This is the most accurate statement in the world. I was not ready for ANY coaster, so I rode it exactly once and swore never again. And then breathed a sigh of relief when Six Flags shipped it from Great America to America.
I was the first looping coaster I had ever been on, so it always will have a special place for me. Was sad to see it go, but I'm glad a ride as good as Goliath stands in its place.
It had gotten pretty rough but the time it was removed from Great America. I'm still nostalgic for it now though. It had the best Fright Fest name: Iron Werewolf.
There really aren’t enough werewolf themed roller coasters. Aside from Big Bad Wolf/Verbolten (if even that). Cedar Point sort of dropped the ball on theming with Rougarou.
How many poor and unfortunate souls felt prepared by bringing silver bullets to the Iron Werewolf whilst us Chicagoans knew that the only chance of survival was a fiberglass taint?
I remember my mom always telling me the Mine Train used to stand up, I always thought she may have been confused about another ride. Gonna go give her an apology call.
Yep. Only one of the two Mine Trains got the stand-up trains. What's really interesting to me is you can still see the signs of the red paint on the Mine Train rails today. The Mine Train we kept is the same one that was converted.
WOW - such a great stroll down memory lane! In 1990, I was a poor, enlisted sailor at Great Lakes. Each summer, I and my mates would buy season passes to Great America because it was only 15 minutes away from the base and we got a great discount on the passes. We would scrape our money together to get a cab (no one had a car in my group!) and would go to the park for both days of the weekend when we didn't have duty. I was in the second rotation to ride Iron Wolf the day that it opened - it and Shock Wave (of course!) were my favorite roller coasters and it was great at night during latter part of summer because (on both coasters) we would pull in the station all screaming "Again! Again!" and if there was no queue - the operators would rolls us right through for another fling around the tracks. They did get a little scary if there was a fog - the condensation would coat the rails and really speed it up, but not enough for the operators to shut the rides down. These were staples of my life for 1990 and 1991. I don't particularly remember Iron Wolf being rough (at least back then) - the over the shoulder restraints were pretty standard on all the newer loop and steel coasters and - well, it was just a fact of life that you would get banged around in them or bruises from where they locked down too tight... but that was part of the fun! Thanks so much for bringing back such great days as a snot-nosed 20/21 year old!
Iron Wolf was like a ride you had to do to prove you were a "big kid". All the cool teenagers rode it😆 back in the day, I was too young to realize how groundbreaking the ride was!
I rode it quite a bit in the early 2000s Those seats... trick was to bend your knees a little when it locked then stand up straight when the brought down the over the shoulder. Gave you some room so your crotch didn't get stapled.
@@ActionNerdGo I got my son and nephew on to Georgia Scorcher this year - I purposely didn't tell them about the trick until after we rode. Hey sometimes it's fun to laugh at the misfortune of others.
I'm chuckling at the quaint leg pad restraint on Railblazer while recalling the extensive bicycle seat crotch restraints on Skyrider (a Togo ride) at Wonderland XD
I used to be a ride operator on Iron Wolf at Great America, the thing I remember most about operating it was that if you dispatched a train on Wolf and started a cycle on Fiddlers Fling at the same time it would trigger the power watchdog and shut off Fiddlers Fling, and maintenance would have to come out and fix it lol. Another little known fact: Iron Wolf was that color because Jim Wintrode decided to make it that as an ode to his college alma mater (USC). Wintrode was a huge B&M fan not only giving them their first order for their first coaster in general, but also for their first invert and first hyper coaster (well, tied for first).
I live in Wisconsin, so I consider Great America my home park. Iron Wolf was always a fun walk-on ride, but man, those restraints really hurt the jewels.
I find it so funny that B&M (persons) got its start with Z-Force at Great America. And then a few years later B&M (company) got its start building Iron Wolf on the same exact plot of land at Great America! 😄
They also built the first invert there. The first hyper B&M built was in Great America (Busch opened Apollo's Chariot first the same year - but it's not technically a hyper). Two US wing coasters opened in 2012, one of those in Great America (it was announced before Wild Eagle - but Wild Eagle opened first). Great America has been quite kind to them.
My husband and I were on the first public train when it opened at SFA. I really enjoyed it, but we liked it much better when it became the floorless Firebird.
I have ridden on Iron Wolf a lot back in the day. I enjoyed it, but the last few times I rode, it seemed rough. I remember hitting my head against the restraints (which were never that comfortable), so I just stopped going on it. Plus as they kept getting new roller coasters, wasn't much point going on it. Loved the video and seeing this ride again. On a side note Robert "Bob"Jordon at the begging of the video is a legend in Chicago tv. He has been with WGN for decades.
I used to love this ride. I took my kid to six flags for freight fest and they had a graveyard of all the old rides put to rest. Shockwave and Iron Wolf, though had their time and everything comes to an end, were fun rides.
9:00, I recently watched the film on Netflix and instantly knew the ride. I’m glad you added this in! I’m fact, I do recall the fountains at the ‘house’ being in the intro of friends!
