Transcript
Zach: I'm Zach and sometimes my farts sound like they're weird pronunciations of Australian shorthand.
Ben: I'm Ben and for the sake of the rest of these recordings from here on out, I am a i'm identifying as straight so I can go and ride Falcon's Flight.
Zach: Straight Ben.
Zach: Straight Ben goes to Saudi Arabia.
Ben: That actually would be kind of a funny like ah like a YouTube channel, like Straight Ben. you don't have to explain the joke. It's just like, are you straight? Like, no, it's just the name. I'm straight Ben.
Ben: I would go, i would convert to be straight to go ride that coaster. I think, I think there's been enough well-rounded, you know, feedback from it.
Ben: Now, obviously there's the whole other, other ethical stuff about going to Saudi Arabia, but you know,
Zach: Why don't you just get a forged certificate saying that you completed ah conversion therapy and then carry it with you?
Ben: so listless
Ben: Or like have a yeah, make like a fake ID, like an ah identification card.
Zach: You could use AI to like make pictures and videos of you getting counseling.
Ben: good idea.
Zach: praying
Ben: What about like a straight coaster club? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Zach: that is very 2026 and it's and it's also for guys only
Ben: yeah yeah
Ben: okay
Ben: so
Ben: Okay. um I might do a little <unk> work to make some think make some fun little...
Ben: Because like you know i ah there's a lot of people out there who are gay and are like, I want to ride that coaster, but I don't want to deal with the you know like the hurdles and suppression and you know the morals thing about going there, but if you're part of the straight coaster club, it's like a nice safe, dump it's a little nice like safe umbrella, just a bunch of dudes hanging out, enjoying roller coasters and each other's company.
Ben: And, uh,
Zach: And none of that woke bullshit.
Ben: exactly. So yeah. All right. Officially we're starting the straight coaster club. Actually, you probably shouldn't be in it just for sake of like,
Zach: um I have nothing to do with this.
Ben: Yeah, this is all mean...
Zach: i
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: i want nothing to do with this.
Ben: let
Zach: I also don't think for the very little brand integrity we have to maintain around this place, I don't think this should have anything to do with it either.
Zach: But I'll give you all my ideas.
Ben: i mean
Zach: Hetero airtime.
Ben: yeah sir
Zach: Straight Benz coaster club.
Ben: ah Straight. I mean, i kind of i kind of like the way that just like straight coasters because in a way you could play it kind of dumb too because you could just be like, oh, I just thought it was a cool name. Like you're just, you know, straight to the point.
Zach: Yeah, and all we like is coasters.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: and And not sex with people of the same gender.
Ben: this Oh, my God.
Zach: Of which there are only two.
Ben: looks like
Ben: So yeah, if you're interested, I'll be planning a trip out there. So yeah.
Zach: It'll be part of the club.
Ben: yeah
Zach: I do think that is a genius business idea. Not going to lie.
Ben: kind of
Zach: But I also, yeah, I don't want anything to do with it.
Ben: but
Zach: Unless it works and out financially, then you can cut me in on the profits.
Zach: But but i I'm a silent partner.
Ben: but cluster
Ben: boman um but um I'm going to the chat GPT for a little image of inspiration.
Zach: Oh, chat GPT is all you need nowadays for something like this? Starting a business?
Ben: hit
Zach: Oh, my God.
Ben: A group of men who like the company of other men riding roller coasters.
Ben: They are standing in a group in front of a banner that says straight coaster club
Ben: in front of Falcon's flight at Six Flags. OK.
Ben: Perfect.
Ben: It'd be funny if it's like, I can't do this because it's homophobic.
Zach: mean
Zach: I think if it's pretty if it's pretty well established that it's generally a cover, then
Ben: ah
Zach: maybe it won't appear so badly. But I... 2026 is a weird year.
Ben: Oh, what?
Ben: Whoa.
Ben: It actually did a decent, well, I mean, it's it's still ChatGPT, but I also kind of like just, here, I'll share this with the group.
Ben: Perfect, I love it
Ben: Here, we'll put this in the Heathers.
Zach: Well, it sounds like your 2026 is off to a good start.
Ben: Yeah, I mean, at some point, Six Flags Kadia. Have you been watching all the all the like video and press and all that coming from it?
Zach: Yeah, yeah. I mean, going to lie. Falcon's flight looks awesome, but I don't know... I just don't know if I could bring myself to actually go spend money in Saudi Arabia.
Ben: Yeah. yeah
Ben: I, uh,
Zach: I
Zach: and don't want to get too deep into it because, ah you know, rollercoaster podcast, but I will just say Jamal Khashoggi.
Zach: And leave it at that.
Ben: is it worth the credit though? It's like the, It's kind of like you know like with ah all those comedians that they did at that that like comedy festival.
Ben: i guess like I guess what's worse, spending your own money there or getting paid to go there?
Zach: They're both not great.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: I mean, i was ah my salary came from them for like three years when I was at... Lucid Motors. And maybe not, technically you'd be more like 60% of the salary given the funding, but you know, either way.
Zach: Yeah, I mean...
Ben: Although that's just a car company. ah't They didn't really have any stake. They didn't have any stake in anything really. It wasn't like, a but it's, you know, don't
Zach: yeah it's one thing if they're an investor. I don't know. It's it's really muddy, right? But I think... To clarify for me, right, I try to line it like actually going there.
Zach: And the act of like you go there and it's not obviously it's not just buying the tickets to the park, which aren't cheap as I understand it.
Ben: yeah
Zach: um It's the hotel and the food and the taxis and, you know, whatever else you're going to go see while you're there.
Ben: Yeah, exactly. i mean, plus...
Zach: And the taxes you pay on everything. And plus, the regime owns, I don't know, a lot of those things. like
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: Or like you said, ah own a ah ah stake of ownership.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Right. Yeah. And I mean, also it's gotta, you want to plan kind of a long trip just for like downtime. i mean, i don't think I would go there without at least a a minimum of five potential days to go to the park in case,
Ben: something is down.
