Author Topic: terminator the ride (Read 4753 times)

zztop · « **on:** Oct 22, 2008, 03:13 »

they finally anounced it
http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/rides/terminatorthecoaster.aspx
With five belly-flopping hills and six high speed banked turns, Terminator®: The Coaster is a state-of-the-art ride that combines the acrobatic thrills of a modern roller coaster while retaining the nostalgic look and feel of a classic "woodie."

The unparalleled sights and sounds will drop and turn you straight into the confines of Skynet’s artificially intelligent network of lethal machines, in one final attempt to save human kind.

Join the resistance spring 2009.

zztop · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 22, 2008, 03:14 »

Valencia, CA, October 22, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — Six Flags Magic Mountain announced today the addition in 2009 of a new wooden roller coaster to its world renowned coaster collection. Developed by the same team that produced the new X2 experience, TERMINATOR®: THE COASTER will combine innovative thrill ride technology with the signature science fiction punch of the Terminator brand. The debut is scheduled to coincide with the release of the McG directed film Terminator Salvation™ next year, and will introduce fans to an entirely new universe inspired by the film's post apocalyptic setting.

"Our mission at Six Flags Magic Mountain is to provide entertainment that appeals to a wide range of tastes and this specially designed wooden coaster will be a proven winner among guests of all ages," said Jay Thomas, Six Flags Magic Mountain's Park President. "Designed around the theme of the successful Terminator movie brand, this ride will draw thrill seekers from around the world."

Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, co-CEO's of The Halcyon Company, credit Six Flags with taking the ride to the next level in adventure. "The combination of the universe created by the film and the setting of this ride will provide fans with an adventure that keeps the spirit of the story," said Kubicek and Anderson jointly.

The $10 million coaster, engineered exclusively for the Valencia theme park by Great Coasters International Inc. (GCII), TERMINATOR®: THE COASTER will feature a loading station "fly-thru," a state-of-the-art sight and sound package, and unique queue line and on-board entertainment elements. The GCII-designed Millennium Flyer coaster trains will zip through five belly-flopping hills and six high speed banked turns over 2,850 feet of track to create a ride that delivers the acrobatic thrills of a modern roller coaster while retaining the nostalgic look and feel of a classic "woodie."

The Terminator franchise is a highly-successful series of science fiction films centered around battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network and John Connor's Tech-Com forces and the rest of the human race. Since the debut of the first film in 1984, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and written and directed by Academy Award winner James Cameron, the Terminator films have grossed over one billion dollars worldwide. Terminator Salvation™ is the upcoming fourth installment to the series and is scheduled for a spring 2009 theatrical release. The Halcyon Company owns all rights to the entire Terminator franchise. As producers, Kubicek and Anderson recently wrapped production on the film, starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard and Helena Bonham Carter.

TERMINATOR®: THE COASTER will be located in the northwest corner of the park, next to Déjà Vu and is slated for a spring 2009 opening. With the addition of TERMINATOR®: THE COASTER, Six Flags Magic Mountain will be home to 16 world class coasters.

CBRADIO · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 22, 2008, 04:50 »

Such a bad theme for a wooden coaster...

AyTrane · « **Reply #3 on:** Oct 22, 2008, 06:16 »

I thought that from the beginning, how can a wooden coaster be themed to a cyborg from the future? And they want it to have a classic look of a wooden coaster!?! The classic wooden coaster from the future?

tonyblackjack · « **Reply #4 on:** Oct 22, 2008, 10:55 »

All that matters is GCI is building yet another Masterpiece.

Jason · « **Reply #5 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 05:56 »

It looks like fun. The drop seems to be an s-turn but it's hard to tell.

zztop · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 07:36 »

i love the design but they should have called it something differnt and used the licencing money on a good flat ride also i don't see any tie in to termenator just a wooden coaster

SLKRR · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 09:28 »

I have to agree with the general consensus so far. Terminator, by definition, pretty much has to be something all steel and futuristic looking. It's just a really, really, bad theme idea for a woodie.

But I bet it will be a fun coaster to ride, so whatever.

AyTrane · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 09:41 »

What I am guessing happened:

Magic Mountain ordered a GCI coaster due to the great reviews they were getting.

They didn't have a spot for it, Psyclone was in bad shape so they decided to tear it down and build there.

The creators/marketing deptarment of the Terminator movie wanted to advertise the movie in a unique way (although it's been done before) so they decided to get a coaster named after the movie.

Other parks in the area turned down the offer.

