Another boring year?

[beck2003]

Ok, 2004 for me, don't know about the rest of you, was just a boring year for coasters and theme parks...nothing extrodinary, nothing innovative, it's almost like they have run out of ideas...seems so cause this year the trend has stayed strong. Kingda Ka, maybe a record breaker, but not by a landslide...thats nothing to look forward to...and the wild mouse family is still growing strong. Is no one else seeing this? Everytime i see some roller coaster special on t.v. they say that the masses are always wanting new ideas, new extremes. Well i guess we havent been demanding as much cause we sure arent getting anything captivating. Is this not affecting attendance in anyway? Does anyone know the numbers out of curiosity? I think the age of rocket coasters needs to end, it was fun, but now it's just getting boring. Dont let me down theme parks of the world!...well at least in America ;-) Since it looks like another lousy year for theme parks, maybe i'll luck out and have 2 years worth of great concerts instead! (that was my alternative to theme parks for last year....had some great memories...GO PIXIES!)

[SFA PKD Fan]

I think the reason why we're not seeing as many new & exciting rides lately is due to SF's money situation.....if they were doing better than I'm sure more parks would be adding many more coasters than just the one or two per year that we've seen since the 2002 season.

Now of course Paramount & CF also add rides to their parks(just not the big thrillers lately)but SF being the largest theme park chain they provided the majority of the coasters back when they had the money to do so.

[beck2003]

i guess i can see that, but is Six Flags really to blame? Six Flags does not come up with all the concepts for new coaster designs.

[alpengeist04]

Well, hopefully the 4-D coaster in Japan is a success. If it's a success then we will see a few pop up in the next couple years.;)

[SFA PKD Fan]

^^That may be true but SF is the major buyer(or at least was up until recently) as far as coasters per year because they've got more parks in which to put them.


The 4-D going to Japan won't happen til 06 & of course even if it is successful with the new rotaional engineering design that they plan to use it doesn't really mean that more parks in the US will pick it up,most US parks are pretty wary of designs that initially prove to be mechanical nightmares.

Why do you think vekoma never managed to sell another GIB or flying dutchman in the US after the problems SF has had & continues to have with the ones they recieved in 2001?

[Squid2]

Um... PKD fan, are you referring to Deja Vu? If so, you are aware that Vekoma has sold more models than just the 3 Deja Vus? Stunt Fall at Warner Brothers Movie World in Madrid opened in 2002. Of course, that's the last one they opened... so their rep has spread. They're called Giant Inverted Boomerangs, btw.

Squid2

[SFA PKD Fan]

Look at my post where I stated clearly that vekoma hasn't managed to sell another GIB or flying dutchman coaster in the US,I'm well aware of the one at WBMW Madrid because ike many others at the time I followed the parks construction via the web in the late fall of 01/early spring of 02.

Interestingly enough WBMW Madrid has had little to no trouble keeping theirs operational while SF has had problems from day one with Deja vu.

[Squid2]

PKD, I'm sorry... I missed the part about the US. You're quite right, they never managed to sell another one in the U.S.A. It would be nice to see another one in the States to see whether they can make it work!

I know that the SFoG one has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. This is from the 2004 ride engineers who worked on the ride. They said that they were planning on dismantling it during the offseason this year to make copies of a bunch of the parts in case they need them.

Anyway, sorry about that mistake. I just glossed over US for some reason.

Squid2

[SFA PKD Fan]

How exactly can they make copies of key components of a ride? that's a new one on me.

I wish them the best of luck with DV because it does look to be an exciting ride when it's operational(PKD could use one of these in the future) but at least for now there's always SFA's standard invertigo model to ride which seems to be quite reliable(once they get that replacement part they ordered)& quite exciting as well.

The only thing I don't like about it is during the start & reverse runs when you're being hauled up the first lift,the 55 degree angle is so steep that your entire body weight is on the restraint & I'm always worried about it popping open on me......thank god it's never happened yet although it has on their SLC at least twice already.

[Squid2]

Well, basically they take the gear, wheel, whatever, to their machince shop, take all of the appropriate measurements, (legnth, width, height, outline of object, etc.,) and then manufacture a new piece by using the exact measurements of the original.

Now, I'm not an engineer, but that's the basics of how it's done.

And, yea, that fear of the restraints popping open is one of the reasons I haven't ridden DV.

Squid2

[SFA PKD Fan]

SFOG must be one of the few parks able to produce replacement parts as needed because SFA had to send out an order for a replacement part for Two face......funny thing is that the ride is located adjacent to the maintenance building however.

