The Next Coaster

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I expect the next coaster at KD will be a multi-launch coaster.

Also, I doubt B&M locked themselves into a life-time deal. A deal like that would've had a renewal period attatched no doubt.
 
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Nobody has ever shown me any kind of proof that there was ever any contract between B&M and BGW creating exclusivity for construction. Every time this subject has come up in the past, the word 'rumor' is heavily associated. I think that a logical(yet opinionated) reason for the lack of B&M coasters at KD is that they simply did not want their park to be in any way similar to BGW. By keeping their park full of coasters from various manufacturers, they created a different park from the one down the road. In this case, different is desirable. The mystery agreement could have been between the two parks for all we know. An agreement between the two, to keep the parks different enough, for them both to survive.

I love riding ALL types of coasters. B&M's are some of the smoothest coasters around. I'm not hoping for what I'll call 'another' B&M.(I frequent both KD & BGW so I consider the area B&M heavy) I want to see one of those whacked out launching MACK coasters. Putting KD back into it's classic realm of being the 'launched coaster capitol of the world'!!
 
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There were a variety of options multiple times for KD to add a B&M coaster that Busch did not add at that point, and there are still a variety of B&M models left for them to use. Using the "Similar rides are not a good thing" comparison. Go to Great Adventure, go to Hershey, and go to Dorney Park. All three are in the same marketing area, all three have a B&M invert, Dorney and GAdv have a Floorless, and Hershey and Gadv have a launcher. There's nothing wrong with neighboring parks building similar coasters, as long as they are not direct copies of each other. KD can successfully add any type of B&M they want as long as they are not too similar to the ones already at BGW, but they haven't under two totally different numbers and over a span of nearly 20 years.

The sheer fact that other Paramount and Cedar Fair parks have had B&Ms added in their parks while Kings Dominion had to have a coaster moved from another park should be raising tons of red flags for everyone on either side of this argument. If that exclusivity contract did not exist, why was Kings Dominion shunned completely for a brand new B&M for nearly 20 years? Carowinds had a B&M installed, Dorney did, Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, and Worlds of Fun all had B&Ms built in that span, some parks multiple. Why was Kings Dominion shunned when they have a larger attendance share than Carowinds?

When Alpengeist was built B&M wasn't even 10 years old, and still an expanding company. They weren't even 5 years old when Kumba was built. When you're that young of a company and you land a fish that large, there's tons of things you can do to keep business going if they promise to exclusively go with you for a certain period of time. If Busch wanted an exclusivity contract for a small region I'd see no reason why B&M would deny it if only 2 parks are going to be snubbed, out of an entire country for customers. Maybe Busch wanted B&M to include Florida in the deal, but B&M knew that'd be too big of a hit on business? Maybe they just settled for the Virginia region after those debates, since Universal also has two B&M coasters built during the debatable time of this contract. For a span of 15 years with the exception of Gwazi the only brand new coasters added to Busch Parks were B&M, the only other parks that have that kind of history with one specific manufacturer are Hershey and Holiday World and neither are within half the time that this sort of deal has been going on for. If there was no exclusivity contract of any sort, why did Busch almost solely focus on B&M for over a decade? Why is Kings Dominion devoid of any brand new B&Ms while other parks in the chain of the same calibre have had multiple added when we know having similar coasters is not a bad thing?

There is writing on the wall that something existed between Busch and B&M, what we really need to find out now is if it is still in play or the contract has expired and Cedar Fair is just dumb for still ignoring KD.
 
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The speculation on this subject is mindblowing! Somebody must know someone somewhere with some kind of knowledge of this contract if it ever existed. Speak up! End the mystery! (I'm going fishing)
 
Its pretty much impossible to know whether or not such a contract existed because a lot of this stuff is kept behind closed doors. That being said, I'm gonna play devil's advocate here.

If that exclusivity contract did not exist, why was Kings Dominion shunned completely for a brand new B&M for nearly 20 years?
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There's plenty of reasons why.

1. Kings Dominion wanted a coaster that B&M just didn't provide. Note that every single coaster built under the Paramount era was a coaster that isn't in the B&M catalog. You have multiple launch coasters, a wooden coaster, and a wild mouse.

2. They wanted something unique. With the exception of Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear, most of the coasters at KD (built within that time period) aren't found anywhere else.

3. They wanted a boundary pushing ride. Even though B&M did try to push themselves in the 90s, they sorta scaled back in the 2000s. Going back to the first point, KD wanted something that went beyond what B&M was comfortable with.

Why was Kings Dominion shunned when they have a larger attendance share than Carowinds?
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KD, KI, and CW were all "shunned" when it came to getting B&Ms. It wasn't until the late 2000s that they all got B&M coasters. CW has the most market share of the former Paramount parks and all it got under the Paramount era were common clones and a few amazing looking flats. It wasn't until Behemoth that they started getting blockbuster custom rides. KI was the last Paramount park to get any B&M coaster.

So that leaves KD getting the used coaster. Well... It's cheaper than building new. Why spend the extra cash building a brand new roller coaster when you can move an already existing one and build it for a fraction of the cost? You save quite a bit of money for future projects that way.

