I’m predicting a Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster similar to Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City to be a worthy Volcano replacement in my opinion.
Ideal and Likely Volcano Replacement Ideas
- Thread starter CoasterAuditor
- Start date
Ok so I've had a new idea:
I still like the thought of a wing coaster, but didn't like how they used half of Volcano's lot for it. Mostly because it was laid out in a way that made the remainder of the plot useless. But what if they did a more expanded layout of a wing coaster using the old Dinosaurs Alive plot? That would be an interesting fit.
THEN
Given FoF's recent issues, they take that out. And back near where FoF's current main event building is housed is a station, and Kings Dominion gets the Beast woodie equivalent that they never got when Kings Island got Beast. Lift along I-305, hyper-woodie through GG who would be more willing to use a steel structure for the lift and drop, and then let it race back into the former safari area behind I-305 and the water park. This allows the park to put in a flat package between this new "cousin of Beast" (heck I would even be for a second lift as a nod to the OG Beast) and Avalanche. Over time the coaster count doesn't change significantly but the functionality of the park in terms of the balance of coasters and flats becomes much improved.
I still like the thought of a wing coaster, but didn't like how they used half of Volcano's lot for it. Mostly because it was laid out in a way that made the remainder of the plot useless. But what if they did a more expanded layout of a wing coaster using the old Dinosaurs Alive plot? That would be an interesting fit.
THEN
Given FoF's recent issues, they take that out. And back near where FoF's current main event building is housed is a station, and Kings Dominion gets the Beast woodie equivalent that they never got when Kings Island got Beast. Lift along I-305, hyper-woodie through GG who would be more willing to use a steel structure for the lift and drop, and then let it race back into the former safari area behind I-305 and the water park. This allows the park to put in a flat package between this new "cousin of Beast" (heck I would even be for a second lift as a nod to the OG Beast) and Avalanche. Over time the coaster count doesn't change significantly but the functionality of the park in terms of the balance of coasters and flats becomes much improved.
But then FoF would have to be removed... Which would make the recent track work a waste of money/effort/time.
I will designate this with it's just my opinion, but once you start doing partial track replacements on a steel coaster it's just a matter of time.
I'm not sure. But it's not like retracking a wood coaster for sure. When you go about replacing track by welding in new parts to it, it's not a good thing because that's the start of continually replacing parts of the track. To me it would signify that there's real stress on parts of the ride that cause that damage, and you can't get rid of those stresses. Maybe they did a great job, and they welded in some other bracing to help it out, which would make it last longer.
Well neither ride is LNM and have definite service lives so it's possible they could both be gone sooner than later. And with CF's general desire to remove and replace problematic attractions from previous owners, who knows what will happen and when.
Not to bring the topic off track, but I have a brief bit of information about this. Anaconda might be the only steel coaster I know where the track gauge changes throughout its course. Its most recent track work was narrowing the rails in some turns to prevent chassis and wheel damage as well as preventing track damage. This also somewhat improves the ride experience. Not many people notice how the trains don't bounce around in the butterfly element or the drop as much. That could just be because the track design is just complete crap anyways.
A ride type that’s been in my mind for a volcano replacement would be a modern vekoma looper. It would be a first for the US
Vekoma FLY type would be nice but unlikely
I'd love for something like this to replace Anaconda over Lake Charles eventually.
If they could reuse the tunnel under the lake if and when that ride is removed, that'd be cool. My guess probably not though since it's probably too small and/or too old to make significant modifications to.
But I really like the idea of something with a good amount of near-misses on the Volcano plot, and a face-first flying model would be ideal for those kinds of elements.
I would love for the American chains to start a dialogue with Vekoma since they modernized their rides.
The complaint I have heard about Vekoma is that their operator panels are extremely difficult to work with in regards to solving faults.
At first I was optimistic; but after all that's been happening; I'm not sure we will see a Volcano replacement for a long time. Unless someone can confirm that Cedar Fair has already signed a deal with a manufacture for a big coaster addition; I can't say we will even see a replacement before the year 2024. The current coaster that is waiting to be installed; has been delayed due to the ongoing world crisis. If I'm correct it would have opened for the upcoming 2021 season? Correct me if I'm wrong.
I mentioned this before; but the goal in adding a Volcano replacement needs to be finding something unique and rare that you can't find anywhere else in the mid-Atlantic region. Volcano was a special attraction. Remember; the history of the mountain structure. It went through a lot of phases throughout KD's history. It would sit dormant, until Paramount's purchased the park and years later; someone in corporate probably looked at the mountain structure and thought of Volcano. Without the mountain, Volcano would have probably never been built. Just think about it. If Smurf Mountain wasn't there, do you think someone would have just randomly thought to build an artificial front facing mountain and with a track course that circles it?
This is one of the very reasons I was a little upset that the company ordered for the mountain to be knocked down. Why not just leave it up until a ride manufacture thinks of an innovative way to use it again. This was discussed earlier on this year; but Cedar Fair could have called S&S to install their axis coaster around the mountain. The prototype that was being tested features a launch; which would have easily attracted all the Volcano lovers.
I mentioned this before; but the goal in adding a Volcano replacement needs to be finding something unique and rare that you can't find anywhere else in the mid-Atlantic region. Volcano was a special attraction. Remember; the history of the mountain structure. It went through a lot of phases throughout KD's history. It would sit dormant, until Paramount's purchased the park and years later; someone in corporate probably looked at the mountain structure and thought of Volcano. Without the mountain, Volcano would have probably never been built. Just think about it. If Smurf Mountain wasn't there, do you think someone would have just randomly thought to build an artificial front facing mountain and with a track course that circles it?
This is one of the very reasons I was a little upset that the company ordered for the mountain to be knocked down. Why not just leave it up until a ride manufacture thinks of an innovative way to use it again. This was discussed earlier on this year; but Cedar Fair could have called S&S to install their axis coaster around the mountain. The prototype that was being tested features a launch; which would have easily attracted all the Volcano lovers.
The flaw with that is the mountain itself was falling apart and even with a refurb in progress it wasn't apparently getting fixed up well enough. Couple the expense of that fix with the fact that it'd have been prohibitively expensive to remove the ride but leave all of the holes in the mountain it required, and it's clear why the mountain was torn up with the removal of Volcano.
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My gut on the Volcano replacement is it will be a Mack launcher. So I guess that's my call for what comes to the Volcano land. Would be an excellent replacement and response to BGW being aggressive (should they even choose to respond to that), the rumors CF wants to build another one at CGA encourages my intuition on this one. People can complain about the soft launches of Mack coasters if they want but Copperhead Strike has an incredible layout and I loved it. I really wish Sweden was a feasible trip anytime soon to go get about 100 laps on Helix. Other options for what I see CF doing with that land would be an infinity coaster or a looping B&M of some kind but it's just screaming Mack launcher to me based on trends.
KD does not have a major land hugging coaster. With a launch coaster, you have the option for most of the track being 20 to 60 feet in elevation with maybe one or two places having an elevation of 100 to 120 feet. Having quick directional transitions (up/down - left/right - combinations) for pops of air time. Maybe throw in 2-3 non-traditional inversions for good measure. Whatever coaster KD ends up with, in the next 2-4 years, is going to have milder rider tolerances than I-305. I think CF/KD learned their lesson with extreme coasters like I-305.
They don't exactly have much land to hug though either...