What happened to Turbulence?

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic about the statue..

Anyways, with at least one of the cars done for the ride, and fabrication of the track all ready started. I'm assuming that Interactive Rides will do whatever they can to get this ride off their hands. I'd guess that we will see the first Frequent Faller installed in 2005, and it will be the same 150' tall red, white, and blue ride that was supposed to be built at Hershey, just it's not going to be built by Hershey. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if SFI scraped together the cash to buy it, probably at a discounted rate.

Discounted to, say, $1,995,000? :)

Interactive will most definitely want to get it off of their hands, but the question is, will they be able to? Reputation means a lot in the industry - even moreso for ride builders than the parks. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see that completed car on ebay as part of liquidation for the company under whatever bankruptcy chapter they need to file, or to see the frequent faller technology sold to another coaster builder (S&S might like to diversify their product line with a small-footprint gimmick coaster)

It may be a dumb question, but I'll ask it:

How could someone "buy" Turbulence if it has yet to be built? Do you mean the design plans, or what??

Well, as Coaster Lover mentioned, the ride is at least partially through production (if not completed) meaning that the parts to the ride exist.

So as far as parks are concerned, 'buying' it, would mean taking physical ownership of said parts, and eventually piecing them together like a big giant K*Nex set (although hopefully a bit more structurally sound :) ) to bring the ride to operation. In the case that it's an off-the-shelf model, a park could also 'buy' it, as in order another model.

As far as other manufacturers are concerned, they could conceivably buy the design plans, technology rights, etc. to build as their own creation. This assumes that Interactive would be interested in selling the technology and rights. Generally, most companies don't do this - they use their technology to gain a profit by quoting accurate prices and following through on their contracts. :)

The thing is, if you read the full lawsuit complaint, one of the things Hershey is asking for is rights to that design (page 12 of http://masstort.org/masstort/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=12 )

"Transfer of all right, title and interest with respect to the design, drawings and other documentation relating to the Ride in accordance with Section 7.4 in the addendum."

That same claim is also on page 13 of the same document.

Me, sarcastic?

Me?

You talkin' to me?

Of course, I was kidding about the Milton Hershey statue. Everyone knows they're going to use the Kit Kat bar to do that.

Seriously, Interactive has claimed that increases in the cost of steel and steel fabrication require them to increase the price of the ride by about 60 percent-- and that's with the removal of one car. Has anyone heard of any other current steel project, whether it be a building, bridge, etc., that was hit with a similar cost increase? I had heard before that steel prices were increasing, but not by that amount.

According to the complaint, they didn't even have final design drawings completed by the due date.

It seems like the old bait-and-switch to me.

Bait Hershey with a great deal on a new ride, and then after they've invested time, money, and marketing into it (they won't really back out, will they?) use a general steel increase to switch.. that is, jack up the price to a hefty profit.

dannerman, I don't think a "hefty profit" was at stake....chances are good that IR was willing to sell their first COASTER *at cost* just to get their feet wet and get a rep...

When the price of steel jumped, they weren't able to cover costs, and asked Hershey for more money....a LOT more money. Given HP had a contract, they saw no reason to come up with THAT much extra, and honestly I can't blame them...

IR *pulled a CCI*, and now they GOT a rep...just not the one they wanted...remember when bidding jobs to include SOME extra for *overages*....how they miscalculated THAT badly, that isn't JUST in steel costs.....IMO....YMMV...;)

Either way, to me Interactive seems doomed. Especially if Hershey gets the intellectual property in the suit.

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RatherGoodBear said:

Has anyone heard of any other current steel project, whether it be a building, bridge, etc., that was hit with a similar cost increase? I had heard before that steel prices were increasing, but not by that amount.

quote]

I have heard that S&S has really struggled with their last couple of wood coasters(having steel supports). So their future woodies, at least near term may go back to wood.

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Even with the raised price the ride would have been a steal. For that amount of money you won´t even get a regular Huss or Mondial flatride, let alone a novelty coaster.

Do you mean $3.2mil or $2mil?