Six Flags in need of money said sure, but instead of building a new coaster to fit the movie, they just decided to go with their new wooden coaster for the theme.

The coaster could probably drop any theming after a few years, but Terminator isn't too bad of a name for a coaster. I'm guessing the whole theme wont be too over the top anyway.

Bradley Robertson · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 09:58 »

Best explanation I'ver heard so far, and seems completely plausible.

tonyblackjack · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 02:11 »

Agreed

Orient Wolf · « **Reply #11 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 07:32 »

Everything expcept Pysclone. My instinct tells me they wanted to get rid of it before they planned anything for that area (much the same with Flashback).

AyTrane · « **Reply #12 on:** Oct 23, 2008, 11:09 »

They took out Psyclone in 2006, during a time when they were still concerned with beating Cedar Point for the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World" title. They then realized that Cedar Point wasn't putting in cheap kiddie coasters or cookie cutter rides. They knew that X, Goliath, and Superman weren't going to keep them on top. Thinking Cedar Point would go in the direction they did, they built a flying coaster; Cedar Point upped the anty with Maverick, meanwhile still building great coasters (no pun intended) at their other parks. Right now Magic Mountain is just playing catch up. We used to live in a time where in less than a year a coaster could be designed and erected, but now orders are a few years out, so it's getting to be a harder game to predict. Look at Magic Mountain's track record versus Cedar Points'. Within a year of each of Cedar Point building a coaster, Magic Mountain built the same type, but tried to make it better in some way (circa 1976 to 2000).

1976: CP - Corkscrew, MM - Revolution (The world went upside-down following Knott's lead)
1978: CP - Gemini, MM - Colossus (Now we are racing)
1984: MM - Bobsleds (bold move to try a new concept; removed in 1986)
1985: CP - Avalanche Run (we can try it too; rethemed end 1989)
1987: CP - Iron Dragon (suspended coaster)
1988: MM - Ninja (faster suspended coaster)
1989: CP - Magnum XL-200 (tallest and fastest coaster in the world)
1990: MM - Viper (tallest and fastest looping coaster in the world)
1991: CP - Mean Streak (tallest and fastest wooden coaster)
MM - Psyclone (something quick to build since word got out of CP's woodie)
1994: CP - Raptor, MM - Batman The Ride
1996: CP - Mantis
1997: MM - Superman The Escape (tallest and fastest coaster)
1998: MM - Riddler's Revenge (one up on Mantis)
1999: CP - Woodstock Express, MM - Canyon Blaster (a coaster that can fit on a truck)
2000: CP - Millennium Force, MM - Goliath

After that it was just a lot of speculation on what the other guy was going to build, and how to build it better. So many gimmicks in the coaster world came out it was just a guessing game after that. The two never stop competing over who's is bigger.

I like both parks respectively, but do you really think that people in Ohio care about California and vice versa? It's no contest other than getting to say "we have the biggest/most/tallest/fastest/slowest/dumbest whatever. Anyone remember the day when you could hear that park Z was getting a new ride and you would drive to check it out?

steel · « **Reply #13 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 04:11 »

Of course, I'm always in favor of a GCI, but the theme is stupid.
Also, I'd like to point out quickly that at the site which must not be named (the one that pans every coaster announced ever) has seen pretty much no bad reveiws of this yet. It took almost a full page to even see someone thinking the theme is a little odd.

tonyblackjack · « **Reply #14 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 04:33 »

What I think is odd is I haven't seen full specs for the ride. How tall is it? How fast is it?

Jason · « **Reply #15 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 08:21 »

RCDB posted the stats.

http://www.rcdb.com/id4173.htm

AyTrane · « **Reply #16 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 08:47 »

Their coaster is 324ft shorter then ours and cost $2 million more. It sucks living in an earthquake zone huh?

Bradley Robertson · « **Reply #17 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 09:09 »

I figured the extra $2mil was for the lighting package and sound.

AyTrane · « **Reply #18 on:** Oct 24, 2008, 10:20 »

From a building standpoint, ours cost more to erect, and probably a little higher cost to the design due to the terrain. We also saved money on not having to build the taller bents. On the flip side, their added cost would be the reinforced structure build to earthquake code. The lighting package and whatnot was probably paid for by the movie company, but maybe it is included in that figure.