Zach: Right, yeah, if Falcon's flight is down, I mean, the other ones, I guess Iron Rattler, but really, the other ones, like, not a huge deal, but if Falcon's flight is down for two days, and those are your two days, what, are you going to plan another fucking trip?
Ben: like
Ben: Right. Yeah.
Ben: Now there is some planning strategy because I guess there are rumors that they might be doing adjustments to the ride, like with launch speeds and trim placements and whatnot. So I do think that like, now that it's open, i don't think this is a project that Intamin is walking away from. i i wouldn't be surprised if Intamin is full-time site for a while. I mean,
Ben: They're getting paid, do i mean, they're getting definitely gonna get paid good money to you know support the ride for a while, but hopefully there might be some changes. I don't know if they can really do anything with like changing the block zones.
Ben: I don't think they can really change hardware, but maybe they could change the programming. Someone said they might be reduced like taking the trims off that bunny hill.
Zach: That doesn't seem likely.
Ben: I mean, they did do that for um Formula Rosa. Like, if you compare the POVs when it first opened, that first hill, was it was trimmed really hard, and it went maybe like two-thirds of the speed it does now. um Kind of like on Maverick, you know, you launch out of tunnel and just immediately are trimmed.
Zach: Yeah. um Speaking of Maverick, there's been a rumor that the Heartline role is going to come back.
Ben: Yeah, I saw that too.
Zach: what have What have you been hearing? What's going on with that?
Ben: Just YouTube rumors.
Ben: So I know that um I guess there is a retracking project on the table. Thing is, it's like
Ben: I never saw the Heartline role as like Intamin thing. limitation more of just a Cedar point being cheap. Like, I think that was one of those things where when the heartline roll was not going to work, they were like, well, we have to open it. So just put this replacement track in and they didn't want to ever spend the money to, you know, revamp it. Now that they have to retract it. Now they're probably like well, we might as well bring the roll back, but it's not hard to do. It's just,
Ben: It's not like it's impossible to squeeze a heartline roll in that spot. It's just, a you know, they'd have to remove more track than the initial section.
Ben: But it'd be cool. it'd be if they If they figure it out, that'd be really cool. Who knows? Maybe we'll even see different trains. I don't know. Maybe not. I don't think those ah those new lap bars would work for the...
Ben: like the tight changes of directions. Maybe. you know anything?
Zach: Yeah, I was going to say, i feel like it would have to be an actual heartline roll, because I don't think the one that was originally there was an actual heartline roll, because those trains were way taller or something.
Ben: Yeah, it was like the heart line was set so that way you, I guess it was like you were supposed to get more air time. Than actually weightlessness.
Ben: So it was. a Yeah. I know the heart the role that they put in there. Was supposed to be more of an airtime role.
Zach: I mean, like,
Ben: Which is cool. But also it just seems a little risky. i mean obviously. but getting getting like those Getting those thrown and those into those laterals. then going into a what, like a negative 1G roll probably is not super comfortable.
Ben: It's probably like, I'd probably feel the sensation of it. It's probably be really similar to the the bank turns on i305 where you're like getting airtime as you're changing direction.
Zach: Okay. I haven't been on I-305, so I'm taking your word for it.
Ben: but just But just upside down.
Zach: Yeah, that makes sense. I feel like um
Zach: if they do add it, it's going to be more like the one that's on Velocicoaster.
Ben: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Ben: And um I think it'd definitely work there. i mean, i don't see why they wouldn't do it. If they're busting track out, you might as well.
Ben: I'm curious to how much of the ride has to be retracted because it's kind of crazy that a ride that's only 20 years old is going to get retracted like that. But
Zach: I mean, it does have pretty intense forces.
Ben: I mean, yeah, but nothing like, I guess is, I mean, I don't know this. I'm not a rollercoaster engineer, but is, uh, four G's on a turn on Maverick, any different than four G's and a turn on millennium force?
Ben: Unless it's like, uh, like that's the part that I just, i don't know. I'm curious. I'm curious how that works.
Zach: Well, let's leave a comment on a Ryan the Ride mechanic video and wait for him to drop a two hour long answer.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: Shouts to that guy. I enjoy his videos.
Ben: Yeah, same.
Zach: You can just definitely tell that he's like an engineer.
Ben: Yeah, i watch I watch a lot of those.
Zach: Same. They're fascinating. But sometimes he just gets a little too in the weeds.
Ben: That's fine. That's exactly why I watch it. It's like, want to spend 30 minutes...
Ben: learning about anti-rollbacks.
Ben: He delivers.
Ben: I think Intamin overall has definitely, I think they're fine. Like, I don't know why Intamin and Vekoma need to come back because
Ben: Yeah, parks need to start working with them again. Although it could just be a a cheapness thing. i don't know.
Zach: Well, I mean, there's going to be the Intamin
Zach: multi-launch Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift replacing Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket ah Universal Studios Florida.
Ben: Is that an instrument?
Zach: Yeah.
Ben: Oh shit. Okay.
Zach: It's kind of interesting, right? Because they just announced that the name, they haven't shown really much of animations, I don't think. I think there's going to be a swing launch.
Zach: Because I think I saw there's going to be a spike. So it's not going to be. Obviously with the mountain. And the fact that the one Hollywood. Is a terrain coaster.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: It's not going to be a clone. So it's kind of interesting. That they're using the same name. And kind of putting themselves. In a mummy versus mummy situation. Again.
Zach: Where like. You're going to have two roller coasters. That are. They have the same gimmick essentially. But they are different. The designs and the track color is going to be different too, is what I remember seeing.
Ben: Right.
Zach: It's going to be blue instead of in Hollywood. It's going to be black, which makes sense because it looks like a road. um
Ben: Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Zach: But what what are you going to do? um That one's going to open soon. I'll go ride it when it opens so I can report about it here.
