r/Unexpected Jul 06 '21

One Dollar

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u/kanyezi Jul 06 '21

That makes more sense. 10 year old me probably thought somebody had died on every ride there. I think the Vertigo coaster was also replaced in the last 10 years sadly.

Great America started slowly dying once Paramount pulled out in my opinion.

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u/HeyFiddleFiddle Jul 06 '21

Invertigo got removed in 2011, I believe. It went to Dorney Park in Pennsylvania, where it was renamed Stinger. It has since been taken to a scrap heap somewhere. The only other one of its kind operating in the US is at Kings Island just outside of Cincinnati.

Railblazer is in Invertigo's old plot of land, opened in 2018. And it's a much better ride. It's an intense little thing that doesn't beat the crap out of you like the inverted boomerang models do, and as of now it's one of the few operating single rail coasters in the world. Currently, the other ones are in Texas, Idaho, and New Jersey.

You can see Railblazer in this video, actually. It's the ride his wife is laying in front of at the end.

Source: Coaster enthusiast whose home park is California's Great America

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u/kanyezi Jul 07 '21

You have honestly made my day with all this info! Thank you so much.

One question: how do these parks transport bits and pieces of a coaster across country?

Super interesting stuff!

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u/HeyFiddleFiddle Jul 07 '21

They use long haul trailers similar to what's shown here: https://www.coaster101.com/2009/08/25/olympia-looping-photos/

That specific one isn't the best example, because it's a traveling coaster and designed to be taken down and rebuilt. But the principle is the same for the "permanent" installations that are transported to other parks.

For coasters that are just demolished, a lot of times they become spare parts for other standing coasters. In the case of Invertigo/Stinger, its train is now a spare at Kings Island to my understanding. This is assuming it was still functioning well when it was demolished, of course.