Hulk - who's actually doing the track

Assuming that Led Zeppelin/Time Machine reopens in Vietnam next year, Hulk will be the first B&M to be scrapped. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Vater said:

The Bureau of Satin Jackets & Gravy Buffets.

Brilliant!

New track, new trains, layout changes? Yeah, I'd say new credit. Of course, I gave up my gravy privileges, so I could be wrong. Let me check with a laminated card carrying member, and I'm sure they'd be happy to assert their authori-tay.

I'd lean toward new credit also. It seems that it'd be a new ride experience.

Because of the new trains, I'm likely to add a new entry in the database here. The intent is that the ride will be different enough that it needs a new set of rating data. I did that with Rougarou.

So the bigger mystery, to me, is.....what's the marketing angle?

Hulk is one of the more iconic, visible, popular rides in Central Florida. I think the ride itself is only ok but it certainly is visually stunning, and I've had many, many non-enthusiasts bring it up with me as one of their favorite rides.

So you tear the ride down, upgrade the trains, upgrade the theming overlay, and possibly do changes to the layout....that seems like a huge chunk of change for something I'm not sure is immediately marketable at first blush. I just feel like there has to be some sort of major piece of the puzzle we're still missing. If it was *just* a train upgrade or *just* a theming upgrade I would get it, but wholesale ripping out the track seems to indicate something else is afoot, I just can't imagine what it is.

matt. said:

So the bigger mystery, to me, is.....what's the marketing angle?

Hulk is one of the more iconic, visible, popular rides in Central Florida. I think the ride itself is only ok but it certainly is visually stunning, and I've had many, many non-enthusiasts bring it up with me as one of their favorite rides.

So you tear the ride down, upgrade the trains, upgrade the theming overlay, and possibly do changes to the layout....that seems like a huge chunk of change for something I'm not sure is immediately marketable at first blush. I just feel like there has to be some sort of major piece of the puzzle we're still missing. If it was *just* a train upgrade or *just* a theming upgrade I would get it, but wholesale ripping out the track seems to indicate something else is afoot, I just can't imagine what it is.

I think it has everything to do with who owns the IP.They may have permission for refurb w upgrades But not for new ride The only stuff not torn down now is Que and launch tunnel .and it has been announced it will have new launch mechanism . Marvel/Disney is making serious bank off movies and would love an east coast Disney park presence .But they would have to buy those rights back from Universal .How much can you not replace and still be called a refurb .It is very loose in interpretation .

From a marketing perspective it would be better to call it a new ride .

Please don't quote the previous post. It's redundant.

Whether or not there is a marketing angle may be unimportant if they simply felt that the ride had reached a point where it was mechanically in need of replacement. We don't really know.

kevin38 said:

I think it has everything to do with who owns the IP.They may have permission for refurb w upgrades But not for new ride The only stuff not torn down now is Que and launch tunnel .and it has been announced it will have new launch mechanism . Marvel/Disney is making serious bank off movies and would love an east coast Disney park presence .But they would have to buy those rights back from Universal .How much can you not replace and still be called a refurb .It is very loose in interpretation .

From a marketing perspective it would be better to call it a new ride .

Oy vey, not this again.

They are perfectly within their contract rights to build a new Marvel attraction, and Marvel can't say no just because. In fact, I expect there to be an Avengers attraction on the horizon.

From the sign on the wall surrounding construction:

"The Incredible Hulk Returns 2016"

There. There's your marketing angle.

I think they know what they are doing, after all they already did this when they completely reanimated Spider-Man a few years ago. That ride continues to be extremely popular, and at times has a longer line then the Potter ride.

Queue length independent of capacity is not a measurement of popularity.

Except I'm pretty sure they have similar capacities. Spidy has larger ride vehicles (8 vs 4 people) but doesn't launch continuously. It comes down to whether you think 1 scoop is launched in the same time 2 and flying benches take flight and I think that's about the right timing.

Jeff said:

Whether or not there is a marketing angle may be unimportant if they simply felt that the ride had reached a point where it was mechanically in need of replacement. We don't really know.

This is very much true, and might possibly be the most obvious answer.

However, in the spirit of overthinking things, Hulk opened in 1999. That's three years after Montu and six years after Kumba - both B&Ms that have regularly run 2 to 3 trains in a similar Floridian climates. And those haven't needed extensive track replacement. I know that's still not a perfect apples to apples comparison but it's still something that makes me go hmmmmmmmm.

I doubt those rides have endured the same service hours. It seems like I've seen an awful lot of single-train operation and short hours in Tampa. Perhaps those rides aren't far behind... :)

The extent of the work rules out this being entirely based on normal wear and tear. There are so many less expensive ways to repair and replace track than to tear down the whole thing. There is going to be a significant change to the ride profile, and I suspect that the need to create a new marquee roller coaster experience is what is driving this project- not end of service life.

Jeff said:

I doubt those rides have endured the same service hours. It seems like I've seen an awful lot of single-train operation and short hours in Tampa.

I'll always remember being told that running one train empty on Gwazi meant they were saving on wear-and-tear, since only occupied trains were counted as "operational." Certainly, that line of logic helps to explain the condition of the ride those last few years.

They're beefing up the footers in the cobra roll/loop area, likely in prep for a larger spine and/or for the heavier trains with on-board audio.

I had the thought that perhaps they might be changing the style of coaster they are using. I don't know much about coaster engineering and design but wouldn't a different style of coaster require different footers (i.e. flying or winged)? This would explain the complete tear-down and reinforcement of the footers, and it would give Universal the cachet of saying they had something cutting-edge and new that everyone would want to ride when they were done.

^ I like to think that they're trying to do what Cedar Point did with Rougarou, but make it better. I also feel like maybe they're trying to work off of what they did with Thunderbird! Put two and two together? The first launching floorless roller-coaster!