Port Aventura |"Shambhala"| B&M Hyper

[oriolat2]

I didn't mention that, in the video, the PR guy said that PA consider Shambhala a "family coaster" since it doesn't invert and has smooth and long transitions... In fact, he said that thrill-seekers should not expect something like Khan or Baco... Southern Europe Silver Star anyone? Hopefully not!

Amen to that! :--D

 

[Lofty]

Family? He is joking, right? The height, drop & speed alone surely make it more of a "Thrill-Seeking" Attraction. Although, I do like the whole, "Don't expect much" approach, it's far different than the norm...

 

[oriolat2]

Jokes aside, I think that what he was trying to say is that Shambhala and the new area will be aimed at families. So, even if you are not riding, there will be plenty of things and places to visit, watch, etc...

But Shambhala itself? A family coaster... no way.

 

[oriolat2]

New update!

Track is almost complete. There's the last bunny hop left to be placed and Shambhala will be done I think we can bet that testing will begin mid-April, as scheduled.

Source: Harman from PAFans.com and PA-Community.com

 

[andrus]

Oh nice! With that banking it seems to me like the train will have a lot of speed going out of the mcbr

 

[Lofty]

I hope so, it'll let the next little bunny hop a lot more fun...

 

[nadroJ]

I didn't mention that, in the video, the PR guy said that PA consider Shambhala a "family coaster" since it doesn't invert and has smooth and long transitions... In fact, he said that thrill-seekers should not expect something like Khan or Baco... Southern Europe Silver Star anyone? Hopefully not!

I think you'll find a lot of the time that speed+inversions=big scary ride in most cases for the general public, I believe that THAT is where this PR guy is coming from.

However, the fact that Dragon Khan sits in its shadow, I believe Shambhala looks pant-wettingly scary, and don't believe younger kids would even want to ride it (in general anyway).

For Europe this thing is colossal, most people riding it will never have seen anything so gargantuan, and that in itself is intimidating enough to class it in the same league as 'something like Khan or Baco'. I think it is silly to dismiss it as anything other than a high thrill ride. Maybe because they ride quite floatily instead of just brute force? I don't know, but the first coaster I ever blacked out on was a B&M Hyper (Nitro) so they are intense, maybe not as obviously slowly as Khan and, ahem, Baco.

 

[oriolat2]

Trains are being installed as of now:

Source: PAFans.com

I guess there will be better, clearer pictures later but it's something Does this mean that testing should start in about two weeks...

BTW, I read somewhere that B&Ms require a longer testing period (like 5 weeks or so)... Is that true?

 

[nadroJ]

because the larger question with this ride is getting people to get over how intimidating it is to ride it in the first place.

Definitely, which is why I was so shocked to see PR people trying to push this as a family ride. I know even the best of us lot could admit to being intimidated by this beast! Especially when you've got something like Khan sat in its shadow, a coaster pretty well known in the UK as a humungous terrifying ride. Scary stuff.

Once you have to "worry" about the floating, you're already on the ride.

What I was trying to get at is that floaty airtime is a lot.....gentler, I suppose, than say something really forceful or something with really powerful ejector. Although hypers LOOK intimidating, I would say they give a far gentler ride than say something like Nemesis or one of the Batman Inverts, and that it could possibly be for this reason that the PR guys are pushing it as a family ride, because the overall experience of the ride is a lot tamer than some fast, rough and forceful like Khan or Baco.

 

[nadroJ]

^Yeah I see what you mean. I'm just baffled at how they're even going to attempt to plug this as a family attraction. The thing basically speaks for itself and in my opinion no amount of telling me this is suitable for the whole family is going to change my mind.

 

[tks]

^ Instead of the fat-seat B&M have included a high chair?

 

[oriolat2]

New video by PA-Community.com showing some of the new track and the trains:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozF-k7DlUkc[/youtube]

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Re: the whole Shambhala being a family attraction thing...

In my opinion, it is.

