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Vekoma VS B&M, Speculation


Coney_man
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I personally think that B&M will be the manufacturer of PKI's next coaster. I know that PKI currently has 2 coasters by Vekoma and none by B&M, but I think that B&M's track record will impress the top brass at PKI and win out. B&M has much better types of coasters as well. Floorless, flyers, great inverts, great mega coasters, and so on. I'm leaning toward one of the first three (floorless, flyer, or inverted) mainly because they have been most of the popular B&M's in the recent past. I guess we'll have to see though.

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Well Paramount has learned that Vekoma is basically just garbage. I don't forsee any Vekomas coming to PKI, but maybe another Paramount park will get one. So what this discussion really should be about is will the next coaster be an Intamin or B&M? I'd put my money on B&M if PKI was going for a safe move, but I'd bet on an Intamin if PKI was going big. It's a proven fact that B&M rides are very reliable and hardly experience any downtime. It's also proven that Intamin will go farther than any other company in the roller coaster industry. We don't know who will make PKI's newest roller coaster, but I think we already know who will design it, and that is the great Werner Stengel. :cowboy:

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I think it will be the manufacturing company that can give the most coaster for the least amount of money. I also think it maybe a manufacturing company that wants to or needs to make statement. At Viacom they like to say "we will not over pay" and that would be for a B&M or Intamin. I would look for S&S,Vekoma or Premier but you never know what they will do.

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I don't see Premier doing another PKI coaster at all. All they seem to know is launched coasters and I don't see another FoF coming in. I do agree with what you said though about money. They will go for the best coaster they can get for the less money. However there are other factors that will determine it. They don't want to get a coaster that will have to be fixed from a breakdown 3 times a day. IE Vekoma. I think we'll see B&M, Intamin, or possibly, very simly S&S. Who knows, if Tsunami works, maybe they'll go for a S&S woodie :lol: Doubt it.

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Intamin seems to be leading the way in terms of building costs for their coasters. Yes, they wouldn't want to have a new coaster that breaks down three times a day, but what is not being realized is that it is bound to happen with any coaster from any manufacturer. The reason for this is simple...there's always a break-in period for any coaster and most need tweaking after opening and you always run the risk of at least a little downtime.

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I personally think that we will get a B&M Flyer, but I am hopeing to get an Intamin Hyper/Giga. I think Pki has a lot of great coasters but we really need one that is air time crazy. Racer is the best bet right now for air so a nice steel air machine would be welcomed by me. :ph34r:

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I've never ridden a flyer, but from what I hear, once the novelty wears off, it's really not that great of a ride. Personally, I'm a fan of the classic looper, but since you guys are all looking for something special, I think my vote would be for either an Intamin (simply because they're not afraid of height and their tracks look cool) and a B&M floorless.

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A great ride out there that is outnumbered by the other B&M masterpieces is Wildfire at Silver Dollar City. That ride is awesome. It is the smoothest ride I have ever been on. When it first opened there was one rough spot after the corkscrew, but that has been smoothed out somehow. There have been rumors over the 3 years it has been open, that they will replace the Floorless with a floor trains with just plain out floorless. When in southern Missouri, my home The Ozarks (Even though I live in KC, I hate it), ride two coasters. Wildfire and Ozark Wildcat. Cal

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  • 3 weeks later...
Well Paramount has learned that Vekoma is basically just garbage. I don't forsee any Vekomas coming to PKI, but maybe another Paramount park will get one.

I'm glad you can speak for the park now.

Garbage? That's funny because they are building coasters more and more each year. Oh and I'm pretty sure Reptar and Face/Off have had as much downtime as any other coaster in the park.

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What Dan said was right. PKI knows that Vekoma is garbage. If they didn't then Paramount would've kept the flyers that they bought from Vekoma. Even though Vekoma is selling rides, it still doesn't mean that they are any good. They are just a cheap alternative for a B&M or Intamin.

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Vekoma isn't even selling that many coasters. They only have 7 coasters going up for the 2004 season (BORG doesn't count, it's being relocated). The only notable ones out of those are Space Mountain and Gauntlet. I mean, who has heard of New Pleasurewood Hills and Al-Shallal Theme Park (where some Vekoma coaster are going in)?

I agree that the only reason parks do buy Vekoma coasters is because they are much cheaper, well except for Expedition Everest but that includes all the landscape work too.

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The boomerang's are cool and so are the inverted boomerang's but thats about it (every park should have one and pretty much does). Borg does look awesome though. Does anyone know if itll have the same layout as Stealth or if its being tweaked? If its being tweaked who's doing the tweaking?

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It's not being tweaked at all, it's the same as it was when it was Stealth. As for the boomerang, I personally think they suck. They are way to rough and there are just too many of them. The super Invertigo ones (DeJa Vu, Stunt Falls) look ok but they seem to have a ton of mechanical problems. See a pattern, Vekoma, mechanical problems ;)

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Vekoma will be using a different track system on Expedition Everest but it isn't new for them. They just haven't used it on a large scale coaster until now, it has only been used on their smaller coasters. The rails are on the outside of the ties instead of the traditional inside the ties.

But I wouldn't bet on seeing a Vekoma coaster using this system on a large scale project until after they test out Expedition Everest. It would just be too much of a risk for the company to build a second one that way without making sure the first one works right.

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Vekoma

My expeirences with Vekoma rides (Face/Off,Runaway Reptar,T2 and Roller Skater) are pretty much all the same, exciting layout, very rough rides. Vekoma is being used by Disney for Expedition Everest and Universal for Revenge Of The Mummy these are the two best amusement companies, the main reason I see for it is the low cost of the track. Everest is reportedly 100 Million Dollars but Disney is known for its extensive theming, so you have theme, landscape and track to pay for. Revenge Of the Mummy is supposed to be the most extensive theming of any ride to date, that most bring a high cost. Will these rides be smooth and enjoyable, unknown, but that is pretty impressive for Vekoma to be contracted by both Universal and Disney.

B&M

I have only ridden Chang and I must say it is the smoothest ride I have been on, painful on your body but the tack work is very smooth. B&M is renowned for their notoriously smooth rides and are held to a high standard but the price tag on one of their rides is a huge jump from Vekoma. So if Disney or universal were to contract B&M for their new rides the cost would of been way too much.

As far as Pki getting a B&M or a Vekoma I think it would only be logical for them to get a B&M since there current isn't a single B&M in the park. :ph34r:

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Not just PKI, but I think most Paramount parks will be getting into the B&M market in the next couple years. Currently, all PKD 2005 speculation is centering around B&M and I think it's about time that Paramount invest in some good old B&M flyers and floorless coasters.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Vekoma will be using a different track system on Expedition Everest but it isn't new for them.  They just haven't used it on a large scale coaster until now, it has only been used on their smaller coasters.  The rails are on the outside of the ties instead of the traditional inside the ties.

But I wouldn't bet on seeing a Vekoma coaster using this system on a large scale project until after they test out Expedition Everest.  It would just be too much of a risk for the company to build a second one that way without making sure the first one works right.

Where have they used this track before if it is not new?

track pic

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