Also, GateKeeper's actual ride area isn't that large at all (around 3 acres). Kings Dominion has AT LEAST 6 acres or so to work with on the Volcano site and the surrounding areas without needing to touch Avalanche. If Volcano's replacement is fairly small, it's a decision by Cedar Fair for it to be fairly small. Their hand won't have been forced by the dimensions of the site.
Project 2022: Tumbili, Reptilian, Arachnidia, & Jungle X-Pedition
- Thread starter mtorange
- Start date
I agree with TerrainHuggr that if they take down trees at DA that would ruin Grizzly (which I also love), so if they do put anything there they need to really minimize the amount of trees they take down.
Not sure how people still feel about water rides; but what if they installed a Haunted River style of ride. I'd like to see what they could do with the technology in this day and time.
I'm good with the flume. I don't need any more water rides (other than water park rides, where I'm in a bathing suit), especially if they get you more wet then that. My tolerance for wet clothes is limited.
Given that we know there are 1000 attraction possibilities for the volcano site at this time; *** IF *** the attraction ends up being a coaster, why do so many folks think the coaster has to cover just the land that volcano took up? I see the possibility for an outbound/inbound section of track to go over the FOF launch/brake tunnel and use up some of the land behind I-305. Hell, there is enough land to the east of I-305 to build another I-305 with land to spare.
Keep in mind we still don't know what, if anything, will happen to the volcano site. It could very well sit dormant for 2021. Again, if no land prep is going on by July 4th weekend, I don't think the 2021 attraction will be a coaster on the volcano site.
Keep in mind we still don't know what, if anything, will happen to the volcano site. It could very well sit dormant for 2021. Again, if no land prep is going on by July 4th weekend, I don't think the 2021 attraction will be a coaster on the volcano site.
The land is pretty much already prepped. I don't think they would need to start anywhere near as soon as you think.
Just for reference, here's B&M's Hot Go wing coaster layout situated between Avalanche and FOF. It's a compact, 6 inversion layout, 118' tall. Easily fits, doesn't need to cross over anything, and leaves a bit of room for a flat or two just for kicks. And this is just plopping down an existing layout I thought might fit in the spot, not custom designing anything. They can do a LOT with the land they have there.
So I was really curious on something so I measured it out to check some things to come up with a really interesting concept for replacement:
An RMC Raptor clone of the two built out already fits like a glove between the end of Avalanche's main lift and FoF's launch/brake tunnel. This also sets back off the original station for Volcano. That also opens almost 70,000 sq ft of space and really makes my concept work better.
It allows a move of The Hungry Hippo off it's current location closer to this "Plaza" that I'm planning out here. Can rebuild a new dining option into this spot.
The Current HH location becomes a spot for a new flat and "transition" spot for a re-theme of the back corner of the park. So I'm splitting Safari Village in half, with the part keeping the current name and theme would be the rebuild Hungry Hippo, RMC Raptor, Avalanche, Scrambler (redo entrance to turn it in towards the new plaza), The Crypt, and 2 new flats. Going even further the redo of Hungry Hippo can be designed as a giant tree (Like AK's Tree Of Life) as a new 'centerpiece' to the redesign of Safari Village.
I know I've been on this for a while, but that back half needs to be redesigned to a theme of Speed or Racing. I would start with a rehab of BLSC to do away with the stunt theme, and theme it to the early roots of NASCAR and moonshine running. I would say stick with just an idea of the speed so that FoF can stick. It just means a rename of Anaconda to something else. Throw in an extra flat, put more of a snack stand in here, and a few games. New themed area.
I really think they could pull this off and make two smaller theme areas. This is a park that put Dominator out there with no themed area (along with Boo-Blasters) so this little shake up can really reinvigorate what I feel is a really tired part of the park.
An RMC Raptor clone of the two built out already fits like a glove between the end of Avalanche's main lift and FoF's launch/brake tunnel. This also sets back off the original station for Volcano. That also opens almost 70,000 sq ft of space and really makes my concept work better.
It allows a move of The Hungry Hippo off it's current location closer to this "Plaza" that I'm planning out here. Can rebuild a new dining option into this spot.
The Current HH location becomes a spot for a new flat and "transition" spot for a re-theme of the back corner of the park. So I'm splitting Safari Village in half, with the part keeping the current name and theme would be the rebuild Hungry Hippo, RMC Raptor, Avalanche, Scrambler (redo entrance to turn it in towards the new plaza), The Crypt, and 2 new flats. Going even further the redo of Hungry Hippo can be designed as a giant tree (Like AK's Tree Of Life) as a new 'centerpiece' to the redesign of Safari Village.
I know I've been on this for a while, but that back half needs to be redesigned to a theme of Speed or Racing. I would start with a rehab of BLSC to do away with the stunt theme, and theme it to the early roots of NASCAR and moonshine running. I would say stick with just an idea of the speed so that FoF can stick. It just means a rename of Anaconda to something else. Throw in an extra flat, put more of a snack stand in here, and a few games. New themed area.
I really think they could pull this off and make two smaller theme areas. This is a park that put Dominator out there with no themed area (along with Boo-Blasters) so this little shake up can really reinvigorate what I feel is a really tired part of the park.
