Great American Scream Machine was a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

located at

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...

Jackson Township, New Jersey Jackson Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Ocean County, New Jersey, Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A portion of the township is located within the Pinelands National Reserve. As of the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

. The ride opened in 1989 as the tallest and fastest looping roller coaster in the world, reaching a maximum speed of . It was designed by

Ron Toomer Ronald Valentine Toomer (May 31, 1930 – September 26, 2011) was an American roller coaster designer credited for designing 93 roller coasters around the world. He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1961 with a degree in mechan ...

and manufactured by

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (19 ...

, which built two other coasters with similar layouts –

Shockwave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

and

Viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

. Great American Scream Machine featured seven inversions including a batwing and double

corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork (plug), corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attach ...

. Records set by the ride were succeeded by Viper the following year in 1990. It operated until July 2010 and was replaced by a stand-up roller coaster,

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

, in 2011. Green Lantern closed on November 10th, 2024, and will be replaced by a "multi-record-breaking launch coaster".

History

The coaster was originally going to be named ''Ninja'', but there were problems with the crowds drawn to the Ninja coasters in other parks. Instead, the name Great American Scream Machine was selected. Great American Scream Machine was announced in September 1988. It opened to the public on April 15, 1989. The coaster track was painted red and the supports were white. The trains were named Freedom (red), Liberty (white) and Spirit (blue). The ground underneath the ride featured a red and white design resembling the stripes on a waving American flag. The maximum capacity of the ride was 1,680 guests per hour. The over-the-shoulder restraint handles were made of foam instead of metal. The Scream Machine's

on-ride camera An on-ride camera is a camera mounted alongside the track of a roller coaster, log flume or other thrill ride that automatically photographs all of the riders on each passing vehicle. They are often mounted at the most intense or fastest part o ...

was located at the curve before entering the double corkscrew, unlike those of its sister coasters; the cameras on both rides were located at the bottom of the Boomerang.

Modifications

During the 1992–93 off-season, the top of the vertical loops were removed and replaced by track with additional strength bracing. This was due to issues with other Arrow coasters, including

. The top of the original first loop can be found in the baboons' enclosure in the Wild Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure. Along with the new loop tops, a trim brake was installed after the first loop. The modifications were used to slightly adjust the speed of the train and to alleviate the stress to the ride's structure and trains. In 2005, The Great American Scream Machine and Batman and Robin: The Chiller were repainted. In 2009, the Liberty (white) train was ad-wrapped as an advertisement for one of the ride's sponsors, got2b Glued Styling Spiking Glue, a

hair gel Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to harden hair into a particular hairstyle. History Analysis of ancient Egyptian mummies has shown that they styled their hair using a fat-based gel. The researchers behind the analysis say that t ...

. Assorted signs were also placed on the station platform advertising. It was the first train in the park to feature advertisements, but as this idea spread throughout the Six Flags chain, it was joined by Kingda Ka and El Toro, whose trains feature

The Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Robert Mark Kamen. It is the first film in ''The Karate Kid'' franchise. The film stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, an ...

and Stride Gum ads, respectively. In the 2010 operating season, guests noticed that the Liberty (white) train was adwrapped as an advertisement for another ride sponsor,

Axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

, a grooming product for young males. Signs for the product could be found around the rides entrance.

Removal

During the 2010 season, speculation that Great American Scream Machine was being removed at the end of the season began circulating on message boards, pegging June 30, 2010, as a possible last day of operation. None of the rumors initially were confirmed nor denied until July 1, 2010, when a staff member stated that the coaster was not being removed. In a contradicting statement released on July 5, 2010, Six Flags Great Adventure informally announced the coaster's permanent closure would occur on July 18, 2010, in order to clear space for a new attraction in 2011. The announcement was officially confirmed on the park's website a few days later. As announced, the ride's last operating day was on July 18, 2010. Deconstruction began soon after, and signs teasing the construction of its replacement were posted. A first look at the outline of the new ride replacing the Scream Machine was revealed on August 6, 2010. Six Flags requested permission from Jackson Township to remove parking spaces from the area behind Superman: Ultimate Flight to accommodate the ride's construction.Jackson Township official web article on new attraction for 2011
On September 15, 2010, Six Flags unveiled the new ride as

, a stand-up roller coaster relocated from then known as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, where it originally operated as Chang. It would be re-themed to the DC Comics

superhero. Following the demolition, only

remained from the original three Arrow installations involving their custom, 7-inversion design. The other one,

, was demolished in 2002.

Ride experience

After departing the station, the train crossed a transfer track and traveled down a small dip, then completed a 180-degree turn to the left onto the lift hill. After a climb, the train dropped to the left, reaching a top speed of . The train then traveled through its first inversion, a 136 foot tall, single vertical loop. After exiting the loop, the train turned to the left and traveled through a double-loop, the first loop being 107 feet tall and the second loop being 97 feet tall. The train then traveled upward with a left turn onto the mid-course brake run. The train came to a complete stop for 2 seconds. The train then dropped down into a boomerang element. After the boomerang, the train made a right turn, where riders' pictures are taken. The train then proceeded to enter the double corkscrew, then completed a 180-degree turn to the left onto the final brake run back into the station.

References

External links