Oh, this brings me back! I lived near Chicago in the late 90s/early 2000s, and spent many hours at Great America. However, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I rode Iron Wolf. I found the standing position plus the restraints incredibly uncomfortable. Nearly every male I knew refused to ride it, and I could really see why, lol. American Eagle, Batman: The Ride and (once it was added) Raging Bull were my favorites. Those latter two are also B&M coasters,... Glad to see they built better and more comfortable rides after this one!
@@maxhagenauer24 They could have made it with I-box if they named it that. Plus the supports still have a lot of steel so you could still call it that.
As a kid in the late 80's I dreamed of going to Magic Mountain and riding Shock Wave. I finally made it there in '91, but it was too late. Shock Wave had already been replaced with Psyclone (a kinda, sorta, but not really clone of the Coney Island Cyclone.) I did ride Psyclone and later learned it had trains built by B&M. Eventually, Shock Wave came to my home park, AstroWorld as Batman: The Escape (as mentioned in the video) so I got to ride it many times. It got a lot of hate for bring "rough" and "painful" but it wasn't that tall and fast, so I didn't think it was all that painful. I always appreciated its compact layout with many twists and turns.
@@ExpeditionThemePark Awesome! I can’t wait for the next installments. I really like learning the stories behind the stories that you present on your channel. Thank you for your great work!
I know this channel just hit the 150k milestone but honestly I have no idea how it's that low. This is the best amusement/theme park channel on CZcams and should have way more subs.
I lovvvve B&M coasters! I used to make working model roller coasters & would visit the IAAPA Expo. I knew Walter Bolliger very well & would even show him vids of my models. I got sent 2 sets of blue prints. The last being of a "Dive Coaster" Everyone in the B&M organization has my utmost respect. If I were to build a theme park B&M would be "tops" in providing cutting eDgE reliable thrills. IDK If you ever got to ride Iron Wolf? I sadly filmed BMtRide during the demo in Houston. It still breaks my heart that "my playground" is no more. BTW I have a bolt off BMthe Ride!
I rode Firebird last year when I was in the area for a convention. At the time, I had no idea it was the first B&M coaster. Wasn't the greatest ride, but definitely one that should at least be appreciated for what it helped down the line.
Oh Iron Wolf all the migraines you gave me after riding lol. It was a good coaster for the time but Goliath was a good replacement!! I had almost forgotten about iron wolf thanks for the throw back !!
If you were over 6' tall, it was a real pain to ride this. The restraints really banged up your ears. As a kid in the 70's and 80's I was at Great America (during Marriot, and six flags ownership) every summer. I only lived about 4 miles away and could ride my bike. From 87 - 89, I worked there. I operated the "Shockwave", "Power Dive", "Roaring Rapids", and drove the Train around the park. I was certified to run most of the rides at the front half of the park. The bobsled ride was called "Rolling dumpster" by employees because it sounded like a dumpster rolling down a hill, it was never a popular ride at the park.
I rode the shockwave at six flags Valencia California back in the eighty's. The thing that sticks out in my mind is when standing in line to get on the ride you could see the track move when the cars would go through the loop. It was still a Great ride.
That's so cool in a year later in 1991 II stand up coaster from B&M Vortex would open at California's Great America it's now floorless coaster but still going strong as Patriot
I remember getting an Iron wolf hat and cup visiting when it first opened, although I was too young to ride it. Always kinda had a soft spot for after that even though it was a ball buster and head scrambler.
Iron wolf....one of my all time favorite coasters at great America. I remember walking under it every say when i worked there.( the employees entrance ran under it) my friends and i used to slightly leap as the locked the seats so that while riding we had to stand on or tip toes lol occasionally it would lock higher then our legs could reach, man those were some PAINFUL rides, but what fun!!!
I rode this in 1995 during my eighth grade field trip. I don't remember it being uncomfortable, but of course, I was 14 at the time, and it had only been operating for 5 years at that point. I loved it.
I rode this coaster at Great America. I live in Illinois so this was our frequently visited park. Biggest memory was your head and neck being sore after riding it because of all the whiplash back and forth between the restraints. I also was stuck on the train for about 30 minutes when there was an emergency shut off that happened at the loading and unloading zone.
I loved this ride, by my then-GF hated it, because it was a rough ride if you didn't know the secret to handling it. I found out early on that if you sort of lock yourself in rigidly (feet to head) and force your head back against the pad, it would give you a good amount of isolation from the back-and-forth thrashing. Most people got sore from their heads flinging back and forth through the ride, but by isolating your head against the headrest, you minimized most of that and your head would instead move in more of a "shaking my head no" movement rather than the neck-pulling teeter-totter side to side whipsaw motion.
@@ExpeditionThemeParkIt's a massive shame that a ride with such a good layout, location, and excellent visual design, was allowed to become so rough. Let me tell you man near the end of its time that thing was like a torture device.
Actually find this to be an enjoyable coaster now that it's "Fire-Bird." I honestly never liked stand-up coasters, and this being "the 1st B&M" didn't help in many talked about points, like areas made generally aren't winners when you've already got crummy trains. And being transported. I wish they would make Georgia Scorcher at SFOG Floorless.
