Jaguar! Why so much?

Right Jeff, which is why I asked. Even with themeing, Aren't Tivoli coasters fairly cheap? I guess I'll have to see for myself in March...

Considering EVEN the likelihood that KBF's figure includes ALL of the land prep, theming, building of the gigantic pyramid (that wasn't pre-existing, was it?), and the entirety of Jim Fisher's "list of ways to increase the reported cost of a ride", LOL...

Not even with ALL of that taken into account would Jags have cost 20M in '95 dollars...that'd be about 32-35M today...the coaster itself would prob run about 3-4M in today's dollars, my *best guess-timate*...

edit: I'd imagine that Duane is in fact human, and made a typo...;)
*** Edited 1/3/2005 2:44:52 PM UTC by rollergator***

Gator, I'm pretty sure the pyramid was built along with Jaguar. I cannot think of why it would have been there without that ride, especially considering it is also the station and queue.

It was defintely not there before. It blocks the view of Monty's station house from the main walkway. I don't think they would have hidden one of their rides without a good reason.

coasterqueenTRN said:
You will see how SWEET Jaguar! is this March, Clint. :-D

-Tina

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Oh my, you actually liked that coaster, I thought Knotts was way overated and was highly disappointed with my trip. The only thing that made the trip worth it was Xcelerator (well maybe SB now) but Ghostrider was the worst coaster I have been on and Jaguar was right behind.

Jaguar is a fun ride and Ghostrider is one of the better woodies I've been on. It's just too bad that the upkeep on Ghostrider isn't quite up to par.

Really? I rode GR yesterday and other than the first drop, which has always been a spot needing constant TLC, the ride wasn't rough at all. This coaster closes for maintenance at least twice a year...how is that subpar?

Hmph. Westcoasters and their sucky weather. ;-)

:-D

-Tina

Why did it cost so much? Wasn't it built during when Terry Van Gorder was at the helm? That in itself would explain it.

I didn't have any jostling issues in April on GR. It's not bad for yet another CCI with PTC trains, just not my #1 or even #2.

Methinks RCDB's cost numbers are shuffled up a bit. GR was the $20 million project, no?

-'Playa

*** Edited 1/3/2005 8:59:14 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

Playa, you could be right......................

What do you know about Terry?

And yes, he was at the helm. It was 1995 when the "Streaking Big Cat of Coasters" debuted! LOL! Happy it is now referred to by CF as their "family coaster!"

And no the pyramid was built for Jag. It is on the site of the former Studio K club.

Which itself was built on the site of the old animal farm.

I also find it hard to believe that it would cost that much, but the pyramid is pretty big and used to have natural gas fire effects blasting from the top (in the trains path I might add!) every so often. So perhaps that added a lot of cost to the ride. It's really a shame they don't use this effect anymore. They should at least use it each year during the Haunt nights I think.

Before he came to Knotts hs was the GM at Magic Mountain. When Six Flags bought MM, he was among the first to go. My contacts there at the time told me the staff had a party after he left. Then the Knott family hired him. I know the Hurlbut people definitely did not like him, nor did they trust him.

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Jeff said:
Then there's always the possibility that everything you read on the Internet might not be true.

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I read three different articles from L.A. Times and The Orange County Register around the time Jaguar! opened and they quoted the park saying the project cost for the coaster was indeed $20,000,000. A bit hard to believe yes, but it's not false information.

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CoastaPlaya said:
I didn't have any jostling issues in April on GR. It's not bad for yet another CCI with PTC trains, just not my #1 or even #2.

Methinks RCDB's cost numbers are shuffled up a bit. GR was the $20 million project, no?

-'Playa

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GhostRider was $24 million.

the strength of 5 gorillas! but why so short?

Possibly overpaying on materials, labor, etc. to pad the pockets for money-hungry embezzlers? (Just a conspiracy-theory guess :) )

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kRaXLeRidAh said:

I read three different articles from L.A. Times and The Orange County Register around the time Jaguar! opened and they quoted the park saying the project cost for the coaster was indeed $20,000,000. A bit hard to believe yes, but it's not false information.

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So if the park says something it must be true?

Fantasy Island, in Skegness in England, claims on their web site that their custom Vekoma SLC cost £28 million and reaches speeds of up to 100 MPH. Needless to say, I'm somewhat curious to know how a 150ft tall coaster with no launch can apparently go faster than Millennium Force, and on a similar note, how a SLC can cost nearly fifty million dollars?