The Giga Speculation Thread

[Rivertown Rider]

I think the big thing in B&M's favor is the reliability.  I don't want KI to build a giga that has constant downtime and I think that is why they would probably go the B&M route.

[Maverick44]

You may be right and that's fine. I just think they have Diamondback already. Why not place an Intamin giga in a park with no Intamin coaster! Fun!!!!

[KIBeast]

Granted, Millennium Force has had some downtime, but I am thinking it hasn't been down that much. It's a pretty reliable coaster. It will be interesting when KI gets a giga, which manufacturer they go with. As far as Intamin saying that you can expect downtime, I am not sure if they were referring to all of their coasters, or the ones that pushed the envelope with new technology, ie Top Thrill Dragster. I would have to see what they said and in what context the statement was being made. Not so sure that was just a blanket statement to say expect downtime with anything they produce. 

[Maverick44]

I would like to see a 350' intamin giga!

[IndyGuy4KI]

7 hours ago, Maverick44 said:

You may be right and that's fine. I just think they have Diamondback already. Why not place an Intamin giga in a park with no Intamin coaster! Fun!!!!

Would be cool to add a third with two of the tallest structures in the park being Intamins. DT and ET!

I think either manufacturer would bring a good adition to the park. I would like to see how much more B&M would innovate after riding Fury this season.

[Maverick44]

^^ Either that or maybe something new with Intamin. Its been a while since I305. We could see something awesome. Something around 350' mark. Would be sweet.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Just now, Maverick44 said:

^^ Either that or maybe something new with Intamin. Its been a while since I305. We could see something awesome. Something around 350' mark. Would be sweet.

If they can keep me from greying out I am all for it. I only grey out on I305. Not just a little either. 

[Maverick44]

Yeah I feel ya. I love the rides they make. To be honest I'd be ok with the park getting a blitz coaster from Intamin. If it is a giga. I hope its more like Mill Force. Maybe taller?

[BuckeyeBond]

I've made a couple trips down to Carowinds over the past 2 seasons. I've got arounds 50 laps on Fury & Intimidator and I can tell those 2 rides feel nothing alike. Fury has great intensity, Intimidator does not. Both are good rides, but I think to many people compare B&M Giga's to B&M Hypers. And yes I know B&M technically has to classify their Giga's as Hypers. I'd be happy if we got an Intiman Giga. I love the 2 I've ridden. But I'd bet CF will want a B&M at KI and the Intiman at CP. I'd like to see MACK step up and do a Giga for KI. That's means for the time being KI would have the most unique Giga in the chain. But my money will be on B&M. Also they could save a little bit of money and possibly make the ride bigger with the B&M plant being 20 minutes away. That's gotta help on the shipping costs.

[Maverick44]

I just want something that is fun and intense. Fury is good. MF is good. I said this in another thread but I'd like to ride a Mack giga elsewhere to see if its good enough to grace a CF park.

[SonofBaconator]

But you have I think of the type of people who would ride it. Young people love intense rides because they can take it, older individuals cannot. Everytime I'm on Diamondback or even Banshee I see a significant amount of older riders as compared to other rides in the park. There is an older gentleman who's ridden Diamondback nearly 15,000 times. Even though B&M is thrilling, older people can enjoy their rides as well- you have to look at the whole scope.

[Maverick44]

^^ I agree. Hey maybe Ki gets a B&M giga but adds a Intamin Blitz??

[rhyano]

On 8/7/2017 at 7:18 PM, BuckeyeBond said:

I think he meant Intimidator 305.

no, Intimidator at Carowinds, they feel the same to me in intensity, speed feels completely different, but I'm more of a Maverick fan than Fury, so I'd like to see something similar to MF and Maverick.

[Kenban]

I want a B&M giga similar to Fury and an Intamin Blitz.  

I am not sure Mack is ready to build a giga.  I believe they have built only 3 coasters over 200 feet.  If I remember right the tallest was 202.  300 is a pretty big step up and Cedar Fair is going to want to go bigger than Fury so expect 330+.

[kirbias1]

I doubt Cedar Fair will go bigger than Fury for KI's supposed Giga. Cedar Point is too close up the road for CF to build any height and speed record breakers in fear of KI possibly stealing any of Cedar Point's "thunder". I expect something between 305 and 315, unfortunately. 

[SonofBaconator]

Maybe 315 with a 340ft drop if it's over terrain

[DiamondBanshee]

I doubt Cedar Fair will go bigger than Fury for KI's supposed Giga. Cedar Point is too close up the road for CF to build any height and speed record breakers in fear of KI possibly stealing any of Cedar Point's "thunder". I expect something between 305 and 315, unfortunately. 