“It’ll run a chill right up your spine, it’ll shake your knees, it’ll curl your toes... Rail Blazer!” “If you think you can take it standing up... Rail Blazer!” “Shockwave... If you think you can take it, stand up!” ... Six Flags’ Marketing department were probably fun as hell at parties LOL
I think it's the smoothest stand-up they made. Then again the head banging probably depends a lot on height - I didn't do it any more than a Batman clone.
Mate I am telling you, as a central American living in Costa Rica we don't get much in terms of theme parks, mainly because English companies are too lazy or just don't see the big bucks here, but we do have one small little park that could, called Parque diversiones, or adventure park in English. I grew up going there and so did many others, and I would love to see an episode covering it, or at least a mention of it in a future video.
I went there with my camp as a little kid. I vaguely but distinctly remember someone getting off a ride about 25 feet in front of me, stopping suddenly and hurling up a purple heap of vomit. It was safe to say I was traumatized and never returned to the park.
I forgot that in virtually all theme park advertisements in the 80s & 90s. Returning to the station looking like you were holding a can of hairspray in a lightning storm was the only way to know a roller coaster was gonna be good.
I got my first ride on this last summer and it’s actually a fun coaster, I didn’t have headbanging or anything, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s nothing amazing or outstanding but it’s a fun ride. I was expecting worse since no one seems to have much of a favourable opinion of it
I rode Iron Wolf for the first time on its last day of operation at SFGAm, and I thought it was fun! It was only after the fact that I started to hear all the horror stories about how unpleasant so many found it, which I found odd given that I'd had a perfectly fine experience with it. Perhaps it wanted to make a good exit??
Iron Wolf being designed from the start as a stand up rotated around approximately where your heart was if you where a 6foot tall person. It started of as smooth as silk and got progressively rougher as time went on. May have been more head rattle inducing for shorter riders? Not as bad as SFGA’s shockwave though. I never found the press into your balls thing to be a problem but I always remembered to flex my legs a bit when they set the height by pneumatically pressing up with the bike seat and ok yea I can see now why people may have disliked that. 😐 loved that ride. Can confirm it did use the same ride platform as the zforce.
I remember riding this when I was younger at Great America. I loved this ride. But I am still the biggest “American Eagle backwards is the best thing ever” person. But this ride? It was fun.
I remember the pain of this coaster very clearly. Even in the 90s it was rough, painful, and never was a family favorite. The Batman ride at Great America was a bigger hit, and two more unique rides from that era were Rolling Thunder and The Whizzer.
I rode this ride 3 times in my life at 6 flags great America. It is indeed a ball buster. Out of the three times I rode it broke down while I was on it 2. I stopped riding after that last time.
I grew up 5 mins from Great America. I would purposely recommend the Iron Wolf to tourist lolol. The Iron Wolf was fun once you realized learning your head against the side restraints kept it from smacking around.
Not the only rides that can do that though. If you don't keep your butt back on a Disk'O it can crush ya. If you get unlucky on an S&S Free Spin it can rack your balls too.
I remember it being very cool looking I mean the logo was amazing. It was a lot of fun to hear you up for the bigger coasters like Raging Bull. The stories are true it was unforgiving towards the end of it's run.
This was my favorite ride! I am apparently perfectly built that it was never rough on me and I miss it so much! Georgia Scorcher is a snooze in comparison!
I remember the first time I rode this I didn't quite get the concept that the seat part was adjustable for different riders until the last second. Well, it ended up being just a few inches higher than comfortable and I was forced to be on my tippy toes the whole ride as not to crush the fellas. Never before or since have I had a better calf workout.
Gahhhh! Worlds of Fun is my home park! 😀I was pleasantly surprised when you mentioned EXT in this video. Worlds of Fun does not get much love or mention from the theme park/roller coaster enthusiast community so it is nice when Worlds of Fun is featured in a video of this caliber.
When I was young my cousin worked at the park and ran this ride for a while. It took a while for me to be tall enough to ride this one but it was a fun coaster.
Wait so your telling me that other companies couldn’t even make a good basic coaster and B&M’s first was a stand up coaster!?!? It may not have been good but damn that deserves a award in itself TBH
As bad as stand-up roller coasters have a reputation for being, I still want to ride one before they go extinct. Unfortunately, the nearest one to me is _Riddler's Revenge_ at Six Flags Magic Mountain and I'm way up north in British Columbia, Canada...
Grew up with this ride and i to this day love and miss it. idk i have a love of standups which are getting rarer i feel even parks converting them like Cedar point did with mantis(now Rougarou)
Actually, Six Flags half-assed the dismantling of Batman The Escape. It was going to be used for a DC comics-themed area, but a lot of the parts were missing upon arrival at Darien Lake.
I once got stuck at the top of this ride and had to walk down the stairs with the fire department. Definitely was a fun coaster when it didn’t have problems.
