Everest in peace?

I was just wondering if people think Vekoma will get their shiz together on their new coaster at Animal Kingdom. I have long thought that the difference between B&M and Intamin, and Vekoma and Arrow was the fact that the ladder two had wheels on the inside of the rail while the previous has all their wheels on the outside of the rail. From the construction updates at RCDB Expedition Everest looks to be a homerun for both Vekoma and for AK. Any thoughts?

Link to pictures.

Togo used outside guide wheels on all of their coasters & they still turned out to be on the rough side so it doesn't really matter which side of the rail the guide wheels are located on.

What does play a part in roughness however is the transitions of the curves made in the track itself,B&M & Intamin use a different method for designing their curves/transitions resulting in smoother rides(when they first open) but park maintenance also plays a part as well.

Even the smoothest coaster(on opening day) will become progressively rough as it ages depending on how frequently & thorough the maintenance of the ride is performed.

Togo's transitions tend to be very angular in nature...almost like it was designed in RCT. I think that also contributed to a rough ride.

I heard an Intamin designer say that Vekoma uses giant paper templates to eyeball their curves...hense the roughness.

Sounds a little crazy...but not too far from the realm of possibility.

well if you have a template of different radaii and you know what you want your radius to be then wouldn't it only make sense to use a template. Atleast they are using something and not just drawing lines in where they think is appropriate.

Rock-n-Rollercoaster is a quality ride, and not rough at all. They're certainly capable of making a good ride.

As is Deja Vu, once you get passed the reliability issues and crappy seating arrangements. But at least it is smooth ;)

When I look at this ride it just looks as if it will be much smoother than previous large Vekomas. I know there are bound to be exceptions to the rule, but I still stand by my opinion which is, more shuffling occurs when the wheel assembly is on the inside of the track. Why else would Vekoma finally give in and build their wheels on the outside?

Why couldn't Disney buy like 4 Millennium Force's for the coast of one Everest. 100 million dollars, that's just nuts! For that cost, Expedition Everest better be the funnest most wicked awesome cool ride on the planet. Just think how much progress could be used in cancer research for that kind of doe. But like all Disney rides the line will be 7.5 miles long and a waiting time of three weeks, two days, and eleven hours.

A good portion of that $100m goes into theming the ride and the surrounding area.

Look at some cool rides like Millennium Force or any other Cedar Point ride, they barley have any theming to them. I agree that theming adds a certian element to the ride, but when millions upon millions of dollars are spent on it. Rides like Alpengiest, Montu, and some other Busch Gardens coasters have theming to them. The effect is cool and I like Montu's the best but the majority of the ride's budget shouldn't be spent on themeing! If you have that much money to spend on the theme try speding it on the ride itself. For that much money you could build a roller coaster so high, so fast, and so wicked awesome cool, that it could be the best roller coaster on planet Earth for years to come. 100 million dollars, that could build a ride 3x's the dimensions of Kingda Ka.

This isn't the first $100million dollar coaster, ya know. Disney isn't just paying Vekoma $100 mill., they're paying Vekoma for a ride and building a freakin 200' tall mountain. Thats some serious Dough.

Besides, you'll never see Disney build a millie or TTD or Ka in this lifetime @ WDW, so they may as well have some killer themeing for what looks to be a cool ride. Too bad It will probably be a long time before I get to ride it.

Edit: BTW, since when did Tallest and Fastest make it the best ride evar.com? My personal favorite coasters(with the exception of Phantom), aren't that tall or fast... *** Edited 12/4/2004 1:19:51 AM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

True, that speed and height don't always make a good ride,(thunder dolphin, steel dragon 2000) but it sure can help with the excitment process. I'd rather have height and speed over a gross amount of theming. WDW could build a different unique ride that is wicked awesome cool and still give it a reasonable amount of theming. Just think of some flying coaster that is some 200 feet high with a a good amount of Disney style theming to it. Or even the world's first in some different coaster design, like a 4D wooden giga coaster. lol

-Then again I'm not Disney's Financial advisor.

And thank God for that!

Space Mountain at DLP also cost 100 millions $ to build... and that was 10 years ago!

Sure, you can go to your local amusement park to ride a steel coaster, be it launched, looping or else, plopped on a nice field or even around trees... Where else can you ride a looping coaster with a launch... inside a 150 feet tall metal mountain, with embarked sound system to boots? For Everest, where else can you find a 200 feet tall mountain built expressly to create an environnment for a steel coaster?

That's one of the reason why Disney spends so much on theming.

One other big reason for the cost is that they are engineered for capacity. Cedar Point has 6 18 passengers trains for Dragster. Good. Now, try 5 or 6 24 passengers trains, dispatched on a 36 seconds interval? That make for 2400 pph... and they didn't need to build a second track, which for Cedar Point and Universal is the way to get as much capacity.

Year round operation is one big factor to add to the coaster cost. Want to keep 5 trains operations year round? Well... gotta need a sixth train! Just the chassis (everything under the shell you sit in) cost a million.... per train for Space Mountain at DLP. Don't forget to add the shell, restraints and sound system! *** Edited 12/4/2004 2:21:46 AM UTC by Absimilliard***

For Everest, where else can you find a 200 feet tall mountain built expressly to create an environnment for a steel coaster?

And a huge animatronic Yetti, too ;)

This is probably pretty obvious, Juggernaut, but if you want a ride like Millennium Force go to flippin Cedar Point. That's not the market Disney's going after, so they don't give a fark how many Gigacoasters they could build for a million bucks.

Everest will be a highly detailed, immersive, themed world designed to take you someplace you've never been. It also happens to be a thrill ride. Let's just be glad they're putting some real effort into theming this ride (cough Rock N Roller Coaster cough).

Real effort into theming RnRC? They did... if you don't trust me on that one, just look at the ugly (as in a steel warehouse!) building for RnRC at Walt Disney Studios Paris. The trains are strange half limousine/half boom box things and the theming during the ride? Smoke and lights!

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Absimilliard said:
Real effort into theming RnRC? They did... if you don't trust me on that one, just look at the ugly (as in a steel warehouse!) building for RnRC at Walt Disney Studios Paris. The trains are strange half limousine/half boom box things and the theming during the ride? Smoke and lights!

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I have always thought that RnR's themeing was really good, many bash the ride cut-outs, but really, it's MUCH better than Space Mountain's, and the preshow and loading station is awsome.

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Word said:
Why else would Vekoma finally give in and build their wheels on the outside?

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Because they basically designed a giant Roller Skater.