Of Coasters and Parks that Could Have Been...

[Lori Marie Loud]

I believe Ghostrider was presented at IAAPA from CCI
The B&M Giga was mentioned in Kinzel's Book
I was told the B&M Hyper from someone trustworthy who knows their info
Same with the Inverts


Although there's this for Kings Dominion
https://coasternation.com/long-lost-proposed-kings-dominion-coaster-rediscovered/

Alright but I'm still wondering if you're basing the SFKK 2000 Superman and Batman plans off JUST the video I sourced. If you've heard it from someone else, that gives it credence and if it's a trustworthy insider that elevates it out of "Grain of Salt".

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

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.

Other Wacky Geauga Hypers - Alright so I've now heard about THREE separate Geauga hyper plans via Reddit. Grain of salt of course but it seems this dude had inside connections. According to him, two hypers were planned, both on or near the SeaWorld plot.

The first one was proposed by SF (blueprints were around in 2003 but it was most likely earlier) and was a Morgan. Allegedly there were preliminary blueprints and the budget for this (and possibly the layout, too) went down to Mexico and became their Superman coaster.

Now the second is interesting because it was actually Cedar Fair that planned it, thus putting the "CF bought it just to slaughter it" thought to rest. It was most likely going to be a B&M and allegedly the budget went to Diamondback at Kings Island. Big shame it never happened because it would have likely revitalized the park.

Also heard someone else say that SFGAm's Superman was initially set for Astroworld but not at all sure of that so it doesn't get a secfion.

 

[cookie]

The first one was proposed by SF in 2003 and was a Morgan. Allegedly there were preliminary blueprints and the budget for this (and possibly the layout, too) went down to Mexico and became their Superman coaster.

RCDB:

Superman el Último Escape was intended to be a 2002 attraction. Construction started and then halted due to a dispute between Six Flags and the Mexican government. It took about two years to resolve these issues and construction resumed in 2004 with the roller coaster opening in late 2004.

???

 

[Matt N]

On their Facebook page yesterday, TowersTimes revealed the first I believe I’ve ever seen of Alton Towers' original SW8 proposal in Forbidden Valley (a wooden coaster proposed during a screening opinion in April 2015, but never pursued further and eventually replaced by Wicker Man). The ride was to have a launch, two barrel rolls, a camelback and various banked turns, and contrary to popular belief, it would seem that RMC were not on the agenda for the project; the names of GCI and Gravity Group were associated with it, but not RMC. The final concept was a GCI.

A description of the proposed ride can be found on this link from Cahill Design Consultants, who were consulted during the design phase of Wicker Man: https://www.cdc-limited.co.uk/project/wicker-man-roller-coaster-alton-towers-resort/

Some photos of renderings were also integrated into Attraction Source’s post:


In terms of precise location; the ride was to be located at the entrance to Forbidden Valley, utilising the Blade pit as well as some of Nemesis’ extended queue line.

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I’m glad that we got Wicker Man instead. While the rendering looks cool, I think the launch could have been a recipe for disaster… based on how Lightning Rod turned out, I think it could have made Wicker Man in its opening season look like a paragon of reliability!

I hope you find this interesting! I know I certainly did!

 

[Howie]

Here's the thing I find interesting: remember when everyone was convinced that SW8 was gonna be an RMC? Like... literally  everyone? Well, one of the biggest clues that people were drawing that conclusion from was a statement from RMC (possibly an IAAPA interview? Can't remember exactly), in which they said they'd had interest from/been talking to a park in the UK. It had to be Alton Towers, right? For SW8? It just had to be.
Except it clearly wasn't.
So my question is, who were RMC talking to in the UK if it wasn't Alton?
I mean, clearly that never happened either, but I'd love to know where the UK RMC that never happened is.

 

[Matt N]

Here's the thing I find interesting: remember when everyone was convinced that SW8 was gonna be an RMC? Like... literally  everyone? Well, one of the biggest clues that people were drawing that conclusion from was a statement from RMC (possibly an IAAPA interview? Can't remember exactly), in which they said they'd had interest from/been talking to a park in the UK. It had to be Alton Towers, right? For SW8? It just had to be.
Except it clearly wasn't.
So my question is, who were RMC talking to in the UK if it wasn't Alton?
I mean, clearly that never happened either, but I'd love to know where the UK RMC that never happened is.

