Psyclone was a wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, located in the Cyclone Bay section of the park. Opened in March 1991, the roller coaster was designed by Curtis D. Summers and constructed by the Dinn Corporation.
It was patterned after the legendary Cyclone at Coney Island in New York City. It also featured the only wooden roller coaster trains ever built by Bolliger & Mabillard.
History
Psyclone opened in March 1991. The advertising campaign was unlike any other coaster commercial out at the time, with a narration about "a journey inside my mind," a questioning of if it really happened, pauses accompanied by clock ticking sounds, and an orange sky. A similar commercial had no dialogue except for the end, where a monotonous voice said, "Introducing... Psyclone. The ultimate mindbender." However, there was no reflection of this in the actual theming for the ride.
1994 Northridge earthquake
The ride sustained structural damage after the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and though repaired to operate safely again, the ride dynamics suffered greatly in regard to vehicle tracking. Major modifications happened, including adding trim brakes that slowed the trains down to the point of making the trains crawl through each turn.
Decline
Over the years, the heavy trains took their toll on the track structure and the coaster became very rough. Because of this, ridership at the attraction had drastically declined, in part because it earned a poor reputation among park visitors and also because ride operators at the ride were required to load a minimum of 17 passengers in the train prior to dispatch. This policy was enforced to reduce the chances of the vehicles from stalling mid-ride due to lack of momentum. Because of this policy, during low attendance periods, the ride, while technically operational, would go for extended periods of time without dispatching a train as the operators waited for 17 riders to arrive. A 2006 poll of roller coaster enthusiasts ranked Psyclone 178th out of 179 wooden roller coasters worldwide. On January 23, 2007, the park announced that Psyclone would be demolished for future expansion, following the closure of another roller coaster in the park, Flashback. The coaster closed at the end of the month. That spring, Psyclone was torn down and the location was blocked from guests' view with a sign stating that the land would be reserved for future attractions.
Psyclone was dismantled and scrapped during the last week of February 2007. The area of the park where Psyclone once stood is now occupied by another wooden coaster, Apocalypse, which initially operated as Terminator Salvation: The Ride for its first year from 2009 to 2010.
Trivia
Psyclone in the the Six Flags Magic Mountain scenario in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2.
- Psyclone is one of the two final coasters made by the Dinn Corporation, with the other being Mean Streak at Cedar Point, which has since closed.
- Psyclone appears in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 as a pre-built ride in the Six Flags Magic Mountain scenario.
- Two of the original B&M trains were used in seasonal operation on the park's classic wooden roller coaster Colossus. They were run backwards on that coaster during the month of October for the park's Fright Fest attraction and were stored throughout the year on Colossus' transfer track. They were used again during spring 2014, as part of a promotion where both Colossus and Batman: The Ride ran backwards from March 22 through mid June. However, with the closure and subsequent rebuild of Colossus, the future of these trains is unknown.
- This is the only Six Flags Cyclone that isn't mirrored.
- One can see the similarities between the Psyclone advertising campaign and Cedar Fair's Magnum XL-200 advertising campaign two years prior.
Gallery
Videos
Photos
References
See also
External links
- Psyclone - Six Flags Magic Mountain at Six Flags (archived 2004-02-10, 2001-07-11, 1997-05-21)
Psyclone (Six Flags Magic Mountain) at Coasterpedia
Psyclone at the Roller Coaster DataBase
Psyclone at the Roller Coaster Wiki
Psyclone (roller coaster) at Wikipedia
