The Joker Construction Tour – April 2016

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom invited multiple websites and media outlets to a Joker construction tour at the park. Of course we were there. After the many construction updates we’ve brought you guys over the past few months, it was great to take another behind-the-scenes look at California’s newest coaster. Below you’ll find a multitude of awesome shots and exclusive information regarding this new RMC masterpiece!

– Recently our images have popped up on other sites and forums, awesome that our coverage spreads, not so awesome that no one mentioned where they got the images from. We are totally fine with our audience using our images, BUT ONLY IF credit is given to californiacoasterkings.com. Thank you! –

As you can see, the construction zone is a restricted area. Luckily, the park was nice enough to give us some snazzy hard hats, so we could tour the amazing site.Rocky Mountain Construction was active and busy while we were there. The green train remains on the brake run, where it has been for the past week. The train has moved along the brake run as the park started testing the transfer track today. Every piece of track is meticulously labeled so it can properly be shipped and placed. First the order in which it is placed, then, left or right side, and finally DK to specify what park it goes to. The First Drop looks even more stunning up-close. The angle, size, and shape are all accentuated by the sense of scale one gets by being directly below it. Of course the Step Up Under Flip has been completed since the last tour we took, but you may have seen plenty of shots in one of our many recent updates. This time around though, we have shots from behind the scenes. 😀 Yes, this element is crazy sexy.  After being inverted the train will dive down and enter the next element through this wonderful turn.  The next element being the highly-anticipated Zero-G-Stall!  The exit of the stall is in the same direction as the entrance to it, and it sure looks fantastic. This element is the third biggest element on the ride and is surrounded by the most other elements. (As you will see later on in the report).  The next element is the crazy-twisted, or should I say ‘crazy-chaotic’, Breaking Wave Turn. This element starts off with an outward banked hill, followed by a small dip, in which it quickly transitions into the over-banked turn, followed by another small dip and a crazy sustained-floater hill! Funny enough, the floater hill barely reaches over the entrance to the lift. The clearance is surprisingly little. Therefore the park added a metal structure right above the lift, as there wasn’t enough of a wooden structure to support that track. The lift-hill, which is partially seen in the next picture, is one of several mechanisms on the ride that has already been fully tested prior to train testing, the same counts for the transfer track, brakes, and sensors.  After this air-filled moment (yes the entire ride is filled with air), the ride will enter an outward-banked hill. Providing some more air!  Meanwhile passing under the Asian Camelback and the Zero-G-Stall, creating an awesome head chopper effect.  Here’s a quick reverse-POV shot of it, showing off the floater hill coming out of the Breaking Wave Turn. And here’s some more crazy track crossing track. Soon there will be a fourth section of track interacting with this cluster of track… the Zero-G-Roll! The following shot shows off the exit of the hill and the fact that there will be even more head choppers!  After which, the train will roll into the second over-banked turn, which passes by the drop and entrance to the Step Up Under Flip. This is one of the largest sections of the ride, the turn is actually quite stretched out. I like to look at it as a lowered/leveled version of Wicked Cyclone’s first element after its drop. The ride then enters the element we’ve all been talking about lately… The Asian Camelback, appropriately named after the Asian Camel, which according to ‘Chief Explorer’ Captain Lee, has two humps. And guess what? This element has… two humps. The element doesn’t have a huge dip, as most of our readers anticipated. This though, is not a bad thing… at all! The small dip in between allows for the airtime to be sustained without being interrupted by positive G forces, creating this never-before experience being swung out of your seat TWICE in the same element.  This element is followed by a very lateral turn. I’m surprised by the lack of banking in this turn. It will most definitely be something we haven’t quite experienced before! This is also where the ride’s on-ride photo cameras will be. Here’s where we start seeing that construction of track is still going on. The dive element following the turn is still being constructed. It’s another wonderful over-banked element. And according to the RMC Lead Foreman, Justin, this will definitely be the surprise element on the ride.  This is the backside of the element, which is part of the 40% of the track that has yet to be completed. It does seem to be less to us, but according to RMC that’s about as much work is left to do.  After this surprise element, there’s the Zero-G-Roll, which is the only element on the ride that has yet to be created (even partially). Therefore, we do not have a picture. BUT, we do have awesome shots of the next element, the third over-banked turn! The following picture shows off how tall the first elements are, and then how incredibly low to the ground the final elements are. You’ll be FLYING through this turn. Here’s a little POV sneak-peek!  Let’s finish off with this shot of the final hills and the construction that is left to be completed.  But before we move on to the new trains… here’s the final brake run, which has yet to receive the handrails. 

Next up… we were introduced to a special guests that showed all of us the amazing surprise…

The park said they had some surprises in store, and they weren’t joking. The Joker himself was there to help reveal the front car of his wonderful coaster’s trains. And there it is! The resemblance is uncanny. Among the surprises, was also some very cool concept art of the ride area. The old ring toss game is being converted to a Joker retail store, the interior of which can be seen here. Here’s another look at what we can expect the store to look like. Among other DC merchandise, the on ride photos will be sold here. Here’s a sneak peak at what we can expect the station area to look like. Personally, I love it. The massive clown face, the laughter on the ADA elevator, the carnival theme, and the chattering teeth (hopefully they chatter) are all very much in the Joker’s character. The plaza art on the floor in front of the entrance is a nice touch also. The stairs to the station are already being painted to match the new theme. The station itself of course is receiving the same treatment. I can’t wait to see how this turns out in reality. The front of the station as well as the A.D.A. elevator are being painted and refurbished. Extra switchbacks have been added towards the Superman side. Looks like there will be no fun house after all. Oh well.  Lastly, we have one more close-up of the front car for you. I’m sure people opinions will differ on this, but we both love the look of this train, especially the front car. The detailed 3D Joker face looks great, and the overall detailing is simple yet effective. They really chose a great character to represent this ride. They share a certain insanity that is hard to come by. 

Thank you for checking out our report of The Joker Tour. A special thanks goes out to Charles, Marc, Nancy, Lee, and everyone else at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, as well as Justin and his wonderful crew at Rocky Mountain Construction!

Check out our previous Joker tour report!

And The New Revolution opened yesterday, of course we were there as well. 🙂 Read about it in our report!