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New for 2014 at Luna Park (Coney Island NYC)...


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Well, it looks like Coney Island New York is getting a brand-new $10 million dollar roller coaster- and it's going to be called...Thunderbolt!?!? With that name, I first thought this would be a brand-new wooden coaster, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmk4_HQUusA
(Video is from coasterforce)

It's not. This is a Zamperla looping roller coaster with a 125-foot elevator lift hill and some cool-looking inversions, built on the grassy field where the old wooden Thunderbolt once stood. It looks like an interesting ride, though the animation for its is really cheesy. :P

Any thoughts or comments?

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Looking at that video again, this ride does look like it could be somewhat rough...some of those transitions look like stuff you'd expect from a 1970's Arrow Dyanmics coaster or something, not a modern steel coaster. In fact, I just realized I have been on one of their coasters- Howler at Holiday World. Which is a kiddie coaster. It was every bit as rough and jerky as Raven & Legend...and those are full-sized wooden coasters! :wacko: My gosh, if that's the case, multiplying the roughness based on size...egad! We are looking at the next Son of Beast! (Well ok, perhaps it won't be that bad...but still...) Great, now I really hope the new KI coaster is not a Zamperla creation! :wacko:

And the name...ugh. I've thought about it and...They could not find a better name for this ride, seriously? This has very little to do with the original Thunderbolt whatsoever, save the location. Thunderbolt was a WOODEN coaster. While the elevator lift on this looks interesting, for ten million dollars, Great Coasters International can build you a pretty good wooden coaster. It won't be huge or anything, but still...and Zamperla, while you do make rides & run Coney Island, that does not mean all the rides at Coney Island need to come from you. Mack Rides runs Europa Park, yet they have a B&M Hypercoaster and a fairly new wooden coaster from GCI in their lineup.

One good thing I see from this ride is the elevator lift- an interesting concept. However, I don't see this coaster being a serious threat for 2014's best new coaster award( Hope Kings Island wins that one, BTW. ;) )...it looks too rough and low capacity, and the rest of the ride is just stuff we have already seen before.

I just shared this because, well, it IS a new coaster being built for 2014 after all...

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Rides bought from other manufacturers would cost retail. Plus Zamperla sees Coney Island of Brooklyn as a near showcase for their products.

The layout reminds me way too much of Flashback, a VERY painful steel coaster.

As for elevator lifts, look no further than Indiana Beach (or KI's own Scooby's Ghoster Coaster).

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Rides bought from other manufacturers would cost retail. Plus Zamperla sees Coney Island of Brooklyn as a near showcase for their products.

The layout reminds me way too much of Flashback, a VERY painful steel coaster.

As for elevator lifts, look no further than Indiana Beach (or KI's own Scooby's Ghoster Coaster).

Wow, I cannot believe I forgot LoCoSuMo...so the elevator lift isn't even new either...wow, there goes the one interesting-looking feature of this ride.

:wacko:

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Zamperla uses old Coney Island names for its rides. There's also a Tornado ride there that isn't a roller coaster at all, as I recall. Ideally, they'd be at least a little similar to their namesakes. Zamperla isn't in the wood coaster business, so I think it's cool that they're acknowledging a history they didn't even have a part in. (I would still SO love to see a GCI version of the Tornado/Bobs and a Gravity Group rendition of Thunderbolt, but I guess I'll have to keep dreaming about those for now!)

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