Wow. Just wow:

... The Little Dipper roller coaster sold for $33,000 to Six Flags in Gurnee; it will be put in the park's kiddie section, hopefully by 2010....

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11...tion-rides.html

Wow indeed! Holy guacamole! I'm going to SFGAm again next year!

Kudos to anyone who would have called that! So with Great America getting Little Dipper and possibly Chang? Looks like Chicago is gonna be a happy city next year!

A possibility of 2 new coasters for next year? Lucky you SFGAM!

$33,000?!?!? Ill sell some cars, put that in my backyard!

Wow, Change and Little Dipper, just wow...

The purchase cost is among the smallest of expenses of relocating a wooden coaster, as many parks can attest. . .

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-...0,1094832.story

Little Dipper's Star Rises At Six Flags (Great America):

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yatw2jg

Judging from the picture, I'm sad to see that the Little Dipper will be losing it's ACE Coaster Classic status - those are definitely brand-new bright orange seatbelts I'm seeing. However, I'd rather see it lose it's classic status than lose the coaster all-together, so I can still do nothing but applaud Six Flags Great America for it's decision to purchase and rebuild a classic coaster.

^ I don't think seatbelts alone will have an effect on the Classic status. Big Dipper at Geauga Lake is a coaster classic, with seatbelts.

http://www.aceonline.org/CoasterAwards/?type=1

And speaking of that:

• The coaster must use traditional lap bars that allow riders to experience so-called airtime, or negative G's (that sensation of floating above the seat!!). Individual, ratcheting lap bars do not meet this requirement.
• ACE Coaster Classics allow riders to slide from side-to-side. A coaster with any restraint or device that restricts this freedom is not eligible for ACE Coaster Classic status.

Does that mean The Voyage is not eligible for Coaster Classic status?

That would appear to be the case. Why does it matter? Parks don't care about ACE Coaster Classic status. Safety and insurance rates matter far, far more. As they should.

^ I don't think seatbelts alone will have an effect on the Classic status. Big Dipper at Geauga Lake is a coaster classic, with seatbelts.

http://www.aceonline...rAwards/?type=1

I think it depends on whether or not the seatbelts are individual or one-per-seat, because you have to be able to slide side-to-side. Zippin Pippin lost it's status because of individual seat belts.

As for Voyage - it's not anywhere near a coaster classic status. Individual ratcheting lapbars, seat dividers, etc. It must have buzz bars, no seat dividers, etc. I can foresee Voyage getting Landmark status eventually, but it will never be a classic.

Terpy - I know most parks don't care. I find that kind of sad. I'm not going to argue about seatbelts and their usefulness or lack thereof, I'm just stating that I think it's sad that parks don't care about classic status.

Terpy - I know most parks don't care. I find that kind of sad. I'm not going to argue about seatbelts and their usefulness or lack thereof, I'm just stating that I think it's sad that parks don't care about classic status.

Why would they care? Safety is much more important, and as The Interpreter stated, a park is not going to pay a higher premium for insurance just because a violent wooden coaster has buzz bars and no seatbelts.

Drilling For Supports to Begin This Week; Goal is to Open Coaster In June, Weather Could Affect:

http://www.dailyhera...tory/?id=364740

Unless you read a different article, I don`t see where it says they hope to open the ride with the park. Instead, I see the following:

The goal, she said, is to have the ride up and running in June.

Wow. That was NOT there half an hour ago. I bet someone got a phone call!

To avoid confusion, I'm editing my post. The last thing we want is someone to be disappointed when it does not open with the park!

And, as always, thanks!

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-roller-coaster-april13,0,680749.story

And it's OPEN!

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384041

Yea! Now all I have to do is get back to Chicago, grab the kids with their free tickets and go ride it for the first time.