Should Stampida (Port Aventura) really be RMC'd?

[StampidaRMC]

Tomahawk is a lot smaller then Stampidia though. it doesn't quite fill the same age range. Back when I was younger the only ride I would ride was Viper. Viper was a wooden that was similar to Stampida in terms of scale. I would never ride any of the larger rides then it because they scared me too much. Of course after a few years I got over my fear but the moral of the story is that Stampida is to many people like Viper was to me. It's a thrill coaster that's not too large. It fill in a very important gap in the line up. An RMC would change that into a much more thrilling ride and take that away from them. As much as an RMC would be cool it wouldn't make sense to remove a ride in the lineup like Stampida

But you got over your fear because of time, if it was a smaller wooden roller coaster like Tomahawk with time you would have eventually entered the thrill rides because you did not know any other possibility. Also, most people go in their first thrill ride because of friends which encourage them, even without Stampida those friends will still be there to encourage them.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

But you got over your fear because of time, if it was a smaller wooden roller coaster like Tomahawk with time you would have eventually entered the thrill rides because you did not know any other possibility. Also, most people go in their first thrill ride because of friends which encourage them, even without Stampida those friends will still be there to encourage them.

But the ride still serves an important age range. It's not that Viper helped me get over my fear but it served as a ride for me during that time.

 

[StampidaRMC]

But the ride still serves an important age range. It's not that Viper helped me get over my fear but it served as a ride for me during that time.

I undestand. But wouldent Tomahawk serve the same purpose for younger children?

 

[roomraider]

I think the big family coaster is a catagory wholly underated by enthusiasts. There seems to be a lot of people saying but Tomohawk does the same job? no it doesn't its much much smaller and there is a HUGE space between Tomahawk and the big rides which Stampedia fills much like the also much malaigned Cheetah Hunt does at Busch Gardents Tampa. RMCing it would completely remove and would be an insane move.

And in my very small and niche experience of RMC's id take Stampedia over that piece of crap at SFFT anyday of the week. People complain about bad trains on Stampedia but RMC's are the worst I've experienced since Gerst tried to do woodie trains way back when.

 

[StampidaRMC]

And in my very small and niche experience of RMC's id take Stampedia over that piece of crap at SFFT anyday of the week. People complain about bad trains on Stampedia but RMC's are the worst I've experienced since Gerst tried to do woodie trains way back when.

I do not think that Iron Rattler is a bad ride. (I haven't gone on it, but it does not look bad at all). Furthermore, I have gone on Untamed at Walibi Holland and have found the trains and restrains to be incredibly comfortable for a ride of this caliber of airtime and inversions. I understand your point of how Tomahawk does not fill the gap, but it filled the gap for me when I was a kid and Stampida was closed on my first visit to the park. I went from Tomahawk to Furius Baco without any problem.

 

[Matt N]

I’ve never been to PortAventura or ridden an RMC, so my opinion on this is probably less valid than that of others. Take it with a considerable pinch of salt.

However, I would vote no. And that is because while Stampida is not very highly rated now, there are plenty of ways to salvage a rough wooden coaster short of RMCing it. I’ve seen a Tonnerre Deux Zeus style refurbishment mentioned, and that is one way of doing it, but I would also raise another method that’s less drastic and equally well received, if not more so, and that is the GhostRider style method. GCI retracked GhostRider fully and added Millennium Flyer trains while doing very little to the layout, and that refurbishment saw GhostRider’s reception get drastically more positive.

My point is that I think the current wooden coaster experience of Stampida is something that can easily be maintained even with improvements to the smoothness, and looking at PortAventura’s lineup, I do feel that Stampida in its current guise looks to fill an important role within the lineup. It seems to be a starter thrill coaster, and if it were to be removed, there would be very little middle ground between Tomahawk, a family coaster, and Dragon Khan, Furius Baco and Shambhala, the hardcore thrill coasters. I’ve seen Furius Baco referred to as a starter thrill coaster, but it is still an 84mph hydraulic launch coaster. In my view, having Furius Baco as a starter thrill coaster would be something akin to taking your driving test in a bus; it appears to be an overly intense ride to fill that role, in my view. That’s why I feel that Stampida fills an important void within PortAventura’s lineup, and seeing as RMCs have a reputation for being rather intense rides, I don’t think an RMC’d Stampida would fill the same void.

For clarity, I have no issue with parks building RMCs; they look like excellent coasters. But they do look to be hardcore thrill coasters, and if Stampida were to be RMC’d, then I think that PortAventura would lose its sole starter thrill coaster. Also, something like the GhostRider treatment could quite easily rejuvenate Stampida and make it loved again while maintaining the basic ethos of that wooden coaster ride experience. I should add that a case study like GhostRider makes me hold a rather controversial view in that I think that some woodies were perhaps RMC’d too hastily based on that ride’s rave reviews, but that’s a post for another thread…

 

[cookie]

Stampida just needs new trains and a complete overhaul of the rose bowl segment, and it’d have a shot at being elite, imo. The thing can be fast and furious when it wants to, and the places that were retracked last year actually ran pretty well from what I experienced.

