Are we in a dead period for coasters or what?

Is it just me, or does it seem like we've sort of hit a plateau with coasters and the designers don't know where to go. In my opinion, if you go faster than Ka, it gets uncomfortable. You can't get much smoother than the B&M hypers.

I haven't gone to my local park (SFGAm) in the last few years because they haven't added any coasters, but now, even as its possible that they might add something in the (relatively small) footprint of Splashwater Falls, I have to wonder what they can do to get the public excited. What new development has their been in the last four years to garner attention?

Of course, for me, you can never go wrong with a new wood coaster.

Well, there are Motorbike coasters, Euro-Fighters, and the new Maverick. I don't know where in the heck you want coasters to go. They have tried the new concept type of ride, and they are prone to breakdowns like X, Deja Vu, Kingda Ka, and so on.

Even Superman Ultimate Flight breaks down quite enough. It's not ever minute of every second, but it's does it sometimes. Thus, you look at that Vekoma Flying Dutchman which is another flying coaster which has a bad record of breaking down.

What about Mr. Freeze, and LIM coasters like Superman the Escape? Superman can't even run both sides without shutting down. Batman and Robin are dead right now at SFGAdv. I say stick with the old things before going to brand new things. I rather see more Mr. Freeze's than a new concept right now.

I just don't think we'll be seeing a whole slew of $25 million+ coasters much anymore.

Parks are finally understanding that a high tech ride can have serious downtime, even worse than the high tech rides of 15 years ago.

I wouldn't say we are in a dead period for coasters at all, at least not when you look at the wooden coaster segment. Think about it: in the past few years we've had GCI produce rides like Thunderhead and the Ozark Wildcat, Gravity Group has seriously upped the bar in the "intense ride" category with Hades and Voyage and has just completed their first true beach twister in Boardwalk Bullet, and you've got Fetterman redoing the Flying Turns over in Knoebels for the historical coaster fans. At least in wood, I don't think it has been this good in a while.

I'm not so much of a steel coaster rider - steel rides for the most part bore me with the sameness; even rides such as SFOG's Goliath (which is really good for what it is) don't compel me to rush down there - so I'm quite likely not the person to offer an opinion on steel. However, opinions are like line-cutters, they're everywhere, so my thought would be that it's long overdue for people (parks, etc) to start thinking more about the quality of the ride experience versus the record breaking aspects of the ride. I haven't been on it, but from what I hear, Maverick at Cedar Point is highly regarded, and that's not a mega-giga launch coaster with a .05 percent uptime that's 500 feet tall. Hopefully the steel manufacturers (and the parks) will start concentrating on ride quality and do things like integrating terrain with the ride experience or realize there is so much more than just repeating the exact same air time hill experience over and over and over to the point of redundancy.

I suppose, however, if you're constantly looking for new tricks in coasters then we might be reaching a plateau - I'm totally not into the trick coasters, so I don't really look at it this way, but if you are, I could understand being disheartened somewhat.

-m

Hmm Six Flags is adding *EIGHT* coasters, CW is gettign Behemoth, Hard Rock is getting Led Zepplin & some other ones, and you still have to remeber not even all the parks or even a QUARTER of them have made their new announcements. Expect to see alot more new ones popping up. also, when you think about say year 2000.. loolk how many coasters went up.. LOTS & LOTS of them. Now its been dead and all those parks are due for new coasters soon;)

I my opinion,,,, if you aren't visiting parks (like your homepark SFGAm) because they haven't added anything thrilling lately, then maybe you should take up another hobby.

If riding the same coasters bores you to the point of not going for the last few seasons, yeah, it's time to persue other interests.

Here we are at that time of the year again! It's when many of the Parks announce what's in store for next year! Rumors abound! Unfortunately, 90% of what you hear turns out to be Balony, and 90 % of the remaining 10 % is GROSSLY EXAGERRATED!

(How many time have you seen a rumor like "Your Park is getting a 35-story "Monster" Coaster turn out to be a 35-FOOT "Credit Coaster"!)

