Maybe I’m being picky, but I don’t understand why something like that is seemingly coming so after the fact. Like, I would hope they planned it from the start, but why is it taking so long to come around to happening. And I understand they have a lot going on and departments are likely stressed but without knowing any of the ongoings on the backend, it seems more reactionary to feedback than planned from the start.
Project 2025/Caldera: Rapterra (Launched B&M Wing Coaster)
- Thread starter horsesboy
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We saw the posts for the shade structures at the pass holder preview. So, I don’t think it is fair to assume that they are only installing them in response to complaints.
I wonder if/when they're gonna start having mist come out of the caldera like some people were talking about.
Iron Menace didn't get it's shade structures until like halfway through the season too
This is all fair enough. I’m posting this as someone looking in from afar as to how it looks.
I actually disagree with this statement.
Maybe this is just me and I’m “out of line” saying this - but I don’t like this growing trend of things still being done to queue areas and everything as the ride is open. Like, present the finished product, and open after complete. I feel like items like this still being done as the ride is open looks like you rushed to market rather than doing it right. And (again just me personally) I think excusing it as “at least it got done” or “it’s reasonable to wait for x” to be giving the parks a cop out that allows them to wait.
Yea I agree with you. Finish the ride and move on. Its like nowadays where games are half completed on release
With all the other projects KD has for their 50th I give them a pass this time.
You would rather them delay the opening of the coaster until the shade structures come in? That doesn’t make any sense to me. The coaster itself is what people are buying tickets for. Not the shade structure.
I had not been back to the park since media day, but I was just posting a piece of the site plan that shows more shades were planned. This drawing is mixed in with the memorabilia and theming that is on display in the queue entrance building. I would think this shows it was planned from the beginning.
I'm happy to have gotten a bunch of rides on Rapterra, even without completed shades. It was even a blast without all the sheet metal on the storage building. The ride is great and opened earlier in the season than most major new coasters typically do; the theming is just icing on the cake.
I'm happy to have gotten a bunch of rides on Rapterra, even without completed shades. It was even a blast without all the sheet metal on the storage building. The ride is great and opened earlier in the season than most major new coasters typically do; the theming is just icing on the cake.
Or the project manager leading the queue theme elements could have ensured they were ordered early enough to be ready for opening day.
And waiting another week or two to complete all these things I’m reading about being added? Yea that should isn’t going to kill them.
You have no reason to believe this didn't occur. These covers are likely custom-made and there's a good chance they're imported from abroad. There's a ton of chaos on that front right now.
You’re right I don’t. I can tell you working in an industry highly impacted by import issues (hard to find anything golf related actually manufactured in the US) I can tell you most companies put in massive orders for everything they thought they would need months ago to overstock on everything.
But IMO none of what I said doesn’t make my opinion invalid. From afar, it has the look of an incomplete project when people keep posting stuff about new things being added.
I feel like sometimes it’s fair to ask if all parks would get this same grace.
Yes, they do, all the time.
Obviously I agree that projects should be finished when they open to the public. That said, there are degrees of incompleteness and, in the case of Rapterra, I think these shade canopies are the only thing we know about that has been missing. It seems very obvious to me that delaying Rapterra's opening because the canopies haven't gone in yet would have been absolutely absurd.
Considering they still aren't installed, it's probably reasonable to assume that something notable has gone wrong. In lieu of indications suggesting otherwise, I don't know why we wouldn't give the park the benefit of the doubt here and assume that, like us, they're probably anxiously awaiting the arrival of the canopies too.
Rapterra's timeline was absurdly impressive. Opening new attractions with parks is a tremendously pro-consumer move and I think the park should be applauded for their timeline aggression—missing canopies or not.
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Just to add on, the photo in the queue looks to be pulled directly from the site plan and the photo is dated back from December. So this was always planned; we were even told during media previews that shade was coming. While it will be nice to have right now, I would rather have it running than not and I am sure that is the common sentiment around the community.
I guess this is where my background makes me have the opinion that I do. I’ve learned through family business, my work with my degree, and my current field that you should never count on things to arrive on time so anticipate delays and order early. So it makes me feel differently about the fact it should be done.
OMG….FOR THE RECORD I DIDNT SAY IT SHOULDNT BE OPEN.
All I said is it should have been done and continuing to do work marked it look like an afterthought.
I’ll put this out there: how many people do you think don’t know the site plan, was there pre-shaded, and will go later to see it shaded and think they did it as a reaction to feedback?
We have no reason to believe that they didn't ship with tons of time to spare but it was found that there was a quality/design deficiency and/or they received the wrong ones and/or they were in a shipping container that fell off the boat and/or any number of other issues.
There's just a long list of possible, totally-out-of-KD's-control, reasonable explanations here.
But, like, why does that matter? The number of normal guests who will see the canopies go up when they do and think "Yikes, what sloppy logistics." or "Wow, they really didn't foresee the need for shade and then they had to add these later? Embarrassing." is practically non-existent. Even if we were to assume otherwise though—even if 50% of guests would be thinking these things—I don't understand why it matters and why it would or should have changed any decision KD made here.
I would also add that the lay offs at the beginning of the year and other things that occurred at a corporate level an outside of the park's control have added to the craziness going on. If you look closely you can at least as of two weeks ago find Winterfest lights that are still up in places as just one example.
Another data point about the covers: Pantherian’s queue still has the black-and-white I305 covers installed, even though everything else is brown and we saw during the off-season that the covers had been removed. I think that’s a strong indication that whatever replacement covers they ordered (probably from the same vendor as Rapterra’s) were delayed, so they put the old covers up in the meantime (before they found out Pantherian’s opening would be delayed).
My .02 is that shade structure didn't need to be a priority at opening. If they are installing this without disturbing guests. WHO CARES. When I'm there late June, I'll enjoy the shade I hope, but to the average guest this is something that would never be noticed until the summer days. Kings dominion met and exceeded the minimal viable product unlike BGW with Pantheon IMO.
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