Posted | Contributed by Draco
I got to take a tour of Morgan Manufacturing last month and my local ACE rep just sent me this email:
This may be of particular interest especially to those who took part in the recent ACE Northern California tour of Morgan Manufacturing back on April 30th. It looks like we were the first to see the new world record holder for height, length and speed.
I admit I had to go to a metric conversion web site but I did the math and here are the results:
Maximum height: 318.24'
Vertical drop: 307.46'
Maximum speed: 95mph
Track Length: 8151.69'
Angle of descent: 68 degrees
Total investment: 5.5 billion-yen
Hourly capacity: 1,476 pph
Opening date: August 1, 2000
WOW!!!
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Attachment: Forwarded Message
Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 16:06:13 -0700
Subject: Nagashima Spaland Year 2000 Coaster, Steel Dragon 2000
The following statistics are from the Nagashima Spaland official press release on May 25. We expect to have permission from our client to post site photos on our website by next Friday, June 5th. Thank you!
Steel Dragon 2000
Maximum height: 97m
Vertical drop: 93,5m
Maximum speed: 153/km/h
Track length: 2,479m
Angle of descent: 68 degrees
Total investment: 5.5 billion-yen
Hourly capacity: 1,476 pph
Opening date: August 1, 2000
Yikes... that's around $50 million USD! How do you spend twice as much as Cedar Point and only get eight more feet?
Bummer that this one's not in Ohio!
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
The most exciting stat of this monster is the track length. MF seems mighty short compared to this thing.
Records are meant to be broken but I didnt think it would come that quick. Oh well, now you can think of MF just like Goliath. Tallest coaster for a short period of time.
Ah, but you all must consider this. Magnum is not the tallest anymore or the fastest, yet is rated number one! This could be the case here. Millennium Force may be overshadowed by this gigantic mamouth, but it may not be as exciting or thrilling! I mean, 68 degree drops are nothing big anymore! Size doesn't count. It's the experience that counts! :)
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Shawn Bailes
Webmaster of Coasters R Us
http://coastersrus.home-page.org
Enjoy Your Ride!
In the end, the only people who care about stats and records alone, are the parks and people obssessed with bragging rights. Both Goliath and MF have turned out to be amazing coasters, and I hope for the best with Steel Dragon 2000. I just wish it were here!
For all of you that have rode the MF knows that the drop is just insane, and its 80, this is only 68, its not even close, but we will have to see... im just speculating
There is alot more to a coaster than just the first drop. I think that MF does *alot* more than just drop at 80 degrees. Have you seen the layout for Morgan's new coaster? It's amazing!
I agree a lot with this. The Beast isn't the tallest, neither is the Magnum, Villian, Raptor, Mantis, and almost every coaster, but people are going to still ride!! These coasters still rule too!!!!!! Besides, MF will still be the tallest in America.
Like it was said before, I don't think many here are going to make such a trek over to Japan to ride this thing (though some might). I'll settle for my own little record breaker just 184 miles from me at CP!!
As far as the stats go, there was no mention of the lift system, or the angle of the lift. Could it be that MF will be the only with an elevator lift? And I'll take an 80 degree descent over 68 ANY day!!
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Neil
Pittsburgh, PA
I think we can assume the Morgan will have a standard lift . That could even be one of the best parts of the ride. 318 feet up is a long way up to go on a chain.
Actually, the Morgan will have a dual chain lift. Half way up the lift a second chain begins.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
Japan-always stealing ideas from the U.S. Have you seen the plans, the three main hills are like the same height. I hope the roller coaster gets stuck and explodes. Lets face the facts-Cedar Point has the top 3 roller coasters in the world. #2 Raptor, #1 Magnum XL 200, and #0 the all mighty Millennium Force. Good luck standing in line over there. Chain lift, big hill, long ride. What does that mean, well Millenniun Forces line is an average of 3 to 4 hours. I'm only guessing but about a 6 hour wait. Cedar Point will not give up that easily.
Is the lift's angle and speed "normal" or something different?
Who's got not 1, not 2, but 3 122 degree banked turns-MILLENNIUM FORCE!!!!
My problem with most "Record Breakers": they're designed around the first drop. Don't take this the wrong way, but the first drop should be a purely functional item. I'm not saying it isn't fun, i'm just saying it shouldn't be the focus of the entire ride. It is simply the mechanism by which the coaster gains its momentum in order to work its way through the rest of the course. And the rest of the course is where the design focus should be. Magnum suffered from this, in my opinion. MF looks like it'll be a lot better. Lotsa wicked, banked turns, and that justifies it. This Japanese coaster appears to have been designed with care. It's a shame that I'll probably never get out there to go on it.
hmmm...I've never been on a Morgan, but by the looks of it, the Steel Dragon may give us more thrills than Millennium Force. It looks like Magnum and Millennium Force combined to form only 1 coaster!!!! However, due to the popularity of Cedar Point, MF will probably still take the #1 spot on all the polls.
Come on people, quit crying "sour grapes!" MF is a great ride, so Steel Dragon is bigger, deal with it. Bad mouth the SD if you want, but you cannot argue with the stats.
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Gotta ride 'em all!
No Cp Cyclone, you are wrong. MF will always be the first, and this Steel Dragon only looks ok anyways.
Does anybody know anything about Nagashima Spaland? Do they have other coasters or major rides? I’m not planning on going any time soon, just curious. Also, I am surprised they did not go for the 100 meter mark – maybe big round numbers don’t mean that much to Japanese people. And you got to love a ride that costs 5.5 billion anything to build!
