Shane's Amusement Attic

by **John Peck** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:12 pm

Thanks for all this great coverage, Shane! Christmas has come early this year.

Shame they pulled down Orient Express, it looked like one amazing ride. Too bad it started having structural issues which led to it's removal.

by **BrownStreak** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:13 pm

^After posting that someone told me they thought that the creators of the cult classic H. R. Puffin Stuff had created an indoor theme park somewhere and that there was a pinball ride there. Don't quote me, but I think that this would have been Sid and Marty Kroft.

by **youthink?** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:55 pm

Wow I rode the Express when I was 8 in I think the last year until it's retirement. It was my first big coaster and I rode it in the very back with my cousin and I just remember my stomach literally launching up to my throat and I was too scared to scream. :lmao:

It scared me off coasters for a while.

by **Coastercameron** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:57 pm

Backtracking a little to B&B... I was looking at the birds eye photos on live search. These are all "new", but when you are over the stadium at B&B you can see a dramatic decay when you rotate the picture. at one angle, the stadium looks to be in decent shape, rotate 90 degrees and suddenly the lighting, fences, and seats are gone, and the field is completely overgrown. In the more recent ariel shots the stadium has been completely leveled.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c ... &encType=1
Looks still usable here.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c ... &encType=1
BAM. Looks like it will fall over soon.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c ... &encType=1
Demolished in the overhead shot.

Studying the photos closer, the pitcher's mounds and plate areas of the fields are all covered in the "nice" pictures. Were the fields and the stadium in use until recently?

by **montezooma** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:35 pm

BrownStreak wrote:^After posting that someone told me they thought that the creators of the cult classic H. R. Puffin Stuff had created an indoor theme park somewhere and that there was a pinball ride there. Don't quote me, but I think that this would have been Sid and Marty Kroft.

The World of Sid & Marty Kroft was an indoor park that was located on 5 floors of the Omni hotel in Atlanta, GA. I believe this is now the CNN building. If my memory is correct they did have a pinball ride but it was more a traditional dark ride, it was not this Intamin model.

by **dandaman** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:54 pm

^^Didn't even think to look at Live Local. Thanks.

by **astroworldfan1** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:03 pm

montezooma wrote:
BrownStreak wrote:DUDE! Up in the Intamin catalog they listed a Pinball ride! That sounds so kewl! Were any of those ever built and if so where are they (were they) and are there any left?

as far as I know, the Pinball ride was just a concept that never really made it any further than that...concept.

There was a pinball ride at The Wonderful World of Sid and Marty Kroft. It sounded like a very interesting ride. It was The park itself was at a bead location when it was opened. The old building that the park was in was demolished and the new CNN headquarters in now on the spot.

by **montezooma** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 4:27 pm

COLOSSUS

In 1976 Magic Mountain built the Great American Revolution. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, this ride totally started my fascination with roller coasters and theme parks. It was such an awesome looking ride and Magic Mountain was a great place to visit.

Two years later they built Colossus, the worlds greatest roller coaster. Magic Mountain had two of the greatest coasters in the world, I couldn't imagine that place getting any better. I remember being at the park on the opening day of Colossus and the place was packed. I had never been on a wooden coaster before and Colossus sure packed a punch. I remember having bruises on my thighs from the speed dip after the second drop. That thing was brutal. As a matter of fact it was too brutal. Unfortunately a woman was thrown from the train and was killed. Colossus was shut down and somewhere around that time the park was sold to Six Flags.

Six Flags did a big media push about how they had completely rebuilt Colossus with the main emphasis on making the ride completely safe. The marketing campaign at the time was "Six Flags is building a better mountain at Magic Mountain"

Here is some material from the time that Colossus was announced. Magic Mountain put together this little booklet called the Roller Coaster Almanac that gave a history of roller coasters and also talked about how massive of a project Colossus was.

Also is the press release from the park when Colossus was reintroduced and the park was branded a Six Flags Park.

The highlight of this update is pictures of Colossus when the trains were actually racing. That happened rarely when the ride first opened and probably hasn't happened since then.

"Colossus - the Greatest Roller Coaster in the World"