Discontinued/Extinct Coaster Styles

[rlentless]

Which of these discontinued/extinct coaster styles would you like to see come back with modern technology?  Which modern manufacturers is best suited to build a defunct one’s models.  I got this list from 

Airtime Thrills YouTube page but thought it would interesting to see KIC members take on it.  Would any work in The Vortex spot?

• Arrow - Suspended

• Chance Rides - Toboggan

• Intamin - Accelerator                     (Hydraulic Launch) more intense than LSM

• Intamin – Pre-Fabricated Woodie

• Intamin - Space Diver

• Intamin - Suspended Catapult

• Intamin - Swiss Bob

• Intamin - Wing Rider

• Morgan - Hyper Coaster                (Superman)

• Schwarzkopf - Compact Multi Looper

• S&S -     Woodies                            (should they try again??)

• TOGO - Ultra Twister

• TOGO - Looping Mouse

• Zierer - Launch Tower Coaster

 

 

[flightoffear1996]

I would love to this make a return. 

• Intamin - Suspended Catapult

I think there is alot that could be done with model.  

[TombRaiderFTW]

Of the ones on that list, I'll take the Arrow Suspended, the Intamin Accelerator and Suspended Catapult, and the Schwarzkopf looper.

It's funny to me that anyone would want the Chance Toboggan back. Those things are torture devices.

They're not on the list, but I'd add CCI wooden coasters, too. No, S&S and The Gravity Group aren't the same, regardless of staff. I don't mean to be a snob and say that CCI wood coasters and Schwarzkopf looping coasters are where coaster design peaked... but I'd be lying if I said any present-day industry players make rides nowadays that I like quite as much as either of those.

[SonofBaconator]

13 hours ago, rlentless said:

Intamin - Space Diver

I want to see B&M take a crack at this

[Kenban]

10 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I want to see B&M take a crack at this

Except they did.  Intamin subcontracted Space Diver to Giovanola.  Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, who a few years later went on to found B&M, worked at Giovanola as engineers, and they both worked on the ride’s design, and were responsible for the track design.  Space Diver was the first coaster with 4 across seating, and basically used what we now know as B&M box track.

[CorkscrewMcPuke]

Still doubling down on a Virginia Reel for the Coney Mall. I can not be convinced with anything else.

[MDMC01]

A lot of these sound appealing, but I think I'd be most interested to see a revival of Arrow Suspended, Intamin Catapult, and/or Togo Ultra Twister. I have never ridden an Ultra Twister, but I feel like this has the potential to be a really cool ride.

If they really wanted to, they could put seats that flip (up/down, like Slingshot) to intensify the experience. However, I think I'd want to try the regular version first.

[zac2211]

I personally like the idea of a S+S 4D in The Vortex plot, themed to a revival of Vortex. It could have the same color scheme, and would be a strong visual statement with big inversions like Vortex was.

[johnjniehaus]

Arrow Suspended, Togo Ultra Twisted, or Schwarzkopf loopers would be my picks provided they were built as originally intended (no nerfs on restraints, trains, speed, etc). I'm happy to see the Schwarzkopf Wildcat is going back into production. I think they should revive more former coaster models seeing as eventually the existing ones will be rather old or gone the way of the scrap yard. 

[Oldschool75]

Arrow Suspended with inversions

[SonofBaconator]

On 4/1/2023 at 12:03 AM, Kenban said:

Except they did.  Intamin subcontracted Space Diver to Giovanola.  Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, who a few years later went on to found B&M, worked at Giovanola as engineers, and they both worked on the ride’s design, and were responsible for the track design.  Space Diver was the first coaster with 4 across seating, and basically used what we now know as B&M box track.

I mean like a modern version that fixes the flaws of the original ride 

[DiamondBeast]

Am I the only one who wants a modern version of the Virgina Reel? 

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

43 minutes ago, DiamondBeast said:

Am I the only one who wants a modern version of the Virgina Reel? 

Well, technically you can still experience those feeling. 

