Six Flags Discovery Kingdom announced today that its Roar wooden coaster will close on August 16, 2015.
Big announcement today! We're closing our iconic wooden #rollercoaster Roar on August 16. More to come! https://t.co/PFktlNpe4e
— Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (@sixflagsDK) July 16, 2015
Watch the announcement video below:
Your last chance to ride Roar will be on Sunday, August 16, 2015, from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“We are a dynamic and evolving entertainment venue,” said Six Flags Discovery Kingdom park president Don McCoy. “Although Roar continues to be a guest favorite, sometimes hard choices must be made to allow for future expansion.”
Roar opened in 1999. The Great Coasters International coaster features 3,291 feet of track, stands 95 feet tall and features an 85-foot drop. Its sister coaster of the same name still operates at Six Flags America in Maryland.
The coaster is rumored to receive the Rocky Mountain Struction “Iron Horse treatment” similar to Wicked Cyclone at Six Flags New England and others after an RMC job listing named a California project.
We’ll be at Discovery Kingdom at least once over the next few weeks to get some last rides in on Roar before it closes and any news about special events for the closing we’ll post here on the site. Share any of your thoughts about the coaster and what you think will happen to it with us in the comments below.
0:04-0:07
That is twisted colossus! RMC Roard confirmed!!!
It is also twisted colossus on the other rider cams. I think SFDK did that on purpose to see if anyone could catch that.
Really, another odd choice, I thought that the bad Roar was the one in Six Flags America, not the Discovery Kingdom one.
My other major problem is that GCI is still around, every other wooden coaster that’s been Iron Horsed was made by a company that’s now out of business, we may never see another GCI at a Six Flags park after this. There are better candidates for Iron Horsing Six Flags, and here’s the list;
Boss
The SFA Roar, their last large coaster was Iron Wolf from Great America
Monstre in La Ronde
Georgia Cyclone, a ride that I have an idea of what to do to turn it into an outstanding ride.
I take issue when you start converting wooden coasters that aren’t terrible, it’s like they’re trying to eradicate all wooden coasters from their parks at this point. Why don’t you just convert Comet at Great Escape, Thunderbolt at New England Little Dipper at Great America and Wild One at Six Flags America next? (sarcasm)
There going to have to expand the wooden coaster and by that I mean they make room for it by closing the Go cart area for there future expansion because six flags discovery kingdom has never announced what is going to be closed for there future expansion.
@CoDAce, I agree it’s a slightly odd choice, although I won’t complain too much since SFDK is one of my local parks, but I’ve always thought Roar was pretty good and I seem to recall it recently had some re-tracking done to it. One possible reason for Six Flags choosing it is that the park is space constrained, so in the interest of adding a “new ride” the options are limited to flat rides, removing an existing large coaster, or doing something like this. The region is also home to Gold Strike at California’s Great America, the best GCII (and one of the best wooden coasters) I’ve ever been on, so it’s possible Six Flags felt that they were losing riders to Great America and Roar didn’t have the draw because of the superior wooden coaster nearby. I do wonder if GCII was given an offer to improve or modify the ride themselves, although they have a lot of improvement projects going on right now themselves.
Either way, I’m very curious to see how much RMC changes the ride and layout. As for Six Flags getting rid of their wooden coasters, I think at least some should be safe. I can’t see Apocalypse at Magic Mountain going anywhere (especially with Twisted Colossus converted), and no one would be silly enough to change El Toro 🙂
-Eric
This a huge surprise for discovery kingdom because this one of there most big attraction around the park is being close. I was watching the video of Roar closing it trying tell us the there going to bring the ride down everything because said Don McCoy, park president, in a press release. “Although Roar continues to be a guest favorite, sometimes hard choices must be made to allow for future expansion.”
I just bought a membership this past May. I’m torn on whether I’m glad for that or not. I’m upset that i wont have my whole year with it, but at the same time, i’m glad my daughter is at least having fun with it before it’s gone. This is so upsetting :/ . It’s our family’s favorite thing 2 do there and now it’s gone. Nothing can compare. Bad move 6 flags! You better have something that is much like it in it’s place!
Don’t feel bad that there close down I have a big feeling that they are doing something that none of us has ever think of or think of doing.
Roar may have been a good ride, but what will replace it will most definitely be a GREAT ride. -Nick
I have breaking news I went to six flags discovery kingdom yesterday and I saw topper track right below the first drop of Roar its like six flags Goliath topper track.
In response to what you said Eric.
But here’s some other points, the last brand-new ride that Six Flags America got was Batwing in 2001, Ragin’ Cajun and Apocalypse were hand-me-downs from Great America. It’s been over fourteen YEARS (as of 6/16/15) since Six Flags America got a ride made for the park, and with their Roar being the worse one this is a prime opportunity to correct that. And their giving it to a park that a brand-new coaster in 2012 and to good coaster instead, where’ the logic in that?
The Other Options:
1. To remove Kong for something else, removing the park’s only real bad coaster in the process, Flight Deck at CGA already makes that thing terrible even before the typical SLC quality ride (have no plans to ride any of the bad ones myself).
2. Remove the amphitheater above Boomerang for the coaster using the fenced off area it to the northern road, or the smaller one to the north-western side of the park.
3. The apparently empty (according to Google Maps) plot of land in the far northwestern corner of the park along the lake. You could get a pretty nicely sized roller coaster in there and have it run along the lake as well.
4. Take out the go kart track for a themed coaster to fit the area with the aquatic stadiums better, maybe a ride like this (http://rcdb.com/6712.htm), or this (http://rcdb.com/12083.htm).
To say that there aren’t other options isn’t exactly true (at least according to Google Maps as of this date), Roar doesn’t need to be transformed.
I thought that the point of the Iron Horse treatment was to take bad and tired wooden coasters and turn them into good steel coasters, not just any coaster into one. I don’t get why Six Flags doesn’t do much to Six Flags America, it feels as the park is an afterthought. Give the park that needs the love some love.
This also means that if an Iron Horse comes to SFA it’ll be Wild One that gets the axe, a ride that in two years will join the extremely exclusive hundred-plus year old coaster club that only Leap the Dips (113 years old), Scenic Railway in Melbourne (103 years old) and Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens (101 years old) are members of making Wild One only the FOURTH roller coaster to turn one-hundred. And that would unleash a hornet’s nest of outrage,
(http://rcdb.com/147.htm) it’s original location as Giant Coaster
To clarify why I say that Roar at SFA won’t be converted is because they’re pretty much the exact same ride with the only difference being the pre-lift, it wouldn’t make sense to do the exact same thing to another ride.