Ben: And it looks, yeah, it looks pretty good. um i do think the problem with it though is people are going to Like any, cause whenever that thing was announced, right, people were calling it or like being like, oh yeah, like I love Velocicoaster. It's like Velocicoaster West.
Ben: It's not, but... I think, and you can tell by just the off-rise, it's going to be a much more, i don't want to say tame because it doesn't look tame. It's just, it's not ah like going to be like a hyper intense, snappy, velocicoaster. definitely looks a little more graceful because of the whole spinning element to it.
Ben: So i I think I could just see a response that people are going to be a little disappointed with it just because they have too high of expectations.
Zach: I definitely think it's going to be more akin to like time traveler than VelociCoaster.
Ben: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Zach: Which is awesome. I love time traveler.
Ben: And you can also tell, i can also sense a disappointment because anytime that there's testing footage of, uh, of a coaster, and this is, this has become a meme and you see that I, and actually there's a little bit of a, of this with Falcons flight to,
Ben: um Anytime someone posts testing footage, there's usually a comment that's like, oh man, it looks kind of slow. And then there's a response. It's like, no, it'll speed up.
Ben: And then usually that's not the case. so And it's definitely happening for this coaster too. If you could just look at any any footage on YouTube where it's testing, like there's always people fighting in the comments.
Ben: Being like, this looks slow. Like, this looks way slower than it does in the video. And then someone's like, it'll speed up. But that's not the case. Definitely wasn't the case for Falcon's flight either. Because people were saying that on that ride too.
Zach: Well, and, like, honestly, shut the fuck up. It's the fastest roller coaster in the world. Fuck
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: But also...
Zach: off.
Ben: I also thought it was funny and I, I fucking, I knew this was going to happen without like, without writing it. Like, um, whenever there was a debate about the ride testing in like Reddit or YouTube, there'd always be an argument about the airtime on the Hills. Like, you know, replying to the testing footage and something like, Oh man, I wish this ride would have had more airtime.
Ben: Seems like a lost opportunity. And then it's usually probably like, No, you don't know. Those hills going to have ejector. going to be going so fast. But like anybody who's played no limits can look at those hills and you could just know those hills don't have airtime just based on like the profiling and the angles and.
Zach: Yeah, the only interesting looking hill is the one that has the weird banking in the first half.
Ben: Yeah. Yeah.
Zach: That's the only interesting looking hill on the whole ride.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: And honestly...
Ben: And it's fine. And honestly, it's fine because the ride, it's it's a feat either way. Like, I don't think that... I don't think people are getting off that and be like, I wish the ride had more airtime. so It's not the point.
Ben: It's just funny, though, like, there's these, like, assumptions that our community, like, in these, like, arguments that people get. It's like how any time a ride is announced, people will talk shit about it.
Ben: But then on the other side, there's always an equal reaction of people that are suddenly, like... bootlicking it. You know what i mean? And like, you don't know, you haven't been on it. No, it's going to be awesome. It's going to have so much ejector. It's going to go faster.
Ben: It's kind of this like, you know, split.
Zach: Well, yeah, see, and the thing with Falcon's Flake, too, is, like, we had this conversation about X2 when we were all riding it at our meetup at Magic Mountain last year, um about how it's, like, really, for how crazy of a ride it really truly is, it's not very intense, so to speak,
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: In terms of like g-forces and like it's very um swooshy and drawn out right.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: And the reason it is that way is because of how crazy of a ride it is. it would be like overwhelming people would be one and done for sure. And they would go I don't like that thing you know.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: So as visually impressive as it is, and as crazy as a concept as it is, Magic Mountain and Arrow had to like purposely be like, no, make it like swooshy and graceful. So that way, like,
Zach: You can ride it and like he'd enjoy the flips. and You know what I mean? Not just like, holy shit, I'm pressed into my seat experiencing two and a half Gs for 73 seconds straight.
Zach: seventy three seconds straight
Ben: Right, yeah.
Zach: Same deal with Falcon's Flight. It's the biggest roller coaster in the world. It's going to draw people from all around the world. It needs to be able to be something that people don't go like, oh, yeah, it was crazy. I don't know. i don't like it.
Ben: Yeah, right.
Zach: My stomach was hurting and shit. Because not everybody in the world wants Steel Vengeance.
Ben: yeah
Zach: I don't think the average rollercoaster enjoyer is like, give me the most face melting intensity that Ohio has to offer.
Ben: But some people, yeah. And that's the thing is like, because one manufacturer does it, it becomes... this standard requirement of like, I don't know, it becomes like an expectation.
Ben: and and honestly Falcon, like six flags could be not really, it was not built for enthusiasts. I mean, maybe it was, i guess, I don't know.
Zach: To the extent any new park is built for enthusiasts, but yeah, it's built to attract people.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: Right? And enthusiasts are people.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: As hard as that can be to believe sometimes. But... um
Zach: And you know, I feel like probably pound for pound... the The tilt coaster looks more intense than Falcon's Flight.
Ben: Yeah. That's, that's what a lot of people seem to be saying too, but it's cool. That ride does look really, really good. uh, after doing Siren's Curse, I definitely can see how that ride it would be awesome.
Ben: And even that um that all like weird Vekoma two-car train one.
Zach: Yeah.
Ben: i mean, their lineup looks pretty... I mean, i guess those three things. and there Oh, yeah, then the the wooden coaster. That's apparently GCI's strongest airtime.
Ben: that one looks pretty fun yeah because i always i always heard that so gci doesn't um they don't design for airtime that exceeds more than zero g and i guess this one they it's like stronger time i don't know if they just meant like
Zach: Interesting.
Ben: the duration of airtime there's more dirt like airtime or if they mean like stronger airtime i don't know um
Zach: Is it stronger or longer?
Zach: Well, I mean, i look i can dig. i I'm a big Timbers fan. Mystic Timbers love it.
Ben: same
Zach: Like, I like GCIs in general. But yeah, airtime's never really...
Zach: A thing that they. Do.
