Six Flags Magic Mountain this morning unleashed its 19th roller coaster — Twisted Colossus. At nearly 5,000 feet of track and nearly four minutes of ride time, this Iron Horse steel re-track of the park's iconic Colossus wooden coaster sets the record as the longest hybrid coaster in the world.
Twisted Colossus achieves this length by combining both tracks for the former Colossus into a single track. But don't worry — you'll still get to race on this coaster. With three trains in operation, you will climb the blue track on lift hill side-by-side with the train that dispatched ahead of you, and on the second go-around, on the green track, you'll be joined on the hill by the train that dispatched behind you.
For its media preview today, Magic Mountain ran only two trains, which meant racing on only one go-around, but that was enough to tease the visual thrills that await riders as they twist through the track with another train just feet away at times. While Twisted Colossus retains the racing soul of the wooden Colossus, this is a much different ride — consistently faster, with steeper drops, wilder turns, abundant airtime, and, oh yes, multiple inversions.
Twisted Colossus runs twice as long as most coasters, but I felt like I stayed in my seat for about half as much time as I usually do on a coaster. Six Flags' partners at Rocky Mountain Construction made generous use of bunny hops and opposite banking in its track design, creating so many airtime opportunities on the ride that I lost count.
The party starts on that lift hill, though. Forget what you might remember about Colossus and its initial drop. Twisted Colossus shaves the angle of that descent, creating a face-first, nearly vertical, 128-foot plunge that accelerates you to the ride's 57 mph top speed. And if you enjoyed the thrill of that dive the first time, don't worry — you'll soon get to do it again. Let's take a ride:
Twisted Colossus opens to Six Flags Gold Pass members Thursday and Friday and to the general public on Saturday.
Rate and Review:
Each side seems awfully short. I remembered the original ending had lots of bunny hops that gave an extra 15 seconds. Those bunny hops are gone. The curves are nice. There isn't much barrel rolls as I seen in the preview. It's more hype than substance.
They definitely got rid of some of the ride. Looks like you can actually see some of the previous footing or whatever they call it in the middle of the ride if you look. It still looks fun though. I wonder if that fire had to do with the preview being different from the reality?
Robert's racking up his frequent flyer miles this season on TPI, and taking us (his readers) along for the ride. Over the past few weeks, he's posted short, snappy ride reviews from Holiday World, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Over Texas and now Six Flags Magic Mountain. Thanks for some great reading! Of the new rides you've reviewed so far, is there one you've enjoyed the most? And can you tell us of the two dark rides and two coasters you've reviewed this season, can you pick out the better ones in each category, in your opinion?
Brian from Tampa
James - I'm curious about that too. I expect that after a few months they won't be dispatching the trains to ride through the elements together.
I've been looking forward to this ride since it was announced, and based on what I've been hearing it doesn't disappoint. Many are calling this the best coaster in California and one of the best coasters in the United States. I'll be going to the park tomorrow to ride it and will be sure to post a review here (well, technically on the discussion page and/or ride page).
In regards to changes, I suggest those who think the ride is significantly different than advertised re-watch the original promotional video. The blue section before the second lift hill was modified to add an extra brake, but other than that any of the changes have been minor (such as modifying a twist) and all the same elements are still there.
Great report! Wish I could get to CA to ride this. I especially enjoyed the proximity of the two trains.
I'll wait until I experience this ride myself to reserve judgement but to me Wicked in New England seems more funner. It looks like it has more 90 degree bank turns than Twisted. Normally I like my coster experience to be continuous and not sure how I'll feel going up the hill a second time. I am curious about the high five portion of how many times both cars hit that spot vs a single car.
I'm not sure what videos the rest of you were watching, but this on-ride matched exactly what the (I believe) NoLimits rendering was August of 2014.
Those extra footings you see are probably from the old Colossus, but this is literally no different from what they planned, and it looks fantastic.
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Who was that you were riding with Robert? I assume one of the coaster designers? Did they say how they're going to prevent people from throwing stuff at each other a la Dragon Challenge?