For all we know, maybe Alton Towers did have preliminary conversations with RMC before this particular concept was finalised? That would count as "interest", and given the ride would have had a launch and 2 inversions and RMC's wooden Topper Track coasters were pretty much at their peak at this point, I'd be stunned if Alton Towers hadn't at least considered RMC for the project. Although with that being said, Bradley Wynne (the head creative on Wicker Man) said at the PR event that they'd always ruled out RMC for a Towers woodie on the basis that "it wouldn't have been a proper woodie". Although maybe that was just PR talk...

In terms of other places; maybe Thorpe considered one before ultimately opting for Derren Brown's Ghost Train?

Unfortunately, we'll never know...

 

[Justin2000]

Lightwater Valley to fix Ultimate?

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

Lightwater Valley to fix Ultimate?

Was that ever planned?

Weekly reminder that I'm still wanting to know what your source is when you literally state with absolutely certainly that Superman: UE and Batman: Knight Flight were meant for SFKK. Even I eventually put a (Grain of Salt) on the video I found out about it from. Could you please explain?

 

[Justin2000]

I was just guessing with Ultimate

 

[Trax]

Heide-Park in germany made plans to build a Giga-Coaster.
After Colossos, the old owner planned to build a Giga next to it, occupying some of the space that Desert Race is located.

I don't know why the plans were scrapped, but I suppose once the park was sold, the Giga was sure to never get built.

A top-down view of the layout was published, but the recreations are of course not of the best quality with the limited data.
I found this, which shows the focus on speed, banked turns and high positive g-forces. This would have been I305 before I305 was a thing.

Edit: I found one post from a forum in 2001, which claims a lenght of 2.2km, 102m height and 80° First drop. Planned opening date: 2003, so just 2 years after Colossus and this kind of announcement. The post refers to the PR officer from the park, so I guess the numbers are not completetly out of the blue.

 

[cookie]

I don't know why the plans were scrapped, but I suppose once the park was sold, the Giga was sure to never get built.

They weren't granted permission to build the giga next to Colossos and had to move it to the area behind Limit and Bobbahn. Colossos and Scream then didn't boost park attendance as intended, so it wasn't deemed financially viable to build it. A version of it stuck around in case the park's performance improved and Intamin's schedule opened up (allegedly, some groundwork was done in that area around the time Desert Race opened), but the Merlin buyout buried it for good.

This video goes into a bit more detail (it's in German but English subtitles are included):

 

[Rob Coasters]

I don't have a source on this but I've heard that Fury's track colour was not the intended colour for the ride. I believe Bobbejaanland requested a darker red buy accidentally sent the wrong Hex values to whoever paints the track, giving us the bright orange that's on the ride.

Again, no source, and it might've even been made as a joke, but interesting to think about nonetheless!

 

[MLDesigns]

One of my favorite finds in recent memory:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651636132474494976

This appears to be a 1987/88 pitch to Dollywood for a new coaster. The options here were either:

A) relocate one of the sides of Six Flags St Louis' River King Mine Train (the black pins), or
B) Installing a terrain, custom looping coaster with a tunnel at the first drop (the red pins).

As history shows, Dollywood picked option A, which became Thunder Express. Option B was seemingly recycled to the next bidder, was sold and now operates as Anaconda at Kings Dominion. Thunder Express closed in '98, and in came Tennessee Tornado in '99. Super cool storyline here!

 

[cookie]

I don't have a source on this but I've heard that Fury's track colour was not the intended colour for the ride. I believe Bobbejaanland requested a darker red buy accidentally sent the wrong Hex values to whoever paints the track, giving us the bright orange that's on the ride.

Again, no source, and it might've even been made as a joke, but interesting to think about nonetheless!

Not sure about the hex values story, but Fury was supposed to be dark red going by initial concept art.

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

So small update: apparently there were rumors that the Bonzai Beach waterpark expansion at SFKK planned for 2011 would have included at least 10 new attractions and a brand new state of the art ProSlide model.

