Wicked Cyclone Construction Update #23
The park is open! Wicked Cyclone construction update #23 has some fantastic shots of the new coaster from inside the park!
It’s been about a month since our last update. A lot has been accomplished since then, so let’s get right into the pictures!
Today was opening day, so we were able to get some really good shots of Wicked Cyclone from inside the park. But… we’re going to check out the construction from outside the park first. Sorry, don’t hate me.
In our last update, they were about halfway through with the turnaround near the maintenance building.
Both the middle and bottom level of the turnaround are now completely finished with all of the bracing now up.
This week they even started installing the remaining inversions. You can see that the final inversion is actually mostly finished:
This turn leading into the first zero-g looks more intense than what the animation showed. The same can be said about the little airtime hill below it, which is leading out of the last inversion.
Those two outward banked airtime hills are going to provide some nice airtime:
Moving over to the New England SkyScreamer side of the coaster… A portion of the old exit ramp has been removed:
Right now I can’t picture where it’s going to go back to the ground. The white tarp is the foundation for Wicked Cyclone’s photo booth.
Then there is a path marked out that goes through the support structure and next to the new building in the background. This is obviously going to be the exit, I just can’t picture the layout. There will be more pictures of this work below.
Some random pictures:
Now moving into the park! Lots of track is on site.
This is our first good view of the second over banked turn from inside of the park. It looks a lot more thrilling than I initially thought it would.
A lot of bracing has gone up on the old supports. We were talking to some of the guys on the Rocky Mountain Construction crew and they said that the bracing is what takes the longest. They mentioned that track work should be complete within the next couple of weeks, then they need to go around and finish the bracing.
Cool shot of the 200-degree stall. I think this might be the best element on the entire coaster. Though I can’t really say that without riding it, can I? I guess I’ll know for sure when it opens Memorial Day weekend!
Just look at that!!
Let’s move up to the entrance area now. A new Wicked Cyclone sign was added to the sign that was added last year. We’re told this is just a temporary sign. A better one will be installed once Wicked Cyclone opens:
Looking into the infield by New England SkyScreamer now.
Lots of little things going on here and there. Track should hopefully be up in this section by next week, which is also when our next update will be.
The lift chain has been installed. The airtime hill that’s next to the lift hill also looks a bit taller than it did in the animation, which is always good!
The entrance to Wicked Cyclone will be in the same spot as it was for Cyclone. One thing we haven’t seen in the concept art is the sign marquee. Hopefully it’s something that’s pretty cool, as the old entrance sign was pretty bland. I don’t really know how much they can do with a marquee when it’s going to be mounted to the side of the coaster’s structure.
This will be the gift shop for the ride, it’ll be called Storm Center. Based off the pictures we posted above, it looks like the exit will be just to the right of the building. Guests won’t be exiting through the building as it looks like it’s going to be more of a boutique style shop. I also added the concept art for Storm Center so you can compare the two.
More pictures of the work on the exit.
This is the path under the structure that I was referring to in the pictures above.
General overview of the area.
Here’s a view of the second over banked turn taken from New England SkyScreamer’s exit ramp.
For comparison purposes, here’s a similar shot taken on New England SkyScreamer’s media day:
Before we move over to the other side of the coaster, I want to mention that New England Skyway’s North End station is being transformed into a locker building for Wicked Cyclone. Actually, it’s more like a quarter of the station is being used. Here are two pictures by forum member DylanBIZARRO:
And here are the ones Aj took:
As you can see, this room is pretty tiny. I was sort of hoping the locker room would be big enough to store items while also riding Blizzard River.
I wonder what’s planned for the other 75% of the building…
Alright, enough locker talk… The first zero-g roll is starting to take shape!
The track on the bottom of the picture is of the second zero-g roll. It could just be the angle, but they look really close to each other.
Hopefully the second zero-g roll provides a nice head chopper for the first.
A view of the 200-degree stall from inside the park.
It’s looks stunning.
There should be some insane forces in this section.
Very photogenic!
Last picture of the update… Wicked Cyclone is definitely a lot shorter than Cyclone was, but it’s going to be a million times better!
Want to see what else is different at Six Flags New England for the 2015 season? Click here to see our opening day report!
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