And I’m sorry, but Timberliners on Tomahawk would be nonsensical. It runs just fine with its current trains, so why ”fix” what ain’t broken with a train design known to have vibration issues?

 

[Christian]

By making RMC Stampida taller and faster, it could become the next Twisted Colossus. Anyone preferring a meh woodie over Twisted Colossus is nuts.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

I undestand. But wouldent Tomahawk serve the same purpose for younger children?

Not really. It's a lot shorter in every statistic. It's not really made for the same age range I'm talking about.

 

[roomraider]

I do not think that Iron Rattler is a bad ride. (I haven't gone on it, but it does not look bad at all). Furthermore, I have gone on Untamed at Walibi Holland and have found the trains and restrains to be incredibly comfortable for a ride of this caliber of airtime and inversions. I understand your point of how Tomahawk does not fill the gap, but it filled the gap for me when I was a kid and Stampida was closed on my first visit to the park. I went from Tomahawk to Furius Baco without any problem.

First off It's cool people like yourself and to be fair myself can jump from tomahawk to baco as kids with no problems. But that falls into the trap of assuming everyone's like us.

A fallacy which I used to fall into myself before I went to parks with kids myself. And something I feel as enthusiasts I feel we do far to often.

I mean we are all self acknowledged coaster enthusiasts now. And we had to have showed some proclivity to higher thrill attractions even while we were younger. I know I did.

I've been to plenty of parks with my niece who isn't one of us and when she was younger going from woody woodpecker at universal or rattlesnake at chessie to cheetah hunt or to rip ride rocket was an enormous step and took a lot of convincing.

There was no way we'd have got her onto something like kumba back then. Stampedia fills that roll at PA and are important rides for that.

Let's look at it this way. coasters at PA height requirement wise.

DK 1.4m (average UK child height that surpasses 1.4m is 10 years old)
Sham 1.4
Baco 1.4

Stampedia 1.2 (7 years old)

El Diablo 1.1 (6 years old)
Tomahawk 1.1
Tami Tami 1m (4 years old)

So without stampedia the average British child would have 4 years after tomahawk before they could right any other bigger coaster at the park.

Stampedia fills a gap and a very important one that we as enthusiasts ignore, the child who doesn't want to do inversions and stuff yet but is too old for a junior coaster.

Do you think the reason ice breaker is losing its comfort collars is mostly to do with comfort? No it's to do with lowering the height limit to 1.2m rather than 1.4m. So there is a coaster at that park that fills that gap (that they wanted ice breaker to fill in the first place) between Grover and the B&Ms.

An RMC is actually 1.2m height requirement too but as mentioned before there's a huge difference in tomahawk and an RMC in terms of what your average child will ride.

Now off topic onto why IR is cap

Astonishing first drop, one of the best I've ridden, good 2nd drop and inversion and then a boring meander for about half the actual coasting time that doesn't do anything on the cliff top. Followed at least by a decent last drop through a tunnel into the brakes. 3 good moments a great coaster does not make (thanks Yoda) it's not even top 3 in the park it's in for me)

My other ridden RMC Zadra is a great ride although not anywhere close to my top 20 (that's mostly due to a higher preference for very high positive g forces)

But I find it's mostly scuppered by what I still think are awful trains. They're smooth enough at tracking the course but that lap bar is terrible and by the end of the ride it's always killed my legs during hang time and with those mostly fun off axis hills that provide slightly off center pressure on the legs with the forces,

I'm not the smallest guy but I'm not huge and ive always found RMC lap bars are towards the bottom of the lap bar comfort rungs. B&M clamshells, Intamin and Mack over the top lap bars and even dare I say it Maurer X car weird ass things I find more comfortable.

Anyway getting off topic a bit.

 

[StampidaRMC]

First off It's cool people like yourself and to be fair myself can jump from tomahawk to baco as kids with no problems. But that falls into the trap of assuming everyone's like us.

A fallacy which I used to fall into myself before I went to parks with kids myself. And something I feel as enthusiasts I feel we do far to often.

I mean we are all self acknowledged coaster enthusiasts now. And we had to have showed some proclivity to higher thrill attractions even while we were younger. I know I did.

I've been to plenty of parks with my niece who isn't one of us and when she was younger going from woody woodpecker at universal or rattlesnake at chessie to cheetah hunt or to rip ride rocket was an enormous step and took a lot of convincing.

Now off topic onto why IR is cap

Astonishing first drop, one of the best I've ridden, good 2nd drop and inversion and then a boring meander for about half the actual coasting time that doesn't do anything on the cliff top. Followed at least by a decent last drop through a tunnel into the brakes. 3 good moments a great coaster does not make (thanks Yoda) it's not even top 3 in the park it's in for me)

My other ridden RMC Zadra is a great ride although not anywhere close to my top 20 (that's mostly due to a higher preference for very high positive g forces)

But I find it's mostly scuppered by what I still think are awful trains. They're smooth enough at tracking the course but that lap bar is terrible and by the end of the ride it's always killed my legs during hang time and with those mostly fun off axis hills that provide slightly off center pressure on the legs with the forces,

I'm not the smallest guy but I'm not huge and ive always found RMC lap bars are towards the bottom of the lap bar comfort rungs. B&M clamshells, Intamin and Mack over the top lap bars and even dare I say it Maurer X car weird ass things I find more comfortable.

