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Most Important Part of a Coaster?


TheBEASTunchained
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Well....the Upstops....of course! ;)

I take it you aren't a fan of Leap the Dips, Avalanche, or Flying Turns? :)

I don't associate with THAT side of the family. They tend to be flighty and reckless. I on the other hand am cautious and controlling.... :D

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Well....the Upstops....of course! ;)

I take it you aren't a fan of Leap the Dips, Avalanche, or Flying Turns? :)

I don't associate with THAT side of the family. They tend to be flighty and reckless. I, on the other wheel, am cautious and controlling....

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That would be the breaks at the end of the ride.

Son of Beast unfortunately had breaks mid-ride.

Never a good thing.

I would pay to be able to ride The Beast without brakes like the first ever riders did. I saw a video of an old KI rep talking about it. I forget his name.

Edited by KI Guy
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Theme. What else is new.

Theming makes Verbolten more than just a family coaster;

Flight of Fear more than Joker's Jinx;

Adventure Express more than Cedar Creek Mine Ride;

Maverick more than iSpeed;

Mystery Mine more than any other Eurofighter;

Tomb Raider more than The Crypt;

Banshee more than Raptor.

the point is, theme matters. Not just a barn station for every ride. A storyline; props; fog; plot; pacing; effects; music; commitment to those elements over time...

This is my feeling as well. Theming is what puts great rides over the top and can turn a mediocre or stock ride into something great. All the elements are important but theming on any ride or a park in general is what gives it that special feel.

EVen small amounts of theming can be a big effect as we see with Banshee. The queue and station have some theming to them but nothing over the top but even that little bit enhances the ride greatly. And jsut look at Universal and Disney. They are major worldwide destinations seeing millions upon millions of people each year but they don't have anything huge or record breaking but people flock to them for teh experience they get with all of the theming.

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Kings Island has done a great job in regards to ride length, whether in ride time, (probably how most gauge ride "length"), or actual track length. I would say they are well above average. When I go to other parks I often think, "That's it?"

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I think it's hard to pick just one, it really depends on what you are going for with a coaster. If I am on a mine train rollercoaster, I am not expecting negative G's or large heights, but I do expect turns and theming. If I'm on a old wooden coaster I don't expect theming or special effects but I do expect speed and length.

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The most important part of a coaster whether it is a INTAMIN coaster or not..

INTAMINitus has returned...............

YoungStud would be proud.

I would think that manufacturers should go into this poll. I mean come on, a Vekoma SLC is not a B&M Invert, or an ARROW invert for that matter.

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The most important part of a coaster whether it is a INTAMIN coaster or not..

INTAMINitus has returned...............

YoungStud would be proud.

I would think that manufacturers should go into this poll. I mean come on, a Vekoma SLC is not a B&M Invert, or an ARROW invert for that matter.

INTAMINtitus is uncurable, so in reality it has never left. and to agree with you that even tho the coaster is the same type, different manufacturers produce different coaster experiences. But unfortunately Cedar Fair is going to build nothing but B&M. Which B&M makes excellent inverts and floorless coasters in my opinion.. Outside of that realm its a snooze fest. Especially their hyper coasters.
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Umm, I'm pretty sure there are other comapnies besides B&M Cedar Fair would work with- yes B&M will probably get the big stuff for now, since Cedar Fair would hate to throw away $20 million+ on a huge ride and have it need modified, or get a fair chunk of negative feedback from the GP (quite a few people don't like greying/blacking out on rides- some of the newer Intamins have this issue), or worse yet have it involved with the death of a rider. However for smaller coaster projects (probably for the smaller or less popular Cedar Fair parks) I would not be shocked to see Cedar Fair buy from any of these:

-Mack Rides (Blitz, Mega-Lite, and Launched Coasters...also Water Coasters...)

-Gerstlauer (Euro Fighter Coasters, Spinning Coasters, etc...)
-Premier Rides (Launched Coasters, etc...)
-Chance Rides (Hyper GTX Coasters...)

-Great Coasters International (Twisted Wooden Coasters...)

-Rocky Mountain Coasters (Steel Coasters with wooden supports & some characteristics, though the NTG Incident may have slightly hurt their stock in CF's eyes...though that was just their first offense so far and we'll see if it ever happens again...)

