Bathtub Gin
Roller Poster
Would have loved to see a B&M Inverted Coaster as the replacement. At least it looks like it won't be a Dive Machine.
Volcano removal and possible replacement?
- Thread starter Pear
- Start date
EthanCoaster
Mega Poster
please god no
Magic-Man
Mega Poster
BGW is close by, so neither of those were options.
Bathtub Gin
Roller Poster
Alpengeist was built 20+ years ago, and Griffon isn't brand new, either. I think they could have gone with either type without anyone blinking an eye at this point. Just make them taller/faster/loopier/longer/whatever if you're really worried that there are actually people who wouldn't visit (I don't think there are too many like that) just because Busch Williamsburg has something similar.
EthanCoaster
Mega Poster
What are the chances of them relocating the SBNO wing coaster from Hot Go?
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
Six Flags Fiesta Texas built a Batman clone literally fifteen minutes from another Batman clone.
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
I have a feeling that whatever ride they're building to replace Volcano is a "go fast" program. Remember, Volcano's removal was unexpected and it certainly feels like the park wasn't really ready to take the ride out of service. I bet someone was making phone calls nonstop to a bunch of manufacturers immediately after the park made their decision to axe Volcano and saying "what can you design for me asap?" The quickest way to do that is to see if a stock, or close to stock model fits in your plot of land. If it does end up being a close to stock model, so be it - I'm certainly not going to complain about a new B&M no matter the size. They could easily pull a Six Flags and build a semi-permanent spinning mouse instead.
Also keep in mind that Cedar Fair has been alluding that their CapEx spending will be limited in the near future since they've taken on quite a bit of extra debt with Schlitterbahn and that resort in Sandusky. I wouldn't be surprised to see CF pull a Six Flags and start installing more medium sized coasters instead of these enormous monstrosities like Orion. The CapEx faucet won't shut off - the chain does need, to a certain extent, to replace the rides it removes...but if the chain is savvy, they could get two or three medium sized coasters for the cost of one Orion. Doing so would satisfy lowered CapEx strategies and replacing old, high cost rides with low ridership.
The only people that'd be unhappy would be the enthusiasts because every park won't be building another Fury every year...oh wait...
Also keep in mind that Cedar Fair has been alluding that their CapEx spending will be limited in the near future since they've taken on quite a bit of extra debt with Schlitterbahn and that resort in Sandusky. I wouldn't be surprised to see CF pull a Six Flags and start installing more medium sized coasters instead of these enormous monstrosities like Orion. The CapEx faucet won't shut off - the chain does need, to a certain extent, to replace the rides it removes...but if the chain is savvy, they could get two or three medium sized coasters for the cost of one Orion. Doing so would satisfy lowered CapEx strategies and replacing old, high cost rides with low ridership.
The only people that'd be unhappy would be the enthusiasts because every park won't be building another Fury every year...oh wait...
One important caveat per KDFans' report is these are draft plans backdated a few months. It's a short layout for sure, but could change. I wouldn't be surprised if another inversion or two were added to make the layout more reminiscent of X-Flight or Fenix.
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
And you bring up a good point that I forgot to mention - the timeline makes sense so far. Volcano's removal was announced last year at this time-ish. They likely made the decision weeks prior and held off on making it public. If that holds true, the project would have started in the fall of 2018 with a spring 2021 opening - that aligns with the typical two to three year timing to deliver an average roller coaster.
And as people have said, expect a project to be fluid even as it's being built. I can think of numerous examples where the final product was slightly different than what was announced - Goliath's lifthill and Wicked Cyclone's outer banked turn nestled under the overbank are two obvious ones. Another more subtle one is that there are clear weld points under Gatekeeper's station where some dimension changed after parts were cut and thus ultimately required on site modification to put together. Late changes are fairly common - they're just usually subtle or minor.
And as people have said, expect a project to be fluid even as it's being built. I can think of numerous examples where the final product was slightly different than what was announced - Goliath's lifthill and Wicked Cyclone's outer banked turn nestled under the overbank are two obvious ones. Another more subtle one is that there are clear weld points under Gatekeeper's station where some dimension changed after parts were cut and thus ultimately required on site modification to put together. Late changes are fairly common - they're just usually subtle or minor.
davidm
Strata Poster
And this indeed looks like an average roller coaster.
bob_3_
Giga Poster
My problem isn’t the scale of the layout here, it’s the lack of imagination. As said before, Fenix is a great example of pushing the wing model a bit further along and its not exactly big. I admit it may just be the result of seeing quite a few chinese wings that follow a very similar formula, to the average guest, this x-flight style ride may look amazing.
