First they tell me they are tearing down Six Flags “Texas Giant”.
I remember being a kid when this thing was first built. When my buddies and I first saw the promotion for it on the TV; we all thought: “Wow!! We really, really gotta ride that frick’n thing!!” That summer, my young friends and I accomplished that mission several times over.
Then today, they blow up Reunion Arena. Man! All the concerts I went to there that were iconic to my adolescent youth. Deep purple, Ozzy, Dio, AC/DC and many more.
Awwww, dude. The Texas Giant was AMAZING. Almost three full minutes of pine-pounding, gravity defying, rip-rapping awesomeness and terror. Sorry to see it go.
The Texas Giant thing I don’t really understand. If they needed the space they could have torn down the Judge Roy Scream or the Shock Wave. Those are some of the oldest rides in the park and were built near the entrance and on the highway nearby, so they’re also some of the first people see. If you’re looking to build something new and wow, why not do it in one of those spots?
Reunion Arena, however, needed to go. That place was a shithole these days. Soon to be good riddance to Texas Stadium as well. I just wish they’d do something about the cotton bowl.
I worked at Six Flags 2 years ago, running rides. Frankly, there isn’t a whole lot of room over by Judge Roy Scream to expand, and less by Shockwave. Additionally, those probably cost less to maintain by a large margin, just because of the size. The Giant has gotten rougher, and the lines have gotten a lot shorter.
I’ll still be sad though.
And the slow tearing down of Reunion Arena upset me too. I drove by just before starting the fall semester and it was pretty much only the main columns and the roof, the rest was gutted.
Well, CBS says that they aren’t killing off the Giant. They’re doing a renovation, which seems to be more than just retracking and repairing, looks like they’ll be changing up the course some too, but it will still be the Giant.
According to what I heard on HLN this morning, they didn’t blow it up - no explosives were used. Apparently they knocked down a couple of supporting columns which caused the whole thing to cave in on itself.
Using a process called a “controlled drop,” the columns were used to bring the roof down. They were hammered, causing part of the structure to fail. That process continued with workers taking out one column at a time until the entire roof is pulled down on itself and resting on the ground. It’s called “tripping” and it does not happen quickly. The demolition could have taken up to three days to complete, but in the end crews needed less than one day. Experts say the process is much easier on the environment then implosions.