Six Flags Over Georgia is turning things around on the popular Great American Scream Machine — the roller coaster will have riders facing backward when the park opens on March 10.
Six Flags has said the change is for a limited time. Six Flags has grown tremendously since the Scream Machine opened in 1973, adding newer, taller and faster attractions that flip riders upside down and plunge them down vertical drops. But the historic wooden coaster is a staple. This marks the second time the park has turned the seats around – the last time was in the early 1990s.
Credit: RICH ADDICKS / AJC
Credit: RICH ADDICKS / AJC
Part of the roller-coaster renaissance of the 1970s, the Great American Scream Machine put Six Flags on the thrill-ride map. The Scream Machine made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1974 as the longest (3,800 feet) and highest (105 feet) coaster. It still holds its own against more modern machines.
Last year, the park said goodbye to one of its iconic wooden roller coaster, the Georgia Cyclone. Since then, Six Flags has announced that Georgia Cyclone is being converted into Twisted Cyclone, with new smoother-riding steel track and a wilder ride that will take riders upside down three times.
MORE: Six Flags Over Georgia: Decades of thrills
MORE: Watch Six Flags install Twisted Cyclone's highest track
Meanwhile, the Great American Scream Machine appears to have staying power and turning the seats around the gives the classic ride a new twist. The Great American Scream Machine was recently designated as a national landmark by roller coaster enthusiasts and will celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2018.
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
Six Flags is also renaming two sections of the park. The area where Twisted Cyclone is located will be renamed from the British section to the Coastal section (to fit in with the storm-related name of Twisted Cyclone), and the French section, which contains the Monster Mansion ride, will be renamed Piedmont.
Six Flags Over Georgia opens for the season on March 10 and operates on weekends through mid-May and daily March 31 through April 8 for spring break. For information on tickets and season passes, go to sixflags.com/overgeorgia.
Reporter Tom Kelley contributed to this article.
About the Author
