News Project 2027/Purple: Delayed “World Record Breaking Coaster" (Phantom Spire?)
- Thread starter Zachary
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No, because that would cost like 6x the amount of the Shuttle Strata Spinner concept and only be marginally more marketable.
Not unless it's SF Qiddiya.
The haven't. Of course, at one time Intamin hadn't either, and then they did. However, a spinning coaster at twice the scale of any of their previous coasters is a bigger jump. I can't see CF/SF wanting that headache.
No coaster gets to the top of 400 feet just by looking pretty. Unless it's a vertical launch and brakes on the way back down, strata power and speed is inherent.
Not even a 200+ foot Velocicoaster?
I’m fortunate enough to have Velocicoaster available to ride anytime I need a fresh air break from my computer, so 60 extra feet isn’t going to get me to make the journey. 160 extra feet will.
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Mack is more than capable of building an amazing coaster to replace Ka, idk if that shuttle is the best option but they are arguably the best manufacturer from a park point of view. They build smooth, intense, innovative, and above all else, reliable rides. Voltron is the best coaster of 2024 and the only thing that comes close is Hyperia…..another Mack. I love the decision to go with Mack and even the model choice is amazing, to me the shuttle just feels too similar to Ka and the two will ALWAYS be directly compared to one another
so, why anyone think the replacement is a spinning tower coaster?, the coaster was from a survey so its not going to be that coaster, if anything, I think the coaster would most likely be the newer version of kingda ka which would use both the old twister & half of green lantern lots (and maybe the parachute tower lot)
So this is where things get speculatory.
Reason #1 is the survey. This spinning tower coaster has now been used twice in the survey, first at 200 feet, then at 400. The second time being suspiciously during the time period when Ka’s removal would have been decided and they would begin deciding it’s replacement (also important to note that CoasterSpot mentioned he heard this was the replacement when the Ka removal rumors became more prevalent).
Reason #2 is the description we got from Six Flags. Firstly we know it’s a launch coaster, given what we know about the new company we can assume the new coaster is from B&M, Mack, Vekoma, or Premier. All others have some sort of baggage or don’t build launch coasters. That really limits the possibilities assuming that Intamin isn’t getting a second chance. It was also described as a “record breaking” coaster which the tower coaster fits the description.
Reason #3 is it fits the plot perfectly, the animation shown before reuses the original Ka station plot and the tower stands on Ka’s old tower.
Reason #4 is as much as we may not like it, it would likely be a GP magnet, incredibly popular and give Great Adventure a new icon distinct from TT2.
Again it’s speculation at this point, but right now I would be shocked to see an announcement with anything other than this shuttle. Personally I’m trying to make peace with it, definitely need another full circuit, world class coaster after this is built though. Especially if Cedar Fair’s plans are as big as it seems they are.
I don't think these survey's are that literal though. For example, the Canada's Wonderland survey was a launched wing coaster coming out of the mountain but what they got was different. I would take aspects of the survey, but would not expect to get exactly what was described. I think it's possible it could be a spinning launch coaster, maybe with an upside down launch, but I am hoping it is full circuit coaster because if they want to grow this park then it will need to run multiple trains.
All of the previous owners when they took over the chain made the same claims of having big plans for GAdv which always fizzled out. Screamscape claims that CF has a long term plan called Project Accelerate where they remove less popular or high maintenance rides which is a nice way of saying they are downsizing and streamlining parks to reduce costs. It is not just this year, additional rides are likely to be removed next year.
Its clear that this shuttle design is a lowbuck replacement for an expensive ride. A shuttle design is inadequate as a major anchor attraction for a major park like GAdv. Especially if they plan to grow attendance in the near future. But as I said before, the capacity limitations of shuttle coasters are a feature, not a bug as far as the company is concerned.
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Yeah people gotta understand that CF and these other companies don't view shuttle coasters as inconveniences.
Everyone always says "well lines will be bad because they'll only run one train", reality is THAT'S THE POINT. They WANT lines to be horrendous so that people can buy flash passes. What may seem like an awful fit to everyone will usually seem like an amazing fit from CFs perspective, because all they care about is making money and turning a profit for their shareholders. Nothing else matters, never has, never will. Flash and JDC are good examples of this, and assuming this shuttle coaster gets built, it'll be the same thing.
You know, everyone says "lines will be bad" but I haven't really waited in many bad lines at the park since COVID. Fright Fest this year was the exception as the park was mobbed, but most of the majors usually average 10 mins or less every time I've gone to the park. I was there for Holiday in the Park a few weeks ago and everything was a walk on.
