Rockets, anyone?

I definitely agree eightdotthree...that thing would look great with a launch. I still have yet to ride it though. :(

Well they aren't selling very many hypers, impulses, wooden or inverted coasters right now. They need a hot product, and they've found it with rockets.

Won't be long now before I get that launched, hyper-looping coaster with an inverted top hat, that I've been waiting for! ;)

TeknoScorpion-

alot is actually 2 words - a lot.

Just thought I's do my good deed for the day and tell you that. :)

Would an 'inverted top hat' be a bottom hat?

*rimshot*

12 million is kinda cheap... Sounds like a rocket that is more or less along the lines of say Xcelerator or Storm Runner rather than a TTD or KK. *** Edited 12/22/2004 11:25:30 PM UTC by RamblinWreck***

Technically a inverted top hat is what you see on all the Intamin rockets. The top hat can be seen on Premier Rides like Batman & Robin: The Chiller (Batman side) at SFGAdv or Mr. Freeze at Six Flags Over Texas and St. Louis.

Thanks Gomez, your right.

Note to SFMM: Time to pull a CP. Now that the rocket card has been played, please build that launched, hyperlooper with a *top hat*, that I want to see so badly here in the states! ;) *** Edited 12/22/2004 11:56:21 PM UTC by DWeaver***

---

gomez said:
Technically a inverted top hat is what you see on all the Intamin rockets. The top hat can be seen on Premier Rides like

---

If you want to really classify it and get down past the genus, I suppose you could refer to them as outside or inside top hats.. works for rcdb.

DWeaver I'm not so sure it would be a good idea to put something like that at SFMM... we all know their record with maintenence. Although X hasn't been running that bad supposedly, the amount of rides constantly down at the part is staggering. ;) *** Edited 12/23/2004 5:14:47 AM UTC by RollrCoastrCrazy***

:sarcasm:

MM doesn't need a rocket, they already have an incredible Intamin launch coaster ;)

If SFMM built a rocket they would hire mules to pull the train since the hydraulics would consume too much power.

---

gomez said:
Rockets are popular not only because they aren't too expensive (like Xcelerater and Storm Runner, TTD and Kingda Ka don't count).

---

Okay, that's more than half the Rocket Coasters in existence you just listed there. You proved no point with that. Rocket Coasters are not for budget conscious parks, they have a high price tag.

---

Over all the problems TTD and Xcelerater saw in their first years of running they did see one thing. Popularity, the park guest love the rush and the feeling of being launch to increible speeds in such a short time. Other parks see that and make they're order. I'm not really surprised that the Intamin Rocket concept is spreading throughout the world.

---

Of all the major attractions at Knott's, a majority of the time, Xcelerator has the shortest lines. Not queue length wise, but the amount of people that wait for it - and I'm talkin' one train operation here most of the time too. It doesn't say that the riders that DO get on it don't enjoy it, but when you bring in the word "popularity," Xcelerator doesn't go hand in hand with it. It could be the possibility that people get extremely intimidated by how the un-supported hill looks deceivingly dangerous (and the swaying, can't forget that) or how it has a vertical plunge.

---

RamblinWreck said:
12 million is kinda cheap... Sounds like a rocket that is more or less along the lines of say Xcelerator or Storm Runner rather than a TTD or KK.

---

Since when did $12,000,000 become "kinda cheap"? That kind of money bought Mantis and Raptor (separately). *** Edited 12/23/2004 7:21:46 AM UTC by kRaXLeRidAh***

---

kRaXLeRidAh said:

---

gomez said:
Rockets are popular not only because they aren't too expensive (like Xcelerater and Storm Runner, TTD and Kingda Ka don't count).

---

Okay, that's more than half the Rocket Coasters in existence you just listed there. You proved no point with that. Rocket Coasters are not for budget conscious parks, they have a high price tag.