Ben: Yeah, not really.
Zach: Like I'm like. I'm like even when you think there's going to be airtime. There's not. Like. The boss.
Zach: The double down.
Zach: It's like the first drop. And you're like. Oh shit there's a double down. there's going to be some crazy airtime and then there's not.
Ben: Well, that's that's a CCI.
Zach: Oh, fuck. You're right.
Ben: But the Bunny Hill after the double down, though, has decent airtime.
Zach: all right. Well, take, take my, so my street coaster car away.
Ben: I mean, on those girlss I love those Gerstlauer trains because if you're tall, you end up just getting like tons of room under the lap bar. Also, I'm watching i'm watching a POV of Colossus, and it definitely looks looks like it is providing stronger than zero-G airtime.
Zach: oak
Ben: Maybe it's because of those new trains. Maybe those new restraints are the reason why they decided to go over zero-G, if that's the case.
Zach: I feel like maybe Kentucky Rumbler had a couple moments of airtime.
Ben: I thought that one was, at least when I wrote it, I thought that one was like fairly tame. Of all of them, I feel i always thought that Mystic had the strongest airtime at the G3.
Zach: Oh yeah, Mystic is definitely... I'm trying to think of just like any individual moment of airtime on any GCI. I feel like there's one bunny hill that stood out, like a very small one on Kentucky Rumbler.
Zach: I feel like the first drop on Texas Stingray...
Zach: They'll get partial credit for, you know, Ghost Rider...
Ben: yeah
Zach: Um, me think here.
Ben: Otherwise, if you sit in...
Zach: Um, isn't there one on Thunderhead after the station fly through?
Ben: Yeah, Thunderhead...
Ben: yeah but it but then it's like I remember the strong airtime on that ride, but then again, I could probably be convinced that none of it really is more than zero g it's just It's just the way that Although usually when i ride when I ride GCIs, I typically...
Ben: i like the ride with... like I always push the lap bar up the whole time. so like i have my elbow kind of like crooked on my side and then I jam my hand under the lap bar so like like it cannot come down.
Zach: Okay.
Ben: GCIs are pretty floaty. Like I don't, I can't, there's really no like moment
Ben: compared to say like a CCI or or a gravity group or like there's like actual airtime.
Zach: Yeah, no, they're definitely like very light float. Mystic Timbers is the only one where you're doing more than a light float.
Ben: Yeah, and even then, I don't think it's really that much more. It definitely feels stronger, though, than the others. And then ah otherwise, um the back row on Renegade, if you sit on like one of the sides, kind of has a little bit of a whip, too. But again, even then, I could literally be convinced that it's just zero G. I don't think...
Zach: Yeah, I'm with you. Although thinking about Renegade, that might be another one where there's like one of those small, low bunny hills where there's like a nice floaty pop.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: um And also that drop. I feel like in the back row, when it switches banking, you get like a little very light pop.
Zach: If you're on the other, like the the correct side, what would that be like? the The right side? Because it banks to the right, then to the left.
Zach: So like,
Zach: drop, and if you're on the right side, when you kind of switch to the left banking, that kind of has like a very light pop.
Ben: Yeah, I'm watching. I just pulled up a POV of it.
Zach: But I haven't written that, i don't think, since, like, the year it opened.
Ben: good 20 years.
Zach: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: But has Valley Fair added anything in that time?
Ben: No. I haven't been to Valley of Fair since 2015. twenty fifteen Which actually, which even in my memory seems kind of recent, but it's really not.
Zach: So they...
Ben: um Yeah, there's nothing new.
Zach: Yeah, I was going to say, like, feel like I never really made a point of getting back there
Zach: after having gone the one time because, you know, same thing, Mall of America hadn't added anything to the park there.
Ben: No. Yeah, there's... Yeah, Minnesota just does not... They haven't had much going on at all, which sucks.
Zach: And that's like, yeah, and like now at this point, that's like, wait till it's like a cheap weekend to do so and just do Mall of America and Valley Fair on a quick weekend trip.
Zach: Do that and do, i don't know, what's the name of Prince's Estate if they offer tours there?
Ben: Prince's estate?
Zach: Yeah Yeah you know what I'm talking about though They got recording Studios and all sorts Of stuff but if they Offer tours like yeah go do the Prince tour I don't know
Ben: Oh, oh, um yeah, I'm not sure. I've never done it.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, I mean, Minneapolis was always, a i always found it to be a kind of an underrated city to visit and live in.
Zach: Yeah right now seems like a really good time To go visit there
Ben: Even, you know, obviously like there's a, that could be a whole other discussion about what's going on there. I will say though, like in typical fashion, anytime that two cities I'm familiar with Seattle and Minneapolis that are always in the news in these types of situations, whenever you look at the map of where the stuff is going down, it's always the like smallest part. It's like,
Ben: The way that they make things seem in the news, it's like you know ah like a whole city, but then like when you look at the map, it's like, oh, it's like one neighborhood. If that, it's like a couple blocks.
Ben: um
Zach: yeah a As somebody who was in Chicago and now is in San Francisco, I completely understand that There's a lot of
Ben: Yeah. So...
Zach: a lot of narrative spin to a lot of cities
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: That's like, um, that's like the other day.
Ben: was actually, actually looked at one. That'd be good timing. On the ring app, there's this, um, like a neighborhood feed, which is, you can just post whatever you want, right? There's no, like you can,
Ben: There's no usernames or anything. You could literally just be like, just make shit up if you wanted. um But there were gunshots that were happening probably maybe like a mile away.
Ben: And like I saw someone post on next door and not on ring about it. And then like, you know, people always like, Oh, I think it was here. I think it was here. But then like, when you think about it, it's like, okay, you can hear them. Sure.
Ben: But there's probably like, don't know, 70,000 people between me and where the gunshots happened. Not that he should just like,
Ben: write it off as nothing but at the same time if you just think about it okay like there's literally ah few million people in this tiny dense area like things will happen
Zach: Yeah.
