New B&M coming to BGT

[SonofBaconator]

Phoenix Rising

Quote

Riders will feel the rush of the wind and thrill of the flight in this suspended roller coaster that enables ride cars and riders to swing side to side as the train races along the track high above the Serengeti Plain

The ride will also feature onboard audio.

[WoodVengeance]

I find it interesting that the Seaworld chain is acting as a guinea pig of sorts for new B&M models. First, it was the Surf Coaster and the Family Launch Coaster for SWO. Now they're adding a Family Invert at BGT with new swinging trains.

[PKIDelirium]

I wonder if the swinging part is unclear wording? The render image looks exactly like the stock Family Invert train.

[johnjniehaus]

Is it just me or does it seem like sea world installs coasters that are very similar to what they already have at a given park? By that I mean building family coasters at parks they already have family coasters at and building thrill coasters where they need a good family coaster... While I think this new addition for BGT will be a good ride, it makes me wonder why they didn't go with someone other than B&M seeing as half their coasters at BGT are B&M and they already have a thrill coaster invert...

[PKIDelirium]

Different manufacturers but KI has a suspended swinging, inverted boomerang, family invert, and full scale B&M invert. So, your point? We also have a high thrill launch coaster and a more family launch coaster by the same manufacturer.

[TombRaiderFTW]

31 minutes ago, PKIDelirium said:

I wonder if the swinging part is unclear wording? The render image looks exactly like the stock Family Invert train.

I had similar thoughts. My bet is that this is just coincidental wording and it will just be a typical family invert.

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, PKIDelirium said:

I wonder if the swinging part is unclear wording? The render image looks exactly like the stock Family Invert train.

 

59 minutes ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

I had similar thoughts. My bet is that this is just coincidental wording and it will just be a typical family invert.

They could be referring to the layout as it does look like banks a lot to the left and right.

[Orion742]

11 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

 

They could be referring to the layout as it does look like banks a lot to the left and right.

It honestly could go either way we’ll have to see when an animation is posted or when the ride opens next year. There is an argument for both sides. The photo really doesn’t show any swinging but the park also stated that you will swing side to side as you go through the layout. The other thing is the trains don’t look the same as the ones on B&M’s family invert their website. Those offer vest restraints these seem to be lapbars.

[Kenban]

9 hours ago, Orion742 said:

The other thing is the trains don’t look the same as the ones on B&M’s family invert their website. Those offer vest restraints these seem to be lapbars.

You might want to take another look at the website, the existing family inverts don’t have vests.  The restraints look like the vest restraints, just with only the lap bar, and the metal hoop, but there is no vest.

I am pretty sure this will be the standard family invert trains with speakers added for an onboard sound system.  On those trains the seats are rigidly mounted to the train and they do not sway.

[SonofBaconator]

Just now, Kenban said:

I am pretty sure this will be the standard family invert trains with speakers added for an onboard sound system.  On those trains the seats are rigidly mounted to the train and they do not sway.

Plus it would be pretty difficult to incorporate onboard onto a train that’s already swaying

[Orion742]

51 minutes ago, Kenban said:

You might want to take another look at the website, the existing family inverts don’t have vests.  The restraints look like the vest restraints, just with only the lap bar, and the metal hoop, but there is no vest.

I am pretty sure this will be the standard family invert trains with speakers added for an onboard sound system.  On those trains the seats are rigidly mounted to the train and they do not sway.

I did not see that there is no vests! You are right, thank you for correcting me.

[DispatchMaster]

On 10/2/2023 at 9:56 PM, johnjniehaus said:

While I think this new addition for BGT will be a good ride, it makes me wonder why they didn't go with someone other than B&M

B&M provides very high quality, albeit expensive, high capacity machines that are broadly popular. More parks would do well to spend the extra money to go with B&M.

[johnjniehaus]

12 hours ago, DispatchMaster said:

B&M provides very high quality, albeit expensive, high capacity machines that are broadly popular. More parks would do well to spend the extra money to go with B&M

Very true. I guess BGT can afford B&M too as much as they charge to get in down there. 