They need to make a vekoma tilt coaster called FLEX TAPE THE RIDE. Right before the track tilts there is a screen that shows Phil swift saying "flex tape is so strong IM GOING TO CUT THIS COASTER IN HALF!!!!" Then the train tilts and goes through the course. 😆
woah!!! ik this is old video, but i went into watching this vid thinking i had no knowledge of or connection to this ride, but i could relate to the description of the bicycle seats and the painful restraints, and then you mentioned Apocalypse and i gasped!! i went on it a handful of times, i hated the coaster situation itself (UNBELIEVABLY rough, and that’s saying something because SFA is filled with rough rides), but i would continue to ride it again for the theming and props alone!! I’ve been loving these video’s lately. I highly recommend covering Sky Rush or something from Hershey Park
I don't know how public a lot of this is, but Great America (and specifically Jim Wintrode) had a huge hand in helping B&M get started, larger than I think is really known as so much of that era and what happened was known by so few, and few who knew those people cared to ask directly. I was impressed you tied their track manufacturing to Shockwave at Great America. I appreciate these videos and don't want to throw more info into random CZcams comments, so if you'd like more tell me how to best get in touch. 😊
Came across this video after seeing the new standing roller coaster announcement from Seaworld Orlando. Such an interesting concept! I hope it’s successful and comfortable to ride. I’ve never heard of anything like this before but cool to see there’s a history behind these type of roller coasters. Thanks Sam for making this content for us!
Yaasss! Been waiting for this as it was one of my favorites at Great America. I even once got to ride it at least 6 times in a row without having to exit, but could move seats.
Iron Wolf is really the coaster that got away for me. I was too scared to ride it when it was still at great america but when I finally got over my fear of coasters it was gone. I regret not riding B&M’s first coaster when I had so many chances, even if it’s not that good.
Thank you so much for doing a video on my home town amusement park!!! I feel any content creator I watch they barely if not never mention Great America, so it's really nice for me to see some history behind these rides I grew up with, keep it up!!!
Growing up in Chicago, I frequented this ride A LOT. It was painful as hell, but it was proof that you were ready for ANY coaster
ha true!
My balls are still mad at me all these years later... 😂
This is the most accurate statement in the world. I was not ready for ANY coaster, so I rode it exactly once and swore never again. And then breathed a sigh of relief when Six Flags shipped it from Great America to America.
I was the first looping coaster I had ever been on, so it always will have a special place for me. Was sad to see it go, but I'm glad a ride as good as Goliath stands in its place.
I loved it. I never had any pain on this coaster.
“Riding roller coasters can be fun... you can even make loud noises”
Genius
“If only there was a place I could make loud noises...” - everyone apparently
I dont care how old i am, if i can still ride a roller coaster, im still yelling. feelsgoodman.
It had gotten pretty rough but the time it was removed from Great America. I'm still nostalgic for it now though. It had the best Fright Fest name: Iron Werewolf.
I didn't know that!
this is the second roller coaster video ive seen you at and this is the second time i was surprised to see you
I didn’t know you were an enthusiast until you covered final destination 3 and now you’re here lol
There really aren’t enough werewolf themed roller coasters. Aside from Big Bad Wolf/Verbolten (if even that). Cedar Point sort of dropped the ball on theming with Rougarou.
How many poor and unfortunate souls felt prepared by bringing silver bullets to the Iron Werewolf whilst us Chicagoans knew that the only chance of survival was a fiberglass taint?
I remember my mom always telling me the Mine Train used to stand up, I always thought she may have been confused about another ride. Gonna go give her an apology call.
Yep. Only one of the two Mine Trains got the stand-up trains.
What's really interesting to me is you can still see the signs of the red paint on the Mine Train rails today. The Mine Train we kept is the same one that was converted.
I never thought I’d see the day someone would make a good mini documentary for this ride and I’m not complaining lol
ha any ride can get one!
WOW - such a great stroll down memory lane! In 1990, I was a poor, enlisted sailor at Great Lakes. Each summer, I and my mates would buy season passes to Great America because it was only 15 minutes away from the base and we got a great discount on the passes. We would scrape our money together to get a cab (no one had a car in my group!) and would go to the park for both days of the weekend when we didn't have duty.
I was in the second rotation to ride Iron Wolf the day that it opened - it and Shock Wave (of course!) were my favorite roller coasters and it was great at night during latter part of summer because (on both coasters) we would pull in the station all screaming "Again! Again!" and if there was no queue - the operators would rolls us right through for another fling around the tracks. They did get a little scary if there was a fog - the condensation would coat the rails and really speed it up, but not enough for the operators to shut the rides down. These were staples of my life for 1990 and 1991.
I don't particularly remember Iron Wolf being rough (at least back then) - the over the shoulder restraints were pretty standard on all the newer loop and steel coasters and - well, it was just a fact of life that you would get banged around in them or bruises from where they locked down too tight... but that was part of the fun!
Thanks so much for bringing back such great days as a snot-nosed 20/21 year old!
Thanks for watching and telling us your memories of it!
Iron Wolf was like a ride you had to do to prove you were a "big kid". All the cool teenagers rode it😆 back in the day, I was too young to realize how groundbreaking the ride was!
deff a cool first big coaster
I remember going to sfgm in 8th grade in 2007, drunk so much monster before riding it, was quite a experance.
I worked on Iron wolf! The ride was unforgiving to both the riders and those of us who worked on it.
but still a classic ha!
I rode it quite a bit in the early 2000s Those seats... trick was to bend your knees a little when it locked then stand up straight when the brought down the over the shoulder. Gave you some room so your crotch didn't get stapled.