From what I've heard DV has an additional seatbellt as a back up in case of a restraint failure,Two face doesn't because the seating & restraint system is exactly the same as that found on the SLC.....just the harness & the lap belt that is fastened to the bottom front end of the harness.

[aoshi]

Keep optimistic about 2005 ;)

[momo1tx]

Because of SFA's inability to have a replacement part on hand, I couldn't ride Two Face during the only time I ever plan to visit my home park. (until they get a GOOD new coaster)

[SFA PKD Fan]

^I'm with you there I mean how much longer are we gonna have to go without a new coaster? it's going on 4 seasons now & all we've gotten is an average water ride & even more water attractions for the waterpark are on the way for the upcoming season.


Enough with the water rides! we are about due for a new coaster & please make it a B&M this time,I've had enough of the vekoma's.

[Squid2]

To my understanding, SFoG have to make their own parts, because the company that manufactured the parts went out of business! Therefore, if they want to keep DV up and running, (and they do, it's very popular... when it runs, that is,) they have to make their own parts, for the most part. There are several parts, such as the motors, that they can order from overseas. However, they're extremely expensive, so they only keep one on hand... and the ride needs two to operate. Not to mention that the dang thing keeps getting struck by lightning... one of the major reasons why the ride keeps being shut down.

Squid2

[Harpo]

It is interesting that every announcement for Six Flags additions over the past few weeks has been for water park additions (often being the Tornado funnel slides, which appear to be the next "lazy river" of the water parks -- something that becomes expected of a water park). Other than Kingda Ka, are they doing anything other than water park additions throughout the chain for 2005?

I sort of enjoy water parks (heck, I'm going to Cedar Point's Castaway Bay this weekend!), but they aren't something that will typically draw me to an amusement park. They'll keep me at the park longer once I'm there, but I usually won't go to an amusement park specifically for the water park. There are just too many smaller water park options that are less expensive yet are still fun to visit.

The main reason I'm going to Castaway Bay is for their Master Blaster water coaster -- I've been on ones like that at Schlitterbahn and DelGrosso (back when it was Bland's), and found those to be more fun than the typical water slide. It's something I've wanted to see Cedar Fair add to their water parks, and I'm hoping Castaway Bay's version is just the start.

Anyway, out of curiosity, who here is attracted to visit an amusement park due to an addition to the water park (assuming the water park is included with amusement park admission)? Will you make a special trip for a water park addition? Or are you more like me, where the water park addition might encourage me to use the water park when I visit the amusement park, but I'm going for the amusement park, where the water park is just an added little bonus?

(I do understand why Six Flags is doing so many water park additions -- they are generally much less expensive than adding a new coaster, and Six Flags feels the need to show that they're adding stuff to their parks.)

[beck2003]

uh-oh, i see we've got into Dejavu...as for SFoG here is what i was told, being the Foreman at the ride during the 2003 season.

aparently, when the ride was being installed by vekoma, there was a feud of some sort between six flags and vekoma, which ended up with vekoma packing their bags and leaving their job unfinished. six flags then had to hire local contractors/endingeers ect. to finish the job. this provided a challenge in itself because everything was in dutch, in fact when the attraction finally opened late 2001 all of the controls were labeled in dutch, including the computer moniter. dejavu originally did not have the lap seat belts, they were added after so many complaints of not really feeling safe on the ride. i rode dejavu before they were installed, and i do not remember feeling any different with or without them. anyway, as the story goes, vekoma leaving resulted in a hefty law-suit...i assume six flags one due to their breach of contract, and the following season two very expensive attractions (superman: ultimate flight, and acrophobia) were added, which is kinda rare for a theme park to have 3 major additions in less than a year, especially a park like SFoG.

[SFA PKD Fan]

Acro was added in 01 along with DV,now about the lawsuit:as I recall SF refused to make full payments on the three DV's & the two flyers they added to their parks in 01 & rightly so because to this day they do not operate reliably due to design flaws.

This may explain the single train operation on Batwing ever since it was added in 01,apperantly when it breaks down(& it breaks down constantly) vekoma refuses to supply new parts as readily which has led to the park actually stripping train 3 for parts.....which in turn may explain why train 3 was nowhere to be found on the ride throughout the 04 season.

As for 05 additions I'm hearing that SFNE is adding a mouse,a slingshot & at least one other ride but other than that & KK at SFGRADV it seems the rest are all getting tornado slides or other water related attractions,they could've at least added some flats to go along with these water rides because for me I can really care less about the waterpark expansion being done at SFA when I never go into that section of the park.

If I want to get wet I just go on typhoon sea coaster in skull island or PBR in gotham city,renegade rapids & shipwreck falls are a bit too wet for my liking.