[SonofBaconator]

What surprises me is that Williamsburg hasn’t gotten a B&M since ‘07 as they’re direct competitors with Kings Dominion. I wonder why Sea World Entertainment didn’t throw them a wing coaster sometime during the 2010s.

[jzarley]

On 10/2/2023 at 7:04 PM, WoodVengeance said:

I find it interesting that the Seaworld chain is acting as a guinea pig of sorts for new B&M models. First, it was the Surf Coaster and the Family Launch Coaster for SWO. Now they're adding a Family Invert at BGT with new swinging trains.

I guess in some ways that experimentation between SEAS and B&M goes all the way back to the early 90s and Kumba 

[WoodVengeance]

3 hours ago, jzarley said:

I guess in some ways that experimentation between SEAS and B&M goes all the way back to the early 90s and Kumba 

Also, they were one of the first to open a B&M Hyper with Apollo's Chariot.

[Orion742]

14 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

What surprises me is that Williamsburg hasn’t gotten a B&M since ‘07 as they’re direct competitors with Kings Dominion. I wonder why Sea World Entertainment didn’t throw them a wing coaster sometime during the 2010s.

Maybe because they already have 3 B&M’s lol.

[WoodVengeance]

2 minutes ago, Orion742 said:

Maybe because they already have 3 B&M’s lol.

True, but that didn't stop SWO from adding 5.

[TombRaiderFTW]

14 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

What surprises me is that Williamsburg hasn’t gotten a B&M since ‘07 as they’re direct competitors with Kings Dominion. I wonder why Sea World Entertainment didn’t throw them a wing coaster sometime during the 2010s.

Because SEAS in the 2010s was trying to pretend the Blackfish backlash would just blow over without a meaningful response on their part, and it was doing a lot of damage to their bottom line in the meantime.

[jzarley]

On 10/5/2023 at 1:13 PM, TombRaiderFTW said:

Because SEAS in the 2010s was trying to pretend the Blackfish backlash would just blow over without a meaningful response on their part, and it was doing a lot of damage to their bottom line in the meantime.

Yeah, and that’s a long & complicated story. Having worked at SEAS corporate during the tail end of the Blackfish negativity and the beginning of the turnaround, I can say that it was a challenging environment on the inside. (Interestingly, the turnaround was just as complicated—but for entirely different reasons.). I’ve long thought that the situation was worsened by compounding events—the spinoff from AB and the explosion of social media. I really think if AB would have still owned SeaWorld during the Blackfish controversy, the response would have been handled very differently, but the company had just spun off and for the first time was a stand-alone corporation.

I also think on the inside there was this incredulousness that anyone could ever believe that SeaWorld would ever do anything that harmed animals—it was such an anathema to the DNA of the organization that they just couldn’t accept that anyone would ever believe it. Of course, that was an incorrect assumption…

[silver2005]

SEAS building all these coasters recently reeks of the way SIX overbuilt in the early 2000s, and not in a good way.  

[SonofBaconator]

42 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

SEAS building all these coasters recently reeks of the way SIX overbuilt in the early 2000s, and not in a good way.  

I’m not saying there’s direct correlation but Brightline (Florida’s newest passenger service from Miami) expanded to Orlando with plans to expand to Tampa, so it’s possible that SEAS sees a potential opportunity there but I digress. With SEAS trying to build a new identity, I could see them continue to want to invest in parks- especially the ones in tourist heavy Florida.

[TombRaiderFTW]

1 hour ago, silver2005 said:

SEAS building all these coasters recently reeks of the way SIX overbuilt in the early 2000s, and not in a good way.  

I disagree. I think this expansion is 10 years overdue. The SeaWorld parks especially need to shift towards being more theme park than zoo/aquarium--their goodwill with the public as a zoo/aquarium is tarnished, and whether or not they can reclaim that goodwill is a moot point now. And they're dragging the Busch parks down with them.

They're doing this one year at a time, not attempting to radically change from one extreme to another overnight (see: Six Flags Ohio in 2000.) SEAS is being aggressive, for sure, but there is at least SOME time to gauge between additions if things are going to plan. Adding 4 coasters to one park in a year did not provide that for early 2000's SIX.