Will a park ever buy another S&S 4D?

---

aflack said:
It was reported in a issue of First Drop of few months back, the issue with the IAAPA supplement that S&S HAVE sold another 4D to a Japanesse park, no names were mentioned!

So there! S&S has sold one to Japan therefore another protype isn't needed afterall. *** Edited 5/14/2004 2:32:12 PM UTC by Cedar "Counter" Point***

---

Isn't that the point I've been making all along....you sell your product, not build one and hope someone buys :)

I'd love to know what park....Fujikyu and Nagashima seem the likely pair, but I have a have a hard time picturing where either one of them would build one. I hope Screamscape is right, but they have been wrong before (Wicked twister being 400 feet tall :) )

They should still build another prototype before they build the one in Japan. ;)
*** Edited 5/14/2004 8:11:58 PM UTC by Vater***

They may have sold it to the park in Japan cheaply so they can get there own version up and built and use it to show other parks that they have come along way since X.

In a perfect world S&S could build a full scale ride at their plant with a full compliment of trains and get it running 100% perfect, but that's just not the way things work, I'm afraid.

What aflak said could be possible. Although no announcements have been made, I do hope that the Japan thing is true, because I would like to see another 4-D (one with high capacity, reliability, etc) in America, although it is unlikely for the time being.

I remember the article in First Drop said X was designed to have very intense sections and not so intense sections, where as the new ride would be full-on intense the whole way round!

Maybe somebody still has a copy laying around. Its in the IAAPA supplement under the S&S section. Remember Blackpool Pleasure Beach looked at a 4D and S&S even come up with a layout for a 430ft version before they decided upon a TTD style ride.

I have it at home...I'll dig it up.

To add to Peabody's struggle, Hypersonic and Screaming Squirrel are basically 1-trick ponys that do not cost too much to show off that trick. To build a prototype (if you could even build a 2nd prototype of a ride that is currently in opperation) to show off the improvements wouldn't really be a ride anyways. What, would they show a station with better a better loading process and a train sitting on a scale? Both of those things can be clearly illistrated either on paper, or by a computer.

"Ding ding ding ding.....we have a winner" :)

Blaming the Six Flags budget for X's downtime doesn't make sense. All the money in the world couldn't get Disneyland's Rocket Rods up and running.

It's the price you pay when you push the envelope. X probably wouldn't be faring any better under Paramount (think Hypersonic XLC) or Cedar Fair (think TTD).

I think that another 4D will get built sooner rather than later, though it will probably be smaller and overseas.

While I do agree with you, Paris, the Rocket Rods analogy might not be right.....Disney's budget was a big part of their problem, both the design and the dismal maintenence budget of the era (much of which continues to the day). But, your point is quite valid :)

Hypersonic still breaks down--a lot. In fact, on my last trip, a train was stuck on top of the hill (didn't see any riders though, and thankfully got my ride in earlier in the day).

Japan 05 or 06?

Trust me, the park repair budget has _nothing_ to do with the delay, nor does the "poor" Six Flags maintance staff (which is _not_ "poor," by the way). Look at Perilous Plunge at Knotts Berry Farm. That thing opened how late, and then it had someone fall out almost immediately after opening?

Some other rides that have operated poorly throughout time due to their design, and not due to maintance issues:

Rocket Rods / Disney's Test Track -- Put a ton of individually controlled vehicles onto a track and then if they get even a hair off their regular run times, the whole ride shuts down. I've been on these both countless times, and can't remember how many times I have been stuck on the ride. Sometimes, I was stuck on the ride more than once during the same ride.

OL: FOF -- One of the most innovative rides ever, they just couldn't get these things running correctly. Weren't they awarded "Ride Innovation of the Year" the year before they came out?

Perilous Plunge -- Make it really really tall. Make it really really fast. Forget how to brake the darn thing...

Deja Vu -- Couple a horrible design team with more new design elements in a single ride in years (excluding X), and you have a reciepe for downtime.

Son Of Beast -- Oops! Within a day or so, the structure was already ripping itself apart. A redesign did little to fix the ride -- it still rides like a Jackhammer.

The fact is, there are more problems with prototypical or "extreme" rides just because they are funky, fresh and new. Yes, X currently has TONS of problems that plague it, but everyone that has ridden it seems to agree that it is a really great ride. *When* a company (either S&S or another...) can correct all or many of the design problems with the original, more of these rides will be made. For time being, we should all feel lucky to have the one though.

You bring up some good points, but the problem is it's not just about fixing the problems in the design. It's about finding a park willing to buy another ride. Right now, the prototype craze seems to have died down and parks are generally buying more cautiously. Even if S&S is able to fix all of the problems with the ride, I'm not sure they're going to be able to easily find a park willing to take a chance on buying one.

-Nate

Bingo....exactly what I was saying :)