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Of Coasters and Parks that Could Have Been...

Lori Marie Loud

Lori Marie Loud

Giga Poster
I was reading Reddit and stumbled upon a post claiming that a 200 foot wooden coaster was planned for Worlds of Fun just before Cedar Fair bought the park and it got me thinking about things that could have been - that were really close to fruition, but for whatever reason, never were....

  • Dorney Switchback Woodie - This was planned just before the pandemic. Detailed plans exist in the dedicated Dorney thread. Looks like this one is DOA given a B&M is going on the plot now.
  • Morey's Piers GCI - Announced in 2011, planned for 2013. Then someone fell off the Ferris wheel. RIP. Concept art.
  • The Little Known Backstory of LaRonde's Goliath - It's well known that a hypercoaster of some form was slated for Geauga Lake at various points in time. Many manufacturer names have been thrown about, but the most likely one was actually B&M. Apparently surveying of the land happened, and the ride actually did materalize - at LaRonde.
  • Various Lost Disney Plans - The lost Potter Killers, Mary Poppins, quite possibly PLAY, Beastly Kingdom, various DHS expansion proposals........it's a long list.
  • The Massachusetts Dark Knight - Yes, one was going to go to SFNE. They were so excited to build it, in fact, that they didn't even wait for the right permits to be approved before starting to build it! That killed the project, and it ended up going to Mexico.
  • Alton Cross Valley Woodie (and the little known backstory of Rita) - Howie has a very good post on the Cross Valley Hyper, but what you may not know is before that died Rita was supposed to be built at Oakwood. God knows how that would have affected that park.
  • Loggers Leap Overhaul - Yes, an overhaul was planned. Then DGBT **** the bed and the money allocated for LL went into a vain attempt to fix the Ghost Train issues, and ultimately it was too late and the log ride bit it. At least we're getting Exodus and the new UK height record out of it.
  • Turbulence - That crazy RCT3 Dizzy Dropper thing meant for Hersheypark in 2005. Then the manufacturer pissed Hershey off. The end.
  • Project Madrid and Drachen Spire - BGW's attempts to beat I305 have just not been going well have they? The first got split in two, and then the 300 foot half got canned.
 
Helix was originally planned as a hyper coaster, with the station in what is now Luna Park. Then, a hyper coaster with a launched lift hill. Then, it just became a lunched coaster.


I would have preferred Hyper Helix but I am not at all disappointed with what we got. I also understand Liseberg's intention of using as little flat land as possible for the coaster, allowing that land to be used for other attractions such as Luna Park. It was also pretty smart to reuse their old 4D cinema as a station. The saddest part is that we will probably never see a Hyper at Liseberg. There is just no space for it, unless they stack it over other things.
 
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Some other interesting ones:

Six Flags Fiesta Texas's Togo looper
Polar Coaster(s)
Cedar Point hyper floorless coaster (Replaced by Maverick)
Arrow Pipeline coasters for Alton Towers
Heide Park's supposed Tera/Giga coaster
 
One of my favorites is the "Swine" coaster; the hyper looper that was slated to be built at Southend Pier in the late 90's/early 2000's. It was supposedly planned to be 246ft tall with a 188ft tall vertical loop among other elements.

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Image Source

Then there was the F1-X theme park that was supposed to be built next to the Dubai Autodrome in the late 2000's. As many know, it got as far as taking delivery of track for a Gerstlauer Eurofighter and a Premier Rides Drifting Coaster.

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Source by way of @Dubaidave
 
I wonder how different things would've been if this project actually happened...

Efteling - Python Plus
In 1994 Python at Efteling required some pretty substantial maintenance. A proposal was submitted to upgrade the layout with the idea to make it a more extreme ride. During construction of the original ride the track was pulled together in the turn between the loopings and the double corkscrews, resulting in a kink in the tracks. Since the coaster needed the maintenance, this seemed like a good opportunity to fix this problem by changing the layout. The extended layout was worked out by the Efteling teams.

Instead of the 180° turn into the corkscrews, the layout was to be redirected towards the lake. Coming out of the turn you would go into a camelback, over the lake and then dive into a tunnel in the middle of the water. You would come up again in a sidewinder, in the middle of a gift shop(!), followed by a long right-hand turn into the second lift hill. This lifthill would take you 40 meters of the ground, and have a curved drop of 60°. You would then go back underground into a canyon filled with several ride effects. Some large turns and camelbacks then led into a horseshoe, followed by the relocated original double corkscrew. A second bayern curve would then lead into the original one at the end of the ride, which would go into the brakes. Python would've been the fastest, longest and tallest looping coaster in the world at the time. Quite the upgrade.

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The project was deemed feasible by Vekoma, planning and construction permits were granted without any complaints from local residents, and the board of directors of the park was positive about the project. In the end it was cancelled due to financial reasons, but it's a bit weird to realise just how close this actually came to being a reality. The money was instead put towards Villa Volta, the Vekoma Madhouse that came to the park in 1995.

Source
 
RideThroughTime said:
Megabyte was the name of CGA’s hyper coaster. The project was relocated to Kings Island and morphed into what became Orion.
Click to expand...
Correct. You also had a rumored Mack launcher (same time as Knott's hyper/giga which has since had several layouts proposed) that seems to have died when CF sold the land under the park to Prologis.
 
Toverland’s Suspended Thrill Coaster which was planned for Avalon before it was swapped out for Fēnix. Would have also come with an RES drop tower prototype.

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Other early plans included a Star Flyer where the Pixarus Sky Fly stands now.

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The GhostRider wooden coaster planned for Astroworld in 99, They decided to instead add an SLC
The B&M Stand Up that was dropped for Batwing at Six Flags America
Lake Monster, The overhaul of Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake
The Rebuilt Excalibur for Frontier City
The Rebuilt Big Bend for Six Flags St. Louis
The B&M Hyper that was cancelled and replaced with Rip Ride Rock It
The B&M Inverts for Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Canada's Wonderland that were cancelled for "In Proximity" reasons
The B&M Invert for Valleyfair
The B&M Giga for Cedar Point
The Rock N' Rollercoaster clone for DCA themed to No Doubt
 
Justin2000 said:
The GhostRider wooden coaster planned for Astroworld in 99, They decided to instead add an SLC Well it would have been moot in 2005 anyway
The B&M Stand Up that was dropped for Batwing at Six Flags America
Lake Monster, The overhaul of Predator at Six Flags Darien Lake I don't think that was an actual serious plan more as it was just a rumor
The Rebuilt Excalibur for Frontier City
The Rebuilt Big Bend for Six Flags St. Louis
The B&M Hyper that was cancelled and replaced with Rip Ride Rock It
The B&M Inverts for Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Canada's Wonderland that were cancelled for "In Proximity" reasons Ironically KI eventually got theirs
The B&M Invert for Valleyfair Wait what
The B&M Giga for Cedar Point IIRC this was an alternative to Gatekeeper
The Rock N' Rollercoaster clone for DCA themed to No Doubt The original was almost a Rolling Stones ride. And then it was almost a KISS ride.
Click to expand...
 
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