Zach: I mean.
Zach: feel like that's just one of those things, too, where like.
Zach: People always like have a heightened response, you know.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: And like, oh, I i gotta be the one to report it Oh, did you hear what happened to me? i heard gunshots.
Ben: Yeah, there were, um, the only, the one time I got stumped though was, uh, there was this like very loud explosion that happened like a week ago. And it's the first time that I saw probably like 30 other people post in the ring app about it and no one could figure out where it came from.
Ben: It was a little weird. It was very, very loud. yeah.
Zach: That's pretty wild.
Ben: And like louder than typical explosions too. i mean, it probably was like a substation or something, but i don't know. It's always weird when you hear that stuff.
Zach: There was an explosion on my block a couple weeks ago.
Ben: What kind of explosion?
Zach: A oil tanker blew up at a gas station that's being deconstructed.
Ben: Oh, nice. yeah
Zach: Yeah. The block was shut down to traffic and everything. It was something. wait We were here. The windows shook because it's at the end of the block and we're in the middle of the block.
Ben: OK.
Zach: And so windows shook. I thought for sure it was like an earthquake, you know.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: But then, you know, um unlike the Ring app, I just went on to um the local subreddit.
Zach: Which will let you know if there's been an earthquake.
Ben: It is kind of funny how like sometimes you go on there like thinking you're going to hear something or see something and no one posts about it. Because Because that happens to me too. i'm like I'm like, really? Like I don't know where to go.
Zach: yeah i don't either because i was like was like was that a yeah yeah right heat wave alert oh shit that's not good uh fuck it's january oh
Ben: It's like Twitter. Yeah, it's like Denver Twitter, a Denver Police Department. And then the first post is like from four months ago. And you're like, well, that's not helpful.
Ben: Yeah, I do struggle with that sometimes of like, where do I go for this information? There's not like a feed. Despite everybody being on their phone at all times, like there is no just like a live feed of things anywhere. It's just, it's all algorithm driven.
Zach: Yeah, right?
Ben: miss.
Zach: And then what, am I going to post on the local subreddit like, hey, was that an earthquake?
Ben: Right.
Zach: Just to have like 1,500 of the smartest individuals who probably don't even live in the locale go, no, you idiot.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Exactly.
Zach: And now on Reddit, there's a ton of AI posts, which sucks.
Ben: Speaking of AI, did you see that photo?
Zach: Which photo?
Ben: I posted it in the Heathers.
Zach: Oh, let me take a look.
Zach: That's perfect.
Ben: I also love that there's just a coaster cruise shirt. i just realized that.
Zach: I'm trying to get better detail on the straight coaster club guy in the middle with his shirt says.
Ben: Yeah, it looks like, uh, is that Mandarin?
Zach: Yeah. probably just It's probably gibberish, but maybe it says straight coaster club. Who knows? The guy to his right, I don't know. How come these guys look like an actual coaster club?
Ben: I mean, it probably is. It would be funny if it was like a coaster radio, like group photo or something. Yeah.
Zach: Well, like, okay. Hear me out. If you saw these six people walk into NoCoasterCon,
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: that would be yeah, of course. that would be like yeah of course
Zach: Speaking of which, I guess that happened. And I was thinking about it. ah That event's got to kind of boring now that like pretty much all the parks in the entire region, except for like Holiday World, Indiana Beach, and
Zach: what are they're all owned by Six Flags now.
Ben: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's like now they just have like one guy show up and they just go down a PowerPoint of all the changes.
Zach: Yeah, it's probably just Tony Clark.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: And maybe like, maybe somebody from Great America.
Zach: But I bet you it's just probably Tony Clark like, alright, here's what's happening at Cedar Point. Here's what's happening at King's Island. Here's what's happening at St. Louis.
Zach: Here's what's happening at Worlds of Fun.
Ben: Yeah, and like, um
Ben: isn't art don't a lot of parks still do the Zoom thing now? Or do they actually show up?
Zach: I don't know. It's been several years since I've gone. And I got to imagine too that now that Paula's not with Holiday World, their presentation may or may not exist. I don't, you know what I mean? Like,
Ben: Oh, sure, yeah.
Ben: I wonder how many people ask
Zach: I guess Kenny would, they would probably still maybe show up, but the way that they've been cutting their budgets recently, who knows?
Ben: Right.
Ben: Also too, I mean, I'm curious what the guest turnout of the event is nowadays. I wonder if it's like, I wonder if you walk into that room, is it going to be the exact same people you expect?
Zach: Oh yeah.
Ben: Just older.
Zach: I'm sure.
Ben: Yeah, I mean, i there's a part of me that wants to do the event again, but I also know like it is boring. like you are just in a You're in a hotel conference room. It's like you're at work for eight hours or more.
Ben: The only time it was fun was that Jeff Sievert after party.
Zach: Yeah.
Ben: That was it.
Zach: Oh, I guess he still would maybe go.
Zach: Because he would still...
Zach: Well, no, probably not.
Zach: Because he's the park president there. He's not...
Ben: Yeah, I'm sure he does more for like the whatever Texas Ace region, but I don't know if you'd really do anything for Great Lakes region anymore.
Ben: don't know. Maybe. I mean, do other regions have their own no coaster con?
Zach: Um, there's East Coaster.
Ben: Which is in the winter.
Zach: Yeah.
Ben: Okay.
Zach: Which makes sense. But I think other than that, yeah, where else would they do that? Because like Midwest and the East Coast, but then all the other places where there's like enough enthusiasts, there's parks that are open.
Ben: Yeah, right.
Zach: like Texas, the parks there are going to be open in the winter. Here on the West Coast, most of them are, there's parks available in, you know, Florida.
Ben: So I guess, does does is there even a West Coast ace presence anymore? That's one thing I've always been curious about, because... other than in the early two thousands with like some of those discovery channel shows, um, I don't ever hear of them. I don't even know of them. I've never seen one like
Ben: it's California.