Coaster to coaster, I'm sure theirs cost more, but who knows.

silverstreak · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 08:48 »

concrete... http://www.greatcoastersinterns.com/photos.php

Swoosh · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 08:55 »

Looking forward to riding this new GCII this summer when we are out in California

tonyblackjack · « **Reply #21 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 11:23 »

You sure you guys are going to make it out there this summer? Your Cali Trip seems to be like my Cedar Point Trip Always plan on doing it but something always comes up.

robbalvey · « **Reply #22 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 12:30 »

January 17th, 2009 Update!

So I get a call from GCI yesterday "Terminator has gone VERTICAL! Go get pics!" And of course since I always do what I'm told, I now bring you a new Terminator construction update! Yes, the ride is now vertical! YAY!!! I'm told that about 70 bents will be in place by Monday and a lot of progress is going to happen very quickly.

Here are the photos from today:

"Please excuse our mess - the Governator will be arriving soon!"

Ahh, looks like one of the older structures at the park, the shooting gallery, has been removed to make way for...OMG...what is that I see?

YES! Terminator has gone VERTICAL!!!

Makes you wonder if these structures may not be around much longer now that we know a Cold Stone is going in at the front of the park and there has been the hint of new bathrooms on the horizon.

This view will once again have a wooden structure behind it soon!

Bents started going up on Friday, and here is what has been done so far.

As you can see, it's Saturday, and bents are still being put up.

They put this one in place while I was here taking pictures.

Ahh, those little blocks of wood make great merchandise! Just stamp the Terminator logo on it and you've got something that every coaster enthusiast will buy just like Holiday World and other parks do! (hint, hint) One man's left over wood is a gold mine to coaster geeks!

Internet world, meet Mr. Small Crane...hopefully we'll see his cousin Mr. Big Crane in some future updates.

Another shot of the OMG VERTICAL CONSTRUCTION!!!

These guys are just waiting their turn.

More Popsicle sticks.

Yup, the back area of the park is looking wooden again!

And now...all the photos you just saw...but from the SKY TOWER!! Oooooh...

Hmm...bents being prepared to go up, or alien spaceship landing spot...you decide!

That's a LOT of popsicle sticks!

I like how it just looks like a "pile of bents" just thrown there! LOL! (We see you nice and newly painted Deja Vu!)

Here's a nice overview of the vertical construction, the alien landing pad, newly painted Deja Vu, the pile 'o bents, and lots of popsicle sticks.

GRRR!!! A spaceship had landed and taken off and we *just* missed it!

Goodbye shooting gallery! Hopefully this area will eventually be the new entrance to the Terminator ride. I think that would be awesome!

You can really see how much room is already opened up and how much more room could be created if the other two buildings came down.

Hmm...eventually cables there?

Another overview. As you can see the ride is going to be BIG!

And finally, one last look at the progress. I have a feeling that we'll see a lot of work by next weekend!

And yes, Deja Vu looks GREAT!

Not much activity here.

We see you Riddler's train!

It's nice to see that the Sky Tower museum is still looking great!

If you know what coaster this is and where it currently is operating, email Dan the answer! mrt0ad13@aol.com

We like the more flags, more fun guy, but who doesn't miss Mr. Six?

Still have a bit of work to do on the Q-Bot area. Looking forward to this getting done!

--Robb

Jason · « **Reply #23 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 07:03 »

It will be interesting to see how quickly this thing goes up. The slab-o-matic approach has to shave off a ton time.

silverstreak · « **Reply #24 on:** Jan 19, 2009, 02:54 »

this should be fun to watch...diamond back updates have died off and prowler look close to being done...

silverstreak · « **Reply #25 on:** Jan 26, 2009, 09:23 »

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47144&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=610

Swoosh · « **Reply #26 on:** Jan 26, 2009, 11:10 »

I think this thing will go together quite quickly.
They have most of the bents constructed already (or at least a good portion).
With this being a "slab coaster" I would think that construction would be much easier than our Prowler

Ben · « **Reply #27 on:** Jan 27, 2009, 11:21 »

If this coaster doesn't go up much much faster than prowler I would be very surprised. Considering that Prowler just finished concrete work like 4 weeks ago and Terminators concrete "slab" is already done. Not to mention the fact they aren't having to deal with the terrain.

I would speculate that Prowlers Vertical construction is probably much simpler than most other GCI's because of the lack of crossovers and the crazy complicated support structures for that type of ride.

Jason · « **Reply #28 on:** Feb 2, 2009, 08:51 »

More progress.

http://www.rcprocommunity.com/showthread.php?p=26679

Swoosh · « **Reply #29 on:** Feb 2, 2009, 09:03 »

I'm ticked this ride won't be ready when we go out to Cali in April