But yeah, if this is real, maybe the presentation will change my mind.
MLDesigns
Hyper Poster
Certainly isn't the size of wing coaster I was expecting. I get the whole "the amount of people that care it's a clone of (x) in China is so small" argument, but come ahhhhnnn. A shortened model of an already small-scale ride? Given the $12-15m price tag this ride will have, I don't really understand the reasoning for picking this. They darn well know this park doesn't generate any significant ROI for coasters. Shoulda just pushed the project back a year for a Monster-style Infinity coaster or 'Gold Striker East.'
That said, I'm glad that land won't just sit vacant for 5 years or something. Not even salty about it being a wing, was just expecting something slightly bigger.
and dooooont even get me STARTED about the possible Monster Jam theme. If that happens, I might off meself.
That said, I'm glad that land won't just sit vacant for 5 years or something. Not even salty about it being a wing, was just expecting something slightly bigger.
and dooooont even get me STARTED about the possible Monster Jam theme. If that happens, I might off meself.
pajama sam
Roller Poster
but that's what six flags does.
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
The point is that it doesn't matter if your biggest competition is right next door - if the other park has something that you don't, they have an advantage. It's not a situation like Cedar Point and Kings Island where they're part of the same chain and it's in their best interest to offer complimentary ride lineups.
Latest rumors are that this wing coaster will be themed to a jungle expedition flight. That would certainly align with the teaser signs posted on the construction fence.
CrashCoaster
CF Legend
Here is an early pre-creation of the wing coaster if anyone is interested:-
Video by AmusementInsider.
Video by AmusementInsider.
Fluorineer
Mega Poster
I feel like the usual arguments defending cloned (-ish) rides do not apply here. With the Wing Coaster being a somewhat young model, just regurgitating the formula that has been basically invented for the very first models (especially X-Flight) is potentially a huge mistake since it's not acknowledging the improvements that have been made during the past years with both the smaller models (Fenix, maybe even Flug if I'm in a good mood) and the larger ones (Falcon at Wuxi).
I would compare this to the Intamin Launch Coasters. There was a bunch of hit and miss in the early years from 2001-2006, but at some point, they figured it out and from 2007 onwards they nailed pretty much everything with few exceptions. These early years of a new coaster model are insanely important for the manufacturer to figure out not only what works and what doesn't, but especially where the fine line between greatness and forgettableness lies. By reusing pretty much the 2nd iteration ever of Wing Coaster designs (the first one being the ones without the Wingover drop), CF is taking the risk of while still getting a quality piece of coaster (this is B&M after all), building something completely forgettable, especially when it's replacing one of the strangest and most unique coasters ever.
Look at Rita. There is nothing inherently bad about the ride, it doesn't really tick any of the boxes that usually make for a hated-on coaster. The big problem is, that it resembles an era, where Intamin hasn't yet completely figured out what to do with their Launch coaster model, so they came up with a coaster that pretty much does nothing except being that very kind of coaster model. Everything after the launch is like the coaster equivalent of the human appendix.
This is 2019 and due to the natural advancement of coaster engineering, a 2019-iteration of this kind of mistake will still end up being a much better coaster than Rita from 2005 was, but still I see a decent chance that in maybe 10 years people will be looking at that coaster and say "eh, why'd they even build this? It doesn't really do anything except being a Wing Coaster".
I would compare this to the Intamin Launch Coasters. There was a bunch of hit and miss in the early years from 2001-2006, but at some point, they figured it out and from 2007 onwards they nailed pretty much everything with few exceptions. These early years of a new coaster model are insanely important for the manufacturer to figure out not only what works and what doesn't, but especially where the fine line between greatness and forgettableness lies. By reusing pretty much the 2nd iteration ever of Wing Coaster designs (the first one being the ones without the Wingover drop), CF is taking the risk of while still getting a quality piece of coaster (this is B&M after all), building something completely forgettable, especially when it's replacing one of the strangest and most unique coasters ever.
Look at Rita. There is nothing inherently bad about the ride, it doesn't really tick any of the boxes that usually make for a hated-on coaster. The big problem is, that it resembles an era, where Intamin hasn't yet completely figured out what to do with their Launch coaster model, so they came up with a coaster that pretty much does nothing except being that very kind of coaster model. Everything after the launch is like the coaster equivalent of the human appendix.
This is 2019 and due to the natural advancement of coaster engineering, a 2019-iteration of this kind of mistake will still end up being a much better coaster than Rita from 2005 was, but still I see a decent chance that in maybe 10 years people will be looking at that coaster and say "eh, why'd they even build this? It doesn't really do anything except being a Wing Coaster".