Great Coasters International
GCI Headquarters
Great Coaster International, based in Sunbury PA, and Santa Cruz, CA is on a mission to recreate retroclassical coasters. Co owners Michael Boodley and Clain Hain Jr. each worked for other coaster companies before they launched their own business.
Their first project as a business was the Wildcat at Hershey Park in 1996. The ride deplicts the golden age twister layout, like many GCI coasters. Roar followed in 1998 at Six Flags America, then Gwazi in 1999 for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This was GCI's first dueling coaster and it proved to be very popular.
GCI's biggest achievement was in 1999 when they built Roar for Six Flags Marine World. GCI took the plans for the original Roar and tweaked it. They also added their "Millennium Flyers" to the ride.
The Millennium Flyers are the coaster trains that have made CGI famous. These open front cars are very flexible and have flared sides. These cars made the coasters seem as though they were in the 20's.
As said before CGI's dueling coaster proved very popular. In 2000 Hershey park hired GCI to build the Lightning Racer. Four CGI Millennium Flyer race riders through complex turns and twist, to see which train will be the winner.
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Gwazi