Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Roller Coaster TV Programs and Other Related Videos

That’s a really interesting article, Hyde, and something I’ve been wondering about. I kind of expected, with the tarriffs on steel imports to the US, that we would start seeing more woodies, or just less coasters in general, built here, but I don’t have a full grasp on the economics.
 
In 2019, French Belgian TV-channel RTL-TVI and radiochannel Radio Contant aired a TV-documentary about life behid the scenes of Walibi Belgium. In Générations Walibi, viewers follow several members of the Walibi staff, such as Food & Beverage Manager Hassan, Operations Manager Henrik, operator Vincenzo and many more during their first day of work, the opening of Popcorn Revenge and the brand new Karma World, the first day of ride operators,...
The show is in French, yet it does give a nice view on the life behind the scenes in Walibi Belgium.

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

Episode 4:
 
Spotted on a Youtube Lego channel I follow - very cool and clever design!

 
Just tuned in to Radio 4 and The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry was set in Thorpe Park in an episode about the 'science of screams'. They rode The Swarm and screamed a lot.
 
Has anyone watched the theme park episode of The Apprentice that was on BBC One tonight? I must admit that I don't normally watch The Apprentice, but I thought it might be an interesting watch as the teams were each tasked with designing and marketing a roller coaster. Thorpe Park appeared quite a bit, with occasional shots of the candidates riding The Swarm and Saw for "research purposes".

One team made a roller coaster called The Final Loop, which had 15 inversions (or "loops" as they called them) and a launch at the start (which they referred to as a "catapult") going from 0-120mph in 1.5 seconds. The ride was themed to you "recapturing gravity".

The other team made a roller coaster called Insomnia, which was themed to "falling into a nightmare". The ride had a backwards drop from "your dreams" into "your nightmares".

When they were pitched to the "experts" (some head staff at Merlin Entertainments), Insomnia won, but I must admit that I wasn't sure if either of them looked particularly realistic. I have to say, though, I thought that Insomnia was quite an original concept!

In terms of the actual show, I was kind of hoping to see some actual roller coaster designers helping the teams with design as opposed to marketeers and graphics designers. What did you guys think to it?
 
Yeah it was the usual surface-level look at roller coasters we're used to seeing on British TV tbh.
Highly unrealistic ideas that weren't challenged. Lots of silly phrasing (as you picked up on such as 'catapult' phrase).
The backwards drop idea was fair, but then Giant Inverted Boomerangs do that already, right?

Amusing to see my home park on TV and some non-enthusiasts try to design rides but it just seemed a bit of a wasted opportunity in all.
 
vaugc002 said:
Yeah it was the usual surface-level look at roller coasters we're used to seeing on British TV tbh.
Highly unrealistic ideas that weren't challenged. Lots of silly phrasing (as you picked up on such as 'catapult' phrase).
The backwards drop idea was fair, but then Giant Inverted Boomerangs do that already, right?

Amusing to see my home park on TV and some non-enthusiasts try to design rides but it just seemed a bit of a wasted opportunity in all.
Click to expand...
To be fair, I think "catapult" is perhaps a fair term to use if you don't know about roller coaster terminology, and I think I was perhaps being a bit too harsh in my review earlier. I must admit I went in expecting more realism and more involvement from actual roller coaster designers, but I don't think it would be fair of me to criticise the programme when I'm not really the target audience; I think I should probably stick to theme park documentaries if I want realism!
 
I think it was a shame The Apprentice used CGI animators rather than trying to create a realistic roller coaster but the better concept won in the end, even though it needs a bit more work.

Regarding the terminology it looked to me like they'd been given a list of elements to include (including "loop" and "catapult") so I think we can forgive the contestants for using those phrases.
 
For anyone who hasn’t tuned into the Imagineering Story on Disney+ please do. Does not disappoint, and gives phenomenal views and interviews of the Imagineers. Even get to see the famed Matterhorn basketball hoop!
 
On a YouTube comment, someone mentioned that they saw a leak for a GCI with inversions during the Apprentice’s Thorpe Park episode. First of all, is this true and secondly, where / when can it be seen (i.e. time or section)?
 
adrenaline1996 said:
On a YouTube comment, someone mentioned that they saw a leak for a GCI with inversions during the Apprentice’s Thorpe Park episode. First of all, is this true and secondly, where / when can it be seen (i.e. time or section)?
Click to expand...
They had the concept at IAAPA in 2018 and 2019 - a scale model nonetheless. I'm sure this isn't a 'leak' per-se. I had an image from my IAAPA collection from this year, albeit without the inversions in the shot:
GgZeIuC.jpg


But a video of it here:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top