After 27 Years, Bid Farewell To The Georgia Cyclone (Austell, Dahlonega: amusement parks, school)

[Iconographer]

Makes me feel kind of nostalgic for the old-school amusement parks.

Iconic wooden roller coaster to shut down, and we're feeling nostalgic | 11alive.com

[primaltech]

I hear you on nostalgia, but the wooden ones are all going to be doomed eventually, even Scream Machine.

Safety reasons aside, people prefer the much smoother ride of the steel ones. Doesn't jerk you around and leave you as sore.

[ATLTJL]

To be fair....this is not a historic roller coaster. I remember when they built it, we wondered why they built such a terrible coaster. It's true that wooden roller coasters were enjoying a resurgence at the time, but they were taking them to the next level building coasters bigger and longer than ever before....not recreating track designs that were already 60 years old and outdated.

So the Georgia Cyclone was pretty much a crummy outdated ride the day it opened. I think Six Flags always knew that, and that's why they announced it's permanent closure less than two weeks before it goes way. They know that nobody is going to be clamoring to ride this thing one last time. If they did, they would have announced it in March and billed this entire summer as "your last chance to ride the legendary Georgia Cyclone!"

Our Six Flags pretty much never gets modern, interesting rides. The best coaster is has is Goliath, and that debuted in 2005. That's more than 25 years after Cedar Point opened its hyper coaster. By the time Goliath topped 200 feet in Austell, amusement parks all over the country and world were going past 300.

I really wonder if Six Flags has seen business drop since the amusement parks in central Florida upped their game. Used to be if you wanted a decent coaster in the southeast, you HAD to come here. But now we've been totally outclassed by coasters at Busch Gardens, Universal, and even freaking Sea World.

Sorry, I've just never regarded SFOG as a good -- or even passable -- amusement park.

[primaltech]

Yeah, the "legendary" coaster is the Coney Island Cyclone, built in 1927.

Georgia Cyclone is just an exact mirror image replica of that coaster, and it was built in 1990.

Weird concept, to say the least. But, I do have fond memories of when it was new. I think it might have been the first "serious" coaster that I ever rode. (Dahlonega Mine Train doesn't count.)

[krogerDisco]

Why would they build it when they had the Scream Machine?

[atl1221]

One unfortuante thing about our park is that because of Fulton County Airport there are heigh restrictions....we won't ever be getting a coaster I believe over 300 feet.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Yeah, the "legendary" coaster is the Coney Island Cyclone, built in 1927.

Georgia Cyclone is just an exact mirror image replica of that coaster, and it was built in 1990.

Weird concept, to say the least. But, I do have fond memories of when it was new. I think it might have been the first "serious" coaster that I ever rode. (Dahlonega Mine Train doesn't count.)

Hated that one. Very rickety. And you always sense you are going to bump your head. Not that you will actually hit your head, but if you bend your neck over as you come to those overheads, you will get a minor case of whiplash. Much preferred the Scream Machine.

[ATLTJL]

Why would they build it when they had the Scream Machine?

Because wooden roller coaster experienced renewed interest in the late 80s/early 90s with many parks building wooden coasters that were much bigger and faster than had been seen before. But that interest waned when it became obvious that all the technology in the world couldn't provide a smooth ride, and making them bigger just made them rougher.

This is one area where SFOG is exactly on trend....a lot of the wooden coasters built during that time are closing and parks are reclaiming their footprints to build rides that people like.

[ATLTJL]

And you always sense you are going to bump your head

Those are called headchoppers. They are put there on purpose to add a perceived element of danger to the ride.

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Because wooden roller coaster experienced renewed interest in the late 80s/early 90s with many parks building wooden coasters that were much bigger and faster than had been seen before. But that interest waned when it became obvious that all the technology in the world couldn't provide a smooth ride, and making them bigger just made them rougher.

This is one area where SFOG is exactly on trend....a lot of the wooden coasters built during that time are closing and parks are reclaiming their footprints to build rides that people like.

This makes a lot of sense, the same year The Georgia Cyclone was built in SFOG... The Texas Giant was built in SFOT. both wooden. I never realize this.

but they already torn down the original wooden The Texas Giant and replaced with a steel one.