B&M Sitdowns Going Extinct?

I was rather startled to realize that there are only 2 B&M old fashioned sitdown looping coasters operating in the U.S. Kumba at BGT and Wildfire at SDC. (I'm not counting Hulk as it uses LIM for power instead of the traditional lift hill.)

Are parks no longer interested in regular steel loopers? Seems to me that since Kumba is still considered a Top 10 steel coaster on most enthusiasts' lists, that sitdowns would still be a more cost-saving option for parks to consider building. But in the past 5 years, we haven't seen any.

I think the reasoning is: If you're going to build a sit-down, it might as well be a floorless.

i agree florless have realy caught on. B&M probobly did not plan to make too many regular sitdowns after medusa

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I just want to ride as many coasters as posible

i think the reasoning is no park has ordered one, ever think about that? if a park wants one, they will get one.

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Jeremy Murphy
www.lonestarthrills.com

Hulk has a tire launch, not LIM

96 is right, LIMs use magnetics to power the trains. Hulk uses powered tires to launch the trains. Kinda like the launched lift hill in RCT if you play that game... Try to find the Travel Channel special "Behind the scenes of Universal" They have an in-depth analysis of how it works exactly.

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Planned parks: Astroland, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, SFNE, SFGadv,SFGam,CP,PKI,PKD,PCW,HW,Indiana Beach,SFWOA,SFKK,SFDL,SFSTL,Lakemont,DelGrosso's... Need I say more?

Exactly what Lone Star Thrills said. It's the same deal with the B&M Vertical Drop Coasters and Standups.

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Down with the trims!

Lallen said:

I was rather startled to realize that there are only 2 B&M old fashioned sitdown looping coasters operating in the U.S. Kumba at BGT and Wildfire at SDC. (I'm not counting Hulk as it uses LIM for power instead of the traditional lift hill.)
Are parks no longer interested in regular steel loopers? Seems to me that since Kumba is still considered a Top 10 steel coaster on most enthusiasts' lists, that sitdowns would still be a more cost-saving option for parks to consider building. But in the past 5 years, we haven't seen any.

Boy your wayoff on this. Wildfire was built in 2000 and opened in 2001.

The Hulk is not a LIM launch coaster but rather then a tire launch and was opened in 1999.

The reason why you don't see very many B&M sitdowns get built is becasue they cost soo much to build from this company (Vekoma and Intamin is cheaper) and there's been alot been build already by Arrow and other companies.

Wildfire in fact is a 2nd generation B&M sitdown while Hulk and Kumba are 1st generation sitdowns.

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Chris Knight
CP Sea Gull population 1,000,000
CP Mufflehead population 1,000,000,000

Lone Star Thrills said:
i think the reasoning is no park has ordered one, ever think about that? if a park wants one, they will get one.
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Jeremy Murphy
www.lonestarthrills.com

The question is why dont parks want one?

The park probley thinks..

Why get one with a floor when you can get one without.

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Team NL
NITRO ~ The most EXPLOSIVE coaster on the planet!

Duh.

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A CoasterForum Member
www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/index.php?referrerid=211

technology has just advanced far now, sitdown coasters are seen as boring and old hat.

Myabe it's because most parks that would be inclined to shell out the mega-bucks for a B&M already have some sort of older looping coasters, like an Arrow or a Vekoma.

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"drop rides, not bombs."

Another thing, Wildfire is no where near "old fashoined". Where did you get that from? Silver Dollar City got their own train design for WIldfire, in no way is it "old fashioned".

Whats the difference from 1st generation sit down and 2nd generation sitdown?

Sitdowns are extinct? Ha...that's hilarious.

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N.U.T.S. - National Union of Thrill Seekers! Be a member and tell everyone you're NUTS! [Brought to you by the maker of LoCoSuMo! NOTE: NUTS is not a real club; void where prohibited; your mileage may vary; where's the beef?]

Ya like the same with the giga-coaster. Only two ever made. Except everyone still wants a giga coaster:)

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-Sean Newman
83 coasters in Track Record!! Hypersonic XLC # 100 in July. Waiting for the 305 foot drop tower in 2003. Thank you PKD.

Beast_rocks said:
Whats the difference from 1st generation sit down and 2nd generation sitdown?

The newer sitdown trains are basically the floorless style seats with a metal floor and an upward flange on them. The seats are elevated like the floorless seats, but that piece of flooring is basically all that separates it from a floorless train.

The link below has an upclose photo of the train at the 2000 IAAPA expo.(It's about 1/3 the way down on the left hand side.) http://www.ridewarrior.com/Thrillridearchives/SpecialFeatures/iaapa2000/iaapa2000.html

Here are some more Wildfire photos so you can see the difference.(near the bottom) http://www.lonestarthrills.com/photo_gallery/silver_dollar_city.php

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Theme parks will NEVER be the same!

*** This post was edited by Chris Godsey on 6/25/2002. ***

A simpler comparison than Floorless to 2nd-gen sitdown is 2nd-gen to speed. Take AC, RB, Nitro, or Sliver Star, remove the clam shell, put on a OTSR. Thats it.

And how are they extinct? They were never popular to begin with. Kumba was first, then Dragon Khan. Years later came Hulk, then a couple years later was Wildfire. Recently sit down loopers just havn't been that popular, taking a back seat to floorless, inverted, and flying. The only major recent sit down loopers (last 10 years) I can think of are the 4 B&Ms, Tennessee Tornado, Collossus, and Cyclone @ Dreamworld (but it was relocated, so I don't know if it really counts.)

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The DVD! (Deja Vu Defender)

What the heck is wrong with Wildfire? All of those 'unpopular' sit-downs seemed pretty popular to me. Not as popular as some floorless, but I can find nothing wrong with any of these.