Welcome To Screamscape!

(9/21/09) Since mid February, Screamscape has been giving out a prize almost every week, but at the conclusion of this past week’s last prize giveaway, I’ve decided to take a break from prizes for a bit, but they will return at some point in the future.  That said, I’m going to recap out latest winners we’ve had since mid July.
    Richard of SC, Josh of Florida, Robert of NC, Alan of NC and Jenny of NC each won family four packs of tickets to Freestyle Music Park. Kitty of GA, Andrew of SC, Natalie of NC and Brad of NJ each won pairs of tickets to Dollywood. Patrick of WI, John of TX and Rick all won tickets to Holiday World!  Thanks for playing!

(7/30/09) While discussing the impending removal of the Big Bad Wolf from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, an interesting point was brought up.  After 25 years the park had stated that the Wolf had simply reached the end of it’s lifespan and it was just time for it to go. While the nearby Loch Ness Monster coaster turned 31 this same year, it’s been said that the unique forces and stresses related to the Wolf’s design style are part of the problem.  However, Busch also felt the time was right in 2006 to remove the 30 year old Python coaster from their Tampa park. That said, there really isn’t too much difference in the technology behind Python and Loch Ness, as they are the same style of coaster, only running on a different layout. Armageddon
    With that in mind, the point was brought up that potentially we could end up seeing a large number of steel coasters being taken down over the next decade as they too begin to reach the end of their lifespans. The list of rides that could become affected by this is rather large as the time-period from the mid-70’s to mid-80’s was pretty much the Golden Era of steel coaster design after the introduction of inversions.
    Going back to the grandfather of all tubular steel coaster track coasters leads us to Disneyland’s Matterhorn which actually opened in 1959. However it’s no secret to anyone that the Matterhorn has been going down for extensive off-season rehabs for the last 15 years or more where they do refurbish and replace sections of the track. Disney’s next steel coaster effort, Space Mountain in Walt Disney World, opened in 1975 and closed earlier this year (2009) for a nearly year-long rehab to fix, repair and replace it’s own coaster track after 34 years of use. Space Mountain at Disneyland opened in 1977 closed in 2003 (26 yrs) and didn’t open again until 2005 as after they had taken the time to completely rebuild the coaster from scratch.
    I’ve come to realize that while we have slowly watched Disney come across this very problem and have quietly gone about their business to rebuild and preserve these classic attractions, most other parks out there are not going to react the same. After all, it’s far easier to scrap and existing ride and just build something new than to preserve a classic coaster. Wooden coasters are obviously the exception, as they are pretty much under a constant state of having their wood replaced, track sections rebuilt and so on. Carowinds is a good example here as they have removed and rebuilt entire sections of Thunder Road over the winter for the past two years as part of a 5 year plan to rebuild and refurbish the coaster. Unfortunately it’s just not that easy to do the same thing to an old steel coaster.
    Just take a moment to think about all the great old classic steel coasters that could be getting too old to maintain or suffering from some form of fatigue or decay. We’re looking at several classic loopers like: Montezooma’s Revenge (1978), Revolution (1976), Sooperdooperlooper (1977), Corkscrew @ CP (1976) The Demon (1976), Shockwave (1978) or Mindbender (1978).
    If you really want to venture into those at risk of being taken down due to age, what about the all those Arrow Mine Trains like: Gold Rusher (1971), Dahlonega Mine Train (1967), Mine Train @ SFOT (1967), Cedar Creek Mine Ride (1969), River King Mine Train (1971), Carolina Goldrusher (1973) or Runaway Mine Train (1974)? 
    Those are just the tip of the iceberg! I’m going to channel my inner-geek for a moment and paraphrase a quote from Blade Runner. “All those coasters will be lost in time… like tears in rain…”