Tidal Wave/Greezed Lightening

Greezed Lightening · Post by **Greezed Lightening** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:50 pm

That coaster was my absolute favorite at Paramount's Great America. Its sad to see it not there when I go every season. To show my love of Greezed Lightening I went on it 8 times in a row. Anybody ride it more times than that?

RandyV · Post by **RandyV** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:18 pm

Oh yeah ... I think my cousin and I rode the Tidal Wave back-to-back something like 15 or 20 times. There was NO line, so it was get off, and get right back on before the next launch.

I could barely walk straight by the time we were done.

dpxtreme · Post by **dpxtreme** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:29 pm

When I went there on a Saturday once, all the other coaster's lines were like 2 hours wait, and Greased Lightnin's line was a walk-on. How awesome was that.

Glorfindel7 · Post by **Glorfindel7** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 10:04 pm

I think I managed about 7 times one day... Then I got tired of walking back into the line

Shaggy · Post by **Shaggy** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 10:29 pm

In 94 I worked in Tech Services. That year the Tidal Wave was down for some repair and as I was walking down the center service road some friends of mine who were mechanics called me up to the station and said they needed more weight on the ride for testing so they had me jump on for some rides. I think I rode it something like 6 or 7 times with out getting off and the only delay was in the reseting of the weight "bob" that pushed the trian out of the station. They would have had me ride more, but I was getting a little sick by that point. But I worked that ride as a ride op for 2 seasons before that and I knew that ride better then some of the mechanics. I once save it from major damage when I heard it making a slightly different sound every time the train came back into the station backwards.. I called the mechanics out and pointed it out to one of them.. after they checked it out.. it went down for a few hours but it saved it from a season ending issue..

Greezed Lightening · Post by **Greezed Lightening** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 10:42 pm

8 times in a row without getting off

Did feel sick but I hope to break my record and go for 16 times in a row if I ever make it to Kentucky Kingdom! Can it be done 16 times without getting off?

Arrow Guy · Post by **Arrow Guy** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:45 am

It can.

In '91 (not knowing it was my last chance) I rode Gurnee's almost 50 times in 2 days. This was back during the Twicket promotions, so my family always planned to be there for the weekend. It helped that their shortcut was open! More recently, I've been able to stay on it at KK for several rides without exiting. If you catch it on a slow day you should be able to change seats. Just know that if Holiday World is open, I'll probably be going for that 50 in a single day on Legend.

Druzik · Post by **Druzik** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:27 pm

The Tidal Wave was awesome! I worked the Santa Clara Tidal Wave in 1979 and 1980, and was it's day lead in 1980. When Knott's Berry Farm was getting ready to open their Montezooma's Revenge (the same coaster) their maintenance and opening crew were trained on our Tidal Wave.

Greezed Lightening · Post by **Greezed Lightening** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:11 pm

Why did Great America have to take out Greased Lightnin in the first place? Knotts Berry Farm still has Montezoomas Revenge. Its hard to get to Knotts & I've never been there. When I just went to Great America on Wednesday, as I was on Vortex I looked down & saw spray paint from Greased Lightnin. Maybe I'll get some the next time so I can have my own Greased Lightnin remains. Is spray paint a souviner?

Magic Hate Ball · Post by **Magic Hate Ball** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 5:04 pm

Possibly because very few people rode it.

jonrev · Post by **jonrev** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:10 pm

I rode the Gurnee Tidal Wave (Greezed Lightnin' @ SFKK) and it has now become my favorite steel coaster.

Glorfindel7 · Post by **Glorfindel7** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:04 pm

Magic Hate Ball wrote:Possibly because very few people rode it.

That's not exactly true, it did have great capacity... I think some people thought the ride was too short for the time they had to wait in line, however....

There were some people who did not ride it.... They really don't know what they missed

(Was always one of my favorite rides at GA..)