Anaconda
- Thread starter I305Evan
- Start date
They do, but the implication is the expectation that the track would provide the braking instead of the train... Which in the case of a locomotive is just silly.
No place to put it later in the ride, save for placing the figure 8 of death immediately after the first two inversions to make room for it just before the corkscrews. That pacing would have been even worse, and I cannot imagine the discomfort of the ride's middle third if it lacked a block brake to bleed off virtually all speed just before dropping into it. Sweet merciful jebus. Even Arrow probably appreciated the non-negotiable necessity of entering that mess at almost a dead stop.
All of which is to say the ride should have had a very substantially different layout. Dropping the obscure and controversial takes in here!
That's really the point I wanted to imply. Of course I know the MCBR wouldn't be feasible later in the ride with the current layout elements, but I still think its placement is eyebrow raising. I think something they could've done was leave most of the latter half of the ride as is, but add more layout between the sidewinder and the MCBR. Not sure what elements they could use in this extension but it might be a good way for the train to burn off most of its momentum properly before reaching the MCBR. Regardless, I too think Anaconda should've had a different layout save for the underwater tunnel and succeeding inversions. Everything after the sidewinder until the corkscrews appears tacky IMO, it doesn't remind me of a traditional Arrow looper.
I'm still curious how much longer KD will hold onto this one.
With the new 4D FreeSpin coming but a giant hole from Volcano, they could really go full-throttle on redoing that entire side of the park including figuring out how to not make both areas feel like a dead end... And re-unify the theming with the removal of Anaconda.
Edit: I'm conflicted in writing that because it's one of the last Arrows still running as more and more are demolished. However, I think Nessie is a much better ride and should carry that torch for as long as it can.
With the new 4D FreeSpin coming but a giant hole from Volcano, they could really go full-throttle on redoing that entire side of the park including figuring out how to not make both areas feel like a dead end... And re-unify the theming with the removal of Anaconda.
Edit: I'm conflicted in writing that because it's one of the last Arrows still running as more and more are demolished. However, I think Nessie is a much better ride and should carry that torch for as long as it can.
Last edited:
Agreed. It really makes no sense for that ride system to follow a wacky figure-eight that by virtue of Arrow's limited methods had to be built out of janky approximations to complex curves. They must have known it would be virtually impossible to make that entire section a comfortable experience.
Perhaps there were some constraints, budget or otherwise, that forced a compromise vs. what they really would have wanted to build.
Repeating a story here, but when Anaconda first went in I assumed it must be made by some company other than Arrow, due to precisely that stretch of the ride. I didn't know the name Vekoma then, but I knew about Arrow, and I knew someone who wasn't Arrow was installing boomerang rides using what appeared to be the same track and trains. I just figured whoever those people were, they must have built the weird Anaconda layout too.
Oops.
Don't be conflicted. It deserves to die.
If they take out Anaconda's station along with the ride, they could really open up the pathway to I305 and Flight of Fear. This would help make I305 be part of that area within a big plaza instead of being way at the end of a walkway.
They had to cut a chunk out of a support due to how janky the figure 8 in the layout is.
I get the feeling the layout was redone at some point later on in the development cycle of the ride and any form of nuance was thrown clean out the window.
I get the feeling the layout was redone at some point later on in the development cycle of the ride and any form of nuance was thrown clean out the window.
If they were to remove the figure 8, insert another element (maybe just a helix since the figure 8's entrance and exit more or less line up) and continued to use the MCBR as a trim I think it'd immensely more enjoyable.
However, I think any adjustments like that nowadays would be prohibitively expensive, especially for a ride as old and as relatively unpopular.
I think if the park is required to have capacity restrictions for the next few operating seasons to where Anaconda isn't needed help spread out lines, they could go through with removing it and undergoing a large renovation to that side of the park. Except it's just as likely CF wouldn't be interested in spending that kind of money on KD unless it was smaller amounts over several years.
However, I think any adjustments like that nowadays would be prohibitively expensive, especially for a ride as old and as relatively unpopular.
I think if the park is required to have capacity restrictions for the next few operating seasons to where Anaconda isn't needed help spread out lines, they could go through with removing it and undergoing a large renovation to that side of the park. Except it's just as likely CF wouldn't be interested in spending that kind of money on KD unless it was smaller amounts over several years.
I've been wrong before, but I don't think we'll be seeing a new coaster over Lake Charles any time soon. Either they'll operate Anaconda for as long as they possibly can, or they'll remove and not replace it once Volcano gets replaced (if not sooner).
If the park decided to remove Anaconda without replacing it, the good thing is that its removal wouldn't cause an eyesore. Unlike most rides, removing Anaconda wouldn't just leave behind an ugly plot of dirt; with the ride gone, it would still leave behind a nice little lake.
All they'd have to do is landscape the shorelines a bit, invest a few thousand dollars into a nice fountain for the middle of the lake, spruce up the little patio by Chicken Shack that overlooks the water, and maybe plop some coin-operated RC boats into the water. Boom, they have a beautiful water feature, and it's like a ride was never there.
If the park decided to remove Anaconda without replacing it, the good thing is that its removal wouldn't cause an eyesore. Unlike most rides, removing Anaconda wouldn't just leave behind an ugly plot of dirt; with the ride gone, it would still leave behind a nice little lake.
All they'd have to do is landscape the shorelines a bit, invest a few thousand dollars into a nice fountain for the middle of the lake, spruce up the little patio by Chicken Shack that overlooks the water, and maybe plop some coin-operated RC boats into the water. Boom, they have a beautiful water feature, and it's like a ride was never there.
Or, they are left with nothing more than a massive mosquito nursery.
Eh, not any more than is already there unless they somehow make it worse. I don't think there's currently anything recirculating the Lake Charles water.
A nice, big fountain to circulate the water and gallons upon gallons of mosquito repellent should take care of that problem.
I think KD should add a lot of bat boxes to handle mosquitoes.
Whenever KD decides to remove Anaconda, they could have two decent options at play here: build another coaster over the lake that surpasses Anaconda’s quality (not hard to do tbh), or they could remove the coaster and never build another ride on the lake. Instead, they could restore the lake to partially resemble what it looked like in the old days.
I think what occurs by Volcano in regards to new rides and area development will likely directly play a role in both Anaconda’s shelf life and what will happen to the lake and its surrounding land.
I think what occurs by Volcano in regards to new rides and area development will likely directly play a role in both Anaconda’s shelf life and what will happen to the lake and its surrounding land.
So apparently today Anaconda turned 30 years old via the KD Instagram account:
Yet in most of the comments are people trashing the ride.
Yet in most of the comments are people trashing the ride.
Happy 30th to this old clunker! I will forever defend you as a good ride.