Six Flags Great America | Wrath of Rakshasa | B&M Dive Coaster | 2025

[Steely Dan]

I just realized that this new coaster will finally break the longest coaster drought in the park's history.

The last coaster to be built at SFGAm was Maxx Force back in 2019, which means that if WoR does in fact open next year (ya never know with SF), that would make it 5 full seasons without a new coaster.

The previous longest coaster droughts for SFGAm were 3 seasons each, in-between 1981's American Eagle and 1985's Z-force, and then again in-between 2004's Ragin' Cajun and 2008's Dark Knight.

 

[Hutch]

I just realized that this new coaster will finally break the longest coaster drought in the park's history.

They've taken good care of this park when it comes to coaster additions, both in terms of quantity and overall size.

2012 - X-Flight (only wing coaster in the legacy SF chain, and last new B&M they saw until Dr. Diabolical in 2022)
2014 - Goliath (only RMC woodie in the chain)
2017 - Joker (the outlier stock model here)
2019 - Maxx Force (short, but only one of two air launch coasters in the western hemisphere)
2025 - Wrath of whatever-the-hell-they're-calling-it

That sounds really good if you ask me. Quite a few models that you don't really see at other SF parks. And any park would be lucky to have a new big coaster every 5 years or so.

Compare that to SFNE's new Intamin addition... it'll have been 8 years since they received Joker in 2017, and 10 years since an actual good addition in Wicked Cyclone.

 

[Steely Dan]

^ right. It could always be worse.

But 5 coaster-less years in a row is a really long time for SFGAm.

Next year will be the park's 49th season, and if WoR actually opens on time, it'll be the 24th coaster ever built at the park, for an overall average of 1 coaster every 2 years.

SFGAm might not build many headliners, but they sure do like to build coasters.

It's like the ultimate anti-thoosie park.

"Come to SFGAm and ride our massive collection of 16 rollercoasters; we're quite confident that not a single one will break into your personal top 25!!"

 

[AndHart120]

Hey everyone!

I was out at the 11am announcement this morning and have a little bit more detailed info that you would not have got in the videos about the new ride. If you have any questions post them here and if I have an answer for you I will let you know!

-Height requirement will be 52”

-They will use the double sided lockers like Dr Diobolical’s Cliffhanger does. Loose items won’t be permitted with its close proximity to the midways and queues.

-Speaking of Cliffhanger, it was designed to fit in this location which was a cool thing to find out!

-2 questions were asked about theming. They would like to do a lot of theming around the ride but have not worked all of it out yet. One could presume they may be allowed to do more of this than in the past after the merge but we will see. Just because you don’t see any in the animation doesn’t mean there won’t be any.

-They want to add sound effects at the top of the lift hill.

-Despite what is seen in the animation, the Demon snack stand that has been closed for a while is staying and there will be an exit gift shop as well.

-A few people asked where certain parts of the ride will be located. This can be seen in the released animation which those that asked probably hadn’t seen. When you walk into County Fair from the north, just past the Lobster, you will be standing under the 180’ tall lift hill and the drop will be on your right heading toward the Demon lift hill.

-The park is aiming to open the ride by Memorial Day weekend. Let’s all hope we don’t have a terrible winter so they don’t have too many issues!

-There was a crew continuing to tear down the Buccaneer Battle area this morning and they are working rapidly on it!

Outside of Wrath of Rakshasa, I heard a bit about the front gate that is being worked on. The large entrance structure that is being built right now will soon be where the security checkpoint will be. The main entrance plaza will be moved out toward the parking lot as well eventually so that the area right in front of the reflection pond won’t be as small and there will be more room. This also will allow them to expand the Flags gift shop by the front gate and possibly more.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If you have any questions I will try to answer them for you! Meanwhile, here are some pictures from this morning. Thanks so much to Six Flags Great America for having me out!

 

[Hyde]

Can’t wait for everyone to just call this “Wrath.” Well, save the GP; they’ll call it “Raging Bull.”

Great ride overall - still coming off of Valkyria at Liseberg back in June; if inversions are half as good, we will be doing swell.

 

[Boodangy]

I believe the older style OTSR required less space than the newer vest restraints. The vests really are a downgrade for the dive machine.

