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Which one will break the 500ft barrier first?

Which one will be the first to break the 500 feet height barrier?

  • 500 ft roller coaster

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 500 ft drop tower

    Votes: 2 100.0%
  • Total voters
    2
Gavin

Gavin

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A 500ft coaster, or a 500ft drop tower; which do you think will happen first?

I'm pretty sure we'll see both in the not-too-distant future, but I'd put my money on a drop tower getting the 500ft record before we see a coaster that tall. I'm not big on my ride technology, but I would assume that since we now have towers in the 350 ft+ range, that it wouldn't be a great stretch, from an engineering or financial perspective, to push up to 500 feet.

Thoughts?
 
Well, i actually think the 500ft Coaster is more of a realistic option at the moment.

Think of all the different variables that would factor into building a 500ft drop tower. As it is just a solid pipe as such, there will be little in the way of supporst. And if you look at how much wind effects TTD at that height when it stalls, think about how much wind would effect a stand-alone tower with no supports. Plus, the jump is what, an extra 100 ft? Whereas with a coaster, it's just an extra 50 ft of solid steel and supports.
 
Height isn't really a limit in ride construction, (except for terminal velocity, ect) Its cost. At 456ft. KK it's a very expensive coaster,
Its mainly support structure that will make up most of the cost.
44ft more isn't really much more in terms of height, but the cost would probably rocket up.

On the drop tower side of it, 500ft is still a possiblity, but a single tower would be unlikely to support itself, If it was along the lines of Supreme Scream or Power Tower with multiple towers, it could happen.

I think that the coaster would probably happen first, although there aren't many parks that:
1)Have that much to invest in a new attraction

2)Have the space to accomidate such a ride.

We all know its very unlikely that BPB is getting one. :lol:
 
Maybe we will never see a coaster reach 500ft.

For a 500ft coaster maybe it could be built onto some natural ravine or mountain, to help w/ the supports.
Otherwise I would expect a standard TTD/KK clone, only this time w/ more supports coming out from the sides of it to help deal w/ the extra winds it would have to endure.
Who knows...
 
I'm pretty sure we will see a 500foot coaster. Although if it is going to be an Accelerator, I really hope it'll give more than Kingda Ka and Top Thrill Dragster does.
 
I think it is far more likely that we will see a 500 foot coaster. I think that having the tallest and fastest rollercoaster is far more marketable than having the worlds tallest drop tower. I also think that a roller coaster would attract more guests than a tower as well. It cant be that hard to build an intamin rocket another 50ft higher than they already have although it would cost an extreme amount.
The current worlds tallest drop tower is supported by a ride anyway, i can see how they would struggle to build a tower that big without having any extra supports.
So i vote Roller Coaster.
 
I would say itll be a coaster.

However I really would prefer it to be a drop tower. The anticipation and fear at the top would be amazing, and it would be so intense freefalling for about 10seconds (just a guess), far more intense then with a coaster. However, as Thrill Yeti mentioned it would probably need alot of supports eliminating the gyro-drop style seating and thus reducing capacity considerably. I suppose they could make the tower really thick with inner supports, with a seating ring of a far bigger diameter, but again it comes back to costs. About the marketing side of things, I think it would be fair for the park to market it as the "world's scariest/most intense thrill ride", so that would bring guests.
 
Well, I honestly would say we'll see a 500 ft. drop tower sooner than a 500 ft. coaster, as a 500 ft. tall drop tower is much more feasible, especially economically. And already we have seen 300 ft. + drop towers, and it truly wouldn't take all that much to build them up tot he 500 ft. height, especially with the S&S combo towers.
 
Probably a coaster but probably not necessarily a rocket coaster. It could be anything actually. I doubt KK would keep the record forever.
 
Drop Tower no doubt. They are alot cheaper and would be alot easier to build then a coaster of that magnitude. All we need, honestly, is a park with some balls to build one. Man that would be a HELL of a ride too. Sitting at 500ft, waiting to drop... awesome.
 
I think parks will realise that a whooping 500ft drop tower would deter the majority of guests and will unlikely be a success. So i reakon a coaster is a better option, yes it would be more expensive but it would be worth it.
 
Ben said:
^Why would a 500ft Drop Tower deter guests but a 130mph+, 500ft coaster not....?
Click to expand...

Most guests know how intense drop towers are compared to other rides, with their sudden bursts of power, and so I would assume that most of the GP would be petrified to be stuck up 500ft in the air, only to start freefalling at any unexpected moment. I'm sure alot of people would start having panic attacks.
 
I think that a coaster would have more of a chance, but more to the point, Which park would it go in? And the park will get a lot of money from it.
 
A coaster will break the barrier first, a 500ft drop tower would leave alot of the GP terrified, but a coaster would pull lots of guests.
 
I hope 500ft never gets broken. 400ft is a good size. Besides, the current highest coasters arent exactly reliable, could you imagine how a 500 footer would run?
 
^Very true, both KK, and TTD had major break downs, what could we expect from a 500ft. coaster saying that it would be an accelerater?

But IMO I think we'd see a 500ft. coaster before a Drop Tower
 
Ben said:
But, a 500ft vertical drop would be a walk in the park?



I'm sure it'd get queues...
Click to expand...

Giant Drop was a walk on why when I was there, yet their 375ft coaster, Tower of Terror, had queues of up to half an hour. So I'm not really sure that your logic follows.

I think the coaster will come first, because coasters are more exciting and marketable. Besides, the difference is 44ft and 125ft, so logic dictates that coasters will win. They've been ahead nearly all the time anyway.
 
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