If there was no exclusivity contract of any sort, why did Busch almost solely focus on B&M for over a decade?
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Same reason they stuck with Arrow for so long. The rides are reliable, have high capacity, and are very safe. If Drachen Fire wasn't such a bust, chances are you'd see a few more Arrow coasters pop up at the Busch parks as well. I'm sure that's one of the main reasons Six Flags Great Adventure and Great America are always clamoring for their prototypes.

- Having such a contract also gives the competition a chance to 1up your projects. Not sure if that's a good idea.
- Not saying such a contract didn't exist, but there's plenty of arrows pointing to KD not getting a B&M out of coincidence.
- I do recall KD releasing an online survey for future projects mentioning an Addams Family-themed dive machine. Not sure if that has any bearing on the contract. Needless to say we all know how that turned out.
 
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I feel like both B.mac and netDVN have valid points. It's something I have tried to figure out for a long time and I don't think we will ever know for sure. There does seem to be a lot of evidence to support b.macs theory but I totally see netDVN's point. My only sticking point though is that Caro got Afterburn and Intimidator and KD still never got the B&M. I feel like I305's addition was the perfect chance to add a B&M and it seems like Cedar Fair was favoring B&M at the time, they bought Intimidator, Diamond Back, Behemoth, and Leviathan all around the same time as they bought I305. Did they buy any other Intamin's during this time? The only thing I can come up with in my mind is that they didn't want a B&M hyper with Apollo being down the road, that's the only thing I can think of.
 
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netdvn said:
If there was no exclusivity contract of any sort, why did Busch almost solely focus on B&M for over a decade?
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Same reason they stuck with Arrow for so long. The rides are reliable, have high capacity, and are very safe. If Drachen Fire wasn't such a bust, chances are you'd see a few more Arrow coasters pop up at the Busch parks as well.
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I have to disagree with you on this.

Even if Drachen Fire wasn't a bust there was no way Busch was gonna continue with Arrow for major installations after B&M set the amusement world on fire with the installation of Batman: The Ride at SFGAm.  Their first inverted ignited the "Coaster Wars" of the 1990s where various parks were trying to outdo each other.  The installation of Kumba also cemented the great working relationship between B&M and Busch. Arrow became a quick afterthought as many theme and amusement parks started fighting for B&M's services.  From the time they installed Flight Deck at KI in 1993 until they went out of business 2006, Arrow only built 18 coasters, many of which were small ones like mad mouse and mine trains. In that same amount of time B&M built over 50.

Busch only stuck with Arrow for so long because they really didn't have any competition from other manufacturers until the early 1990s when B&M came in and rocked the coaster world.
 
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Why there will be no big new coaster next year: At this point in time we can assume that kings dominion is not getting a large coaster for next year. There are no plans for it yet and if it were going to be big like intimidator 305 they would have probably started pouring footers. So if kings dominion is getting something next year I would assume it to be a small coaster or something other than a coaster.
 
dude205 said:
Why there will be no big new coaster next year: At this point in time we can assume that kings dominion is not getting a large coaster for next year.  There are no plans for it yet and if it were going to be big like intimidator 305 they would have probably started pouring footers.  So if kings dominion is getting something next year I would assume it to be a small coaster or something other than a coaster.
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I wasn't expecting KD to have a major coaster next year. The addition of Carowinds' giga pretty much means Cedar Fair is gonna focus on marketing that ride regionally, especially if they wanna make that park the southeast flagship of the chain. Plus, the expansion to the waterpark is much more needed than a major coaster. Hopefully we'll see one in 2016.
 
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With focus coming to Carowinds, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see any new coasters added to KD in the near future. The park has a varied lineup and Cedar Fair has a history of not adding any new coasters to their "non-flagship" parks for many many many years at a time. We may see them focus on smaller ride additions for the next several years.
 
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^Shane I really disagree. I think they know that the mid-atlantic is a competitive market and they know that big thrill rides will bring big boosts in attendance. I'm totally calling for the next big coaster to be in 2016 or 2017, but I'm leaning towards 2016.

The park is horribly understaffed and there's no obvious area for expansion. I'd say any major expansion at KD will see another ride removed. Since the thrill rides are very heavily weighted to the left side of the park, I'm looking at Candy Apple Grove or Old Virginia to get a new coaster. I'd say if we don't see Hurler get a Carowinds-esque renovation next year, it'll be removed. That would also explain why they're not putting a second entrance to the water park there. That area seems like it would fit a banshee-sized ride nicely.

If that whole B&M contract with Busch wasn't actually voided by Verbolten I have no idea what we could get & it might be a while until we get a new coaster. It seems like Cedar Fair is shaping up to be a much bigger client for them than Seaworld Parks though, so I'd say they'd take KD over BGW at this point.
 
I'm honestly surprised KD hasn't taken measures to put more nails in BGW's coffin. This past year has been huge for KD, and if they were to invest some more money in a major coaster, it'd be another terrible year for BGW. Anyone remember when i305 was opened? It was everywhere. All over the news, newspapers (lulz), radio, ads, etc etc. If they were to repeat that along with considering BGW is building a shitty clone.... The thought makes me giddy.
 
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A lot of people have mentioned a flying coaster over Lake Charles, though with the improvements to Anaconda I doubt we'll see it leave for a while.
 
After watching the steel collossus video, I'd like to see RMC come in and join Grizzly and Hurler together for a Mega hybrid with a few inversions.
 
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