Turbulence cancelled at Hersheypark, park sues manufacturer

Well, I guess this finally clears up the *whirlwind* of speculation surrounding....Turbulence...;)
*** This post was edited by rollergator 12/9/2004 3:04:02 PM ***

A win for the conspiracy theorists today, haha!

I wonder if the steel was already built, or it was cancelled before they even started to manufacture it? Wonder if and when this coaster will show up at a different park if the steel was already fabricated and ready to be sent?

Hey, everyone gets lucky once in a while! ;)

The best part of the WNEP story:

"A spokesman for Interactive Rides says it believes it still has a deal with the amusement park to construct the attraction."

So there's that much confusion or did WNEP use Screamscape as a source? :)

So, does SF buy up the ride than? Still seems reasonable for only $3.2 million...

I would think IR would still try to save face and build it anyway, taking a million dollar loss on the ride. But it sounds as if they refused to build it for the million dollars less.
*** This post was edited by Dan D McD 12/9/2004 3:23:56 PM ***

Send it to Adventureland! About the only coaster they can afford!

I can not believe that Hershey has cancelled it!! Why would'nt IR just take the 1 mill hit on the ride. I mean it looked amazing! and it would have been great publicity for A relatively new company.

In a darkened office of Interactive Rides' New CFO:

Jan the breathless PR flack: It's a disaster, I tell you! A frigging catastrophe! Hershey cancelled the coaster, they're hauling our asses in court and we'll still have the bill for the fabricated parts! What on earth did you tell them?

New CFO: (pets cat) I told them they could only have their coaster if they pay us another...(dramatically swivels chair to face Jan)...one MEELIUN dollars. (raises pinky to corner of mouth)

Jan: Dr Evil! How could you?

-CO

*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 12/9/2004 4:38:22 PM ***

Thanks, 'Playa....laughing about the situation is WAY better than the alternative...:)

HHmmmmm.

I've had this sick feeling for a couple years that Interactive Rides was a disaster waiting to happen. All of their PR material felt barely more advanced the the CPC.

As to why they don't swallow the 1 million overrun... my guess is that at 2 million they weren't going to profit anyway, the majority of the purchase price was ALREADY going to the fabricator, and there simply was no money in the bank for such a small company to pay the fabricator the extra money that was being demanded.

I would guess IR aren't the villains here, just relatively hapless small time folks who got in over their heads, and got into a contract with Hershey BEFORE they had one with the steel subcontractor.

As I said in the other thread, initially I thought IR was in the wrong as steel prices had leveled off in my experience, but for heavily fabricated parts, it seems they're still ranging from double to quintuple what it was this time last year, due to shortages and such. So my opinion has quickly swayed that unless it does follow 'Playa's hilarious spoof and IR wouldn't budge at all on the price (assuming Hershey offered a 50/50 or something due to circumstances beyond IR's control), then I think Hershey's being a little unreasonable.

I'm happy though because while it may have been a good ride experience, I thought the capacity was atrocious, and the structure was hideous, especially smack dab in the center of one of the nicest park entrances anywhere.

Well color me surprised ;) Congrats to those who guessed correctly. I didn't think there was any truth to the rumors but obviously I [and others] were wrong.

If I have my number correct, structural steel has gone up about $500 per ton in the last year. Someone with a closer finger on the price of steel may want to correct me. $1.2M would then equate to 2400 tons of steel. I have trouble believing that there is that much steel in this ride

I've seen a lot of this where steel price increases are used as an excuse for price increases that are much greater than the pounds of steel would justify.

I'm dissapointed that the Frequent Faller is cancelled. It looked like a very fun ride.

I'm not very dissapointed. It looked like an ugly and boring ride anyway. I hope Hersheypark puts in something cool like a drop tower or something. But what if they don't put anything new in this year?!

That's the PERFECT spot for an S&S triple tower. How soon does HersheyPark have to order one for it to be up and running by opening day? How much are they? That's one of the few things that the park needs to be perfect.

I was REALLY looking forward to this new ride. Too Bad. What really sucks for the park is that they have already advertised the rides instalation, and come spring when it's not there, some unaware guests are going to be upset (especially if a unique replacement isn't built).

I don't think it will hurt the park any. They have enough quality rides to keep 'em happy. The ride did look interesting and kind of funky, but my heart isn't broken.....it belongs to Lightning Racer anyway. :-P

A drop tower would be kind of cool though, close to the Kissing Tower of course. ;-)

-Tina

Here's to hoping that S&S buys the rights to the ride from across town when the other guys go bankrupt.

Its good to see that Hershey is placing some of their older attractions in that area for the time being. Sure its not Turbulence, but at least its something.

I was really looking forward to riding that new coaster. It would have been a great addition for that section of the park. I am sure that they'll replace those older rides with something new within a few years.