Rumor - Iron Colossus - (6/3/14) The big news from Magic Mountain today is that new banners were spotted up in the park warning everyone to get their last rides in on Colossus, because after being king of the mountain for 36 years, Colossus will close forever on August 16th. If you’ve been following Screamscape for long enough, you know what this means… that Colossus will be given an I-Box transformation from Rocky Mountain Construction and reopen bigger and meaner as “Iron Colossus” or some other similar sounding name.
This represents an epic development opportunity for Six Flags Magic Mountain, as no one is quite sure just what to expect from RMC getting their hands on one of Six Flag’s massive racing coasters from the 70’s. It certainly will present an entirely different kind of challenge from what they have already succeeded with in transforming New Texas Giant and Iron Rattler. I’ve had a theory, I’ve shared with a VERY small list of individuals as far back as two years ago about what I had suspected Six Flags would be able to do with Colossus. Something big and something that would shatter an old coaster record that has never been broke yet.
I’ve kept this secret very close to the vest for all this time, because I didn’t want anyone to steal it, but with Colossus now confirmed to be closing, I will share it now. If RMC gets a hold of Colossus, it will change everything you ever thought you knew about the coaster. Don’t count on seeing it reopen as a racing creation… in fact, don’t even think about it having two separate tracks anymore. For my plan to work, the two tracks will become one, along with a possible second mid-ride trip up the lift hill, because if they do this thing right, the combined two track lengths would shatter the record for longest roller coaster, both steel and wooden at roughly 8,650 feet. (Each side of Colossus is 4,325 ft)
The longest steel coaster in the world is Steel Dragon 2000 in Japan at 8,133 feet and the longest wooden coaster in the world is The Beast at Kings Island at 7,359 feet. Wood or Steel, no matter how you slice it, a combined Iron Colossus would take the record away for a long LONG time. Or at least until Six Flags opts to take a similar route with American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, but since they are about ready to open Goliath, their own RMC custom coaster, I don’t see that scenario playing out anytime soon.
With the focus on length for the record and knowing they have a second lift hill run in mid-ride to double the ride length, this can free up the designers to bring some crazy ideas to life as the train attempts to follow Colossus’ old rough layout, but in a very different fashion from before, and what aerial tricks they perform during one round, can be changed up for a different concept in the second run. Or another idea, that I kind of like, in a nostalgia kind of way would be to I-Box one side of Colossus… AS IS… leaving the classic ride experience to enjoy during the first run, then follow it up with a very amp’d up next-gen crazy experience during the run on the second track. Maybe a slightly taller lift or LIM lift, near vertical drop, barrel-rolls, inversions and more. Really put you through the blender for the big finally.
Anyway… while this is mostly my own vision of what Iron Colossus COULD be like, the very idea of combining the two tracks into one giant double-length ride did come to me from a trusted source a long time ago. Could plans have changed? Sure… but I hope not because an Iron Colossus could be RMC’s most epic project of all time.
