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Silver Dollar City | Time Traveler | Mack Looping Launched Spinner

I wonder if future Xtreme Spinners will use the same restraint mechanism or if they will be different. I personally do not like the way the restraints are set up on this ride.
 
Lofty said:
Yeah, no. It doesn't work like that. You're basically saying that Silver Dollar City have produced that ride type for other parks to use out of their own money. That doesn't work like that.

In reality - parks put tenders out to different manufacturers to ensure they're getting the most for their money, in terms of both track length/size, marketing potential etc., the manufacturers then decide to pitch their hardware and designs to the parks. If a manufacturer doesn't produce that type of coaster or hardware, they won't even tender for it. B&M wouldn't pitch for a spinning coaster and Zierer wouldn't pitch for a Giga Coaster. The cost of the R&D behind each coaster type if not taken on a project basis - the manufacturers use their bank balance from all projects to further develop their existing portfolio of products - not charging parks to do it.

The difference is... if a park specifically request an amendment or product from a manufacturer, they may in fact concur additional charges from that. The Xtreme Spinner product has evidently been a coaster type that's under development as there's already other layouts available to purchase off the shelf, so SDC would absolutely not have forked that out.

I'd suggest doing a bit of research before pointing out 'facts'.
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How does this work for things like air and Oblivion? Do parks/John Wardley approach, for example, B&M and ask them to develop this idea? Do they approach them and ask "what new ideas have you got?", or do B&M approach Merlin and say "we've got this idea, you interested?"
 
In the case of the B&M Invert, from what I remember, both the Park President of SFGAm and Walter Bolliger had a vision of a coaster train travelling on the outside of a loop. They talked a little bit, then left B&M to design something. Few months(?) later, B&M approached the park with the prototype, and they decided to build what we know know as Batman the Ride. It was so much a prototype, in fact, that they fabricated 2 different corkscrews just in case the original ones didn't work out. Luckily they did, so now we have the super snappy corkscrews we know and love.
 
Dar said:
How does this work for things like air and Oblivion? Do parks/John Wardley approach, for example, B&M and ask them to develop this idea? Do they approach them and ask "what new ideas have you got?", or do B&M approach Merlin and say "we've got this idea, you interested?"
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All of the above, to be honest. Typically I would imagine it's mostly the middle one, as it gives the best opportunity for the park to get something unique without B&M charging them a fortune for it.

A) The park approach the manufacturer with a new idea: The manufacturer could agree to go away and do the design work, but it's a lengthy and expensive process. The manufacturer would expect some sort of elevated fee for this work. The challenge always with this option is whether the manufacturer is willing (and able) to pull it off. They may not want to touch launches, or be wary of doing gigas, or something like that. It's unlikely they'll "do anything for the money", there's corporate responsibility, liability and reputation to deal with too. Whether or not there are clauses meaning the ride type can't be used elsewhere within a given time frame, or that there's an understanding the manufacturer will shoulder some of the development costs as they know it could be a new product for them to sell to other parks, would all come down to the business case for that particular 'invention'. Not something likely shared far outside the walls of the main conference rooms...

B) The park approach the manufacturer to hear about their new offerings: This is a win-win for both, really. The manufacturer gets to pitch something new, exciting, and within the realms of their capabilities, the parks get to hear about products that they can actually have installed in practical amount of time. The park can help the manufacturer see a sensible application for their new idea, and the manufacturer can recoup some of their R&D costs. In real terms, the cost of the ride is likely to go up a little, due to the extra time and risk to develop a new ride, but nothing like as much as A. This is essentially what a park going to Tender is - they ask all the manufacturers to submit bids for the new ride, which can include new ride types, etc, if the manufacturer feels like they can offer something.

C) The manufacturers pitch ideas to the park: I suspect this only happens in a handful of situations - mostly where the park chain already has a well established relationship with the manufacturer. This could take the form a very high level discussion where the park wants to get a feel for the market and where they might go in 5-10 years. A lot of the time, it's what IAPPA is for. In the case where the manufacturer has a fully developed ride type they want to sell, they may offer a discount to get their first one sold.
 
The story of Air and Oblivion is a bit of a long one, but to cut it short...

Basically, John Wardley said to Walter Bollinger on the first day of Nemesis’ test runs, ‘where do we go from here’ and he got a response of ‘we lay guests down, we fly’. From that point onwards B&M and Wardley worked in tandem on Air, which was originally due to open in 1998, but B&M needed more time to develop it and to solve the issue of the restraints. A test car was produced in 1999 and the project took off from there. But obviously, it wouldn’t be open on time.

Luckily, they’d been working on a concept for a steep drop holding system and the idea of a dive coaster came about and was able to be executed in the given time frame.

SFGAm worked with Tussauds and let them into the loop on B&Ms inverted concept with Batman and so the returned the favour with Air, hence why SF got the second flying coaster. Up until batman, B&M were quite a secretive, quiet company. When Tussauds approached them initially about a project, they actually denied any knowledge of Batman. If it wasn’t for the Six Flags team bringing Wardley into it and introducing him to B&M, chances are we may not have Nemesis or the other creations.
 