@@ActionNerdGo I got my son and nephew on to Georgia Scorcher this year - I purposely didn't tell them about the trick until after we rode.
Hey sometimes it's fun to laugh at the misfortune of others.
I'm chuckling at the quaint leg pad restraint on Railblazer while recalling the extensive bicycle seat crotch restraints on Skyrider (a Togo ride) at Wonderland XD
I used to be a ride operator on Iron Wolf at Great America, the thing I remember most about operating it was that if you dispatched a train on Wolf and started a cycle on Fiddlers Fling at the same time it would trigger the power watchdog and shut off Fiddlers Fling, and maintenance would have to come out and fix it lol.
Another little known fact: Iron Wolf was that color because Jim Wintrode decided to make it that as an ode to his college alma mater (USC). Wintrode was a huge B&M fan not only giving them their first order for their first coaster in general, but also for their first invert and first hyper coaster (well, tied for first).
I live in Wisconsin, so I consider Great America my home park. Iron Wolf was always a fun walk-on ride, but man, those restraints really hurt the jewels.
hahah yes
I find it so funny that B&M (persons) got its start with Z-Force at Great America. And then a few years later B&M (company) got its start building Iron Wolf on the same exact plot of land at Great America! 😄
cool right!@
They also built the first invert there. The first hyper B&M built was in Great America (Busch opened Apollo's Chariot first the same year - but it's not technically a hyper). Two US wing coasters opened in 2012, one of those in Great America (it was announced before Wild Eagle - but Wild Eagle opened first).
Great America has been quite kind to them.
Can all just agree that that reporter at the beginning is wonderful XD
"The novelty of riding a roller coaster while standing up, made the ride...stand out." Gee mister, if that ain't a knee slapper right there! 😆
made me crack up ha
"I am converted to the belief that riding roller coasters can be fun"
Yes, welcome to Six Flagism. Our god is Mr Six, bless thy name
the cult of coaster
Don't forget the Vengaboys tune there.
I can now hear that commercial...
@@Boom12 Oh wow... I was just listening to Vengaboys earlier today, including that...
I miss Mr. Six. For an advertising gimmick, it worked on me!
On the magic mountain shockwave ad, you can literally see the guy get head banging on the restraints.
No wonder no one liked that ride
ouch indeed
More to the point Drayton Manors shockwave has nearly the exact same advert just with a few extra clips 😱😱😱
My husband and I were on the first public train when it opened at SFA. I really enjoyed it, but we liked it much better when it became the floorless Firebird.
That’s awesome!
I have ridden on Iron Wolf a lot back in the day. I enjoyed it, but the last few times I rode, it seemed rough. I remember hitting my head against the restraints (which were never that comfortable), so I just stopped going on it. Plus as they kept getting new roller coasters, wasn't much point going on it. Loved the video and seeing this ride again.
On a side note Robert "Bob"Jordon at the begging of the video is a legend in Chicago tv. He has been with WGN for decades.
hope he is still riding coasters!
I used to love this ride. I took my kid to six flags for freight fest and they had a graveyard of all the old rides put to rest. Shockwave and Iron Wolf, though had their time and everything comes to an end, were fun rides.
9:00, I recently watched the film on Netflix and instantly knew the ride. I’m glad you added this in!
I’m fact, I do recall the fountains at the ‘house’ being in the intro of friends!
i didn't know about the fouintain!
@@ExpeditionThemePark The more you know! (I just realised I added a typo at ‘In fact’, eek
I audibly gasped when I saw this video, I remember this being my absolute favorite coaster at the park the first couple years it was there!
hope you enjoy!@
Stand-up Twister Coaster 1 looks too intense for me.
Yeppp
2:11 "The music is nice here."
Oh, this brings me back! I lived near Chicago in the late 90s/early 2000s, and spent many hours at Great America. However, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I rode Iron Wolf. I found the standing position plus the restraints incredibly uncomfortable. Nearly every male I knew refused to ride it, and I could really see why, lol. American Eagle, Batman: The Ride and (once it was added) Raging Bull were my favorites. Those latter two are also B&M coasters,... Glad to see they built better and more comfortable rides after this one!
so many good rides!
Bah! Your male friends were chicken. Among my crowd, -riding- enduring this thing every year was a sign of manliness!!
Iron wolf sounds like an RMC version of a wooden coaster that was called “Wolf” or something like that lol
it does! I like the name
What if they called Goliath, Iron Iron Wolf 😄.
@@andykillsu But Goliath is a topper track wooden RMC.
@@maxhagenauer24 They could have made it with I-box if they named it that. Plus the supports still have a lot of steel so you could still call it that.
In an alternate universe where Timberwolf at Worlds of Fun gets RMC'd
As a kid in the late 80's I dreamed of going to Magic Mountain and riding Shock Wave. I finally made it there in '91, but it was too late. Shock Wave had already been replaced with Psyclone (a kinda, sorta, but not really clone of the Coney Island Cyclone.) I did ride Psyclone and later learned it had trains built by B&M. Eventually, Shock Wave came to my home park, AstroWorld as Batman: The Escape (as mentioned in the video) so I got to ride it many times. It got a lot of hate for bring "rough" and "painful" but it wasn't that tall and fast, so I didn't think it was all that painful. I always appreciated its compact layout with many twists and turns.
