Big Developments at FC

shavethewhales · August 28, 2007, 05:00:14 PM

From SuperSteve's:

QuoteHangman Up For Sale

Hangman, Frontier's Chance Slingshot drop tower, is up for sale Here on ITAL. In possible correlation with this, construction markings have been spotted on Coltrain road, the road that runs between the Wildcat and the old FC ride graveyard and employee parking lot.

Now I'm actually very surprised to see Hangman up for sale, not only because it's only 6 years old and still a fun ride, but because it's location can't really be used for anything grander unless the train is re-routed and the concert area moved. Then again, if they plan on taking out Nightmare Mine and the Rodeo Round-Up as rumored, then that leaves them with an empty plot of land stretching all the way from the train car to the scrambler, a pretty massive area. This area would be more than large enough to hold an area such as SDC's Grand Expo, or even a coaster that's twice the size or more of Silver Bullet. Thus, the few FC fanboys out there should be wetting themselves right about now.

What could the markings on Coltrain mean though? Well maybe they are indeed planning to move the concert area across the street as rumored. This would double the size of the land available for developement right inside the park. Or maybe they are planning on starting the long process of readying that side of the park for developement. That's unlikely however, as they would tackle the zoning issues first, so it's much more likely that they are doing something like moving the parking lot or the concert area there, if they are actually doing anything at all.

Then again, maybe all this means is that FC is just consolidating. I can easily see them taking out both Hangman and ErUPTion, and putting in a two or three tower S&S drop/shot tower combo in ErUPtion's place. This would eliminate the problems with ErUPTion, the complaints of roughness on Hangman, and give them one reliable, efficient, and fun ride in one move. Hopefully we can get both pieces of pie - and we likely will. I can see the new tower coming in later, with a major project occuring in the said area this year or the next.

Well, I may luck out and get a big coaster built near me in 2008 after all.

Coaster · August 28, 2007, 05:02:24 PM

I've never heard of this park or the rides for that matter. Sorry I can't debate with you here.

shavethewhales · August 28, 2007, 05:07:54 PM

Frontier City is a former Six Flags park in Oklahoma City. It was actually one of the original SF parks, and the headquarters for the entire chain were located there until last year. The park was sold last year to PARC, who have done a fairly good job with it thus far, and apparently have big plans for the place. That's good too, because the park hasn't seen a new coaster since 1991, and the last major ride that isn't an up-charge came in 2001.

It's an OK place, but it really needs something new to make it worth the entrance fee.

Coaster · August 28, 2007, 05:10:55 PM

I haven't had good experiences with Six Flags parks. Good thing Six Flags sold it or else I probably would've never wanted to go. But if I'm ever in Oklahoma I might have to check it out.

Eagle Rider · August 28, 2007, 08:46:09 PM

Frontier City has a Schwarzkopf very similar to the Jet Scream that was at SFSTL until 1989.

The hangman coaster I'm familiar with is at OpryLand. I'm not aware of a coaster bearing that name at Frontier City.

shavethewhales · August 28, 2007, 09:38:34 PM

^The Hangman at FC isn't a coaster, it's a Chance drop tower.

Coaster · September 02, 2007, 08:35:19 PM

Well I went to FC's website and it looks like it's a pretty cool park. Some of the rides looked pretty old to me though.

shavethewhales · September 02, 2007, 10:45:30 PM

You can't always trust PARC's websites though. They're worst than SF in the way they use rides from other parks in their ads.

Coaster · September 11, 2007, 07:33:22 PM

Well that's stupid. Isn't that false advertising?

shavethewhales · September 11, 2007, 08:42:25 PM

It is, but almost every park does it. PARC, however, does it to an extreme extent, to the point that they could probably be prosecuted.

Coaster · September 11, 2007, 08:43:35 PM

I guess I've never been to a park website with false advertising then. I didn't know what any of FC's rides looked like though. So I wouldn't have known.

Tom · September 16, 2007, 12:26:25 AM

Ihave a morbit curiousity about the long term survivial of Frontier City. I can't say why, but with so many parks closing in the south, why would FC also survive?

shavethewhales · September 16, 2007, 01:56:18 PM

FC has a big market. I mean, it pretty much controls most of the major thrill-seeking populations of Oklahoma, as they are the only theme park currently in operation in the entire state, plus southern Kansas. Besides, FC is no turd park; with a little work and a few new rides, it'll be pretty kick-ass.
They've actually had an outstanding year of attendance from what I've heard.

Tom · September 19, 2007, 10:06:11 AM

If Frontier City survives, it will prove that regioinal parks have an economic place in this era. If Frontier City closes, it will prove that a really good regional park was choked to death by destination parks 3-5 hours away. I totally agree that this would be a sad message, but it might be an economic truth.

shavethewhales · December 11, 2007, 09:28:20 PM

It seems very certain now that FC will be getting a Vekoma SLC next year. There isn't exactly any solid evidence, but there are quite a few seperate rumors flying around stating that PARC will spend $5 million on a new ride next year, a huge area is being cleared out, and that they've been looking at places to fit a new coaster.

We'll have to wait just a little while longer to see, but I'm putting my money on some sort of large new coaster where Nightmare Mine is now.