Either way, Huss rides aren't that expensive. If you beam over to their website, and check out the used rides, there's a refurb. frisbee from '97 for only $275,000. Granted, it's used and it's not a Giant, but I can't imagine anything from their 'classic' family being over a mil if you can get a refurb. that's less than 10 years old for $275k

Also, I might as well point out that this coaster is essentially a "flat ride" as far as footprint is concerned.

Look at it this way... I'm in the process of doing a kitchen remodel. Now if the contractor decides, even after we both signed a contract with a specified price (that he provided), that for some reason he has to raise the contract price by 60 percent, you can be sure I'm going to be hauling his asterisk into court.

I think it would be Interactive's best interest to settle this issue out of court. If Herco is awarded the intellectual property rights, IR is really screwed. How much time and money did they spend to develop one idea to a point where they could actually sell and install a ride? I'm sure it's a lot more than the 1.1 million they feel they're losing on this one installation. And they'll never get a nickel back on that investment if they lose the rights to the idea.

Even with the 200-mile radius restriction included in the contract, there are still plenty of parks they could put similar rides, and make up for this loss and then some. Are they thinking that other parks will balk at the price if they charge them 3.2 million when it's known that Hershey paid only 2.0 for theirs? I'm not really sure what IR's mindset is here. I don't know whether they would have been directly involved in the installation, but any contractor could tell you a few ways to make some money with "field changes." Not 1.2 million, but something.

This whole situation makes me think of three sayings... 1) cutting off your nose to spite your face 2) killing the goose that laid the golden egg and 3) stepping on your own... well, you get the idea.

Hey, is it just me, or did anyone else posting in this thread receive an email from S&S about the similarity of Turbulence to S&S's "Screamin' Squirrel"?

I hadn't thought of it beforehand, but they're right :)

nope, Dannerman, no email from S&S to me about this...but yes, I had previously noted a similarity to the track path, but that is where the similarities end.

Stan's ride *looks* MUCH more intense than the IR ride....either way, I'd be just as happy to finally get that ride on Flashback....oh wait, wrong thread...;)

Turbulence always struck me as a cheesy ride to placate the little almost-still-wearing-diapers kiddies that can't get on anything else. Does anyone happen to know what the proposed height requirement is/was going to be? Is it one of those split heights like the wild mouse?

According to Screamscape (take that for what it's worth), IR released the following press release:

“Hersheypark has recently issued a press release wherein Hersheypark claims that Interactive Rides had refused to provide the Turbulence Ride as specified in its contract. This is untrue, and Interactive Rides is currently attempting to discover why Hersheypark is making this claim. Interactive Rides informed Hersheypark (well before the 2005 season is to begin) that the ride would be late in opening due to delays caused by Hersheypark, Interactive Rides and external forces beyond either parties control. However, the possibility of such a delay is accounted for in Interactive Ride’s agreement with Hersheypark.

As of today, Interactive Rides has not been informed by Hersheypark that it is to stop work on the Turbulence Ride or that the Ride has been canceled. Until Interactive Rides hears differently from Hersheypark, Interactive Rides will assume that Hersheypark intends to follow through with the Ride.
Interactive Ride’s Frequent Faller Ride (Hersheypark’s “Turbulence”) is exciting and revolutionary.

Interactive Rides is excited to have Hersheypark showcase this ride. If Hersheypark’s press release is true and Hersheypark is canceling the Ride, we will be disappointed and will focus our efforts on the other parks that are currently in the process of purchasing this ride. With the ride in production other customers will have a chance to see first hand Interactive Rides’ quality and innovation in developing this exciting ride.

Next month Interactive Rides will install “INSANITY”, the world’s most exciting ride, on top of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.”

*** Edited 12/19/2004 5:29:40 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Yeah, now its time for my little conspiracy theory, since eveyrone else got to post theirs:

Hersheypark never intended to cancel Turbulence, they're just doing this to get buzz about their little one of a kind coaster next year going, since Kingda Ka and Hydra are in close proximity. That way people will forget about those 'other' big 2005 additions and come to Hersheypark to see what all the fuss is about :).

Or not.;)

Meh, I dunno. I am sure we are the only dweebs who really care about this whole isht.