I'm glad you're telling the story of B&M. It's a story that needs to be told.
It's a great story with more to come!
@@ExpeditionThemePark Awesome! I can’t wait for the next installments. I really like learning the stories behind the stories that you present on your channel. Thank you for your great work!
I know this channel just hit the 150k milestone but honestly I have no idea how it's that low. This is the best amusement/theme park channel on CZcams and should have way more subs.
Thank you!
Great America is my home park!! Thank you
thank you!
I lovvvve B&M coasters! I used to make working model roller coasters & would visit the IAAPA Expo. I knew Walter Bolliger very well & would even show him vids of my models. I got sent 2 sets of blue prints. The last being of a "Dive Coaster" Everyone in the B&M organization has my utmost respect. If I were to build a theme park B&M would be "tops" in providing cutting eDgE reliable thrills. IDK If you ever got to ride Iron Wolf? I sadly filmed BMtRide during the demo in Houston. It still breaks my heart that "my playground" is no more. BTW I have a bolt off BMthe Ride!
that is awesome!
I rode Firebird last year when I was in the area for a convention. At the time, I had no idea it was the first B&M coaster. Wasn't the greatest ride, but definitely one that should at least be appreciated for what it helped down the line.
gotta do the first !
I hear the name Togo in anything and I can't help but think of their Torture Devices.
Oh Iron Wolf all the migraines you gave me after riding lol. It was a good coaster for the time but Goliath was a good replacement!!
I had almost forgotten about iron wolf thanks for the throw back !!
thanks for watching!
When the trains are in the corkscrew on the Arrow you can see the strange forces with the flex and pull. That does not look right at all.
Looks so wrong
Rail Blazer will...shake my knees? As someone with a bad knee...no thanks. 😂
Truth!
If you were over 6' tall, it was a real pain to ride this. The restraints really banged up your ears. As a kid in the 70's and 80's I was at Great America (during Marriot, and six flags ownership) every summer. I only lived about 4 miles away and could ride my bike. From 87 - 89, I worked there. I operated the "Shockwave", "Power Dive", "Roaring Rapids", and drove the Train around the park. I was certified to run most of the rides at the front half of the park. The bobsled ride was called "Rolling dumpster" by employees because it sounded like a dumpster rolling down a hill, it was never a popular ride at the park.
I rode the shockwave at six flags Valencia California back in the eighty's. The thing that sticks out in my mind is when standing in line to get on the ride you could see the track move when the cars would go through the loop. It was still a Great ride.
That's so cool in a year later in 1991 II stand up coaster from B&M Vortex would open at California's Great America it's now floorless coaster but still going strong as Patriot
Yeppp
I remember getting an Iron wolf hat and cup visiting when it first opened, although I was too young to ride it. Always kinda had a soft spot for after that even though it was a ball buster and head scrambler.
I rarely comment but I loved the music in this, especially the teaser. Brought back memories of when I was a kid watching USHRA truck pulling
Thanks for watching!
Iron wolf....one of my all time favorite coasters at great America. I remember walking under it every say when i worked there.( the employees entrance ran under it) my friends and i used to slightly leap as the locked the seats so that while riding we had to stand on or tip toes lol occasionally it would lock higher then our legs could reach, man those were some PAINFUL rides, but what fun!!!
I rode this in 1995 during my eighth grade field trip. I don't remember it being uncomfortable, but of course, I was 14 at the time, and it had only been operating for 5 years at that point. I loved it.
I rode this coaster at Great America. I live in Illinois so this was our frequently visited park. Biggest memory was your head and neck being sore after riding it because of all the whiplash back and forth between the restraints. I also was stuck on the train for about 30 minutes when there was an emergency shut off that happened at the loading and unloading zone.
I loved this ride, by my then-GF hated it, because it was a rough ride if you didn't know the secret to handling it. I found out early on that if you sort of lock yourself in rigidly (feet to head) and force your head back against the pad, it would give you a good amount of isolation from the back-and-forth thrashing. Most people got sore from their heads flinging back and forth through the ride, but by isolating your head against the headrest, you minimized most of that and your head would instead move in more of a "shaking my head no" movement rather than the neck-pulling teeter-totter side to side whipsaw motion.
Went on it multiple times at Great America over the years, by the end it was one of the most uncomfortable ride experiences I can think of
Seems most think the same as you by the end
@@ExpeditionThemeParkIt's a massive shame that a ride with such a good layout, location, and excellent visual design, was allowed to become so rough. Let me tell you man near the end of its time that thing was like a torture device.
Actually find this to be an enjoyable coaster now that it's "Fire-Bird." I honestly never liked stand-up coasters, and this being "the 1st B&M" didn't help in many talked about points, like areas made generally aren't winners when you've already got crummy trains. And being transported. I wish they would make Georgia Scorcher at SFOG Floorless.
Never liked stand up either
“It’ll run a chill right up your spine, it’ll shake your knees, it’ll curl your toes... Rail Blazer!”
