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by Jeremy Schoolfield
Ask people from Arlington, Texas, about the original “Texas Giant” at Six Flags Over Texas and there’s a good chance the answer will go something like this: “Good ride but, wow, was it rough.” So when the park decided to overhaul its signature wooden coaster, it wanted to enhance the first part of that sentence and eliminate the second. How Six Flags accomplished this feat may forever change the way the industry looks at wooden coasters.
The new and vastly improved “Texas Giant” opened in late April. Six Flags calls it a “super hybrid” coaster, as the wooden structure remains but the wooden track is long gone. In its place is a revolutionary first-of-its-kind steel track from Idaho’s Rocky Mountain Construction that allowed designers to alter the ride’s profile by steepening drops and banked turns, among many other enhancements.
“We set out to rebuild the ‘Giant’ and bring it to a new level,” says Mike Sossamon, director of maintenance and construction at Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT). “We wanted to create more fun on the ride.”
The New Track
Traditional wooden coaster track consists of stacked laminate wood with top and side steel guide rails. Over time the coaster train’s forces cause the wood to give—especially in the turns and at the bottoms of drops—which leads to a rougher ride. Innovations in train design over the past decade have helped mitigate these issues, but wooden track remains a highly intensive maintenance undertaking.
“We’ve been laying track for years, and I knew on the big wood coasters the loads are too heavy for the track to take and it does not last,” says Rocky Mountain’s president and co-owner, Fred Grubb. “You have to build it, and then rebuild it.”
Rocky Mountain’s solution is to remove the wooden track entirely and replace it all with steel. In development for nearly five years, the company’s I-Box Steel Track made its worldwide debut on the new “Giant.” Grubb says the 4,920 feet of track was fabricated in 40- to 50-foot lengths in his shop over the course of about 17 months.
The result is Six Flags’ “super hybrid,” a coaster that looks like a classic woodie but rides like the smoothest steel coaster out there. It enhances all the signatures of a wooden coaster—changes of direction, high-banked turns, airtime hills, etc.—but with a completely effortless ride. “The reason the track is so smooth is it’s built right to an engineer’s spec in our shop. If you’re laying track out in the field you can’t get that close,” Grubb says. “This track allows us to do much more with a wooden structure: steeper drops, steeper banks.”
Indeed, the “Giant’s” first drop was deepened to 79 degrees, while several of its turns push beyond 95 degrees (the most severe is a staggering 115); Six Flags Over Texas claims both as worldwide records for wooden coasters. Moreover, the new “Giant” is an airtime extravaganza, popping riders all through the course as it hits a top speed of 65 mph.
And while the rider experience is obviously better, SFOT is also excited about the dramatically improved maintenance efficiencies the new “Giant” provides.
“Over the next 20 years the ‘Giant’ is going to be radically different than what we had,” Sossamon says. “We believe maintenance costs will be less, and our man-hours on the track will be less.”
‘The Future of Wood Coasters’
To be sure, there were risks on both sides of the table on what Sossamon calls “a real science project.” Six Flags and Rocky Mountain have been working together on various projects for 10 years, though, so Grubb says a foundation of trust between the two companies led to a project that “exceeded our expectations. I’m ecstatic.”
There is debate within the industry—especially among coaster enthusiasts—about whether “Texas Giant” is still a wooden coaster or now should be classified purely as steel. What’s most important to Six Flags, though, is the overwhelming guest response.
“Some of the comments I’m hearing are effusive about how much better it is,” says Jim Reid-Anderson, chairman, president, and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. “They are telling me consistently it’s a superb experience— something different and spectacular.”
Reid-Anderson says Six Flags will “absolutely” take the track into other parks in its chain. “We will pick our targets,” he says, “but I think there are opportunities.”
“This will be the next generation of track,” Grubb says. “It’s tenfold better than laminated wood track.”
“It’s one of a kind, and I think we’ve stepped into the future of wood coasters,” Sossamon agrees. “This is the answer.”
Contact Senior Editor Jeremy Schoolfield at jschoolfield@IAAPA.org.
NEW ‘GIANT’: New Trains, Theming
Not only did the “Texas Giant” get a new track and ride profile, but all-new trains, as well. Six Flags Over Texas hired Gerstlauer to design three custom-built trains themed to resemble the classic 1961 Cadillac Deville—longhorns on the hood and all. The trains offer comfortable two-across bucket seating with T-bar restraints. The vehicles were designed specifically for the new I-Box track, says Rocky Mountain’s Fred Grubb, and run on urethane wheels.
SFOT made some decorative updates to the rest of the experience, as well, beginning with the 17-foot-wide longhorns that greet guests as they enter the queue. Up in the station there are pieces of a Deville at both ends of the platform, reinforcing the theming from the trains. For those who’ve made it this far but will go no farther, they step across the train into the “Chicken Coop”; when the gate to that little area opens, it trips a motion sensor and triggers a “BAWK, BAWK!” sound effect. Finally, as each train dispatches a loud horn blares, which almost always incites a cheer from riders. |
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