Well, family is possibly the wrong term. Like someone else mentioned, "family attractions" are not just things people of all ages can physically go on, but things that appeal to a wide age range in some aspect, including if they were to sit out the ride. Rides which appeal to non-riders are awesome.

It WILL be tame. It's a B&M hyper. They are ALL tame. Okay? It's going to be tame.

But stepping off the enthusiast pedestal for a moment... This thing has a tame sounding name and colours. It's not meant to invoke thrill or fear, they have chosen to make it seem calming, magical, mystical. Those aren't "family" things necessarily, but it does make it accessible to the family audience.

It's not an alien concept to present 1.4m rides as "family" attractions. Alton's Air and everything at BGW are great examples. If a 205ft vertical drop coaster painted wonderfully unintimidating baby blue doesn't convince you of the sense I speak, nothing will. 1.4m tall kids are hardly too old to be part of the "family" unit. People need to stop thinking that everyone over 1.4 is an "adult" and likes scary or thrilling or intimidating rides. My mother is 60, she's well over 1.4m tall, but she loves Air and won't go near Nemesis.

So why is it so tall? To keep it interesting for thrill seekers. See, it works both ways, thrill seekers still ride Air because at the end of the day, it's a big roller coaster. The elements that make it accessible to more timid riders don't turn off thrill seekers enough to put them off. With a thrill element, such as height, to regain any interest lost.

And what you're left with is a ride accessible to a wide audience in some way shape or form.

 

[marc]

Port Aventura |"Shambhala"| B&M Hyper

For me these are family coasters as well, they do near enough the same as wooden coasters that are family coasters.

 

[spicy]

Port Aventura |"Shambhala"| B&M Hyper

Re: the whole Shambhala being a family attraction thing...

In my opinion, it is.

Well, family is possibly the wrong term. Like someone else mentioned, "family attractions" are not just things people of all ages can physically go on, but things that appeal to a wide age range in some aspect, including if they were to sit out the ride. Rides which appeal to non-riders are awesome.

It WILL be tame. It's a B&M hyper. They are ALL tame. Okay? It's going to be tame.

But stepping off the enthusiast pedestal for a moment... This thing has a tame sounding name and colours. It's not meant to invoke thrill or fear, they have chosen to make it seem calming, magical, mystical. Those aren't "family" things necessarily, but it does make it accessible to the family audience.

It's not an alien concept to present 1.4m rides as "family" attractions. Alton's Air and everything at BGW are great examples. If a 205ft vertical drop coaster painted wonderfully unintimidating baby blue doesn't convince you of the sense I speak, nothing will. 1.4m tall kids are hardly too old to be part of the "family" unit. People need to stop thinking that everyone over 1.4 is an "adult" and likes scary or thrilling or intimidating rides. My mother is 60, she's well over 1.4m tall, but she loves Air and won't go near Nemesis.

So why is it so tall? To keep it interesting for thrill seekers. See, it works both ways, thrill seekers still ride Air because at the end of the day, it's a big roller coaster. The elements that make it accessible to more timid riders don't turn off thrill seekers enough to put them off. With a thrill element, such as height, to regain any interest lost.

And what you're left with is a ride accessible to a wide audience in some way shape or form.

I like you logic , but don't you think the height whilst keeping it interesting for thrill seekers, has alienated any chance of "the people that enjoy Air" riding it?

For example would your mother ride this? My mother is the same, she really enjoys Air, wouldn't go near Nemesis, yet I know for a fact she wouldn't go near this either, it just looks so daunting and intimidating because of the height.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Re: Port Aventura |

Re: the whole Shambhala being a family attraction thing...

In my opinion, it is.

Well, family is possibly the wrong term. Like someone else mentioned, "family attractions" are not just things people of all ages can physically go on, but things that appeal to a wide age range in some aspect, including if they were to sit out the ride. Rides which appeal to non-riders are awesome.

It WILL be tame. It's a B&M hyper. They are ALL tame. Okay? It's going to be tame.

But stepping off the enthusiast pedestal for a moment... This thing has a tame sounding name and colours. It's not meant to invoke thrill or fear, they have chosen to make it seem calming, magical, mystical. Those aren't "family" things necessarily, but it does make it accessible to the family audience.

