what happened this year?

This year i expected to see some different coasters built. i was hoping to see a new 4d somewhere, or another floorless, or maby a B&M flier.nothing, the only suprise to me was storm runner. i know that parks are coming off a slow year but isnt that a perfict reason to build something cool, too atract new guests. I am just a simple enthusist who failed marketing class but isnt it enough to konw what would help a park and what would fail a park.

Building too many rides will fail a park. Six Flags found that out the hard way, due to all their new debt and not getting their Return On Investment. With this soft economy, we are lucky to see any coaster at all. Im quite content with the announcements so far this year, personally.

Well, just to put my 2 cents in here, there were quite a number of different coasters built last year (Floorless, rocket, inverted, impulse ect) and there are only so many types that can be built in each market at different intervals I suppose. Perhaps it's just an "off" year so to speak.

Isn't it obvious? Coasters are dead. Nobody likes them anymore.... Man, this has been a long offseason.

Things are finally getting back to 'normal".

The late 90's early 00's were an unprecidented time of growth and building for roller coasters only remotely comparable to the original "golden age" of the rides. It's also the time that many current enthusiasts discovered this whole 'subculture' on the internet and became interested themselves - now I see a lot of people echoing your thoughts, fearless ben, wondering why there aren't 50 or 60 new coasters built every year.

It just doesn't happen that way...long term at least. The last few years were the exception, not the rule.

It's called reality ... welcome to the next 5 years of coasters before the next change in momentum (for better or worse).

You didn't need to say you failed marketing, I could have figured that out from your post (and probably business class too ...)

Impulse-ive said:

You didn't need to say you failed marketing, I could have figured that out from your post (and probably business class too ...)

LOL! How did he NOT fail spelling?

This just in: Waterslides can be very thrilling and an awful lot cheaper.

...and they keep the heat down!

...and more people off the coasters.

...but capacity is worse than a wild mouse.

...and they're not as cheap to build/install as one might think. Waterparks are costly nowadays.

Joe

When did Captain Obvious, protector of all things wavepool, move to an overall waterpark focus?

But, I do agree that waterparks are the way to go for now - although they're approaching the same market saturation as coasters. Face it folks, not every park can/wants to have one of every kind of coaster. Not only is the money dried up, but there's a lack of new products, space, and probably interest right now. A new coaster used to be something to draw in record crowds - now that only applies to the smaller parks, and places like Six Flags parks can install new coasters and LOSE attendance ...

I dont know if you would call it new but we do have the Mummy(s) opening this year, merger of a dark ride and roller coaster something that hasnt happened in a while.

A quick of RCDB shows the following stats for the 62 new coasters around the world in 2004:

Type:
4 Flying
5 Inverted
1 Suspended
1 Floorless
51 "Other Sit Down" [wood, launched, etc]

Material:
56 Steel
6 Wood

I think what people are wailin' about is the perceived lack of big ol' monstrous honkin' giga-hyper-loopers.

Seems these days they're only going up in CF parks--and since they only have relatively few of them, there ya go.

Meanwhile, HW has been posting one record season after another--and where are the gigahypers? The record-breaking $15 million wacky-colored people-gaspers? Or even the $3 million 'low-budget' woodie? They've been drawing people from hyperwoody, launch-a-steelie and Six Flags country with a blistering barrage of record-breaking, first of their kind waterslides, people. I can't be the only person who's figured this out.

-CO

Just to follow up on 'moosh's stats...

The number of new coasters opened worldwide for the past 15 seasons (according to rcdb):

2004 - 86
2003 - 101
2002 - 96
2001 - 94
2000 - 119
1999 - 111
1998 - 104
1997 - 68
1996 - 69
1995 - 65
1994 - 42
1993 - 60
1992 - 51
1991 - 36
1990 - 31

Just a quick search setting no parameters and sorting by date opened. It's not a perfect science as the numbers don't match the "new for" pages, but the "new for" pages only go back to 2002.

Make what you will of those stats.

isn't that new beemer a floorless, the daemon one?

Yes, Turbo...see my post above.

Yes, Touchdown, We can call Mummy new. I don't understand what you mean by that.