Just curious -- it's something I never really thought about. I always wanted to work at the park during the summers, but I lived way too far away to make i...

I had a random thought yesterday about the rides for those of you out there who worked at the parks: How did Marriott come up with the names for the various rides? How did Columbia, the Demon, American Eagle, The Edge all get their names? Was there some kind of employee contest? Did an outside firm ...

What is up with the paint scheme? It looks like they retained some of the original "tangelo orange" -- but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the parts that are white ... Anyone know what the deal is?

Great pics. Thanks for sharing!

I just realized the press kit photo posted in my own album here on the site shows this same building from the other side.

http://www.greatamericaparks.com/images ... m=21&pos=2

It's at the lower-left of the tower.

More curiosity than anything ... did the Santa Clara Tidal Wave have the same lighting effects along the track as Gurnee? If memory is right, when the train launched, a series of sequenced blue lights went off along the "wave" graphics next to the track, around the loop itself and up the f...

... and what's with the K-Mart blue light special light on the post near the skylight?