Why Giovanola?

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I have not ridden a Giovanola coaster yet, and I was wondering what advantage they have. I am just curious why Six Flags would choose to build Giovanola hypercoasters in some parks, and B&M hypercoasters in others. Are they cheaper? Smoother? Because to me, Titan does not look as appealing as Nitro.

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I'd Rather Be Riding Rollercoasters

I think Six Flags is finally trying to add some variety to their parks. I know Titan and Goliath are clones, but it's better than having the exact same coaster at every single park like the Batmen. It's good to know that a Six Flags hyper could come from B&M, Intamin, or Giovanola. As for why they choose to put the coasters where they do, that one will probably remain a mystery.

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

"I know Titan and Goliath are clones"

Ok, Let's settle this! Titan is NOT a clone, period.

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"Maybe I ain't so shy!"

Six Flags should have a couple Arrow and Morgan hypers. But then again, that's just my opinion.
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Can't wait for BGT in April!

Well you could ask that question about any coaster builder really. Why did SF start buying Intamins instead of more B&Ms? They obviously liked the Giovanola product so they bought it. Also keep in mind the there is no B&M over 250ft, it's probably too expensive, so if Giovanola can build larger coasters for cheaper, why not? As for your comment that Nitro looks more appealing than Titan, what does that really have to do with anything? Does that mean all parks should build B&Ms and nothing else? I don't know about you, but as good as *some* B&Ms are, i'd be bored to death with one company building everything. Variety is the spice of life. *** This post was edited by DWeaver on 3/20/2001. ***

I'd be VERY happy if Six Flags decided to put a Giavanola hyper in to their Worlds of Adventure Park...that way the midwest would have hypers from all the leading manufacturers!!

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Coasters...the best natural buzz available.

Well, B&M does not want to do "huge" coasters. Cedar Point approached B&M first for the Millennium Force job, but they declined. (my guess is because B&M like the look if their single beam supports rather than the "scaffold" looking supports of Giovanola, Morgan, Arrow and Intamin) I also hear that Giovanola was willing to make Goliath at a cost of about half of what B&M would have charged, just to get their new product line "up and running."

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

A lot of people don't know that Goliath only cost around 10 million.

That's is not true Goliath cost SFMM way more then 10 million try more like 17 million not including the cost to build it and landscaping.

In A SF INC. report it gave Goliath topping out at 20 million it also said that the 3 new coasters is an investment of 30 million dollars.

B&M are just super expensive from what I heard CP went to them for MF and B&M wanted over 40 million dollars compared to the 27 million for the whole project thru Intamin.

I think SFMM went with Giovannola b/c it's B&M but a lot cheaper, B&M probably would of wanted at least 25 to 30 million for Goliath when they got it for 17 thru Gio.

I don't care want anyone says I still think they should of went with an intamin.

I wonder how is titan going to make it to it's mid-course brake run when SFOT have to put a trim brake before that upward sprial due to people complaining about blacking out LOL.

We will see many more large Arrows when X finally opens and becomes popular.

Unlike many of it competitors, Arrow and Morgan can't tackle many projects at once, so we will usually see no more than 2 or 3 a season... if that.

I think that a Giovanola Hyper is almsot a sure thing for Worlds of Adventure next year. They are going to need soemthing tall to compete with MF. But I dont think it will have the same theme as Goliath or Titan. My geuss is this one will be about 270' to compete with Millenium Force. Once they get that and a tall freefall ride of some sort, they will be set. Ooo, how I wish SFWoA was my home park.

Goliath cost was between $10-12 million dollars, NOT $17 million. Were not talking about landscaping or theming, just the coaster itself. I have noticed that a lot of larger SF parks will not go with Intamin, they go with Gio or B&M instead. Horror stories of 1 train operation and chain breaks in mid-season may have something to do with that. Fact is, Intamins are just not very reliable, which probably explains why the only product SF continues to buy from Intamin are there Impulse coasters.

B&M has not the time to built more coasters in 2000 or 2001. B&M has only the capacity to built 5 - 6 coasters a year. In 2001 they will built 5 coasters. Wildfire, Talon, Nitro, Superman ... (Floorless, Movieworld Madrid) and Batman ... (Inverted, Movieworld Madrid, not a clone of Batman the Ride!) The B&M coasters for Movieworld will be built in May until August. In 2002 B&M will deliver 3 coasters for Europe and only 3 coasters for America. (Buschgarden Tampa, Standup, Buschgarden Willemsburg, Floorless and Six Flags America Division.)

DWeaver said:
"Fact is, Intamins are just not very reliable, which probably explains why the only product SF continues to buy from Intamin are there Impulse coasters."

That's some fact... what is it based on?

Chain breaks happen. It has nothing to do with Intamin. It's nothing more than coincidence that it has happened to the same ride twice within a few weeks of each other. (And I was on it one of the times it broke!)

So let's see... Millennium Force gave 1.7 million rides last year, astounding considering that they had to live with two-train operation for several weeks at opening (a block programming issue, not a reliability issue). We'll guess that the three hyper Supermen gave around 5.5 tp 6 million rides, considering the longer seasons of those parks. Ultimate Escape I don't know, but I never personally witnessed downtime outside of a few heat issues early in the season. Perilous Plunge got off to a rough start, no thanks to construction errors and the fact that no one really knew what the water do until the ride was built.

Chains break, motors die. That's a fact of roller coaster life. It has nothing to do with reliability.

It never fails to amaze me how some people think they know exactly what park executives are thinking...

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

First of all Jeff, I was giving MY opinion. I used words like "may" and "probably", not "I know for a fact". All I know is, not one single Intamin hyper is being built in a SF park this year, and I offered my opinion why. Got it?

As for Intamin, their rides break, open late, are down 20 percent of the time and usually run one train. I generally don't see that happen with B&M, Morgan or Giovanola. How many coincidences do you allow Jeff?

Perilous Plunge
Volcano
Superman:Ride of Steel(all 3 of them)
Superman:The Escape
California Screamin'

Can you name even 2 B&Ms that have had these sorts of problems? I didn't think so.
*** This post was edited by DWeaver on 3/21/2001. ***

Besides Flashback? =)

Well, DWeaver..You did say "Fact is, Intamins are just not very reliable, which probably explains why the only product SF continues to buy from Intamin are there Impulse coasters.". Why do you say they are not reliable?..I guess the legion of fans of Superman:ROS & Millennium Force would say otherwise.

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Dayuum, Your HOT!

By the way Jeff, at my visit to DCA, I counted 8 breakdowns for CS in 3 hours! How's that for reliabilty. Right around the corner, Perilous Plunge *still* has problems. In the meantime, Goliath continues to run circles around any Intamin ever built in terms of reliability. In my opinion Giovanola and B&M remain the better option. Sure, Intamins rides are the best in terms of the ride they give, but that doesn't mean they aren't built like crap.

DWeaver said:
"Sure, Intamins rides are the best in terms of the ride they give, but that doesn't mean they aren't built like crap."

Actually, I think thats exactly what it means.

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I'd Rather Be Riding Rollercoasters

FloridaCoasterRider said:
"
DWeaver said:
"Sure, Intamins rides are the best in terms of the ride they give, but that doesn't mean they aren't built like crap."

Actually, I think thats exactly what it means.

Your right, that's exactly what it means, they're built like crap. ;)