I wonder if what they’re doing by Superman is them gearing up for a possible retheme in a year or two
News Six Flags Great Adventure Project 2027 (?): Delayed “Record Breaking Coaster"
- Thread starter Zachary
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I would’ve completely expected the delay even two weeks ago, but it’s so strange coming now with them actively pouring footers and prepping the site so intensely. I don’t think they’d put down footers without anything to attach to them soon, so I am still expecting some track or supports on site in the next year. That throws a little wrench in the tariff theory, unless it’s going to be the most drawn out procurement process ever.
I also can’t see them going full circuit with this ride. For the size of the site, it’d be a truly massive coaster, which is why the Tower Spinner makes so much sense considering what they could get out of their dollar there. Truly baffled by this coming out now, and I genuinely cannot fathom the process here.
I hope *something* is coming in 26, because the attendance is in dire straits and you can really feel the holes left in the park from the great 2024 wipeout.
I also can’t see them going full circuit with this ride. For the size of the site, it’d be a truly massive coaster, which is why the Tower Spinner makes so much sense considering what they could get out of their dollar there. Truly baffled by this coming out now, and I genuinely cannot fathom the process here.
I hope *something* is coming in 26, because the attendance is in dire straits and you can really feel the holes left in the park from the great 2024 wipeout.
Something people should look out for is whether or not construction continues at the same pace or even continues at all this coming week. If construction halts, then it shows a great deal of incompetence from corporate since it’s proof that this delay truly was a last minute decision, likely made a day or two prior to the announcement.
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So now with the 15% tariff on European exports, if this was a $20 million coaster it's now $23 million. A $25 million coaster is now $28,750,000.
I'm fairly certain this is the delay-- the uncertainty over the tariff (the threat was 50%) and increased costs. I assume we'll know more at the next investor call, although they may be afraid to blame tariffs for fear of wrath and backlash.
I'm fairly certain this is the delay-- the uncertainty over the tariff (the threat was 50%) and increased costs. I assume we'll know more at the next investor call, although they may be afraid to blame tariffs for fear of wrath and backlash.
Tariffs are bad and people that implement them should feel bad especially when they impact roller coasters.
Looks like a completely different ride with all that theming. I doubt Superman would go through anything other than a rename and new paint job, but I’d still be happy with that.
Something to do with the sky would be cool. Great America themed their giant discovery to that and it seems cool.
I am thinking B&M, RMC, Premier, and S&S, companies that purchase their steel from mills in the US that pay American workers probably would like to have a word with you. As would the local pizza owner serving the lunch crowd across the street from the fabrication plant, and the car saleman that both the steel workers and pizza owners purchase from. Then the local carpenter that the car salesman hires for home renovations. Then Six Flags as they wonder why the local carpenters son and friends can't afford tickets at their parks.
Tariffs are bad and people that implement them should feel bad especially when they impact roller coasters.
Democrats suggested the same aggressive tariff system in 2015 that Trump implemented in his 2nd term. Not to get too political, but think of it as a pool. Inside the pool water gets sucked out into the filter, cleaned, and pumped back into the pool. A perfect balance right? Water goes out and the same amount comes back in. But now with the current state of affairs, water goes out, and only 75% of it is going back in. Eventually you don't have a pool anymore, just a concrete pit because all the water is gone.
Also, the USD is weak against the Euro. So a $20mil from a USA manufacturer would cost roughly 24mil from a Euro manufacturer before taking tariffs into account.
I've heard quite a few companies lining up to get tariff relief. This coaster is a piece of equipment planned before the tariffs to be used in an American park employing and entertaining Americans.
It looks far better to announce a delay with something to show than a bunch of nothing.
I don’t have an opinion on the tariff subject itself, but I do wonder why they haven’t bothered buying the coaster before Ka was closed. Aren’t rides usually bought atleast two years before they’re installed?
If CF was adamant on deciding to remove Ka shortly after the merger took place (early to mid 2024, was also around this time where that shuttle coaster concept starting floating around in surveys) shouldn’t that have given them plenty of time to get everything sorted before Ka closed in late 2024?