The real reason I made this post is because apparently the removal of X-Flight from GL was so baffling that when it first surfaced Screamscape explicitly labeled it a "false rumor". Lmao

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

It's gonna take me a minute to compile all this but a few Reddit rumors from various sources indicate some other cancelled plans. And some more from ThemeParkReview. And other places.

Main prescient ones (and take a HUGE grain of salt on some) are:

• Cancelled Gerst spinner and relocated Wagon Wheel from Astroworld at Elitch Gardens
• Cancelled expansion behind modern Joker location including relocated XLR-8 at SFGADv (disputed), and unknown 4th coaster in expansion plan
• Kingda Ka was supposed to be a SFGAm coaster
• SFMM originally planned an Intamin Pre-fab, they gave it up for Apocalypse
• Blueprints exist or existed for a B&M hyper at SFWOA
• Cancelled racing CCI woodie named Vampire at WOF; CF killed it when they bought the park EDIT: Or, apparently press releases said it was going to be a 200 foot wooden coaster
• Cancelled hypercoaster at Michigan's Adventure; CF killed that too when they bought the park
• American Thunder at SFSTL was meant for SFNE
• SFNE failing to gain local approval for it resulted in the death of a planned SFSTL Hyper
• Additionally Raging Bull and Goliath (SFOG) also may have been planned for SFSTL
• Hypersonic XLC was explicitly meant to go to CGA
• CF planned to build a coaster at Geauga Lake in 2004-2005, they built a waterpark instead
• La Ronde announced and cancelled a "flagging" in 2012 or thereabouts (i.e. they were almost "Six Flags La Ronde")
• A Great Escape expansion plan was cut short which resulted in them not setting up Serial Thriller and Tidal Wave from Astroworld
• A Top Spin and Stand-up were planned for SFA
• Either Batman: Knight Flight/Dominator or Superman: Ultimate Escape/Possessed at SFWOA were meant for SFA
• Cancelled RMC conversions of LR's Monstre (2016, I seem to recall it was SBNO for a while around then. Canadian building regulations killed it), SFGAm's American Eagle (pre-Goliath) and SFA's Wild One (2015 or thereabouts)
• A slightly taller Mr. Freeze clone (225 ft. vs the others' 218 ft.) was cancelled in 1997 at SFGAm, there is an actual news article for it: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-06-26-9706260381-story.html
• SFDK Flyer, cancelled in 2007 in favor of a park rename
• Beach Bay water park at Indiana Beach: https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_4f4986bb-6f2b-51a1-a48c-ce8b80209470.html
• Massive SFGAm expansion plan in the 90s, to quote reddit: "Six Flags Great Americas massive park expansion project in the late 90s that would double the size of the park, adding a resort, stadium, and a whoooole bunch of room for a **** ton of massive coasters, and moving corporate there, guaranteeing Great America as the sole poster boy for Six Flags while every other park starves."
• Cancelled KBF blitz in 2008 where Pony Express is
• Cancelled major coaster at KBF in 2010, it either became I-305, Leviathan or Gatekeeper (rumor is budget went to Gatekeeper and layout went to Leviathan)
• Multiple cancelled CGA hyper proposals (the most recent was Megabite which got the budget allocated to KI and can be seen in some concept art of a similarly cancelled expansion, the final Paramount one had an elevator lift, was a Morgan and had various themes including a generic carnival theme, Beavis and Butthead Do Great America and Fraiser)
• Aforementioned cancelled CGA expansion plan (would have replaced the go-karts with a massive Ferris wheel named the Great American Revolution): https://www.storylandstudios.com/work/californias-great-america/
• Nitro was recently meant to be given Goliath theme and colors, apparently opposition killed it
• CW cancelled clones of Oblivion, Flight of Fear and a Eurofighter similar to Mystery Mine
• KD's FOF was meant to be relocated to Carowinds and renamed MTV Soundwave to replace Carolina Cyclone, CF stopped that
• CF also stopped a removal of Orbit at CGA
• Various planned Astroworld woodies (CCI which may or may not have become Wild Adventures' Cheetah and RCCA looper were brought up, all the R&D was done for the RCCA apparently)
• KI entertained the possibility of having CCI build SOB
• Rita and Stealth were supposedly "divorced" from a planned Thorpe coaster
• BGT at one point was allegedly planned to get BGW's Apollo's Chariot
• Gauntlet at Magic Springs was meant for Jazzland
• Essentially every Paramount Parks coaster between 1996 or so and 2006 was meant for a different Paramount park than they actually went to and then shuffled several times: CGA lost out on Flight of Fear, Backlot Stunt Coaster, the aforementioned Hypersonic XLC and KI's Tomb Raider

Again, take the above with a big grain of salt, but some of these.....wow.