There are two main things that I've seen people say on here about this:
1) Cedar Point and Kings Island are both Cedar Fair parks. They really don't care where the money goes as long as they get it. Plus if they add something bigger at KI it is more likely people will make a trip to both.
2) Though they are in the same state, KI and CP aren't really in the same market. Yes CP draws people from around here and KI draws from Sandusky but they are different markets. In fact, they might want to add a massive, "worlds tallest giga" to draw people from Holiday World and the new Kentucky Kingdom.

What I'm trying to say is Cedar Fair will do whatever they need to to gain the largest profit. As seen this year, Mystic Timbers seemed to be the best option as it was more family oriented and drew larger crowds. While a giga will draw large crowds, the "Worlds tallest giga" is more likely to draw people from all over.


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[kirbias1]

40 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Maybe 315 with a 340ft drop if it's over terrain

That would be awesome. they could do it if they build the lift hill between FOF and AE, then they could build the drop right into the hill that Son of Beast's first helix went down into. This would give it an extra 50-60 feet of elevation change to work with.

[kirbias1]

1 hour ago, DiamondBanshee said:

 

There are two main things that I've seen people say on here about this:
1) Cedar Point and Kings Island are both Cedar Fair parks. They really don't care where the money goes as long as they get it. Plus if they add something bigger at KI it is more likely people will make a trip to both.
2) Though they are in the same state, KI and CP aren't really in the same market. Yes CP draws people from around here and KI draws from Sandusky but they are different markets. In fact, they might want to add a massive, "worlds tallest giga" to draw people from Holiday World and the new Kentucky Kingdom.

What I'm trying to say is Cedar Fair will do whatever they need to to gain the largest profit. As seen this year, Mystic Timbers seemed to be the best option as it was more family oriented and drew larger crowds. While a giga will draw large crowds, the "Worlds tallest giga" is more likely to draw people from all over.


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I do see your logic and respect your opinion, but I think Cedar Fair wants all of the major thrill rides to go to CP, therefore, drawing bigger crowds to it's flagship park. If KI received a record breaking monstrosity, that may draw yearly CP visitors to KI instead. I just visited CP over the weekend, and it is more expensive than KI. Fast Lane Plus is 150 each on Saturdays! Their Hotel Breakers is ridiculously pricey as well. The water park is an upcharge, plus food and beverages are a little more too. My point is, CF wants people to go to both parks if possible, but they would prefer more people to go to CP because it's more of a destination park and they will make more money per capita vs. per capita spending at KI. A huge record breaker at KI would possibly take away from that.

 

I recently started a topic about the possibility of how CF wants to "tame" KI by making it more family oriented by taking away some of the thrills from our signature rides like The Beast( by adding more trims), etc. This goes along with what I was discussing above. By making KI more family friendly, you make the two parks entirely different, which benefits CF more, because more people will continue to go to CP(Spending more money at higher a priced park). While I was/am kind of joking, and don't 100% believe this is happening, I thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss, but they (KICentral), removed it, for whatever reason. 

[Kenban]

Any size giga at Kings Island will still be shorter and slower than Top Thrill Dragster.  A 330 ft. tall coaster will steal as much thunder from Millennium Force as Diamondback did from Magnum, and Banshee from Raptor.  The big draw at Cedar Point next year and the following few years will be the RMC version of Mean Streak.  If history has shown anything Cedar Fair is willing to go longer, taller, and faster when they build a coaster at Kings Island.

[purdude86]

Yea, and as stated MF is 17 years old, I don't think it's what's really drawing the crowds in. And the Mean Strea redo will attract plenty of people for a couple years. Plus they still have plenty of coaster types KI doesn't have with a wing coaster, dive coaster, an RMC, strata coaster. So a new, larger giga woudln't steal that much thunder from CP. Plus as stated they overall pull from different markets to a degree even though they are in the same state. 

I agree with some otehrs that I owuld love to get a B&M giga like Fury and then an Intamin Blitz. B&M is more reliable and another people eater like DB and Banshee would be great for the park, and I havne't ridden yet but have heard great things about Fury. However, Maverick is probably my favorite coaster so would love something like it to come to the park as well.

[Magenta Lizard]

As a single rider, I often end up talking to random people at the park. A lot of times it turns out to be a coaster enthusiast visiting from out of the area. Almost always, they mention either having gone to Cedar Point in the previous days, or intention to go in the next ones.

There is a symbiotic relationship between the two parks. They don't really compete on large populations of local visitors, but are close enough to each other for a lot of people to consider "both" as the answer to the question "Cedar Point or Kings Island?" when considering a trip to the area. 

