Two New Rocky Mountain Coasters

Hello everyone,

I'd first like to apologize for how slow it's been here lately. I've been traveling a lot over the past month and have had almost no time to work on the site. Add that to the fact that it's the off-season now, and you can see why we haven't posted an update in a while. Don't worry though, I'm working on the next Impression already and we've got a few other articles planned as well, plus I'm looking into some new features to upgrade the site. I'll get on with it now:

At IAAPA a few weeks ago, you may have heard about Rocky Mountain's plans for 2013; another full Iron Horse makeover project, as well as an original project, from scratch. We thought it would be fun to try to figure out where those are going.

How's this for an old picture?! (RCDB)

Let's start with the makeover - my personal guess is Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Colossus is long overdue for refurbishment, so why wouldn't Six Flags go all-out on this one? Given their huge success with the New Texas Giant, it makes sense that Six Flags might be interested in upgrading some of their other woodies. Other possible candidates might include Georgia Cyclone at SF Over Georgia, or even Cyclone at SF New England. Colossus remains the strongest possibility however, as Cyclone just added some of Rocky Mountain's Topper Track, and a full makeover on the compact Georgia Cyclone would be difficult. Not to mention, Magic Mountain is arguably their flagship park. That's why Colossus at SF Magic Mountain may be next to receive the Iron Horse makeover from Rocky Mountain Coasters.

SoB featuring the iconic loop (RCDB)

The second 2013 project is an original coaster, from scratch. For many reasons, I'd say that's planned for Kings Island. Let's face it, Son of Beast probably won't be around much longer, and that would free up a lot of space for another big woody. Could this be the park's second chance at building a sequel to The Beast? I'd like to say that it's coming to my home park, Cedar Point, but I doubt it. With all of the track work they've been doing on Mean Streak lately, I doubt the park would want to upstage it with another large woodie so soon (or hybrid, whatever). No; Cedar Point will wait to see how this works out at Kings Island, and they'll find some other coaster for #18. Kings Island needs a wooden coaster that will make guests forget about their failures with SoB. Given NTAG's success, a Rocky Mountain coaster could be just that. Kings Island is definitely my best guess as the recipient of the first original Rocky Mountain Coaster.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed the mark completely? Join the discussion; post your guesses for the two coasters in a comment below!