Pear said:
I wonder if future Xtreme Spinners will use the same restraint mechanism or if they will be different. I personally do not like the way the restraints are set up on this ride.
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Have you ridden it? The restraints are just fine. You feel very open while riding.
 
I know the restraints themselves are fine. I've ridden 2 Mack launchers and I've loved the restraints on both. I'm talking about how the restraints go down all at once with a push of a button and the problems that has been causing with operations.
 
Pear said:
I know the restraints themselves are fine. I've ridden 2 Mack launchers and I've loved the restraints on both. I'm talking about how the restraints go down all at once with a push of a button and the problems that has been causing with operations.
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That’s not what has been causing the issues.
 
Out of interest, would any CFers who've ridden this be OK with sharing their opinions? I'm very interested to see what people think of it, as it looks quite good from POVs. I hope that this is like Wicker Man in that it really surprises people when they ride it.
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, would any CFers who've ridden this be OK with sharing their opinions? I'm very interested to see what people think of it, as it looks quite good from POVs. I hope that this is like Wicker Man in that it really surprises people when they ride it.
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I'll let you know in 78 days.
 
Hixee said:
Care to share what has?
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Unfortunately I’m unable to. Not playing the “I know something” game, there are literally only a handful of people who work on the ride and the park would make short work of finding out who talked. Some adjustments have been made the last two days and pretty confident it’ll be running better when the park reopens tomorrow.
 
Sorry to bump this thread, but Coaster Studios now has a review of this up on his YouTube channel:
Very interesting to see him praising the ride much more than those on here have... maybe Time Traveler is a bit of a Marmite ride.
 
If you wanted a review of a lurker, this instantly became my favourite spinning coaster ousting Winjas theming and clever tricks with raw awe.

As you approach the ride sign easily catches your eye given the moving parts - loved that. You see the queue entrance which right next to the entrance of another big ride (Thunderation) and something more parks should do, even if not necessary.

The combined queue and station was lacking moving cogs which I expected but managed just fine without, and was all very well done. There are a couple of windows to peak at the ride situated in a pit of dirt.

The cars look wonderful, and have loads of space to get in and out. the LED detailing was a nice touch.

As the train leaves the station there is a fixed magnet on the floor to start each car spinning. If you want to face forwards down the drop, start in the second row. Or for something whippier sit at the back. Assigned seating will make this more luck than anything but keeps the queue moving. It also makes odd numbers in cars unlikely and only saw it once but those riders laughed and screamed throughout.

The vertical drop out of the station does have a holding break - all of this works and still picks up the pace quickly.

Spinners often promote themselves as never having the same ride twice. When that involves inversions its incredible, possibly facing all of the ways, and this has launches to boot. Okay, you are stopped on the first launch for whatever reason, not what I would have done, but you fly through the second and have a wonderful time on both.

The restraints are really comfortable, and for fun I went floppy on most rides to enjoy the motion. Therefore it was entirely my own fault that on one ride my head collided with my head rest. Still though I cannot emphasise enough how cool upside down spinning is, and a lot more family friendly than a 4D coaster - as can be seen by all ages riding.

For me the biggest shame was that the Trailblazer (fast pass) only gets you on this once and you don't actually time travel to reuse it. (plus Outlaw runs queue was always short so the park needs to be very busy to justify)

Loved this ride.
 
emoo said:
If you wanted a review of a lurker, this instantly became my favourite spinning coaster ousting Winjas theming and clever tricks with raw awe.

As you approach the ride sign easily catches your eye given the moving parts - loved that. You see the queue entrance which right next to the entrance of another big ride (Thunderation) and something more parks should do, even if not necessary.

The combined queue and station was lacking moving cogs which I expected but managed just fine without, and was all very well done. There are a couple of windows to peak at the ride situated in a pit of dirt.

The cars look wonderful, and have loads of space to get in and out. the LED detailing was a nice touch.

As the train leaves the station there is a fixed magnet on the floor to start each car spinning. If you want to face forwards down the drop, start in the second row. Or for something whippier sit at the back. Assigned seating will make this more luck than anything but keeps the queue moving. It also makes odd numbers in cars unlikely and only saw it once but those riders laughed and screamed throughout.

The vertical drop out of the station does have a holding break - all of this works and still picks up the pace quickly.

Spinners often promote themselves as never having the same ride twice. When that involves inversions its incredible, possibly facing all of the ways, and this has launches to boot. Okay, you are stopped on the first launch for whatever reason, not what I would have done, but you fly through the second and have a wonderful time on both.

The restraints are really comfortable, and for fun I went floppy on most rides to enjoy the motion. Therefore it was entirely my own fault that on one ride my head collided with my head rest. Still though I cannot emphasise enough how cool upside down spinning is, and a lot more family friendly than a 4D coaster - as can be seen by all ages riding.

For me the biggest shame was that the Trailblazer (fast pass) only gets you on this once and you don't actually time travel to reuse it. (plus Outlaw runs queue was always short so the park needs to be very busy to justify)

Loved this ride.
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That's great to hear! I haven't heard anything short of love for the ride, especially compared to others in it's type. Yeah, it's not a world beater, but definitely a ride worth getting on.
 
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