Colossus (Six Flags Magic Mountain)

Colossus
Location	Six Flags Magic Mountain
Type	Wood
Status	Open
Opened	June 29 1978
Manufacturer	International Amusement Devices, Inc.
Designer	International Amusement Devices, Inc.
Track layout	Racing out-and-back
Lift/launch system	Chain
Height	125 feet (38.1 m)
Drop	115 feet (35.1 m)
Length	4,325 feet (1,318 m)
Max speed	62 miles per hour (100 km/h)
Inversions	0
Duration	2:30
Max vertical angle	64°
Capacity	2600 riders per hour
Height restriction	48 inches (122 cm)
Colossus at RCDB Pictures of Colossus at RCDB
Amusement Parks Portal

Colossus is a wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. When it opened in June of 1978, it was the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in the world, and the first roller coaster in the world with two drops in excess of 100-feet. Colossus features two identical side-by-side tracks, but it is not considered a racing roller coaster since the trains rarely line up to leave at the same time. Colossus was built by International Amusement Devices, Inc. and opened on June 29, 1978. The coaster's six trains are six cars long; each car contains two rows of two seats, for a total of 24 seats per train.

View from the parking lot

Colossus has been reprofiled several times since it opened. The most significant reprofiling was in 1979. One very visible change was done in 1991 to a pair of camelback hills on the parking lot side. The valley between the hills was leveled off and a block brake was added. The original track can still be seen below the block brake. In 1978, 20-year-old Carolina Flores was ejected from the Colossus ride and died. During the Halloween season, the coaster's web-like structure is accompanied by a giant black spider. The cars on one side of the track are also flipped around, and it is ridden backwards. It was featured in the 1983 film, National Lampoon's Vacation. It is also the coaster that the family rides in the opening sequence of the sitcom Step by Step. The coaster was featured in a game on the Nickelodeon kids' game show Wild & Crazy Kids. The game, hosted by Omar Gooding, pitted boys against girls to see which team could keep the most water in mugs while on the ride. The boys won, but just barely.

External links

• Colossus Review Photos and more information on Ultimate Rollercoaster.com.