Besides the previously mentioned reliability, safety, and needing modified after testing/opening issues there's probably another reason parks aren't eating Intamin coasters up anymore. In 2007 and before, Intamin was installing quite a few big rides at both Cedar Fair and Six Flags. But then, Six Flags went bankrupt, Cedar Fair nearly did and did go into debt, and the economy crashed. Suddenly the 2 big US chains had a change of heart concering what they wanted in their coasters- no longer did they favor the high g-force enthusiast-pleasing rides Intamin made, but wanted rides that the general public (aka 95%+ of park guests) could enjoy without getting off and thinking "OMG

I BLACKED OUT! TOO SCARY! I'LL NEVER RIDE A COASTER EVER AGAIN!". B&M fit into that perfectly, so Cedar Fair began buying B&M Hypers for their newly aquired former Paramount parks- all of which opened to very good reviews, with great capacity and no major issues so far. While Intimidator 305 was built during this stage in 2010 at Kings Dominion (probably due to the increased competition from Busch Gardens Williamsburgh KD faced versus the others) that was probably due to CF wanting a Giga (plus Kinzel was running the show), and B&M didn't offer that in 2010 (they were still 2 years out...). Intimidator 305, however, opened with many members of the GP complaining it was too intense and forceful, and it turned out it was tearing its wheels apart and thus it was trimmed, then modified in 2011. Then it's cable broke in 2013 after only a few years of operation. And it still gets complaints of grey-outs. In 2012, B&M finally broke the 300-foot barrier with Leviathan (I have to wonder if Cedar Fair went to B&M for this ride because of the I-305 issues and begged B&M to go over 300') and I'd bet Cedar Fair has been happier with the performance of that ride: Rave Reviews, High Capacity, No Major Issues so far, no accidents...Leviathan so far has hit all the right notes. And then came the Shoot-the-Rapids incident...while not a coaster, that was probably when "Cedar Fair may never work with Intamin in the near future" became "Cedar Fair will NOT be working with Intamin in the near future..." It has been a B&M-fest ever since for major Cedar Fair steel coasters (a few GCI woodies have also debuted in this time frame, and a Mack Wild Mouse, and a ART Engineering Coaster/Dark Ride Combo...all of those are smaller additions though), and there really isn't a huge reason for them to stop: the rides work great, get great reviews, and are high capacity. Yes they could try out someone else, but I doubt Intamin would be it...probably Mack, If I had to guess. They have their own take on the Blitz Coaster, and I could see Cedar Fair trying a Mack Water Coaster out...

So...In short...why CF won't add a new Intamin is...(for those who hate wall-o-text)...
#1-Cedar Fair decided to add coasters to cater to the GP more around 2008, rather than enthusiasts. Which lined up with B&M more.

#2-Reliability issues (including rides needing modified)

#3-Safety issues

#4-B&M has done great work with CF so far, with great results, hence they may not see a reason to switch yet at all.

And, to add my two cents on what makes a good coaster: I like speed, airtime, and length. High capacity is also nice. I also enjoy hard laterals, but that for some reason was NOT an option...but none of those is really needed too much, so long as the coaster does "what it's supposed to do". I can expect something like Beast to have no airtime and am OK with it- the darn thing has 1 "normal" drop after all and am not bothered. But, if I ride Diamondback- a huge tall hilly coaster- and get no airtime...then I will be like "WTF!!!". (Disclaimer: I have never actually gotten zero airtime on Diamondback- there's ALWAYS been at least a fair amount- but I figured it would be a decent example...actually got LOTS on my 3 rides in 2014...) Pacing is also pretty important, but I don't think a coaster needs to be 100mph all-the-time...I actually do enjoy the "eye of the storm" calm moments, especially if they occur right before something chaotic and awesome or give you a great mid-ride view. So overall, it's a mix...and depends what the coaster is trying to do, and how well it does it. So if you build a speed-centric coaster, it should feel fast. Airtime-centric, should have lots of air...etc etc.

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^
Hmm...that I never knew. I had only heard the deal was with Dive Machines. That sounds like it could have been a factor- after all, we know B&M made a deal with Cedar Point on Raptor (no other B&M Inverts within 200 miles or so, destroying Canada's Wonderland's plan and forcing them to buy a Vekoma SLC) so it is highly possible. If that's still in place (it may not be- Busch Gardens and SeaWorld have bigger issues to worry about ATM than keeping B&M's away from their direct competitors) that would automatically mean when Cedar Fair wants a new coaster for Kings Dominion (will probably happen fairly soon- I305 is 5 years old now and KD is one of Cedar Fair's bigger parks), the often suggested B&M Wing Coaster (I also think they could add an B&M Invert and it would be different enough from Volcano for both to exist) may not be an option, and they would probably be forced to go to another company for a different type of coaster...

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I voted other because---

I love various things on my favorite coasters.

Height does nothing for me.

Pace would probably be one of my biggest things.

My favs. and why---

1. The Beast----I love the terrain hugging going through the woods at those speeds.(especially after dark) So that is probably speed and theming.(if natural terrain can be considered theming)

2. Maverick---From start to finish it is always doing something. That would probably count as pace. (Maverick is probably my favorite coaster to ride with the exception of The Beast at night)

3. Banshee---Like Maverick---It is always doing something and that second "barrel roll" at the end of the ride is somewhat of a surprise and it is probably my favorite part of any ride I have ever ridden. That would probably be pace and surprise.

Later,

Mark

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