“If you think you can take it standing up... Rail Blazer!”
“Shockwave... If you think you can take it, stand up!”
... Six Flags’ Marketing department were probably fun as hell at parties LOL
I love B&M coasters... I never rode this one, but the Georgia Scorcher at SF over GA is a headbanger!
Yeah not a fan of that one!
I think it's the smoothest stand-up they made. Then again the head banging probably depends a lot on height - I didn't do it any more than a Batman clone.
I don't even care where I am or how stupid I look, I'm dancing to the intro music every time.
yessss me too
Man...I loved Six Flags Great America 1980s-90s
Mate I am telling you, as a central American living in Costa Rica we don't get much in terms of theme parks, mainly because English companies are too lazy or just don't see the big bucks here, but we do have one small little park that could, called Parque diversiones, or adventure park in English. I grew up going there and so did many others, and I would love to see an episode covering it, or at least a mention of it in a future video.
I went there with my camp as a little kid. I vaguely but distinctly remember someone getting off a ride about 25 feet in front of me, stopping suddenly and hurling up a purple heap of vomit. It was safe to say I was traumatized and never returned to the park.
The rail blazer stand up kind of made me chuckle. Rail blazer from stand up to rmc raptor
I forgot that in virtually all theme park advertisements in the 80s & 90s. Returning to the station looking like you were holding a can of hairspray in a lightning storm was the only way to know a roller coaster was gonna be good.
I got my first ride on this last summer and it’s actually a fun coaster, I didn’t have headbanging or anything, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s nothing amazing or outstanding but it’s a fun ride. I was expecting worse since no one seems to have much of a favourable opinion of it
its not a bad ride
I rode Iron Wolf for the first time on its last day of operation at SFGAm, and I thought it was fun! It was only after the fact that I started to hear all the horror stories about how unpleasant so many found it, which I found odd given that I'd had a perfectly fine experience with it. Perhaps it wanted to make a good exit??
Amazing video! It would be interesting to see an expedition from Cop Car Chase at Movie Park Germany (defunct)
great idea!
Rolling Thunder was awesome! I grew up on Great America and loved the Iron Wolf as well. Great memories!!!
Stand up coasters just reek 80s/90s energy. Since then, I think we can all agree these are a stupid concept
haha true
Iron Wolf being designed from the start as a stand up rotated around approximately where your heart was if you where a 6foot tall person. It started of as smooth as silk and got progressively rougher as time went on. May have been more head rattle inducing for shorter riders? Not as bad as SFGA’s shockwave though. I never found the press into your balls thing to be a problem but I always remembered to flex my legs a bit when they set the height by pneumatically pressing up with the bike seat and ok yea I can see now why people may have disliked that. 😐 loved that ride. Can confirm it did use the same ride platform as the zforce.
Apocalypse: The Last Stand is an arguably good name for a stand-up coaster.
Also why did rollercoaster announcement videos have such intense music? 😂
I remember riding this when I was younger at Great America. I loved this ride. But I am still the biggest “American Eagle backwards is the best thing ever” person. But this ride? It was fun.
I remember the pain of this coaster very clearly. Even in the 90s it was rough, painful, and never was a family favorite. The Batman ride at Great America was a bigger hit, and two more unique rides from that era were Rolling Thunder and The Whizzer.
Though this ride was a warmup for the true brute of Great America - shockwave!!! That ride was insaaaaaane.
@@PatchedUpGaming The classic Six Flags one-two punch: Stand-up ball buster followed by an Arrow megalooper headbasher!
@@MakBot I always had problems as a kid with the seat not locking on iron wolf. Such paaaaaaaaaain.
I rode this ride 3 times in my life at 6 flags great America. It is indeed a ball buster. Out of the three times I rode it broke down while I was on it 2. I stopped riding after that last time.
I grew up 5 mins from Great America. I would purposely recommend the Iron Wolf to tourist lolol. The Iron Wolf was fun once you realized learning your head against the side restraints kept it from smacking around.
One of my favorite coasters is Riddler's Revenge at Magic Mountain. They learned from this and mastered the stand up coaster for that one
Ah the good old B&M Ball Bruiser.
iron balls required!
@@ExpeditionThemePark yeah, when I ride Green Lanter at Great Adventure; I have to do a subtle check to make sure my balls are still intact!
I'm pretty sure Vortex at Carowinds sterilized me
Not the only rides that can do that though.
If you don't keep your butt back on a Disk'O it can crush ya.
If you get unlucky on an S&S Free Spin it can rack your balls too.
I remember it being very cool looking I mean the logo was amazing. It was a lot of fun to hear you up for the bigger coasters like Raging Bull. The stories are true it was unforgiving towards the end of it's run.
This was my favorite ride! I am apparently perfectly built that it was never rough on me and I miss it so much! Georgia Scorcher is a snooze in comparison!
Georgia Scorcer hurts ha
I've ridden both. Iron Wolf was definitely rougher. I think there might be some nostalgia goggles in effect for you.
I remember the first time I rode this I didn't quite get the concept that the seat part was adjustable for different riders until the last second. Well, it ended up being just a few inches higher than comfortable and I was forced to be on my tippy toes the whole ride as not to crush the fellas. Never before or since have I had a better calf workout.
