Six Flags Qiddiya announces Falcon’s Flight, a 655-foot-tall roller coaster reaching 156 mph

Fill in the rest of this sentence:

when Falcon’s Flight arrives at Six Flags Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia, it will not just break, but it will ...

Break often

Purportedly.

There's a Six Flags in Saudi Arabia?

Intamin is finally gonna try and build something from Planet Coaster. What could go wrong?

...be blamed on the weather

That's the pretty long flight to get there and find the ride down lmao

If circumstances permit, I'll be there for opening day.

Until I see it ridden, I am going to say it ain't going to happen. It is a coaster that is roughly twice as long as the current record length holders, going into a park yet to be built, in an area of the world that is sparsely populated at best. It just doesn't add up for me.

Feel free to insert your favorite "If it could support it, it would already be there joke" here.

Uh, Saudi Arabia and the surrounding nations have over 200 million people, attracted about 70 million tourists in 2019 and it's home to Mecca. That's a pretty solid addition story for a nation that's mostly desert, if you ask me.

30 miles from the center of a city with a population of 7.6 million, but sure, sparsely populated.

And it's not like the Saudis lack money, and they've specifically sold a chunk of their oil company in order to diversify their investments. It may not be a success, but we're not talking about a restaurant owner opening a wild west park in Kansas.

It is on my radar. Whenever the park is done I will find a way over. Looks awesome!

Jeff said:

Intamin is finally gonna try and build something from Planet Coaster. What could go wrong?

I immediately thought of that Let's Game It out video.

So someone with some knowledge educate me here.

I'm genuinely curious, especially now that this seems to have gone from "joke" to "just might happen".

The coasters that reach speeds in excess of 120 mph are relatively short (or is there an exception to this?). Launch, element, (maybe 2) return to station. This ride is pretty epic in scope, to say the least. I always thought that one major reason these very fast coasters are so short is the wear and tear on the tires; meaning, the intense speeds create such a high levels of heat/friction that they need replaced quite often.

Am I just way off base?

That can be an issue. Coaster wheels are basically plastic covered metal, and the high speeds cause them to heat and separate. They can make the wheels bigger so they don't rotate as quickly to try to cut down on that, or even have water mist them to cool them off, but 150 is pretty fast, and the middle east is pretty hot in the first place. Wondering if they've come up with a new design to put up with that.

Nah. They're gonna send it.

Everything I've heard suggests that this project is happening.

The Saudis need to reduce their dependence on oil revenues, as has been done with some success in the neighbouring UAE.

I think the reason this hasn't been seen on this scale before is a simple one – cost – and there's no shortage of money in that part of the world.

“We have the experts; the designers; the know-how; and most importantly, the experience,” says Gerard Slenders, Intamin vice president.

Also, does this sound like it will also be an Intamin?

"The trains on the Iron Rattler Mine Train coaster will stop midcourse, high in the air on a dead-end track section. It's decidedly not for the squeamish: A hydraulic motor will slowly tilt the track and its trainload of hapless passengers 90 degrees, then release them into an underground, effects-filled mine shaft."

No, my understanding is that the Mine Train coaster will be from Vekoma. It'll be an updated version of Gravity Max.