---

Uh, we're talking about 6 rockets debuting next year, and with rockets like Kanonen being built (which is, I believe, around 9mill, and not really expensive...) he is correct. It has been pointed out that 'aren't too expensive' is in regards, not only to the initial cost, but the fact that for launch coasters, it is cheaper than LIM/LSM due to power strain and upkeep, so he was correct in saying that.

Looks like he proved a point to me.

And besides that, he wasn't saying that any park could afford them, just that they were fairly affordable, with Storm Runner 12.5mill, and smaller ones even less, I'd say they're a nice middle ground between a 4mill coaster and a 25mill coaster. *** Edited 12/23/2004 1:28:07 PM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

They're a cheap marquee attraction I think is the point, more than overall cheap. Sure you could get a mini B&M for less, or a nice wooden coaster, or even an off-the-shelf Vekoma, but that top hat and launch are a lot more marketable for the price than any of the other choices.

---

kRaXLeRidAh said:
Since when did $12,000,000 become "kinda cheap"? That kind of money bought Mantis and Raptor (separately). *** Edited 12/23/2004 7:21:46 AM UTC by kRaXLeRidAh***

---

Cheap for a Rocket ;)

It's not in the 25 million dollar range like Top Thrill Dragster or Kingda Ka... you should have read the stuff after the word cheap ;)

---

kRaXLeRidAh said:
Okay, that's more than half the Rocket Coasters in existence you just listed there. You proved no point with that. Rocket Coasters are not for budget conscious parks, they have a high price tag.

---

Yes, but there are only two strata Rockets, while the rest are all smaller, yet half the price of TTD, if not even less. Besides, in existence (which KK isn't yet ;)), but you look at the ones coming up, there are five "small" rockets, including the ones already built and, Rita, Kanonen and the one in England). These coasters will probably follow this trend, maybe a few strata launches, but the majority of them will be smaller because they are so expensive, and so few parks can afford 25 million. Look at Kanonen, it cost a little less than $7 million. Look for more Storm Runner's and Kanonen's to be built rather than Dragster's. I also think that you don't understand that $12 million for a custom steel coaster is about average...

*** Edited 12/23/2004 5:10:03 PM UTC by RamblinWreck***

Still waiting for a rocket crazy mouse! C'mon Intamin, I know you can do it. And since they are so cheap, I can afford one of my own ;-)

---

RamblinWreck said:
I also think that you don't understand that $12 million for a custom steel coaster is about average...

---

I don't think the parks that spend $2-4 million for mouse coasters do either. Sounds like another episode of Stats from the Fact Crack.

-CO

Nah Playa, I think you're wrong in this one. Look at what he wrote - custom steel coaster - which writes off wild mouse coasters (other than that one Maurer-Sohne at the English park other than Alton), boomerangs, hang-and-bangs, loopscrews, etc. Take those out of the picture and you're left with the mega-machines as far as customs go, and those probably do average out to about $12 mil - recently. I'd say over time (like since B&M came on the scene) they'd average around $9-$10 mil.

Yes, I was talking about custom coasters, which if you look through rcdb, the two floorless models that are listed with prices are $13 mil. (Hydra) and $15 mil, Air was listed an 12 million pounds (well above 12 million USD), Alpengeist cost $20mil. Silver Bullet was 16 mil., Great Bear and Talon were both 13 mil., Chang and Mantis were $12 million, and Riddler's was $14 million. The Mega Coasters are probably around 15 million just guessing from the other prices. Those are most, if not all, of the coaster prices available from RCDB as far as B&M goes. When you average in the rest, even the Dive Machines, the average cost for a B&M custom coaster is probably around $12 million, certainly in the eight-digit range. As far as Intamin goes (the other major competitor in the big time market), their mega coasters go for about $12 million (from SROS at SFDL), or even the 25 mil. for Millennium. Even their impulse coasters aren't too cheap, running around 8-9 million dollars, but that's IF you want to throw that in with the customs.

So go ahead, insult me some more ;)

*** Edited 12/23/2004 8:37:21 PM UTC by RamblinWreck***

Does this $4 million steelie look off-the-shelf?