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SFMM Colossus Iron Horse renovation rumors

The Colossus double down is arguably the most missed roller coaster element out there. Riding Colossus nowadays, you can tell the MCBR is very out of place.

Getting it back is a good priority #1 for any coaster enthusiast.
 
Hyde244 said:
It isn't going to be a Mobius coaster. There is no indication outside of pure speculation, and I'd encourage us to not shoot from the hip.

What's more, SFMM would want to maintain two, separate tracks; so that they could run one-side-operation during slow days to reduce costs and ride operators needed. There's also the added complexity of storage bins in station (hard to get your stuff when it's a station away!). There's a reason why there are much fewer mobius coasters in the world than racers - they can be a logistical nightmare.

So yeah, outside of Iron Horse retrack, I haven't found any indication of anything else.
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I agree that it's wildly speculative, but in the unlikely event that MM modified Colossus moebius style in the manner that Daidasaurus was, in an attempt to take the world record for longest coaster, you wouldn't exit the ride the first time through the station building. Heck, they might even make it go over, under or around the a modified version of the station. Therefore, no separate sides and never a need for additional ride ops. They could still run however many or few trains that they wanted.

...and it would likely be a very long time before that record could be beaten.
 
Is longest coaster really that important though?

SFMM already has the most roller coasters in the world. If ever there was a marketing point, that is a better one.
 
From what's been said they don't have both sides running that much so what would be the point in spending money on both sides for it just to sit there?

I can see them connecting the two sides tbh.
 
Hyde244 said:
Is longest coaster really that important though?

SFMM already has the most roller coasters in the world. If ever there was a marketing point, that is a better one.
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It is, but Lance claims to have received rumors connected to Colossus that would give it a world record that's difficult to break. Colossus isn's going to get tall enough to be the tallest or the fastest. With Smiler in the picture, it won't have the most inversions. Length is about an expensive record to break with a brand new ride, but could be done comparatively cheap by converting Colossus from a double tracked coaster to a single track.

The only twin-tracked coasters longer than Colossus are Vertigorama (which will probably never operate) and American Eagle, so the record would probably stand for a very long time.
 
I would still encourage us not to reach too much into rumors and speculation - let's give it some time.
 
Hyde244 said:
Is longest coaster really that important though?

SFMM already has the most roller coasters in the world. If ever there was a marketing point, that is a better one.
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The more records the better. It sure can't be wrong to have a world record holder at the park? Then they could say: "We've got the most roller coasters in the world, whereof one is also the longest in the world!".

In this aspect I really like what Port Aventura made with Shambhala. They probably could've afford to go for a giga, but they decided that 78 m was enough. Why? Shambhala reaches a top speed of 134 km/h with it's 78 m drop. Tall enough to get the european height record, but not tall enough to break the 135 km/h speed record of Furius Baco. This way they got 2 record holders in the park!

This is might a bit farfetched comparison. But my point is that it's never a bad thing to have more record breakers at a park! Quality can be marketed, and is good in the long run to get the customers back. But it's a lot easier to market records and world beaters sure brings people through the gates!
 
Any marketing buzz you can get, however useless that puts people through the gates, is all that matters to SFMM.
 
You wouldn't need to break world records however to market a new, improved Colossus. It was one of the first, large scale roller coasters to be built in the U.S. (1978 was also the same year Arrow built Gemini at Cedar Point).

There would be plenty of marketing opportunity in a smoother, taller, faster Colossus; again reinstated with the famously lost double-down drop. Who knows, adding a barrel roll or two for good measure could be great as well.

I just do not see the need for breaking a world record, especially length. And again, the mobius talk misses logistical problems that originally made the mobius design obsolete vs. twin design. (Inability to do one train operation, higher maintenance and operation costs, etc.)
 
andrus said:
In this aspect I really like what Port Aventura made with Shambhala. They probably could've afford to go for a giga, but they decided that 78 m was enough. Why? Shambhala reaches a top speed of 134 km/h with it's 78 m drop. Tall enough to get the european height record, but not tall enough to break the 135 km/h speed record of Furius Baco. This way they got 2 record holders in the park!
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Off topic, but although I agree it's clever what they did, I also think it's ****; the ride has a larger drop than Titan, Goliath and Phantom, yet claims to be slower than all of them. I think they just advertise itbeing 1km/h slower than Baco to keep Baco relevant, I imagine it's up at about 86mph
 
Hyde244 said:
You wouldn't need to break world records however to market a new, improved Colossus. It was one of the first, large scale roller coasters to be built in the U.S. (1978 was also the same year Arrow built Gemini at Cedar Point).

