Mantis removal or transformation?

BleauxJays said:

I think they're loooong past a deadline to completely remove an existing coaster then pour foundations and install a brand new ride before next year. Maybe they're taking Mantis out but might not see anything in it's place until 2016?

I agree--- but then why remove Oct. 19th vs. the end of the season? Obviously there is some sort of urgency.

BleauxJays said:
I think they're loooong past a deadline to completely remove an existing coaster then pour foundations and install a brand new ride before next year. Maybe they're taking Mantis out but might not see anything in it's place until 2016?

If they're just installing a dark ride building in Mantis' place, I can see that taking less time than a coaster, considering the concrete work would be substantially less.

Those 2 tweets from Tony yesterday have me wondering, the first tweet said "LOT going on today, A LOT", then he tweets that hilarious to do list, but the thing on that list that hasn't been mentioned is relocating Mantis. What if, and this is a big if, they move, re-theme, and rename Mantis to some other area in the park? Say maybe the old dorm area that was removed a year or so ago? The words LOT and A LOT screams parking lot to me for some reason. Thoughts?

djDaemon said:

XS NightClub said:
Meanwhile, for actual new for 2015 news, click here

https://www.sixflags.com/newfor2015

We get it. You're butt-hurt about the non-announcement.

Ouch...

Just pointing out how the largest amusement park chain in the world does their announcement,
Thought the Disney team would've brought some professionalism.

Anyway, I see why they waited till the park was empty,
Hoping for something substantial as for 2015 after they "close" Mantis.

djDaemon said:

Maybe, but that's still far, far less work than building an entirely new coaster. Even if they had to replace an entire half of the circuit, they'd still need about half an offseason, rather than more than an offseason.

I agree with your assessment that it appears the ride is going to be removed, track, supports, everything. I am just trying to go through the possibilities that are plausible, and at this point there are numerous ones.

My guess is that the land is cleared to make way for a brand new coaster from the ground up, not that anything else is impossible but rather it seems the most likely to me at this point.

Disappointing "announcement". But.. My 2 cents. If they remove it to add a different coaster, that is telling me that they are running of room to expand. And they need the extra two weeks to remove and start the new build.
But I believe they are transforming it. It had very low capacity. I guess I don't know. I do know that it was a very disappointing "announcement".

There are other, better locations for a dark ride. It's not coming to Mantis' spot.

New trains and replace the section after the mcbr or the corkscrew.

"Darkness Falls On #12"

Looking purely at the title of the video, I think that the track will still be there but it will be converted into a dark ride - maybe even a hybrid that goes in and outside. In the video you have the part where the Grim Reaper covers the lens of the camera and brings darkness...but afterward you still see Mantis so I think there will still be a coaster there.

I think they're going to "step on" the Mantis and it is coming to come back as something much scarier!

Edit - They refer to it as "#12" which to me screams "Name Change - Conversion"

djDaemon said:

XS NightClub said:
Meanwhile, for actual new for 2015 news, click here

https://www.sixflags.com/newfor2015

We get it. You're butt-hurt about the non-announcement.

We get it. You're too cool to be annoyed by such petty things. Some people actually do think that what happened today was a load of crap.

Tilt-a-Whirl said:

BleauxJays said:

I think they're loooong past a deadline to completely remove an existing coaster then pour foundations and install a brand new ride before next year. Maybe they're taking Mantis out but might not see anything in it's place until 2016?

I agree--- but then why remove Oct. 19th vs. the end of the season? Obviously there is some sort of urgency.

Like someone else had said try to separate it's final day from the closing of the park itself? Or maybe they have an additional presentation the final weekend planned that we don't know about yet...

There's obviously more to this story. What is behind this... a cleared out swamp area? ;)

https://twitter.com/TonyClarkCP/status/503884334106169347

I've got it! They're going to put a box around it, turning it into a dark ride. Thanks for the brilliant idea, DK! ;)

I vote for a Refurbishment! Floorless for the win!

If they were to convert mantis and make it into a dark ride, i could see them moving it to a different park of the park because a big building there would be an eye sore

Scottyf said:
We get it. You're too cool to be annoyed by such petty things. Some people actually do think that what happened today was a load of crap.

I actually despise the modern "hype" marketing parks do these days, and this is among the worst. It's lazy, in my opinion. But it's hard to argue that it's not effective.

It's one thing to express disappointment (even over multiple posts, on multiple threads). It's another to suggest what they're doing isn't working, because it is.

djDaemon said:
Even if they had to replace an entire half of the circuit, they'd still need about half an offseason, rather than more than an offseason.

Is that based on your extensive experience with converting B&M roller coasters to new types?

djDaemon said:
But "a little bit" of layout change is still substantially less work than installing an entirely new coaster.

I can't think of any reason they'd close the ride early if they weren't building something else in its place.

Unless that's not the only off season construction they have planned.

Plus movement of the land/water could be a big issue to, same with the train tracks.

So now people are suggesting they are giving it the Disaster Transport treatment.

You see what you did, Cedar Point, by not having an actual announcement?

djDaemon said:

JUnderhill said:
Perhaps they had to close it early as putting floorless trains on it is not as simple as some had thought. Maybe there will be extensive re-tracking of some of the current Mantis elements in order to have new trains installed on it.

Maybe, but that's still far, far less work than building an entirely new coaster. Even if they had to replace an entire half of the circuit, they'd still need about half an offseason, rather than more than an offseason.

This is one of the dumbest statements I have ever heard. If you are only taking out part of it, it will take longer because you have to be careful not to damage parts that are staying. If they are truly taking the ride out you will have to hear something about iron dragon closing before the season opens. They can't do too much work without causing iron dragon to be unsafe to operate. Also I really do admire how hard you fight to prove there is no way you could be wrong about mantis being transformed.