Zach: From what I can tell, that it exists
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: and in terms of like an actual scene. like First of all, you know I'm in Northern California. I don't really...
Zach: Like, the idea of, like, a native bay Area person being, like, an enthusiast seems kind of weird to me.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: Like, I'm sure they that there's some, right? But, like...
Zach: It just seems like statistically, right, like on a scale of Hawaii to Ohio,
Zach: the Bay Area seems a lot closer to Hawaii in terms of percentage of churning out enthusiasts, right?
Ben: Sure, yeah. i mean i I just looked at a group photo of the NorCal Ace, which is really, which first of all, their banner has just a giant QR code on it.
Zach: Makes sense. That tracks. and That tracks. Well, you know what? Now that I'm thinking about it, I could see like a group of like
Zach: a dozen and a half friends from the Castro that are like in their fifties and sixties now.
Ben: Yeah, it actually looks like ah kind of, there's a few families. If anything, the California ace group seems much more wholesome than other regions because the California, just, i mean I mean, I'm making him very steep generalizations based off of a group photo, but the, you know, like, like you know, like people who just sort of fall into the hobby, like they're a casual coaster, like,
Ben: Like, oh, I went to this park and the coasters were fun. And then they Google like, oh, is there like a coaster club? oh there's Ace. I'll join that and go to the event once a year. Like those types of people.
Ben: I think it seems like that's what the California Ace crew is. Because there's like some couples. There's like families with kids. There's old folks. There's young folks. There's like.
Ben: your typical Great Lakes region types, but then there's also just like very normal looking like tech people, you know, there's a couple of coaster Justin types.
Ben: um But yeah, like
Ben: maybe that's why you don't really hear about them at all. It's just because like, they're just, it's just very like ACE in California is just very casual and it's not like, I don't know. It's not making waves.
Zach: To be completely fair. That also seems a little indicative of. 2026. Maybe more broadly than Ace. But like for coaster events.
Zach: That seems more indicative of just the times.
Ben: Oh, yeah, that's true.
Zach: Because I feel like.
Zach: remember the experience we all were talking about at Hollywood Nights when we were there. What was that, 2021? Yeah. yeah um When it was like
Zach: a lot of people that like wouldn't have been at a coaster event two, three plus years ago. Had heard.
Zach: Like oh you buy This ticket and then. You get food and. Short lines.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, that's true.
Zach: So I feel like the events are kind of like. Saturated now.
Zach: They're like aren't like really. it's It's not like
Zach: the niche that it used to be, right?
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: have a photo of a bunch of it's it.
Zach: oh hell yeah.
Zach: Those are so fucking good.
Zach: And if you haven't had one, dare I say, come to the Bay Area. It's worth it just to get an It's It.
Zach: I mean, it's it's worth coming out here to visit California's Great America before they close inevitably soon.
Zach: Which, honestly, I'm hoping I can maybe make it to both this year because it's the 50th anniversary.
Ben: Oh, wait, which park is 50?
Zach: Great America.
Ben: Oh, yeah.
Zach: but Both of them.
Ben: Yeah, that's right. Which, by the way, now there's some ah Giga Rocket Coaster rumors for Great America.
Ben: i don't know if you saw that little thing.
Zach: Yeah, I've been seeing the Giga rumors.
Zach: I mean, sure.
Ben: It's, uh, they could probably do it. Thing is, is, um, let's see if there's any photos of it because there were those leaked blueprints or the leaked, um, photos or whatever.
Ben: Sifcam, GigaRumor. Unlike, remember Tumbleweed though? Like,
Zach: Like I feel like i remember hearing a rumor that they couldn't exceed the height Sky Trek Tower
Zach: but I think that's 330 feet?
Ben: Seems right.
Zach: So like
Zach: they could still build a giga hell as long as it's over 287.
Ben: Yeah, shit. OK, so did you see this photo of the layout?
Zach: ah Yeah, but not recently enough to recall. It's like over in the backstage area kind of by where King Chaos was in there, right?
Ben: Yeah, it's basically... um
Zach: And Raging Rapids, yeah. Roaring Rapids.
Ben: Yeah, it goes...
Zach: roaring rapids
Ben: Yeah, it kind of like goes over the train tracks just next to Roaring Rapids. And then it's it follows that... um
Ben: There's that like retainment pond...
Ben: What's weird, though, is that in the in the layout, there's a lot of straight section, which I guess if it's bunny hills, that's fine. But the size of the turnaround in the photo looks comically small compared to the rest of the ride.
Ben: Unless that's supposed to be kind of like a treble clef or something.
Zach: I mean... It's great America.
Zach: You know, you get the...
Zach: I'm not going to say, like, the worst version of the rides they get, but they definitely don't get the best versions of the rides they get, Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Also, wait a minute.
Ben: Oh, actually, never mind. My orientation was thrown off. I was going to say, because like, no, the Joker's in the way. Actually, joke it's it's not. So I'm trying to visualize this on. I'm doing this side by side with Google Maps.
Ben: And that leaked photo. So actually we can't use Google Maps. We gotta go to Google Earth.
Ben: Okay.
Zach: you
Ben: Yeah, so by Batman the Ride, right where King Chaos was, there was a station. and then it goes over the midway. And I'm guessing it drops kind of like over the train tracks.
Ben: Between the train
Zach: So it's taking up primarily the the Mardi Gras
Zach: hangover and Roaring Rapids plot.
Ben: Yeah. So if it is a Giga and it looks, I guess it's either lift hill or a launch. um Yeah. So basically you'll be going.
Ben: Yeah. Over the midway and dropping right where Roaring Rapids is or that, I don't know. There's that section where the train track starts turning kind of towards the back of the park. It's like a long curve by that service road.
Ben: and it goes around Roaring Rapids, it's like dropping right there. um Basically, it's basically literally in between the Dark Knight line.
Ben: I didn't realize the queue line for Dark Knight was so big. It's the same site.
Zach: It's the whole theater.
