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CoasterAuditor

Theme parks are cool
Jul 5, 2017
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Let’s get this statement out of the way. I don’t think anything will truly “replace” Volcano for me. It was the best ride at Kings Dominion for a long time before I305 went up in my opinion with its unique premise and how fun it was.

Alright so about that replacement idea:

Me personally I would love a more intense version of Copperhead Strike. I have yet to ride it but it looks very fun and enjoyable and with KD now having only 2 launch coasters in their two premier clones I would love a new more unique launch coaster. I don’t see Cedar Fair going that route with how expensive Copperhead Strike was at $54 million (think I saw this figure a few times) and I don’t currently know how successful it was in its first season at cedar fairs beloved Carowinds (yes I’m still bitter we got Coconut Shores while they got an awesome mat racer for this year don’t judge me).

As for what I expect to replace it, a B&M Wing Coaster. I say that because it was already being considered. I don’t see much of the rest of B&Ms catalogue being considered with a hyper, dive, and invert close by. Flying coaster? I would love love love that idea but I doubt Cedar Fair builds one. Based off the evidence we have currently have and Cedar Fairs track record now with B&M I feel like a B&M Wing Coaster is the front runner.

Anyone else want to chime in for their ideal realistic Volcano replacement and prediction for what will replace it?
 
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It was a good coaster but the coaster itself cannot account for its popularity. The mountain and, to some extent, the wait gave it extra mystique. I thought of ways to re-use the mountain without putting anything "in" it but clearly that ship has sailed now.

An idea I had was a kind of multi-launched mine ride that winds around the scenery. Not entirely unlike Copperhead but less intense and far less expensive, and no inversions. The scenery would be Safari themed, with a combination of big rocks (and crumbling walls?), bushes and small trees that would make most of the coaster not visible from the rest of the park or even itself, and more importantly the rest of the park would not be visible from much of the ride so you feel like you leave it and go somewhere else. It could also have fake animals. Maybe several places where a dark alcove or small cave is created and then a light turns on showing a scary looking attacking animal as you go by, not staying on long enough for you to see it's fake. Also the entire side of the FoF building could be painted or wrapped with matching scenery/colors, with enough real scenery in front to make that work. Think Far Cry 2.

In reality, they may be first adding the 4D coaster, then another coaster in the Dinos Alive location, to defuse expectations before attempting anything in the Volcano location. However I was also thinking about how the 4D coaster could look. A Safari theme could make it look far different than The Joker. The right coaster, maybe even the wing, on the other side could look really good, even without shooting fire periodically. (I used to love it when riding Grizzly and the volcano fire would light up the entire place....)
 
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So the F.L.Y. coaster looks really interesting to me and is extremely unique in the way that Volcano was. So:

What if they did a flying launched coaster, and rather than build a new mountain, they make the area look like the forests of the Congo River basin, and theme it to a bird like the Ospray. I think if you get really cool with this they could get some other rides within this area themed similarly and really make something cool. It replaces something extremely unique with something new and unique and great theme out could make it a worthy replacement.
 
An idea I had was a kind of multi-launched mine ride that winds around the scenery. Not entirely unlike Copperhead but less intense and far less expensive, and no inversions. The scenery would be Safari themed, with a combination of big rocks (and crumbling walls?), bushes and small trees that would make most of the coaster not visible from the rest of the park or even itself, and more importantly the rest of the park would not be visible from much of the ride so you feel like you leave it and go somewhere else. It could also have fake animals. Maybe several places where a dark alcove or small cave is created and then a light turns on showing a scary looking attacking animal as you go by, not staying on long enough for you to see it's fake. Also the entire side of the FoF building could be painted or wrapped with matching scenery/colors, with enough real scenery in front to make that work. Think Far Cry 2.

In reality, they may be first adding the 4D coaster, then another coaster in the Dinos Alive location, to defuse expectations before attempting anything in the Volcano location. However I was also thinking about how the 4D coaster could look. A Safari theme could make it look far different than The Joker. The right coaster, maybe even the wing, on the other side could look really good, even without shooting fire periodically. (I used to love it when riding Grizzly and the volcano fire would light up the entire place....)

Sounds like maybe a safari version of Maverick, which I would be happy with.
 
I think something will eventually replace Volcano, but I do not think it will happen soon.

I think they recognize that the mountain was iconic and do not want to short change it. I expect that they think they are going to wait till they have the funds to do something special, but in the end the funds will not appear. As time passes so will the feeling of intense nostalgia for the mountain and then the expectations will diminish. In the end it will be some cheep clone.
 
