Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

PIX3LY t1_jae3la6 wrote

Reply to comment by Critical_Band5649 in Three Pennsylvania amusement parks named among best in the U.S. (Kennywood, Knoebels, and Hersheypark) by zorionek0

I remember reading about that. Likely due to it being mostly a wooden track? Reading that made me feel sad, and also, very old lol.

2

pHScale t1_jaf3ico wrote

Wildcat was famously rough. Wooden megacoasters like that tend to have lots of maintenance and structural issues that impact longevity.

RMC, the firm behind Wildcat's Revenge, is well known for their wooden to hybrid coaster conversions, that use a good chunk of the structure from the previous ride. For some examples of exactly this happening, check out these coasters:

  • Iron Gwazi, Busch Gardens Tampa (formerly Gwazi, a GCI dueling coaster, similar to Lightning Racer at Hershey)

  • Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point (formerly Mean Streak)

  • Iron Rattler, Six Flags Fiesta Texas (formerly Rattler)

  • New Texas Giant, Six Flags Over Texas (formerly Texas Giant)

And plenty more.

But don't feel old. It's partly a trend running right now among amusement parks to get an RMC coaster, and partly correction for an old trend of huge wooden coasters that didn't last.

3