Goliath is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated whee ...

located at

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newh ...

amusement park in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Manufactured by

Giovanola Giovanola Frères SA was a prominent steel manufacturing company based in Monthey, Switzerland. It was known for building electrical power stations, water storage tanks, pipelines, boilers, highway bridges, submarines, ski lifts and many other st ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, the

hypercoaster A hypercoaster can mean one of two things: *Any continuous-circuit roller coaster with a height or drop measuring greater than 200 feet Or, more narrowly: *Any complete-circuit roller coaster with a height or drop between 200 and 299 feet ...

is located in the Goliath Plaza section of the park and opened to the public on February 11, 2000. Its sub-tropical theme is characterized by ancient ruins of the Mayan civilization. The ride is nearly identical to Titan at

Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth and west of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attracti ...

, but it lacks a 540-degree upward helix prior to the mid-course brake run and features a slightly shorter track layout. For a brief period, Goliath was widely recognized for having the longest drop at and the fastest speed of among all closed-circuit roller coasters in the world.

Millennium Force Millennium Force is a steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Manufactured by Intamin, it was the park's fourteenth roller coaster when it opened in 2000, dating back to the opening of Blue Streak in ...

Cedar Point Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and op ...

eclipsed both records several months later when it debuted on May 13, 2000, with a drop of and a maximum speed of .

History

On January 29, 1999,

roller coaster track arrived at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It was then confirmed that the new attraction would be a

. On November 11, 1999, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced that the new coaster would be named Goliath. The ride officially opened on February 11, 2000. In November 2013, seat belts were added to Goliath and Full Throttle. During the 2015 season, Goliath was covered in advertisements to promote

Monster Hunter 4 is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth game in the ''Monster Hunter'' series and the second to be released on the Nintendo 3DS. Originally released in Japan on September 14, 2013. On January 26, ...

, a

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

game. A Gore Magala monster statue was displayed near the entrance. The queue line featured a supply hunt, large signs talking about the game, a camping sit and other props. Plus, the train was wrapped to look like the Gore Magala. A good luck sign was placed in the station and a larger sign was displayed near the exit.

Ride experience

Leaving the station, the train makes a nearly 180 degree right turn. The train then ascends the

chain lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from th ...

, reaching a height of . Ascent slows toward the top of the

, a safety feature that reduces stress on the chain; it is also an attempt to reduce positive g-forces and increases rider anticipation. The train begins accelerating down the initial drop, into an underground tunnel, reaching a speed of . Upon exiting the tunnel, the train heads upwards into a banked right turn that towers above Twisted Colossus. After completing the turn, the train heads down another drop, flattening out to pass by the onride camera. An airtime hill and banked left turn (rather than a helix on "Titan") follows into the mid-course brake run. The train is decelerated quickly and makes a hard left turn out of the brake section. Another 180 degree banked turn directs the train into a 585 degree, descending helix. Then, the track turns upwards and banks left. After an ascending right turn, the train reaches the final brake run.

Photos

Operation

* long tunnel at the bottom of the first drop. *Ride capacity: 1,600 passengers per hour. *Three five-car 30-passenger trains, with two abreast seating. *A small error was made while the ride's parts were being manufactured by Giovanola. The very last track piece before the final brake run was about too short. The mistake was found while the final piece was being bolted to the ride, and a supplementary track piece had to be made to fill the gap.

Use in media

*Appeared as “The Scream Monster” in ''

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer ''Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer'' is a 2011 American comedy film based on Megan McDonald's '' Judy Moody'' book series. Directed by John Schultz from a screenplay by McDonald and Kathy Waugh, it introduces Australian actress Jordana Beatty ...

'' *Appeared as “Aquaman: The Ride” in ''

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'' (Season 3 Episode 3 "Dominated") *Appeared in the ''

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'' episode "Roller Coaster" *Appeared in James Corden's Carpool Karaoke video with

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*Appeared in ''

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'' (2002) *Appeared in ''

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'' episode "Emotional Rollercoaster"

Awards

Incidents

On June 2, 2001, a 28-year-old woman died from what was thought to be a heart attack while riding Goliath, later determined to be a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circ ...

. The park closed the ride for several hours and reopened it the same day after it passed inspection.

References

External links

*
Official websiteOfficial Goliath on-ride POV video
{{SFMM Coasters Roller coasters in California Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Roller coasters introduced in 2000 Six Flags Magic Mountain Articles containing video clips