Anyway getting off topic a bit.

It is true that I have no experience of going to theme parks with kids. Which is a large factor contributing to the fact that I don't know how scared other kids would be. For me personally it was more difficult to go from DK to Shammy as a kid.


Also, Iron Rattler is one of the older RMC which could explain your dislike towards it. I am surprised by your opinion on Zarda, but it is not an airtime filled ride, which is what I prefer. I understand that Stampida does not have to be RMC'd, but I feel like looking at the demographic of Port Aventura and the amount of teen agers and adults, it feels appropriate for the park.

 

[Tonkso]

I'm looking at their recent investments and it doesn't make sense to replace Stampida. They've invested in a shooting dark ride and an indoor family accessible coaster, it's clear that that want to increase their family offering, not shrink it.

In fact, with the flume, rapids, Uncharted, Tomahawk, the spinny ride and bumper cars by the flume and that spinny ride near Hurrican Condor nearby, this whole corner of the park is looking like a decent family area, with the back of the park catering better to the thrill seekers.

It makes sense.

 

[MackMan]

I visited Portaventura when i was younger and Stampida was my first major ride there! Now look the ride has bad pacing, it is rough, and it has tons of issues, but it has a very important role in the park. Portaventura has a bit of a gap, i know my Boyfriend for example would look at Khan and Shambhala and say no. Both are tall, one has 8 inversions, and overall they are imposing. Furius Baco is the only coaster left, and i know he would ride it by looking at it. I do believe though he would be a little scarred by it, it is quite literally one of the most intense rides in Europe. I would argue it is the most intense ride i have ever ridden- Hyperion and the RMC'S feel tame compared to Baco's 25 seconds of relentless speed and rattle. So yeah, i do think Stampida is an important step. For me, i think a GCI retrack with some major reprofiling on some of the near-valley moments would be PERFECT. The ride is a pretty cool idea, and it has a pretty cool layout with its emphasis on the dueling aspect- it would be nice to see it Ghostridered. A rough CCI with a mixed repuation turned into a brilliant ride by GCI, it has happened before.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

I understand that Stampida does not have to be RMC'd, but I feel like looking at the demographic of Port Aventura and the amount of teen agers and adults, it feels appropriate for the park.

Then at that point why RMC Stampidia? Would it not just be easier to build a ground up attraction? That would give RMC far less constraints for the ride and could allow them to build something more interesting. By the looks of it the park has the room and the budget to build such an attraction.

 

[oriolat2]

I just want to chip and say: children, spell Stampida right.

Also, Stampida needs a complete retrack (not small bits) by GCI, new rolling stock (please, Millennium Flyers?) and remove the trims on the first drop.

 

[redheadedRobin]

Stampida needs a complete retrack— it is a good coaster, but it's a 27 year old woodie and it probably has not been mantained as well as it should have. The racing aspect is its saving grace, and it is a good step in the middle for kids/people who want a step up from Tomahawk but are scared of bigger coasters like Shambhala, Furius Baco or Dragon Khan.

I would love an RMC in the park though, something like the shorter ones like Medusa, Untamed or Twisted Cyclone. I'm not sure where, maybe the polynesian area and themed to the god Kaulu or something like that... it would be amazing.

 

[Slamming Coastercore]

RMC it for something spectacular or do a Gravity Group refurb to keep the wooden feel. Either way, its current form is dire and needs to change.

 

[The_bullgod]

RMC it for something spectacular or do a Gravity Group refurb to keep the wooden feel. Either way, its current form is dire and needs to change.

The current form isn't the problem at all, it are only those terrible trains.

 

[StampidaRMC]

Then at that point why RMC Stampidia? Would it not just be easier to build a ground up attraction? That would give RMC far less constraints for the ride and could allow them to build something more interesting. By the looks of it the park has the room and the budget to build such an attraction.

I understand that Port Aventura has room to expand and add a ground up RMC. But I don't see Por Aventura doing that, I feel like they would first add a ride like Cheta Hunt or a Dive Coaster/Tilt coaster in the Polynesia area.

 

[Crazycoaster]

I’d take an RMC over what it is now any day. Stampida is just “there”. Like the mine train is just “there”. There’s no particularly fun elements to either side, there’s no enjoyable forces, and the trains are awful.

And I’m not saying it has to be an extreme Iron Gwazi remodel either. Just something like Untamed would be great. Doesn’t have to be the tallest or the steepest. Just fun, lots of airtime and weird elements.

Why save it in it’s current form? Because it’s a classic woody? Nahh.