Granted I've only ridden wing coasters with the vests and dives with the classic OTSRs but the OTSRs requiring less space is kind of the problem for me, cause you're rubbing shoulders with strangers, your arms feel really restricted and it's especially bad if you have particularly wide shoulders like me.

 

[Gazza]

The ending of the layout looks like a Japanese jet coaster.

 

[VonRolland]

All those 'records' but no mention of how many jolty transitions it'll have? That could be an additional record surely

 

[oriolat2]

All those 'records' but no mention of how many jolty transitions it'll have? That could be an additional record surely

No worries. The pullout from the first drop will likely have one, followed by any kind of kink in the track of the last 180° turns before the brakes.

 

[ricklap77]

Too bad B&M is starting to get a bad reputation! Could it be because some other manufacturers these days are superior qualitywise!???

 

[Matt N]

Too bad B&M is starting to get a bad reputation! Could it be because some other manufacturers these days are superior qualitywise!???

I think it’s more because B&M used to have a reputation of being a smooth manufacturer and have suddenly churned out a number of rides that allegedly have some degree of reported notable rattle or joltiness for unknown reasons.

 

[Nitefly]

They've taken good care of this park when it comes to coaster additions, both in terms of quantity and overall size.

2012 - X-Flight (only wing coaster in the legacy SF chain, and last new B&M they saw until Dr. Diabolical in 2022)
2014 - Goliath (only RMC woodie in the chain)
2017 - Joker (the outlier stock model here)
2019 - Maxx Force (short, but only one of two air launch coasters in the western hemisphere)
2025 - Wrath of whatever-the-hell-they're-calling-it

That sounds really good if you ask me. Quite a few models that you don't really see at other SF parks. And any park would be lucky to have a new big coaster every 5 years or so.

Compare that to SFNE's new Intamin addition... it'll have been 8 years since they received Joker in 2017, and 10 years since an actual good addition in Wicked Cyclone.

It's good-ish for a regular park goer but unfortunately there's nothing truly standout. Considering how many rides it does have, it only has one coaster in the top 100 on Captain Coaster (for Goliath... generous!) and only two in the top 200 (with Maxx Force). A B&M dive coaster won't entice me back to the park.

Also, can we call B&M rattle 'Rakshasa' now? As in: "That underwhelming ride was chock full of Rakshasa...."

 

[Hyde]

Meh, I think people are biting a little hard on Iron Menace's rough transitions and generalizing them to the whole. B&M is fine, and you're low key geeked for this ride, most likely.

 

[MaxxForceFan]

-2 questions were asked about theming. They would like to do a lot of theming around the ride but have not worked all of it out yet. One could presume they may be allowed to do more of this than in the past after the merge but we will see. Just because you don’t see any in the animation doesn’t mean there won’t be any.

 

[AndHart120]

Interesting! Thanks for posting!

 

[VonRolland]

I think it’s more because B&M used to have a reputation of being a smooth manufacturer and have suddenly churned out a number of rides that allegedly have some degree of reported notable rattle or joltiness for unknown reasons.

allegedly!? Have you seen those riders cams

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

County Fair pathway is freshly sealed on both ends, blocking off access to Demon. Anyone headed to X-Flight will have to divert through Southwest Territory for now.


Source

 

[AndHart120]

Just stopped by the park to take a look at the construction area today. The Buccaneer Battle site has definitely been cleared out more than it was the day of the announcement, and the area next to the Demon where the Immelmann will be has been cleared and the fence is being taken down but they haven’t started the digging over there yet. The games stand right at the end of the walkway into Southwest Territory is gone as well. After taking a look at the animation, I can see that the dive loop will bottom out parallel to the midway to the left of the Demon sign and cross the midway right in front of it. I took a picture looking over towards that. It’s going to look a lot different without all those big trees that are there now which will have to be removed for that track to be there.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

As of a couple weeks ago, B&M’s been making some very big shipments through the associated Valente S.A.S., this one be 12,773 KG.

Source

In the meantime, a very much needed Batman repaint is underway;

Source

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Batman is back online post-repaint, just to tie up loose ends.

More strictly Rakshasa related, Demon sign is now gone. The entrance is set to be reconfigured and the midway is currently a construction zone, so no surprises here;

Source