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RMC American Eagle?

Should American Eagle be given the RMC treatment

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 42.9%

  • No

    Votes: 8 38.1%

  • No Opinion

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Total voters
    21
C

Coaster_fan_07

Roller Poster
American Eagle is a large wooden dueling coaster that can be found at Six Flags Great America in Illinois. it and was the first-ever large-scale Intamin coaster opening in 1981, in the past, there has been much debate on whether this should remain open or be given the RMC treatment.
 
Rob Coasters

Rob Coasters

Hyper Poster
I have no idea how it rides, but I don't like the idea of how every old wooden coaster ever gets RMC rumours thrown around. I'd like at least some of them to be preserved and kept well into the future - in my eyes an RMC contender is a genuinely awful and boring coaster that cannot be saved no matter how much effort goes into maintaining it (Rattler and Georgia Cyclone being a key example). Also an RMC could be an easy way to diversify a park's lineup but I'm less sold on that being a reason to convert a perfectly fine woodie that can kick on a good couple more decades.

I haven't heard bad reviews of American Eagle (except for a dead spot in the helix but otherwise all fine) and RMCing would not diversify the lineup in any way. So that's a quickfire way for me to say "no, it should not be RMCd". I know the whole "diversifying the lineup" thing is a bit iffy as you can have similar rides do WAY different things, look at Hansa Park for example, but still I'm not sold on this getting converted.

So I'm gonna go with no. We gotta keep at least a couple old woodies sticking around. Convert or Tonnerre 2 Zeus the insults to the industry instead, and not legends like this one.
 
S

Steely Dan

Mega Poster
I'm torn on this one.

SFGAm is my home park. I first rode AE in 1984 at the age of eight. Back then it was still a REALLY big deal, and was the park's unquestioned "big gun". So I've got some hardcore nostalgia for the ride.

At the same time it was one of the first super-sized coasters to prove that traditionally tracked wooden coasters probably shouldn't exceed 65 mph. Most of the other mega-woodies from that era (Mean Streak, Texas Giant, Rattler, White Cyclone, Colossus, Hercules) have either been RMC'd, or taken down in the case of Hercules.

So the romantic in me says "keep AE as is", but the objective enthusiast in me knows that RMC could turn it into something pretty damn special if given a check with enough zeroes on it.
 
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B

Bathtub Gin

Roller Poster
SFGAm is my home park. Easy no. Drive five hours to Kings Island to see what they're doing with their wooden coasters. They're a lot of fun. Invest in that instead of Rocky Mountaining everything that can be Rocky Mountained. They built a ground-up RMC at GAm, and it's alright, but it's pretty clear that they had a budget in mind and got what they paid for. Go build a Wonder Woman/RailBlazer clone in Sky Whirl/Deja Vu's old spot instead.

Zadra and Steel Vengeance would be very much near the top of my rankings if I kept any, so I have as much love for RMC as anyone, but no.

I love that this park has continued to put resources into Demon, Whizzer, American Eagle, and Batman The Ride (it's 30 years old in May, after all) . I grew up with these rides, and now have a kid on the way that I'd love for him to experience them.
 
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Skyye

Skyye

Mega Poster
Will said:
It's a lie to say I have 'no opinion' - I just have no idea what American Eagle is.
Click to expand...
American eagle is a fairly large wooden racing coaster made by intamin that opened in 1981. I thought it was a fairly decent ride that just needs a retrack and new trains.

 
S

Steely Dan

Mega Poster
you know, it's over 40 years old now, but American Eagle is still the longest, fastest, and tallest (drop height) wooden racing coaster ever built on the planet, and due to some significant losses in those categories from other large scale wooden coasters being RMC'ed, AE is actually once again top 10 in all of those categories among all wooden roller coasters.

However, despite it's very large size, the ride hasn't generated any buzz in the enthusiast community as a "destination coaster" since it was brand new back in the '80s. It's a pretty ok ride, but not really a great one.
 
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