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Wildfire Coaster New in Sweden for 2016 - "This can't possibly be real..."


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Well it looks as if some unknown little zoo park in Sweden called Kolmarden will be adding a truly amazing coaster in a few years. I did first see this on TPR (I know, I know. Believe me, sometimes I can't stand that site.) I know that Robb Alvey can be an...interesting...person but he claims that this coaster "can't possibly be real" and that it will "drop any plans we had and make a trip for it." He seriously sounds thrilled about this addition, and it really has me intrigued. There has been a teaser video released and it seems like it's setting up for an epic, huge, record breaking coaster. I also find it interesting that the details will be announced so soon on April 8th. If we're already seeing teaser videos and an announcement date in only 3 weeks for a coaster that's not supposed to open for 2 more years, it leads me to believe that Robb is not over-hyping this at all. There is so much speculation about this...

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^It's unfortunate that the majority of good (and legal) POVs are from that site. I cannot stand his voice and screams in the background, and I honestly can't say I'm a fan of him or supporting his website in general: you'd think that you want to be welcoming and friendly towards members of your website, not a complete jerk.

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As for this new ride, I still have no clue what it could be. The more I think about, the more I believe the Drop Tower theory. Something way taller than Zumanjaro would definitely grab people's attention and would get thrill seekers excited, especially if it's several hundred feet higher. I still think it will be a coaster though, since this is being announced so early, but I could be wrong. I can't wait for April 8th.

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I've seen several people mention the price is not worth the trip on here. I've read several of their trip reports from these things and it seems they cover everything in the price including meals. They also get whatever version of Fast Lane each park has and organize all kinds of behind the scenes and ERTs. Im curious as to if anyone has sat down and priced out every single thing they do for a trip and the price vs if you were to do the trip on your own?

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Alright I was unable to find my original breakdown so I did a new one using the "Mini New Hotness Trip" they are doing this summer. The trip costs $1650 per person. You can see their flyer for the trip here. Just so we are clear here my cost breakdown is for a single person doing this same trip in the same (presumed) order on the same dates using the same types of hotels. As the flyer states that they try to stay at hotels that provide breakfast I am taking that into account as well. The trip includes stops at Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, Beech Bend, Holiday World, Indiana Beach, and Six Flags Great America.

Here is what I came up with:

Gas - $113.00 (846 miles @ $4/gallon in a vehicle getting 30 mpg)

Hotels - $538 (Yes, I actually found 3 star hotels that offer breakfast within 15 miles of each park for each assumed night)

Food - $240 - 2 Meals a day at $20 per meal

Park tickets - $222 - Internet discounts were used

Skip the line passes for KI and SFGAm - $190 est. - Prices aren't up yet for either park for 2014)

All together you could due the trip for about $1300 if you went alone. Obviously prices for hotel rooms, gas, and skip the line passes could be reduced if you went with others. Based on my experience chartering buses for the church I used to work at (and a quick but admittedly less than thorough price search online) I am more than confident in saying that TPR is paying less than $113/person for transportation (just poking around and from memory I would guess its about 2/3 of that) and I would also say it is safe to assume that they are getting group rates on hotel rooms. I would also assume that they are paying less than $20/person for in-park meals.

Now is and extra $350 for a t-shirt, ERT sessions, and the luxury bus worth it to some people? Probably. Is that a significant enough savings to deter others from just doing the trip on their own? Probably. (Well, actually yes, because its enough for me). All in all, while I do not know how much it costs TPR to have ERT sessions and to put together the goody bags, etc., in my estimation it is safe to say that it is costing them less than $1300/person to do the trip.

I will also say that while I am a member on their boards, TPR is not an entity that I would ever give my money to. While I do enjoy member trip reports and feel that there is some good industry insight and information on the boards, I do not feel that their approach is overall a benefit to the enthusiast community. Full disclosure my problem is more about my money going to TPR than someone making a profit off of a trip like this. I certainly would want to be making something if I was coordinating a trip like this but giving them somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 to them is just not something I care to do.

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I didn't take any profits for planning the KIC event for about 30-40 people, hell I even in fact took a loss..

Having fun company and a fun venue to be able to share with people should be a drive enough, maintaining a profit is not, unless the profit is to drive other events. However if there is a paid membership, there should be no reason to further extend profits unless that money does go back to the members, which I do not believe it does.

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