It's not an alien concept to present 1.4m rides as "family" attractions. Alton's Air and everything at BGW are great examples. If a 205ft vertical drop coaster painted wonderfully unintimidating baby blue doesn't convince you of the sense I speak, nothing will. 1.4m tall kids are hardly too old to be part of the "family" unit. People need to stop thinking that everyone over 1.4 is an "adult" and likes scary or thrilling or intimidating rides. My mother is 60, she's well over 1.4m tall, but she loves Air and won't go near Nemesis.

So why is it so tall? To keep it interesting for thrill seekers. See, it works both ways, thrill seekers still ride Air because at the end of the day, it's a big roller coaster. The elements that make it accessible to more timid riders don't turn off thrill seekers enough to put them off. With a thrill element, such as height, to regain any interest lost.

And what you're left with is a ride accessible to a wide audience in some way shape or form.

I like you logic , but don't you think the height whilst keeping it interesting for thrill seekers, has alienated any chance of "the people that enjoy Air" riding it?

For example would your mother ride this? My mother is the same, she really enjoys Air, wouldn't go near Nemesis, yet I know for a fact she wouldn't go near this either, it just looks so daunting and intimidating because of the height.

My mother might go near this if the area, marketing and appearances on Blue Peter convinced her it wasn't a thrill ride. Because that's what got her on Air. I know Air isn't tall, but really, unless you have an issue with heights nothing about the height is "scary". It's falling that's scary. And if you are convinced that it is a graceful glide down instead of a fall, might sway you.

I just asked mum "If there was a ride that was 250ft tall, but I assured you the decent was graceful and you weren't just dropped, would you go on it?" and she said "Maybe."

It really depends on how you describe an attraction to people. I recon I could get mum on most rides were they portrayed differently. Whether she'd actually enjoy them or not is a different matter.

That said, there are still people who'll see a 250ft drop and go "nope". And those people should, at the very least, be able to enjoy the attraction when they sit and look after everyone's bags. If it achieves that, then it'll be a family attraction.

 

[oriolat2]

"Yeah, it's big! But seriously, it's rather tame. Bring your kids."

Quoted for truth.

Besides. PA are opening Shambhala AND a driving school for kids (similar to Alton Towers') also in China. Why would they even want to market Shambhala as a family ride when they already have something to market for the younger audience?

Even if you try to make a coaster sound tame by describing it in some gentle way it's still going to be a 250 feet monster. The stats speaks for themeseles... and 250 feet scream "thrill-ride" (to us and specially to the GP).

 

[SaiyanHajime]

You're both missing the point.

It's height is what makes it fundamentally a thrill ride. Regardless of actual ride experience, it's height is read as an intimidating feature when you are face to face with it, as well as an impressive statistic when marketed. this you agree with.

But Port Aventura is a family park. And as all true family parks should, it tries to make it's attractions accessible to a wide audience in some way.

For some reason, people think family means "little kids". Kids hit 1.4 at what kind of age? Like 8-10? That's still young. On the flip side, many people over 1.4 don't like thrill rides.

If you can widen the audience of a 1.4m ride to include those people, then that's awesome.

If I'm wrong, why doesn't it have a theme which says "thrill ride"? And why is the marketing guy saying what he said? 250ft does say thrill ride, but "Shambhlala" and "journey to the himalaya" and "light blue" and the physical experience of this ride really do not. If, through marketing, they can get timid people on this, they might in turn get people on Khan, without loosing the thrill seekers interest.

 

[rollermonkey]

I don't care if it's cotton candy pink and themed to an infant's nursery.

It is the tallest coaster in Europe and top 10 in the world. (#6 for drop)

It towers over Khan, and thus will be intimidating to those who are frightened by that sort of thing.

Regardless of advertising, when faced with the reality of it, Grammy's going to chicken out.

 

[Smithy]

On the flip side, some people will find Khan's mangled mix of track and inversions far more intimidating. Very difficult to shoehorn a group of people's opinion.