Plenty of parks build low capacity attractions. GAdv isn't really an exception to the rule. Hersehypark has 3 major low capacity attractions and nobody bats an eye. Why is it a problem at a park that hardly gets crowds in summer vs a park that seems to be perpetually crowded AND has horrible operations?
Plenty of parks build low capacity attractions. GAdv isn't really an exception to the rule. Hersehypark has 3 major low capacity attractions and nobody bats an eye. Why is it a problem at a park that hardly gets crowds in summer vs a park that seems to be perpetually crowded AND has horrible operations?
Looking at new coasters that have been added at the major Cedar Fair parks recently, it seems like they add rides with capacities that are appropriate for each park’s potential attendance. It appears that the low capacity additions were more of a legacy Six Flags issue. If the new Six Flags wants to grow attendance at Great Adventure, I can’t see them justifying a low capacity ride that guests will flock to, as it will be the first ride they see when they drive into the Great Adventure parking lot. In my view, long lines on a signature attraction would not persuade guests that are coming back to the park after a long break to buy Flash Pass. Instead, it would leave a negative taste and push them away.
You are lucky then if all your trips had low crowds. A couple of the times I visited GAdv before FF this year the park was mobbed, even the Teacups had a near hour wait. Ended up leaving the park early to salvage a wasted day. Most of my other trips to the park wasn't so crowded. Also the park's posted estimated wait times tend to be very optimistic and inaccurate.
The issues you listed with Hershey is why I stopped going there back in 2021. Remember that the new company claims it wants to increase attendance to GAdv, so putting in low capacity major rides is pretty short sighted.
A signature ride should have good capacity. There are several ways to get capacity on a shuttle, for example multiple stations where the track ends at the station, not going through like a swing launch.
There is nothing cheap about a strata coaster. Until they closed Ka, most people didn't rank it that high, calling it a one-trick pony. Therefore, at least for those who already rode Ka, a new, more rounded experience is more likely to bring them back. The choices to get that is reduce height and speed to allow more elements (at least on one section of the track), spend even more than a new Ka copy, or use a design that reuses its track, for example a swing launch or shuttle. Spinning cars are a brilliant solution to a shuttle as there is no real forwards and backwards. But I can't see Time Traveler cars and track being sufficient for a strata speed coaster, the whole setup would need to be made larger and beefier than anything they've made so far. The 200' version could also still be a great coaster, but there are other options at those numbers.
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I went to the park five times this year on top of the visits I made since COVID and I've never encountered insane crowds apart from my one visit during Fright Fest. Wait times are usually pretty accurate for me.
Hell that Fright Fest visit is the very first visit I made to the park since 2016 where the park was way more crowded than normal.
Even Disney has low capacity atttractions. Frozen Ever After was never originally designed to handle the crowds it gets, not was Seven Dwarfs. If Disney can get a pass building low capacity attractions, I don't see why SF can't either.
I visited GAdv about 14 times so far this season. I try to go on days where crowds should be low. In the Spring I had two very bad trips, one where I only managed to get on a handful of rides due to long lines, mostly near closing. A second spring visit I got on nothing as everything had at least an hour wait, even the Jolly Rodger. As a result I only stayed 90 minutes in the park walking around while looking for a ride with a reasonable wait before I gave up and left I did not return to the park for a month afterwards, thankfully my 3rd trip was much better.
I did have a another bad visit in Oct where everything had at least an hour wait. Crowds vary alot at GAdv, some days are good, some days are terrible. More than once the park info boards posted low waits for rides which once I arrived were much longer than was posted. A few times they posted no wait while the line was in switchbacks.
You're complaining about bad crowds when just two of your fourteen visits had heavy crowds. That's not a bad track record at all. Most days, wait times for the new coaster shouldn't be bad at all if that's the case.
Even if its a shuttle coaster, its not like the park hasn't hosted high profile shuttle coasters in the past. Both Lightning Loops and Chiller were designed with two stations to keep capacity up. I can't speak for Flash, but I'll be there next year to see how bad the crowds really fare for it.
That would be 3 bad days out of 14, 2 in the spring and 1 in the fall during FF. Yes 3 out of 14 isn't bad, however, those 3 days were really really bad and they were Sundays which means the preceding Saturdays were likely worse. Basically the weekends in the spring and full were pretty crowded at the park where even minor rides developed ridiculously long lines. Weekdays are usually far less crowded at GAdv except for heavy bus group weekdays which are often bad enough. My main point still stands that GAdv still does get really really crowded at times, mostly on weekends or schooltrip season.
Chiller often had worse lines than most of the other coasters due to its shuttle nature. Especially since it rarely operated both tracks. Even Jersey Devil had worse lines than more popular coasters due it running single train most of this season.
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