Six Flags Great America
Very excited for Maxx Force!
My current Review:
To be honest, at first I was upset since I thought that not only in addition to demolishing the Pictorium (this is very sad), that they would need to demolish more rides. Based on the information they have given since it looks like nothing may have to be moved after all! I highly hope this is the case (I’m still getting used to the new path that was created for the addition of the Joker).
If they can minimize any changes to rides/pathways/entrances, i think this will be a great addition to the park. Although I feel like it will really just be a mix of V2 and Goliath (launch at the start, G-rolls and loops), I feel the coaster will offer some great never-before-seen views of the park. In addition, the train will definitely be a more exciting ride as Maxx Force will be placed mainly around it. I am also excited to see it from the Whizzer and Raging Bull.
As for the rest of the year, I am EXTREMELY stoked for Fright Fest, Last Call Fall, and Holiday in the Park. I however think for the 2020 Season they should focus on a theme, such as 40 Seasons of thrills in 2015, or Mardi Gras like this year.
Overall I am again very excited for this ride!
No worries. I love to hear people's reactions to all the announcements!
This is definitely the most interesting of the additions announced by Six Flags for 2019. My concerns are that this appears to be an S&S creation (based on the pneumatic launch and similar track design to Steel Curtain, which was confirmed as being designed by S&S), though Six Flags has not definitively identified the designer. It may end up not being a big deal, but S&S has built pneumatic launch coasters in the past (Hypersonic XLC and Do-Dodonpa), which not only had/have extremely low capacities, but were/are riddled with technical issues and frequent downtime. Perhaps S&S has worked out the issues with their pneumatic systems (their pneumatic powered flat rides have become quite reliable over the years), so this might be more reliable than Intamin's hydraulic launched coasters, but I'm skeptical. Also, there's the fact that if this is indeed an S&S custom creation, it will be the second one debuting in the same year. As we've found from RMC, a company can only handle so many projects in a given year, and despite the success RMC has had, they have really tested the public's patience and tolerance for delays as they've stretched their crews too thin trying to install too many new coasters in a single year. S&S hasn't installed a single custom roller coaster in the US in over a decade, yet they appear to be jumping into 2019 with 2 different record-breaking custom roller coasters along with another stock coaster. Installing 1 new custom creation for a company the size of S&S would be difficult enough, but 2 in the same year sounds like a setup for failure, particularly since they've only been selling/installing stock coasters and flat rides for the past few years. Steel Curtain and Maxx Force could be the renaissance of S&S, or they could end up being 2 duds that suffer from frequent downtime and unreasonable waits. Without a solid track record, my money would be on the latter outcome.
Word on social media is that it is S&S, but all of course speculation. Its great to have some technical input on this ride. Being as this is my home park, I highly hope they have worked out the kinks [If it is S&S]. I suppose we can only find out (hopefully) mid-summer 2019.
I've been seeing a lot of hype for this coaster, which is not at all surprising given that it is a very different type of ride. However, I'm not the biggest fan of rides that are nothing but inversions, so much like Steel Curtain I can't say I'm overly excited for this one. The launch looks absolutely epic, but after that it is just five quick inversions and then straight on to the brakes. It looks like it will be a very fun ride, but I wouldn't say it is one I'd make a special trip to ride (though there actually is a fair chance I'll be riding this as I have plans to go to Chicago next year for other reasons...depends whether the ride is operational or not then). It will be really interesting to see what the guest reaction is, as well as how this thing does capacity-wise at a park as busy as SFGAm.
As for the manufacturer, I'm pretty certain this is S&S as they're the only ones who have perfected a pneumatic launch. They've done several custom air launch coasters in China over the past few years, and while this is a more extreme ride it does look like their style. Unlike Steel Curtain, I'm a bit more confident in their ability to deliver a quality ride here as it is much closer to what they've been doing lately.
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My apologies, I originally wrote this post to a more local-to-me audience. To Clarify: V2= Vertical Velocity. Also, the Joker was introduced to Six Flags Great America for the 2017 Season.