Roller Coaster Gimmicks

Is is just me or are there so many coasters these days that are nothing but great big gimmicks? You know, the kind of ride that has some new feature that only serves the purpose of being the first in the world. What coasters out there are giant gimmicks just to get the GP in the gates to ride something they think is "revolutionary?"

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E.J.
Webmaster: Theme Park New England
http://tpne.8m.com

Thats a good point, when ever I tell people how great SROS at SFNE is they like it can't be better than MF, its not a giga! Just because its the tallest coaster in the country, it doesn't mean its a great ride.
It seems in this day in age that parks just want to build a record breaking coaster instead of really concentrating on making a great ride.

I think the Tilt coaster would be good-if it was a standard looper, like Medusa, but had a Tilt drop. I don't think the Hammerhead Stall will do too well, either. I just hope Intamin 'U' impulse's won't become like the Vekoma Boomerang and be located at every park in the country. TPNE made a good point to me, that they are inexpensive, easy to build, and are good to add to a coaster count. I just hope SF only builds a couple more Imuplse's.

I believe that parks must use gimmicks in order to properly advertise their coasters. If a coaster has no record-breaking or new features, what are you supposed to say, "This ride is really good"? These aren't necassarily gimmicks but rather good advertising.

And keep in mind that these so called "gimmick coasters" are really designers coming up with new innovative plays on the standard coaster genre. Without that imagination, there would be no hypers, inverteds, launch or floorless coasters. Someone *has* to push the envelope. Do they all work? No they don't, but I never want them to stop trying.