So while you're at Six Flags New England in line for the Cyclone (itself a coaster which has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous reprofiling) you get to see signs up talkin' bout the Comet at the Great Escape and Colossus at Magic Mountain and a coaster with one of the names that Six Flags was fond of in the 1970s:
It doesn't help that the name Great American Scream Machine nicely acronyms out to GASM. Your inner fifth grader is probably already hyperventilating right now. Better fetch a paper bag.
Here's the thing about that pic, though. It would surely be a nice tribute and a testament to the memory and research skills of the signmakers at Six Flags if indeed the Great American Scream Machine was at Six Flags Over Texas, as the sign suggests.
But it's not. It's actually in Georgia. Always has been, too. So naturally I had to let The Internet know. Now you do!
I told you this was overly pedantic and for coaster nerds only. But it's the kinda stuff I see when I'm at the parks. I'm not bothered by it, and it's not something to complain to Guest Services about, but I am greatly amused by it. It's almost sweet in a way. The park chain is trying, they really are.
Anyway we had a really good day and now I'm triple backlogged in park stuff and pics. Yeeks!
"Great American Scream Machine" was a name given to two completely different Six Flags coasters. In Georgia, it's the wooden coaster featured on the sign (they got the right coaster, it's a start.) In New Jersey, it's an Arrow multi-looper. In the late 80s/early 90s the park developed a similar fetish for the name "Viper". There's six of 'em across the country and each is a different style of coaster altogether. Go fig.