[DiamondBeast]

7 hours ago, Cedar Fair Fanboy said:

Well, technically you can still experience those feeling. 

Yeah, but it's not the same. You're not in a huge wash tub like car. 

 

On 4/1/2023 at 4:20 AM, CorkscrewMcPuke said:

Still doubling down on a Virginia Reel for the Coney Mall. I can not be convinced with anything else.

Apparently, I'm not the only one. Lol how did I miss this comment? 

[Kenban]

3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I mean like a modern version that fixes the flaws of the original ride 

I know, I just figured I would have some fun with the answer, because it was literally the prototype B&M coaster before B&M existed as it’s own company.

The problem is most of the list in that first post were discontinued for good reasons, and the best of the bunch already have modern equivalents, or is it even really a model at all.  The name space diver came from it being a very compact coaster, and that the train dived over and over again.  The design was basically a copy and paste job, with the same element I believe 6 times in row, and a helix.  The ride was intended to be mass produced and instead ended up having only one built that got moved around before being scrapped.  B&M has the experience to make it totally smooth, but it won’t fix the repetitive layout, and this is not a style of ride it’s one specific layout.

Here’s my thoughts on the rest of the list.
The Arrow suspended coaster was in a way continued by Vekoma.  They redesigned the trains and they don’t sway anywhere near as much.  But that’s the thing, for maintenance reasons, and to extend the life of the ride you really need to not have the huge swing.  Dragonflier at Dollywood is a great modern example.

Chance Ride Toboggan, I think this is the only ride I have ridden where the operator explained before I rode that you have to move your head in a certain way to prevent injury when they yell at you during the ride…. These things are terrible, maybe more fun to look at than ride.

Intamin Accelerator, from a safety perspective it really just needed redesigned.  I understand the desire, and enjoy riding them.  Maybe the best choice on the list to come back, but also unlikely, an LSM requires so much less maintenance.  The S&S air launch is in some ways comparable, it does not appear to be able to reach the same high speeds or launch as heavy of a train but it can be very intense.

Intamin Prefab wooden coasters, from a ride layout perspective they were great.  But the track never held up, and maintenance is expensive.  From talking to wooden coaster designers the problem was how the track was designed and assembled.  The huge metal joints between track segments allowed for easy assembly but also created a lot of problems.  Not sure it’s fixable without moving to a design more like what Gravity Group is doing.  A modern version already exists, it’s already being done by Gravity Group, and both RMC and GCI are making steel track in the style of wood track.

Intamin Suspended Catapult, I take it to mean a launched invert.  Is it discontinued or just renamed and rarely ordered?  Intamin built a new launched invert only a few years ago, Dueling Dragons in China, it’s a dual tracked coaster, one is inverted and one sit down.  Gerstlauer has a launched invert under construction right now and it opens in a few weeks.

Intamin Swiss Bob, bobsleds could come back, I doubt it but it’s possible.  Not many were ever built, Mack rides also built them.  If you want a good newer one maybe check flying turns at Knoebels.

Intamin Wing Rider, maybe someone should tell Intamin?  It’s still listed as a current product, and I am pretty sure they would make it if someone ordered one.

Morgan Hyper coaster, Morgan went out of business, but their successor is Chance rides and while they seem to have very little luck selling anything, just about every coaster company will build a hyper.

Schwarzkopf really did his designs differently, and no one has really built anything similar.  No good answers here.

S&S wooden coaster, not sure it’s worth it, just use GCI, or GG.  Most of them were designed by Alan Schilke, and ran PTC trains.

TOGO Ultra Twister, I have seen one but never ridden one.  They look like a bad idea.  I plan to go back to Nagashima Spa Land, during my last visit it was down for maintenance, maybe I will ride one before they all disappear.

TOGO looping mouse, it’s a wild mouse with a loop.  Plenty of companies build wild mouse coasters, adding a loop should be possible assuming a park is willing to pay.  The trains would need redesigned, and these rides have so low capacity is it worth it?

