Vekoma Flyer at a Merlin Park?

[CrashCoaster]

Before I start, don't get too excited. I doubt this is particularly likely, but there is nothing wrong with some speculation.

So this photo of a guy from Merlin Magic Making (I don't know who he is, but he's called Mark) posted a photo to Instagram of himself sitting in the Vekoma prototype flyer. Could this possibly mean a Vekoma flyer coming to a Merlin Park?
http://instagr.am/p/BeYWce9gSB5/ EDIT:- The photo got deleted, so here's a backup:-

 

[CSLKennyNI]

They removed the photo from Instagram. I imagine as with any new revolutionary product that comes onto the market they went out on a research trip to see if they liked it. Or they were at Vekoma for something else and just rode it for fun while they were there (rarest of creds?). I'm not taking it as a sign that they are actually getting one.

If Merlin were to build a new gen Flyer the only park I could see it at would be Gardaland. It would have the unique selling point of being the first flyer in Italy.
I can't see Heide building one since Phantasialand not too far away is obviously getting one. And by that logic with Galactica/Air at Alton would Thorpe really get a flyer? Doubt it.
Never mind a flying coaster though it would be nice if Merlin bought any new gen. Vekoma product for their parks.

 

[iac17]

i would love to see a flying coaster coming to gardaland
talking to you merlin!

 

[Pear]

Yeah cause they totally have the money for this right now

 

[Bert2theSpark]

Yeah cause they totally have the money for this right now

Ahhh yes, With the £30+mill they invested a couple of years back. And the B&M they built the year before. They don't have the money to build a Vekoma.

I can see Merlin going for a Vekoma as Vekoma will have the USP's Merlin want.
Maybe Merlin were looking at the Vekoma concepts at the factory, Maybe it has something to do with the white track that has been spotted.

 

[CrashCoaster]

^Yeah, but the new Vekoma coasters are cheap. RCDB says Lech Coaster only cost €4.36 million, which is less than £4 million.

 

[Zek_Teh_Kek]

^ And I'm guessing, without the theming, F.L.Y. would be too. It could be reasonable for this park.

 

[CrashCoaster]

^Although with fly having LSMs and because it is a new prototype, with lots of research and development needed, I think F.L.Y would be considerably more expensive.

 

[Zek_Teh_Kek]

new prototype

This brings up something else... What if FLY doesn't turn out to be a good ride? With things we don't know yet such as the launch being uncomfortable, or it constantly breaking down, I don't think Merlin would go for something like that this soon.

 

[Ireeb]

Merlin just had a big unexpected expense with the "emergency" Colossos retrack, that's why I think they might wait a bit with other big projects, or at least some of them.

 

[Bert2theSpark]

Unless Merlin are planning something unexpected it's certainly not going to Heide Park or Alton Towers(Also Towers already has a flyer) and Chessington is a family park so unless it's some sort of family version of F.L.Y it's not going there either. It'll be either Thorpe Park or Gardaland.

And even then it might still be only a possiblity as they could be looking into other types of ride eg Vekoma Skydash or B&M flyer. We just don't know yet, We'll have to wait a little bit until we see the Thorpe 2020 coaster planning or Garda's 2019 coaster go vertical.

 

[JoshC.]

Merlin are a huge company which makes millions upon millions every year. I'm sure if they wanted to, they could invest £10m in every resort theme park for a good few years before they even edged near the red. They probably wouldn't see the returns so it wouldn't make sense for them to do so, but they could do it in theory. The expense of retracking one ride will only affect investments if they decide it will.

It's very possible that Merlin were just visiting Vekoma for a boring, generic meeting about one of their existing rides, and were offered a cheeky ride. They may have been looking at new products, playing the field a little. There's literally so many different possibilities that it's hard to read anything into it.

 

[Lofty]

Manufacturers invite nearly all big players to see their new products in person, Vekoma would be no different. The chances of Merlin purchasing one of these are extremely slim.

 

[Howie]

^^Lots of possibilities, yes, but in all those possibilities two things remain constant: 1, Merlin and 2, Vekoma.
Based on some of the other threads knocking about, if any of these 'new gen' Vekomas were coming to any Merlin property, I'd be happy.
It certainly does seem to fit their latest business strategy of spending less cash on ride hardware. Less money on hardware = more money left over to promote a sh*t gimmick, see?

 

[Chris Brown]

I may be wrong but I’d take the £4 million figure of Lech with a pinch of salt, it’s near enough a prototype of a new model that Vekoma are using to establish themselves as a top manufacturer again. Once a few are built and we start seeing demand (we are now look at fly and the ones popping up in Asia) then the price will begin to rise. Similar to RMC and their pricing, they started off extremely cheap to establish themselves in the market and the price has risen as demand has increased. As Vekoma are a huge company they can probably afford to get a few of their new models out at a loss with the aim of them bringing in new future business having multiple installations and a trusted product. I think it can also come down to the blind competitive tendering system, when submitting a tender i know a huge factor in price is what you estimate the client can afford to pay. A client like Merlin would see increased prices when compared to little old Legandia for example.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Based on some of the other threads knocking about, if any of these 'new gen' Vekomas were coming to any Merlin property, I'd be happy.

It would be a great addition to Madame Tussauds in Delhi.

 

[Howie]

^You know what I meant. Smart ass.

 

[SilverArrow]

Manufacturers invite nearly all big players to see their new products in person, Vekoma would be no different. The chances of Merlin purchasing one of these are extremely slim.

This.
Most likely an invitation to browse new stuff/little jolly to go see some exclusive stuff.