Gahhhh! Worlds of Fun is my home park! 😀I was pleasantly surprised when you mentioned EXT in this video. Worlds of Fun does not get much love or mention from the theme park/roller coaster enthusiast community so it is nice when Worlds of Fun is featured in a video of this caliber.
I love that he almost cracked describing Richie Rich! You could hear his smile! Lol!
When I was young my cousin worked at the park and ran this ride for a while. It took a while for me to be tall enough to ride this one but it was a fun coaster.
Wait so your telling me that other companies couldn’t even make a good basic coaster and B&M’s first was a stand up coaster!?!? It may not have been good but damn that deserves a award in itself TBH
As bad as stand-up roller coasters have a reputation for being, I still want to ride one before they go extinct. Unfortunately, the nearest one to me is _Riddler's Revenge_ at Six Flags Magic Mountain and I'm way up north in British Columbia, Canada...
they aint fun ha :P
Grew up with this ride and i to this day love and miss it. idk i have a love of standups which are getting rarer i feel even parks converting them like Cedar point did with mantis(now Rougarou)
Iron Wolf was so intense force wise, definitely one of the best standups I've been on.
How big is your retro Diego??
Actually, Six Flags half-assed the dismantling of Batman The Escape. It was going to be used for a DC comics-themed area, but a lot of the parts were missing upon arrival at Darien Lake.
I once got stuck at the top of this ride and had to walk down the stairs with the fire department. Definitely was a fun coaster when it didn’t have problems.
They need to make a vekoma tilt coaster called FLEX TAPE THE RIDE. Right before the track tilts there is a screen that shows Phil swift saying "flex tape is so strong IM GOING TO CUT THIS COASTER IN HALF!!!!" Then the train tilts and goes through the course. 😆
4:23 What's a -Mike- Paladin?
Sorry, but I had to make that reference
woah!!! ik this is old video, but i went into watching this vid thinking i had no knowledge of or connection to this ride, but i could relate to the description of the bicycle seats and the painful restraints, and then you mentioned Apocalypse and i gasped!! i went on it a handful of times, i hated the coaster situation itself (UNBELIEVABLY rough, and that’s saying something because SFA is filled with rough rides), but i would continue to ride it again for the theming and props alone!! I’ve been loving these video’s lately. I highly recommend covering Sky Rush or something from Hershey Park
I don't know how public a lot of this is, but Great America (and specifically Jim Wintrode) had a huge hand in helping B&M get started, larger than I think is really known as so much of that era and what happened was known by so few, and few who knew those people cared to ask directly.
I was impressed you tied their track manufacturing to Shockwave at Great America.
I appreciate these videos and don't want to throw more info into random CZcams comments, so if you'd like more tell me how to best get in touch. 😊
Kurt Loder at the end... can't wait for next episode! (And was that Eddie Murphy? Cause he looks like Eddie Murphy!)
Funny how you did a video on ZForce and then one on Iron Wolf given it became it’s predecessor on the same plot of land. Gosh I love my home park 🥰
I miss it so much. It was in the best spot in the park in the back. Was just around the age too when I was tall enough
Came across this video after seeing the new standing roller coaster announcement from Seaworld Orlando. Such an interesting concept! I hope it’s successful and comfortable to ride. I’ve never heard of anything like this before but cool to see there’s a history behind these type of roller coasters. Thanks Sam for making this content for us!
I rode this back in 2008 and 2009. Yeah it was rough on your head. Definitely tough to ride.
I remember as like a little kid seeing people on this ride. I barely remembered it but was always curious about it.
Yaasss! Been waiting for this as it was one of my favorites at Great America. I even once got to ride it at least 6 times in a row without having to exit, but could move seats.
woo!
No seriously, when you did Z-Force I immediately questioned if you would ever do this ride. Thanks and keep up the great content!
Iron Wolf is really the coaster that got away for me. I was too scared to ride it when it was still at great america but when I finally got over my fear of coasters it was gone. I regret not riding B&M’s first coaster when I had so many chances, even if it’s not that good.
you can still ride it! sorta
Thank you so much for doing a video on my home town amusement park!!! I feel any content creator I watch they barely if not never mention Great America, so it's really nice for me to see some history behind these rides I grew up with, keep it up!!!
Airtime Mike can confirm how smooth Firebird is :)
I am SO ready for some B&M expeditions :D
yesss
Was my favorite coaster growing up and still is in my top 5
I’ll never forget one coasters after dark I got to ride this 5 times in a row. I had a migraine for 3 days after
i actually found the coaster very comfortable when i made sure to lay my head back onto the headrest. but i could see how it could be a painful ride
I loved Richie Rich as a kid because of that scene lol
me too!
Hey, Expedition Theme Park! Could you please do Shockwave at Six Flags Great America?
maybe in the future!
Isn't that Richie rich kid also the kid from home alone 😂
i think it is him
yes
@@ExpeditionThemePark omg yes I knew It lol
Yes, and he was a Good Son too. 😉
Please keep doing these retro vids man. They are so awesome. Love your content!