Ben: Yeah, shit.
Ben: Yeah, so it's dropping between the theater and Roaring Rapids. And then it goes over that employee service road or whatever.
Zach: It's that whole theater plus those long ass hallways.
Ben: Oh yeah, that's right.
Zach: Yeah, it's so long. Dude, so long.
Ben: And then, so what's crazy though, is that
Ben: I don't know how the city is going to allow them to build a giant coaster like that right next to that neighborhood. I mean, there's a house.
Ben: Let's see, there'd be a house. Let's see measure from here
Ben: That's meters. It's It's within feet. Yeah, there so this coaster would be 270 feet away from the nearest house.
Ben: So think about that shit. The ride is taller. The ride would be taller than the distance between the track and the nearest residential home.
Zach: Yeah, but you know, to be completely fair, they never run anything past midnight there.
Ben: True, but isn't that like a, doesn't that neighborhood complain a lot though already? i mean, I just did a street view of this house. It's actually a really cool house. Dude, that's a sweet house. It's like tucked.
Ben: You kind of got like your own little wilderness. You're on a very quiet road. Dude, this looks like a cool neighborhood.
Zach: Nice. I always thought
Ben: And then you just got, then just got people screaming 14 hours a day, like hundreds of feet away from you.
Zach: probably closer to like to 10 at 1030.
Ben: i mean, yeah.
Zach: You know what i mean?
Ben: I bet it's this person, literally it's this house right here. 5180, South fifty one eighty ah south road
Ben: It's literally a one lane gravel road that goes to the very end. And it's this lady's house right here. I'm making assumptions on her gender. It's probably it's probably a family.
Ben: I don't know. I just imagine ah an old lady who lives by herself complaining, you know, every, she shows up to the city hall or like the, the board meetings, every single meeting and just to turn down every new roller coaster, the park proposes.
Zach: the
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: That's the bus driver from South Park lives there.
Zach: What did you say?
Zach: Oh, yeah, that's a very secluded.
Ben: Yeah, and it's like in the woods. Like, here's the thing the A person who buys a house like this is...
Zach: Oh, but like, no, you're not in the woods. You're literally on the other side of that pond by the parking lot.
Ben: no I know, but I just mean like the way that people think about real estate though, like someone who buys a house like that, they want to be in the woods. They want to be in the wilderness, but they maybe like you know, they can't afford it or they don't they have to be in the city or something.
Ben: I just mean like anybody who buys a property like that with those giant mature trees and the, and the coverage and the giant yard, like they are not going want to hear a theme park run all the time.
Ben: They got a, they got a a pruned like apple tree in their front yard, their landscape
Zach: Okay, but I have to then counter that with why would you buy a house that close to a theme park?
Ben: People don't, people are stupid. Like if you buy that, like imagine if you buy the house, like this is as someone who's purchased real estate, you don't think about things until it happens.
Ben: Like if you bought this house, like let's say like let's say it's it was September, right? When you toured, when you looked at this house and it was in the week, it was a weekday and the park wasn't open.
Ben: you probably didn't even think that park had noise. It's not something you think about. And then you move your shit in and you're laying down. You got the windows open. You're like, oh man, I love my house.
Ben: Like, ah yeah, the mortgage is expensive, but like, oh man, it's so nice. You got all this space. And then suddenly you just hear like that first scream and you're just like, oh fuck, what what did I do? And then suddenly it's just, you just ah hyper fixate and you just obsess over it. All you hear are screams all day.
Ben: I'm sure that's what happens in this neighborhood. I'm sure one person's probably attempted to like, you know,
Ben: one person went psycho threatening to like murder their family because of the screams.
Ben: Anyway.
Zach: I mean, that's a pretty sweet location to be that close to the park.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, it's, I mean, it is a cool, ah it's a pretty cool house. It's ah like that neighborhood back there is pretty, it's pretty cool in general.
Ben: Like i I never, for some reason, I've never thought to like look on the street view back there before. But yeah, I just imagine though that those people probably bitch constantly.
Ben: So anyway, a giga coaster, although i guess they're not going to know what a giga coaster is.
Ben: And I mean, if they were able to get all of these other rides approved, maybe it's not so bad. Like,
Ben: because let's see what's like when I think, cause I think they had issues with Goliath. I'm actually curious like how much information they reveal. okay So Goliath 900 feet from the nearest nine hundred feet from the nearest house
Zach: That's what I'm saying. There's like,
Zach: it's at this point, Great America, other than the side that's, you know, bordered by the actual highway is pretty much in a neighborhood.
Ben: Right. No, I mean, I, yeah, I know. I'm just saying like, I'm curious, like in these meetings of people complain, like, is the part going, Hey, here's a map.
Ben: Here's where we're building this ride. And then they have to be like, you know, the nearest residential home is 200 feet away from this coaster. Like, I wonder if they actually go into that much detail or if they just kind of throw the map up.
Ben: And then, you know, the people can say their piece. They can bitch and moan. I don't know.
Ben: But if if this is real, i mean,
Ben: let's do the math here. So that's the left hill. So one,
Ben: Like, I actually wanna see if I can get to see to the exact scale to compare to
Ben: Raging Bull for size comparison.
Ben: Oh, wait a minute. They're building, this would be.
Ben: okay Okay. I see. I see.
Zach: You know what I realize would suck even worse than any of the coasters? If you live that close.
Ben: What's that?
Zach: Just imagine Fright Fest.
Ben: With like smoke and stuff or?
Zach: No, like the sound of the pumpkin king.
Ben: Oh, yeah. Because you can hear that from like that top.
Zach: Speedway.
Ben: Yeah. You can hear it from like across 94 even. Like i remember, I think you can hear it once John and I heard it from like that McDonald's by the mall.
Zach: That's what I'm saying. It's so loud.
Ben: Yeah, so so size-wise, one.
Ben: It's probably like, okay, if this were real, this layout would be like a one, two, three,
Ben: four, five, and then it's break run. So it's like it's like a four bunny hill coaster with a treble clef.