Zierer Launch Tower Coaster, this refers to a specific element of one ride.  The launch up the top hat on Wicked at Lagoon.  Is it really a model of coaster and is it really discontinued?

[silver2005]

I consider B&M to be Anton Schwarzkopf's direct successor.  They expand on a lot of design lines that Anton started to work with in their track work.  Intamin is, too, but B&M got Anton's reliability down over Intamin. 

Arrow once had a concept for an inverted wild mouse with inversions which they called the ArrowBATic.  It expanded on their suspended coasters' problem of not being able to do inversions, but obviously, B&M beat them to the chase, and overall completely outplayed Arrow in the 90s.  Drachen Fire was kind of that sign as Busch Gardens wanted a pair of B&M's for Tampa and Williamsburg.  B&M, being young at the time, couldn't pull off both and they went to Arrow for Drachen Fire and wanted Arrow to basically design their own version of Kumba, which, failed spectacularly.  X at SFMM was the nail in the coffin for Arrow. 

silver2005, a big fan of the story of Arrow Dynamics. 

[TombRaiderFTW]

39 minutes ago, DiamondBeast said:

Yeah, but it's not the same. You're not in a huge wash tub like car. 

I doubt a modern Virginia Reel could be made with that kind of car. Laws and guidelines concerning restraint design on new installations have come a long way since Virginia Reels last existed, and from what I've seen of them, they basically had no restraints anyway.

[DiamondBeast]

3 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

I doubt a modern Virginia Reel could be made with that kind of car. Laws and guidelines concerning restraint design on new installations have come a long way since Virginia Reels last existed, and from what I've seen of them, they basically had no restraints anyway.

I wonder if this would be doable under todays guidelines. Probably not. 

 

[SonofBaconator]

20 hours ago, Kenban said:

B&M has the experience to make it totally smooth, but it won’t fix the repetitive layout, and this is not a style of ride it’s one specific layout.

I’d personally Flight of Fear it and have it run in the dark so the elements wouldn’t feel as repetitive-which I believe was SF’s intention with it at one point.

[Kenban]

7 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I’d personally Flight of Fear it and have it run in the dark so the elements wouldn’t feel as repetitive-which I believe was SF’s intention with it at one point.

It was part of the ride rotation program, which is often blamed for why it was so rough by the time it made it to Magic Mountain.  When it was still moving around I cannot imagine anyone even considered enclosing it.

At Magic Mountain it was built next to the water park, the problem was it was so loud and disruptive to park guests the park quickly made the ride seasonal and only opened the coaster when the water park was closed.  Which means it would open around October and close in April.  I suspect if any plans to enclose it existed it would be an attempt at quieting the ride enough to operate year round.

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, Kenban said:

At Magic Mountain it was built next to the water park, the problem was it was so loud and disruptive to park guests the park quickly made the ride seasonal and only opened the coaster when the water park was closed.  Which means it would open around October and close in April

Now looking back, I got my source from a YouTube comment in the video below so take that with a grain of salt. Though, it wouldn’t be too far fetched that they would’ve enclosed it to try and remedy the loudness- at least from those who were in the waterpark.
 

 

[rlentless]

Let's put it in the TRTR building.

[SonofBaconator]

28 minutes ago, rlentless said:

Let's put it in the TRTR building.

You’d need a few TRTR buildings to house that

[CorkscrewMcPuke]

14 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

You’d need a few TRTR buildings to house that

Don't give them any ideas.

[TombRaiderFTW]

I love how ominous that looks from that angle.

It's Skyline time... or else.

[DiamondBeast]

I found more on Arrow's version of the Virgina reel! Sucks it didn't make it too far (also that music man)

 

[BeeastFarmer]

^wild mouse meets Der Spinnen Keggers!

(And the music is great!)

[CorkscrewMcPuke]

11 hours ago, DiamondBeast said:

I found more on Arrow's version of the Virgina reel! Sucks it didn't make it too far (also that music man)

 

I was not expecting Dead or Alive, but I was quite happy to have received it.