There would be plenty of marketing opportunity in a smoother, taller, faster Colossus; again reinstated with the famously lost double-down drop. Who knows, adding a barrel roll or two for good measure could be great as well.

I just do not see the need for breaking a world record, especially length. And again, the mobius talk misses logistical problems that originally made the mobius design obsolete vs. twin design. (Inability to do one train operation, higher maintenance and operation costs, etc.)
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Your points about maintenance costs is valid. One train operation / operation costs are not in this case. They would not be running it as a traditional moebius coaster like Nash or Racer. To get the length record they'd have to eliminate one side of the station, so no dual crew necessary, and any number of train ops could be performed, including single.
 
So then they would be running one train operation permanently. A mobius coaster does not strike me as feasible.
 
No... IF they were to do this, it doesn't mean it cannot have a transfer track to add trains. (That cannot be what you are saying, I hope that's not what you're suggesting.) They could run 1-4 trains, just as they do now. (OK, they run one train now, that doesn't mean they cannot run four before or after this hypothetical transformation.)

Anyways, it should still have enough block sections to run 4 trains, probably three would be maximum efficiency, though as slow as the ops there are.
 
Sorry, what I meant was one station operation. There is a certain level of logistical suicide, voluntarily sacrificing a second station. While Colossus doesn't have long lines now, you can bet it will after a renovation.

At any rate, no - I do not believe that SFMM will go for a length record with Colossus.
 
It's been a while since I last played RCT2, so I'm not quite updated on Colossus' layout, but could a dual station loading work, given sufficient refurbishing? Or even a double-length station?

I see the problems associated with Möbius operation. Notably, the extreme duration of the ride (absolutely killing the throughput unless many trains are operating) as well as the need to maintain twice as much track (and subsequently, two sets of brakes and lift hills) for the same amount of riders.

Another option: Would it be (economically, space-wise, or legally) feasible to just tear the ride down and replace it by a single-track, "standard" big woodie? I mean, at the moment it sits there without many days of dual-train operation. It has been in the park for many years, and will eventually require a significant hardware upgrade to stay reliable. I'd even guess many of its current parts would need to be outright renewed anyway, seeing as spare parts are harder to come by as industry standards change. If they want to keep the ride running, they have to spend a lot of money on it. If they want to refurbish the ride up to what parkgoers expect from modern coasters (giving it relevance once again in the same way as Texas Giant), they would have to shell out even more, effectively building a new ride entirely. But that "new" ride would still be based on a concept from 1978. It wouldn't be sellable as an entirely new ride unless they made some really big changes.

Then, what can be changed about Colossus while still keeping it Colossus? The twin tracks theme is too big to simply scrap. If they did that, they might as well build a new coaster. On the other hand, if twin track operation is rarely used (or demand rarely calls for it), is there still a point in keeping it? Again, you're effectively building and maintaining two coasters for the draw of one. No matter what you do, the guests will see it as one single attraction, even though the two tracks technically are independent of each other. If dual operation on a refurbished Colossus won't be more prominent than it is today, it would be a waste of money to "remake" it into another twin racing coaster. In other words, for a refurbishment to make sense, SFMM would have to commit themselves to continued dual operation. And if today's standard is anything to go by, dual operation doesn't look like it's very much needed.
 
They would spend more money on demo of the structure than it would cost for most coasters to be built, especially with California's earthquake code for building. Simply modifying the structure would be the only real way they could do it.

A duel load station utilizing the two stations now would probably be the best way if they did turn it into a single track. We know with the parks reputation with one of those stations already, but for the first year, they would use it. Easily 4 trains could be on the track at a time if they did this, two station, one breaks, one course.
 
^ Colossus does one train operation as it is not the most popular ride in the park. An Iron Horse revamp would inevitably bump it back up to the top in popularity, and lead to greater ridership.
 
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