Answer My Prayers, Overbook my Next Flight!

---

Chitown said:If riding the same coasters bores you to the point of not going for the last few seasons, yeah, it's time to persue other interests.

---

There are as many ways to be a coaster enthusiast as there are coaster enthusiasts.

I'd much rather hear "I'm not compelled to go to X park lately so I just haven't gone" then "I'm not compelled to go to X park but I go anyway and complain about it here."

Even still I'm not sure I see the point in telling someone when it's time to get a different hobby. If I could suddenly never ride coasters again I'd still have plenty of interests other than that. Is there really anyone here who couldn't claim the same? Must be a pretty boring life if so.

Is that a jab at me saying my life is boring?

Try again matt.

I don't see the point of someone pointing out that since parks aren't getting record breaking, ultra thrilling coasters on a consistent basis, that said parks aren't worth visiting.

If you get jaded in any hobby you decide to partake in which doesnt evolve on a regular basis, YES, it's time to dump said hobby and move on. *** Edited 9/1/2007 12:29:49 PM UTC by Chitown***

I can't say a 'dead period' so much as it I think it's a redirection phase. I don't think park is shooting for record breakers as much as they'd like a good, solid, thrilling ride.

Rides like K-Ka and TTD are major one trick ponies. We shoot ya like a cannon and slam the breaks mere seconds later. You'll 400+ feet.

I think it is maintenance issues on rides like K-Ka and TTD that will bring us more rides like Maverick and Mystery Mine.

Just my opinion.

---

Chitown said:
I my opinion,,,, if you aren't visiting parks (like your homepark SFGAm) because they haven't added anything thrilling lately, then maybe you should take up another hobby.

If riding the same coasters bores you to the point of not going for the last few seasons, yeah, it's time to persue other interests.

---

Absolutely correct.

Nothing beats a Batman The Ride Marathon :)

---

FLYINGSCOOTER said:
I can't say a 'dead period' so much as it I think it's a redirection phase. I don't think park is shooting for record breakers as much as they'd like a good, solid, thrilling ride.

Rides like K-Ka and TTD are major one trick ponies. We shoot ya like a cannon and slam the breaks mere seconds later. You'll 400+ feet.

I think it is maintenance issues on rides like K-Ka and TTD that will bring us more rides like Maverick and Mystery Mine.

Just my opinion.

---

That's exactly right. IMO, rides may not be necessarily getting bigger, but they certainly are getting better. CP getting Maverick was a powerful point in coaster history. It showed us that large park corporations that have so long thrown money all around are finally learning business sense. I think in the next decade we'll see better coasters than what has ever been built before.

We shall see if Maverick is a maintenance headache or not.

They still spent over 20 mill on this coaster.

Yeah, it's not like Maverick was a cheap coaster. Plus, it hasn't been performing 100% of the time either. So, even though it's a great coaster, it still cost a lot of money and has it's fair share of downtime.

I don't think it's necessarily a reliability/out of ideas problem, though a good point.

Parks are beginning to stretch to their limits in terms of size and land owned. Take Cedar Point. That one peninsula is what they have to play with, and it's getting pretty packed up. They still have room for more, but not too much. Plus parks have learned that the fastest and biggest doesn't mean the best. Tony Hawk is perfect for your average family, and Maverick is amazing and it doesn't break any records.

The economy is fluctuating and not as many families are getting out and going to theme parks. They have more important things to do. Hence, a park isn't going to plop a $20 million coaster right now.

Saunders makes a good point. Wooden coasters have really made a comeback lately. Maybe it's the parks ideas of getting closer to the old days.

Most of the major parks, or at least those that can justify the return on investment for a major coaster, pretty much have one of everything. The market is saturated.

And most of them aren't particularly interested in pumping the cash into developing a new type of coaster, either.

Jeff is right. How many major parks don't have either a Vekoma SLC or B&M Invert?

Fiesta Texas!!! :P

Well, darn.