Rapterra was completely signed off on by late 2023, and construction started in early 2024. This should’ve been taken care of already, before tariffs even became an issue.
edit: I don’t want to get all negative again, but I have to tell it like it is, that if this was Cedar Point, they would not have let anything like this happen. If they want to start improving GAdv, then they should start by giving literally everything a facelift immediately. Don’t even have to add any rides. Just make the park look better, and they can’t even be bothered to do that.
If CF was adamant on deciding to remove Ka shortly after the merger took place (early to mid 2024, was also around this time where that shuttle coaster concept starting floating around in surveys) shouldn’t that have given them plenty of time to get everything sorted before Ka closed in late 2024?
Rapterra was completely signed off on by late 2023, and construction started in early 2024. This should’ve been taken care of already, before tariffs even became an issue.
edit: I don’t want to get all negative again, but I have to tell it like it is, that if this was Cedar Point, they would not have let anything like this happen. If they want to start improving GAdv, then they should start by giving literally everything a facelift immediately. Don’t even have to add any rides. Just make the park look better, and they can’t even be bothered to do that.
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Is it possible they did buy it before Ka closed, but track wasn’t fabricated in time to be imported before the tariffs?
I would likely assume this to be the case, the tower spinner would have been a ride design they had just lying around but the actual track and supports would need to be fabricated, as much as they have been pushing to get this thing open asap there’s not even any guarantee they were set on this design when Ka closed
If they really are this worried about the tariffs I could see them scrapping or pushing the opening of this ride almost indefinitely. We’re going to see a lot of B&Ms going forward, maybe Vekoma if they work with S&S to manufacture their parts in the US. Mack and Intamin would be completely off the table, they have enough buisness outside of the US that they can kinda wait the tariffs out rather than start manufacturing their parts in the US.
If they’re unsure about when this ride will open, they should just opt for something else instead. At this point if they won’t even guarantee a 2027 opening, going in another direction seems like the right move. Just get the giga and call it a day.
Do want to point out that this is definitely caused by both the tariffs AND the already enormous cost of this ride. The shuttle spinner could easily cost $40 million before the tariffs hit, the tariffs just went down to 15% but prior to this the cost would have been $52 million after the tariffs. I can definitely see why they might decide to wait for the tariffs to go down, $12 million is a lot of money.
*sighs, takes off thoosie hat and puts on CPA hat*
Thank you for this "lesson in economics" @fingerblaster22 there are just several issues with this argument. Tariffs raise the prices for everyone in the supply chain. So if any of those steel mills/pizza shops import literally any of their supplies, their expenses go up which counters a bit of that increased demand they may receive when tariffs are implemented. If tariffs raise the price of steel, Six Flags (buying rides) pays more, possibly raising ticket prices or cutting staff. That hurts the local carpenter's kid trying to go to the park which would be the opposite of your claim. You wanna take about the car salesman? GM reported a $1.1 billion loss on its bottom line in Q2 2025 and blamed tariffs. That's an American company losing money because of tariffs.
Also is your second paragraph referring to a trade deficit? There's nothing that suggests that a trade deficit is inherently a bad thing. It's not like we OWE other countries money because we are in a trade deficit, we just import more goods than we export but at the same time something that is not included in a trade deficit calculation is the exporting of services which the US has become a more service based economy than a goods manufacturing economy, this is why there is a trade deficit. For us to be back to a largely goods manufacturing economy we need to be more like China which has children working in factories. A trade deficit is not a giant pool of money that you've lost to another country.
The USD to Euro exchange rate which has nothing to do with tariffs but since you brought this up, it has gotten weaker in the last 6 months per historical charts. It was 0.972901 on January 20, 2025, today it is 0.85864. The only point in the last 10 years where the USD was actually worth more than the Euro was September-October 2022. A weaker dollar already makes imports more expensive, before tariffs. So if anything, tariffs pile on top of that. Which brings us to the real narrative: tariffs aren’t just a penalty on foreign countries, they’re a tax on our own people and businesses. It’s time we stop saying, “We’re putting tariffs on country X,” and start saying, “We’re taxing our own economy to make a political point.”
Apparently from what I can find the tariffs on steel imports from the EU will remain at 50% unfortunately. Hopefully the steel and aluminum tariffs will drop in the near future and 50% is just ridiculous I feel like it’s necessary to add that. But again, just our luck that the tax on steel wasn’t included in this “deal”.