So, if there is any sort of idea of "we mustn't compete with the flagship park" within Cedar Fair, I don't think it is warranted. The coaster offerings are diverse enough that even if something big comes to Kings Island, it will draw people to Cedar Point too, not away from it. 

[KIBeast]

I don't think CF added any brakes to The Beast. They were always there, but replaced with magnetic brakes.

[silver2005]

^And even then, the brakes were replaced from the skids to the magnetic brakes through Paramount, not CF.  The Beast had an accident in the station due to wet skid brakes in 2003 and had them replaced the following off-season.  

[Kenban]

Magnetic trims grab a little harder at the start so they are more obvious.  But on The Beast the trims are in the same locations they have been since the ride opened.

I should add maintenance does fine tune the trims throughout the year based on average temperature.  The train naturally goes slower in colder weather so they remove one or two of the fins to keep the train speed up in the spring and the fall.  One of the easiest ways to tell how fast your train is going compared to other times you ride is to see how far up the second lift hill your train makes it before it catches.

[medford]

Cedar Fair, and apparently every other North American park over the last handful of years agrees, that it prefers that its attractions open up on time, with limited downtime and few redesigns.  As others have pointed out, there was the redesign on Maverick and re-profiling of I-305.  There are the constant maintenance issues on Dragster, there was the constant delays on Falcon's Fury, the discovery that both Kingda Ka and their new Drop Tower couldn't be launched on the same time at NJFTP (which for those unaware use the same support structure), there is the boat flip and numerous othe rissues that have crept up with Intamin designs and installations over the last handful of years.  There is a reason major (and minor) parks in the US have been turning to other companies (skyrush in 2012 was the last major coaster install in the US that they handled on their own, though I think they helped out on a few disney style rides).

The average park guest neither knows, nor cares who manufactures and designs a particular ride, they only care that its both fun, and open for operation on their once a year trip (or perhaps once a lifetime trip).  I consider myself a fairly average amusement park attendee in that I've been to KI, my local park, a bunch of times over my lifetime, been to the Point 3 or 4 times, I've ventured out to a Valley Fair (a park a good distance away) once, and been to a couple of the florida parks (Disney and Busch) a few times spread out over the coarse of my lifetime.  Most guests will never ride both Fury and Diamondback, most guests will never attend both parks.  I'm probably in the 1% (or less) of the population that has ridden Wild Thing (Valley Fair), Magnum XL and Diamondback, three hypers, built by 3 different manufacturers, build over different time frames.  If/When KI gets their giga, it will challenge and likely exceed Fury's stats, and will therefor top Millenium Force's height, speed, drop, etc... stats.  That may or may not make it a better experience, but CF is not worried about KI topping Cedar Point with a Giga Install, just as Cedar Fair didn't care that Banshee was a better coaster than Raptor.

[King Ding Dong]

Tagging off what Magenta said I don't think a Giga or any single coaster would draw me to KI over CP more often at least long term.   Weather permitting we generally alternate between the two.   RMC Streak may draw us to CP slightly more next season because it is new but probably just for the one season.   

In my book the lack of attention to food service and drink refill stations, especially early season, are what hurts KI more than perceived lack of thrills.  

[Airi]

A little off the current topic, but I've been wondering recently what the possibility is of another park getting a giga before Kings Island? Cedar Fair doesn't seem to be in any rush to give Kings Island a giga and with the additions of gigas going to other parks before us, it leaves the option of another park in the chain getting a giga coaster besides Kings Island. It could be more beneficial to give a giga to a more mediocre park in the chain to give it more appeal to the public. Kings Island already draws in a lot of people, so maybe a giga could be way down the line when it comes to coasters because the park really doesn't need it to attract people. I feel like a giga is inevitable, but as to when it will come to Kings Island is more of a toss up in my opinion. Just a thought though. 

[silver2005]

Here's proof that the brakes are in the same spot.

 

[KIBeast]

2 hours ago, Airi said:

A little off the current topic, but I've been wondering recently what the possibility is of another park getting a giga before Kings Island? Cedar Fair doesn't seem to be in any rush to give Kings Island a giga and with the additions of gigas going to other parks before us, it leaves the option of another park in the chain getting a giga coaster besides Kings Island. It could be more beneficial to give a giga to a more mediocre park in the chain to give it more appeal to the public. Kings Island already draws in a lot of people, so maybe a giga could be way down the line when it comes to coasters because the park really doesn't need it to attract people. I feel like a giga is inevitable, but as to when it will come to Kings Island is more of a toss up in my opinion. Just a thought though. 

Puts me in a mindset of maybe Great America getting something like a giga. I would consider it a smaller park in the chain. I get what you are saying though.