Ben: It looks like it would be okay. Maybe it's real. i mean, if it's real.
Zach: Where did you... me
Zach: Gam World?
Ben: This was on Reddit here. I'll throw it in. I'll throw it in the six flags.
Ben: I want to know who leaks this shit or who spends the time making it. Like if this is just all a troll thing.
Ben: i mean.
Zach: fucking us when we were younger
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: if if we would have had the tools to do shit like that when we were younger and like social media was a thing like yeah like it is now
Ben: was yeah
Ben: Also, this is a long ass break run, as and indicated by the the size of the size of the supports. Oh, yeah, because it's got to go over the midway. It's got to go over it.
Ben: it The break run basically goes over kind of like Rula Dodge.
Ben: But that's those supports that are shown in the image are so huge. so that's a tall ass break run.
Ben: I'm on board with this. I think it's real.
Zach: Okay, I see here. So, yeah, the station's in Mardi Gras.
Zach: Yeah, I see. There's treble clef. um
Zach: Yeah, I think it's real and I'll tell you why. It's going to make that big entrance thing. You know what I mean?
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: And yeah, oh, it looks like it would take up some of that space around Superman. So maybe a little bit of the parking lot.
Ben: Yeah, and also if you look closely, you can see by the size of the supports shown that you can kind of get an idea of like what elements are going to be on the ride.
Ben: So like the...
Ben: Unless this is backwards. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Is this backwards? So I was assuming that the ride would go...
Ben: You know? No. Yeah. Oh, for sure. i have i have a feeling this is backwards. The lift hill is actually what is going over the midway in Ruladage.
Zach: That's kind of what I thought.
Ben: Yeah. Okay. I had it backwards. So it the the first drop is by Superman.
Zach: Because if you look at the orientation of the station and then there's like a transfer track, a maintenance building behind.
Ben: Yeah. Yeah.
Ben: yeah
Zach: so yeah, I think it starts by doing that 90 degree turn to the left or to the right. Goes above the train tracks over the midway.
Ben: Yeah.
Ben: Plus two, plus just from like a visual, like a front entrance visual, um you know, and impression, I think that that'll look a lot nicer.
Ben: too. So yeah, big ass drop. Looks like it probably curves to the right. One bunny hill, kind of a speed turn, and then another speed turn.
Ben: Yeah, treble clef turnaround. And then I guess some bunny hills on the way back.
Zach: That's what I'm seeing is like about
Zach: the first drop between Ruladage and Superman and like flags in front of it.
Zach: And I think at NoCoasterCon they said they're redoing flags, the store there.
Ben: Okay. Yeah. And I did always, I did, i took I do keep reading this whole thing about how they want to like redo the kind of the front plaza and make that and expand that midway.
Ben: So that would make sense.
Zach: Yeah. Well, and they've been, you know, adjusting that.
Zach: Like they built that whole thing. That weird new security checkpoint. Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: I like how you can see the flash pass cue.
Ben: Oh, yeah. so I mean, if they're going in that much detail. shit, that looks pretty. Yeah.
Ben: All right. I'm telling people it's real.
Zach: Yeah, this is... I believe it. Because, yeah, if you kind of follow it, starts at that 90-degree turn to the right. Probably a pretty steep lift hill to get you over the train tracks there.
Ben: Mm-hmm.
Zach: And like you were saying, if you follow the size of the supports, I'm going to guess probably, yeah, first drop almost by Superman.
Zach: Going right towards the entrance. That curve near the ground.
Zach: Big bunny hill.
Zach: ah Probably another low to the ground curve. Another bunny hill.
Zach: The thing that seems exciting, right, is like you were saying with all those straight sections, this could be like an airtime-focused giga coaster.
Ben: Yeah. Like on... So after the treble clef, it looks like just by the size of the supports that there would be maybe three bunny hills in that like long straightaway section.
Ben: And then even if maybe they're like more speed hill kind of focused and then like
Zach: And just FYI,
Ben: Maybe it curves up into a taller break run. i don't know.
Zach: that house, I think, is approximately, if you continue the bottom of the full layout one, the line where it says overall foundation site plan, if you continue that to that smaller pond,
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: that line i think that would be approximately the location of that house
Ben: Oh, it even says property line.
Zach: that's what I'm saying I think
Ben: Yeah. Yeah.
Ben: Literally the yeah, the distance between that house and the coaster track is shorter than the size of like the queue line for, uh, dark night.
Zach: That's cool because it's going to cross over that maintenance road too.
Ben: Yeah.
Zach: Or that access road.
Ben: Okay, well, shit, i I'm about to piss my pants.
Zach: Alright, well...
Ben: I have to abruptly bail on this episode, but ah anyway, SifgamGiga is real.
Zach: Yeah, SIFCAM Giga.
Ben: Tell everybody at Sifgam official, you know, bug them.
Zach: It's on.
Zach: As sure as Mount Olympus owner kicks dogs,
Ben: Here's why I think it's going to happen because Marcus Leshock posted a video about this rumor saying that kind of going like, oh, well, Six six Flags did not confirm this. So I don't think it's real.
Ben: So which yeah it's like the inverse Kramer effect. If Marcus is saying it's not real, then that means it's probably going to be real.
Zach: Yeah, wink.
Zach: Who knows, wink.
Ben: They're having them do damage control under, you know, unpaid. So for the park. So I think it's real. All right.
Ben: Well.
Zach: All right, well, I'm glad we are ah back in the swing of things. 2026, here we are. Welcome back. ah It's good to be doing this. Thank you for listening, y'all.
Zach: We'll be back soon with more.
Ben: ah yeah.
Zach: You anything else, Ben?
Ben: No, i um I'm all good.
Zach: Awesome. Well, it's been awesome and we will talk soon. um Thanks for listening, y'all. And until next time, your favorite coaster sucks.
Ben: Your favorite coaster sucks.
