SonofBaconator

Whether those numbers are accurate or not, I’m personally not surprised 2021 wasn’t over 3.3 mil. There were still people choosing to social distance, despite restrictions being lifted.

I think to qualify as a dive in the enthusiast world, it needs a holding break and less than 4 coaches a train

You’re a quasi coaster You’re the margarine of a coaster You’re the Diet Coke of coasters -Dr. Evil probably

If we got a dive, I don’t think it would be a clone. Terrain is a big factor at our park and assuming it would go where Vortex, I’d like to think it would be terrain. We’re missing a traditional looper from our lineup and I think a mini dive would be a good replacement. I’m not super stoked about a launch coaster next, even if it has a traditional looping layout, because I just think of maintenance and downtime cs a traditional lift. A KI mini dive in Vortex’s spot could easily feature 6 inversions and a decent drop. 90+ degree drops are a great thing to market. GP would eat it up. Also if you think about it, it’s a lot harder to clone a terrain coaster which is what makes most of KI’s rides unique.

A few things: Track width: 8 and 10 seater trains require a wider track width in order to accommodate wider trains- mini dives use track that’s closer to the standard B&M gauge. At minimum an 8 seater standard dive train can hold 24 riders- a mini dive can hold a max of 21 riders with a smaller track. That’s gotta save money somewhere. Closer to a traditional looper: a lot of the larger dives feature large drawn out elements to burn off the speed of a 200ft+ drop. Not only that but the point of your standard dive is to be large and intimidating. A mini dive isn’t as tall but it can make up for that elsewhere. Track that isn’t being used for the lift hill or drop can be used to create more elements. Basically, a mini dive is somewhat of a hybrid between your standard B&M dive and a traditional looper: you get the holding break, train style, and 90+ degree drop of a dive but you get the layout of a traditional looper. TL;DR: Less is more.

It looks like a solid addition. I have a soft spot for mini dives- it seems like they can accomplish things that your 8/10 seaters cannot.

I flipped Wrath of Rakshasa and it looks like it would be a perfect fit for The Vortex land. Yes I enhanced the color of the supports to reflect Vortex orange.

Not to toot my own but it’s cool to look back on all the stories I created just for this one thread. I used to write down ride concepts in a journal somewhere during college in between classes as somewhat of a hobby- I wish I had the influence to see some of this stuff go through at different parks

Despite how people felt about the ride itself, marketing wasn’t stellar compared to previous additions.

I would agree, when compared to earlier installations- the hype wasn’t there; especially when one remembers that it was the park’s largest ride investment.

Going off property for this one: Give a coaster the reverse train gimmick. I remember reading that recaR was created for guest satisfaction after the original Bat failed. In a sense, this could be a temporary solution to remedy something like TT2’s downtime if CP temporarily flipped Rougarou’s trains.

@DonHelbig what were your thoughts on the Orion project from it’s conception to its announcement?

I always had this wish that they did add some bunny hills at the end of Orion which would’ve extended the break run further back and would cost them more $$ than it’s worth to appease us enthusiasts.

I would want a custom building for it so it fits the ride size better and doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb link a certain box in Rivertown.

I like the giga dive because it’s just aggressive enough to work. Beast 2.0 is too aggressive in my opinion.

Considering the rocky relationship Cedar Fair has with Intamin, I’m not sure they’d go with them on a big project like this- they’d probably reintroduce them in a small way down the road if they wanted- think something like DarKoaster. As for Vekoma and Mack, it’s possible that other parks in the chain might receive something from them. If I were to guess, Cedar Fair is courting other manufacturers to see what they have to offer.

Hear me out. Recently there was a survey about Beast 2.0 where they pitched the idea making the total length of track 10,000ft. Why don’t they look into Adventure Express 2.0? Adventure Express is unique amongst mine train coasters in that it came much later in the game. Now you have this wave of “next generation mine trains” like Expedition Everest, Grizzly Mountain Mine Cars, and Seven Dwarfs. Why not give it a modern twist? Cedar Fair started working with Vekoma, who has produced the previously mentioned coasters, and has gotten better at their craft over the years; and has arguably perfected the mine train. Vekoma could retrack the whole thing and add new trains. There’s also over an acre of clear land between the current ride and FoF that they could play with. Imagine you board the train and you go through the original course of the ride on smooth Vekoma track. Then, like on Expedition Everest or Grizzly Mountain, as you’re going up AE’s final lift hill, right as you hear “Now you will pay”, your train goes backwards onto a new section of track. This wouldn’t be cheap but it would extend the ride’s life and would be a much better “2.0” than their idea for The Beast.

I really don’t want this to happen. It would basically give The Beast 10,000 ft of track by basically building a new coaster and attaching it to the current ride. I’d prefer a whole new ride entirely.

I’m very curious as to why KI didn’t get a clone of the Racing Railway that Canada’s Wonderland has. This makes me wonder if the park might work with Vekoma on a “bigger” project down the road in a similar vein to what CP did when they decided to work with Zamperla for their two most recent coaster projects.

You don’t mean?

That’s a good point that I didn’t consider- like I said, I’m not an engineer

This seems like their answer to Banshee with its record breaking height and length for a launched wing coaster- though you can make a record based off of any stat nowadays. My only gripe is that they should have squeezed out 1 or two more inversions- the first elements could have been a cutback, the airtime hill could have been a zero-g roll and or the S-then could’ve been a corkscrew. I’m not really a fan of airtime hills on B&M coasters that focus on inversions: GateKeeper and Valravn come to mind. (I’m not an engineer so I’m sure that would’ve cost the park extra $$$ to do more inversions so it’s more of a nitpick than anything.) Overall it looks like a good attraction to the park. We haven’t seen many green coasters made in a while so that’s always cool to see- I dare say it looks like it’s a similar shade of green as the Eiffel Tower. It’ll certainly keep them somewhat competitive in the mid-Atlantic. If that becomes a reality, it would give us hope that we could convert ours to something more visually appealing.

Even if they didn’t have the violations, I wonder if the waterpark was dead upon arrival. Much like how KI was an overwhelming force against the Beach, Great Wolf Lodge was a huge threat to Coco Key. I went a few times as a kid and I can confidently say that my first visit was the best and quality dropped with each return visit. I keep wondering how Coco Keys and GWL could have coexisted in the Greater Cincinnati region…maybe if the former was in Northern Kentucky to give the parks more space between one another.

That’s an interesting idea- space stuff out as a means to try and control crowds.

Short answer? Yes, it would be cool to see.