In the same boat as @Zimmy, it's going to be a long, long, long while until Volcano's space gets occupied. Especially with Cedar Fair's current investment strategy.

Personally, I would be a fan of a well themed family launch coaster similar to Firechaser Express. Kings Dominion has always performed well when they add family oriented attractions.
 
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Sounds like maybe a safari version of Maverick, which I would be happy with.
Not really what I had in mind. More like a cross between a traditional mine train ride and Backlot (and preferably the length of both combined). With this theme, part of the coaster could be more a siteseeing tour. The purpose of "multi launch" in my concepts is to allow a reversal of the usual coaster pacing which literally goes downhill, without the interruption of multiple lifts. The coaster would be family/kid oriented by starting off very mild and slow with advancing levels of intensity. The last section after the last launch would be the fastest, yes that could go up to 70MPH, but whatever it reaches, need to maintain it longer than Maverick, and have a rolling start.

On the low end of this concept, drive tire tech could be used for the "launches". Potentially, Grover style trains could be used set up to allow larger persons than usual to ride by taking an entire row. Powered coaster type tech could also be used if it allowed the trains to coast between launches. However LIM/LSM tech is also cheaper when less ambitious.
 
So this was a concept I came up with late last year. I kinda left it untouched for a while after the rumors started swirling about a potential B&M wing coaster taking Volcano's spot (which also slowed down). I realized when looking back on it that it might be a little too outgoing for Kings Dominion, but I think the ride concept alone sounds very interesting and clever.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19X89hMGlqUqPxzNGAn2w3wW8VHe8BgcOVqZSn0W16nw/edit?usp=sharing

Psssst, the Doc isn’t public. ?
 
After getting emails about users on this forum attempting to access the file, I decided to convert this to public format.
 

Attachments

  • Replacement for Volcano_ The Blast Coaster.pdf
    152.1 KB · Views: 26
First off, love the presentation. The ride theme, and type all sound amazing. The concept and delivery you've put here all seem like they would boost the park quite a bit on the quality scale. I just don't see Papa Cedar Fair wanting to invest as heavily (or maybe as quickly) as Paramount did.
 
I would love to see some variant of the Lost World come back to the park.

Small flat ride package
Family dark ride
Large scale coaster

Zamperla flat ride package would be killer. Zamperla makes some pretty solid flat rides so maybe have a DiskO and an Endeavor to start out.

Family dark ride themed to a variant of Haunted River/Land of the Dooz could work. Sally built of course so you've got great show scenes with tons of physical sets/screens. Oceaneering would be even better but that'll probably be out of the park's price range at this point.

Large scale coaster could mean Mack multi-launch, Intamin blitz, Gerstlauer Infinity, or Vekoma next-gen. All coaster types that you don't see much of in the mid-Atlantic and all coasters that would fit in KD's lineup and help balance things out a bit.

Since the park's 40th, KD has embraced its history a lot more so Lost World would be more in line with the direction they're trying to go towards.
 
The Lost World: Reclaimed - curious if the park could invoke it's history as a defence?
 
I know this has been brought up before; but I'll just bring it up again. Has anyone really pictured in their minds how cool the new S&S Axis Coasters would be if installed as a Volcano replacement?

When you look at the design, it is easy to picture a crazy twisting track that circles a Volcano structure. It makes you question whether it was a good idea to tear the mountain apart. A new and well themed structure could be installed to incorporate another crazy coaster design. I would only pray, they could construct this without removing FoF. The removal of FoF, would leave a lot of room for this idea; but we would be losing a favorable indoor launch ride that still works. As mentioned before and many did not agree; Avalanche sits to the left of Volcano's land. I mentioned before the possibility of removing Avalanche in favor of his idea; but many disagreed or almost appeared offended when I suggested this. Yes; the park would lose a family ride; but another one could be installed in another spot of the park.

Volcano Replacement

As seen in the video; this could be a fast and fun ride. It's a matter of taking the time to make it work. S&S is designing this track layout to incorporate either a hanging loading design or floor loading design. It gives the park a lot of flexibility when thinking about the station design. For a Volcano replacement I would probably think that the park could use a loading style that similar to the one in the video. As many remember, the second thrust of Volcano that sent the ride up the shoot. This ride design could easily flip the train sending it into the famous suspended thrust up and out the top of the Volcano. I would just hope the ride experience is a lot longer; given the 2 hour wait time that we all dreaded on weekends at KD.
 
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