I am going by what KD has done in the past with major "build from scratch" coasters. The park tries its best to have the new coaster operational by opening day. There might be some exceptions like Twisted Timbers where most of the existing footprint/footers were kept "as is". (Though, I would not be surprised if some existing footers had to be recast or reinforced; there could have been new footers added due to the new elements introduced to the ride during the RMC conversion).
From KD's perspective, even Dominator was a "build from Scratch" coaster. Instead of the ride structure coming from the factory, the ride was brought from Geauga Lake park (some pieces of the track were sent back to the factory to be re-worked per recommendations from B&M). The land prep for the ride started in the summer.
We just have different definitions of what "land Prep" means when it comes to a coaster being built. Pushing dirt around with a grader/bulldozer is only part of the land prep. Core samples taken; surveying done and markers put down for the layout; footers dug out; custom concrete forms and associated rebar built; concrete poured; concrete cured. When that is done is when I consider the "Land Prepped" for the installation of the ride structure. (Keep in mind that the footers being built may be staggered due to the order in which the coaster is constructed and the needed access of heavy equipment to those areas).
KD's GM Tony stated in the ACE 2019 Fall Q&A session that any new coaster coming in the future will need to have good capacity and reliability. He pointed to Dominator as the example. So, *IF* a new coaster is going into the Volcano site, then it would need a minimum throughput of 1000 folks per hour (I thought most B&M's can handle 1200 folks per hour) and be reliable. So, I don't see a RMC compact single rail coaster being installed like the one at CGA and at a couple of the SF parks. (Unless, KD makes the coaster a part of a larger expansion with other new attractions added). But, Tony seemed to place a big emphasis on capacity with the next new coaster. I thought the raptor capacity was 700-800 folks per hour.
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Not to really jump on the T-Rex bandwagon, but does anyone believe that could be a possible option if the wing coaster design has already been scrapped? I would think capacity on those would be high enough though it's impossible to predict reliability.
I don't think a T-Rex will ever happen. It has little to offer, if anything, over their hybrids. Maybe possibly it would be cheaper to build, but I'm not even sure of that. It won't provide a different ride experience at all, aside from not having the beautiful wooden structure, which doesn't seem like an improvement. It's not like a Raptor where you are straddling the track. Plus RMC only built a short piece of test track. There's been no moves to do anything with it beyond that, as far as we know.
I'm also not sure a Raptor would be a good choice for KD due to capacity, especially not one of the small clones. But SFGAdv is building a larger Raptor, so maybe they'd do it. I don't know.
I don't think we have very different definitions. The only distinction I would make is that footers are part of ride construction. They are but something done to prep the land for ride construction.
My point is that a lot of that work is already done because they did it while they were tearing down Volcano. I think that things like surveying the land we wouldn't know about it and would probably happen this off-season. But beyond the land is pretty much ready for them to start construction of the footers. This means that they could probably wait until the fall to start because they don't have as much work to do to get the area ready for footer installation.
It can be easy it can be hard. All depends on the ground you are building on. Like building in Florida (sand based) is different than PA (clay based). So sometimes it's going to be a challenge if you ned to drill deeper or wider, if you need bedrock to drill into on some elements.
Or if you encounter large subterranean rocks or other obstructions that weren't known about, I'd guess.
I'm curious if there's a requirement to have archeologists study the land before/during any footer excavations to ensure any significant resources (or undocumented grave sites) are properly handled? Would guess that both KD and BGW could be sitting on top of early American history goldmines...
Archeologists aren't brought in until something is found. Typically you lean on township/city planners, 411 experts, and your own past documents from construction. I would assume because of Volcano that KD and CF know exactly what is under there and what they could encounter.
If they really want to know what they could expect there's a couple ways from least intrusive to most:
1 - Subterrainian sonar imaging. I've used this a few times and it's really really awesome to use. Not only can you see something, but you know it's shape, and it's a 'dish' that you can put on the back of a hand truck and pull it along. Downside is, this is also the most expensive option.
2 - Core Samples. Dig holes on a preset grid, and using how deep and the pressure required, along with what you pull, you know what's down there. The downside is it's not all that accurate, but it's cheap and you can target exactly where footers will go.
3 - Echolocationing. This one is the most fun. Set up a grid of dynamite, blow them up one by one, and use the echo of the waves coming back to you to map the location of anything. Downside....its loud and has the potential for physical harm and property damage. It is live explosives.
Well the land clearing for the Lost World Mountain started in late May / early June of 1977. If there were any rules relating to archeology studies being completed before actual construction started, it would have been at that time.
Not sure if anything was done when volcano was being built in 1997-1998. Maybe the launch and turn-around portion at the back of the mountain?
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There is quite a bit of engineering involved with the construction of footers for coasters. They have to be at the right elevation; level; oriented correctly; right size/shape for weight and forces excerted on them; the connector bolts placed correctly. Failure of any of the above could cause a delay in construction or eventual bad structural integrity or outright ride failure. So yes I think there is more to it than digging a hole and dumping concrete and rebar in it.
This would be a recipe for disaster...
But rumors are swirling (multiple sources) saying that Kings Dominion's 2021 project has changed dramatically since we last saw that B&M Wing coaster concept being worked on. ?
But rumors are swirling (multiple sources) saying that Kings Dominion's 2021 project has changed dramatically since we last saw that B&M Wing coaster concept being worked on. ?