EDIT: Oh man, I forgot the Paramount surveys. Those included an Austin Powers tilt coaster for CGA (that apparently concept art exists for), an Addams Family Eurofighter, one or more Tomb Raider vertical drop coasters and the aforementioned MTV Soundwave for Carowinds. Plus a horror themed Mr. Freeze clone on the island Nighthawk replaced, also at Carowinds.

 

[Hyde]

To pile on Geauga Lake its existence as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, especially when Six Flags was trying to build it up as a Cedar Point killer - alongside the Hyper coaster, there were also scuttled plans on extending the monorail and building a "Volcano" attraction in what was the wildlife section of the park (SFWoA was split into three parks: rides, animals, and water); there's debate over what the rumored Volcano attraction would have been, be it a walk-through attraction or submarine-style attraction.

In trying to google back through time, even found a fun recreation! https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...s-ohio-worlds-of-adventure-recreation.504144/

 

[Justin2000]

La Ronde was also planning to be "Flagged" in 2006

 

[Lori Marie Loud]

Two of the four Six Flags Ohio 2000 coasters were not originally meant for SFO - rumor is SFKK and the most likely options would be Batman: Knight Flight and Superman: Ultimate Escape (Source (Grain of Salt))

SON OF BEAST: The Fall of the World's Tallest, Fastest, and Only Looping Wooden Roller Coaster - Park Lore

Have you ever had the crushing, gut-wrenching feeling that you were waist-deep wading, into a mistake? Have you ever had that stinging sensation when you realize the project you’re working on is hopeless? How do you know when it’s too late too turn back? How much time, energy, and (gulp) money...

parklore.com

In fact, as the story goes, Six Flags was eager to capitalize on the Louisville property and got to work on plans to supercharge their new Kentucky Kingdom with both a B&M floorless coaster and an Intamin Impulse coaster, joining a renamed Chang in a new DC-hero-themed Gotham City to debut in the new millennium.

Hmmmmm

EDIT: It also explains why they were abandoned:

Remember Six Flags’ ambitious plans for Kentucky Kingdom? To put it lightly, Kings Island’s $40 million investment in Action Zone (with FACE/OFF, Drop Zone, and Son of Beast) had successfully scared Six Flags away. Defeated, Six Flags more or less let the Kentucky park wither (instead diverting the planned B&M floorless and Intamin Impulse coasters to Six Flags’ new pet project: Six Flags Worlds of Adventure near Cleveland – a park they’d formed in 2001 by merging Six Flags Ohio with SeaWorld Ohio, creating the world’s largest theme park… and taking on Cedar Point directly).

Good job Paramount you killed SFKK's expansion plan (and maybe helped kill GL)

 

[chainedbanana]

nature wonder world :- planned by Jean Gelissen - owner of Toverland

It was to have been built in the same vicinity of Toverland (in the Limburg area) and had a compelling theme- that of natural wonders of the world - and instead of grouping lands geographically - would have done so by colour - I.e. 'red zone' would inc the grand canyon clumped with Pompeii/Mount Vesuvius etc, 'white zone' - Norwegian fjords with mount Everest etc.

plans for rides included a Vekoma tilt track with a theme similar to 'expedition Everest' - this was before they were back envogue!

Limburg kan gigapretpark Nature Wonder World vergeten

Lees meer op:

www.limburger.nl

'Schadeclaim na annuleren van megapretpark in Limburg'

De Limburgse gemeente Brunssum moet een schadeclaim indienen tegen ondernemer Jean Gelissen, nu de bouw van themapark Nature Wonder World niet...

www.looopings.nl