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Roller coaster types that never really took off

Discussion in 'General Discussions & Opinions' started by Matt N, Jan 13, 2018.

  1. Matt N

    Matt N Active Member

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    Hi guys. In this thread, I'm discussing what coaster types never really took off. When I thought of this, four ride types sprung to mind. These are:
    • Intamin Prefabricated Wooden Rollercoaster - Since the ride type's premiere in 2001, only four of these have been built, with the most recent opening 10 years ago in 2008. I'm not even sure whether Intamin still sells these.
    • Vekoma Invertigo - Since the ride type's premiere in 1997, only four have been built, with the most recent one to open, excluding relocations, being 19 years ago in 1999. As the newest Invertigo is turning 20 in 2019, I don't see any more of these being sold. If Vekoma still sells them, that is.
    • Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang - Since the ride type's premiere in 2001, six have been built, with the most recent one to open, excluding relocations, being 4 years ago in 2014. From what I've read online, these are generally quite good rides, but they have generally been a reliability nightmare for parks that have built them, so I don't know if we're going to see any more get built.
    Now, the fourth one is a bit of a controversial one, but I'm going to suggest:
    • Drop Track Coasters in general - Now, it may be a tad unfair for me to judge this type as it is still relatively new, but hear me out. Since the ride type's premiere in 2010, five have been built excluding the Chinese contraption manufactured by an unknown company, with the most recent of these to open, again excluding the Chinese thing, being 4 years ago in 2014. While there is still time for more of these to be built, I don't think many have really been sold in the 8 years the ride type has existed for, and I don't see any sudden surge in drop track coasters coming any time soon.
    So, these are the coaster types that I feel never really took off. Do you guys disagree with me?
    P.S. Sorry if there's already a similar topic. If so, feel free to lock this thread.
     
    Matt N, Jan 13, 2018
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  2. Peet

    Peet Active Member

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    Intamin's Reverse Freefall coaster is a good example; only 2 were ever built, both opening in the same year which means nobody who ever bought one got to ride one first!
     
    Peet, Jan 13, 2018
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  3. Matt N

    Matt N Active Member

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    I never actually thought of Intamin Reverse Freefalls, but it makes a lot of sense now you say it!
     
    Matt N, Jan 13, 2018
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  4. Sandman

    Sandman Well-Known Member

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    Intamin Wingrider. Shame really, if they could just nail the train design to enhance guest comfort then I reckon the concept could sell quite well. It'd be interesting to see what a more sophisticated launched wingrider layout might look like, although I do enjoy Baco's simplicity.
     
    Sandman, Jan 13, 2018
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  5. Coaster Hipster

    Coaster Hipster Well-Known Member

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    The S&S Free Fly aka Tranan comes to mind as a coaster concept that never took off. Only 1 sold.
     
    Coaster Hipster, Jan 13, 2018
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  6. Pokemaniac

    Pokemaniac Mountain monkey Staff Member Administrator Moderator Social Media Team

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    Here's the most puzzling one in my opinion: Launched Inverts.

    We've had Inverted coasters for almost 30 years now, and there were suspended coasters even before that. Inverts are offered by several reputed manufacturers, including B&M, Vekoma, and Intamin. RCDB lists 207 Inverted coasters to date, albeit including relocations. Yet only a single full-circuit launched Invert was ever built, all the way back in 1998. Volcano, The Blast Coaster at Kings Dominion has been well received to my knowledge, and as it has lived to the ripe old age of 20 years, it can't be prohibitively expensive/troublesome to operate for the park either. Why was there never more of those built? Okay, it was quite pricey at $20 million, and it did have some reliability problems in its infancy. However neither of those are insurmountable issues, and the cost was mostly a consequence of its unconventional layout anyway.

    Interestingly enough, the more widespread Inverted Impulse coasters all came after Volcano. However, they weren't that popular either, with only 7 ever built, and the last one in 2003. They were there for five years, then vanished. Lots of Inverts have been built in the years since, lots of launched coasters have been built, lots of shuttle coasters have been built... but the interest in combining those has apparently vanished completely.

    Another interesting one is B&M Sitdown looping coasters. The Floorless model achieved some success, with 13 coasters built and two converted into stand-ups, but the conventional model with a floor only saw five ever built: Kumba, Dragon Khan, Incredible Hulk, Wildfire, and Time Machine (currently named Dragon's Run after its relocation). Okay, six if you count the fact that Hulk was built twice. Sitdown loopers are a very conventional and popular ride type, and I can imagine them being a lot cheaper to operate than most other B&M models, but only the latter two of the aforementioned have been built since the turn of the millennium.
     
    Pokemaniac, Jan 13, 2018
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  7. Will

    Will Well-Known Member

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    Tilt coasters and pipeline coasters are the first to come into my head.

    Also, the world does not need any more Invertigos/GIBs or boomerang type coasters in general!
     
    Will, Jan 14, 2018
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  8. Pokemaniac

    Pokemaniac Mountain monkey Staff Member Administrator Moderator Social Media Team

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    Going on...

    Arrow/S&S 4D. Only three were ever built, but the reason why is pretty obvious: Those things are massive. Some seventy meters tall, with trains the size of buses, and an extraordinary number of moving parts. They're hugely expensive and space-demanding. Not many parks can afford one of those, and have room to house one.

    Intamin coasters with beyond-vertical drops. Maverick was built to raving reviews. They followed it up with Fahrenheit, a multi-looper with a vertical lift and a beyond-vertical drop. And then they stopped selling anything like either of those two. Or, well, parks stopped buying them, for some reason. Why?

    Dueling coasters in general    . Dragon Challenge is the famous example. Universal Studios Singapore has Battlestar Galactica. And there are a ton of "Twin" racing coasters out there, but fully dueling layouts that don't follow or mirror each other are extremely rare, moreso on steel coasters. I guess the reason is pretty obvious once again, such coasters are hard to design, require huge investments, and lots of room - and you're basically building two different coasters and advertising them as one.
     
    Pokemaniac, Jan 14, 2018
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  9. Jarrett

    Jarrett Most Obnoxious Member 2016 CF Award Winner 2016

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    A few more come to mind...

    Launched B&M Anything: Now this is kind of new, since B&M has only been doing their own launches since 2015, but considering how many jobs they usually get a year, it's probably fair to say that something about this just didn't draw parks in. Thunderbird is an incredible coaster, most enthusiasts will agree, but it's the only one they've ever built. I'd probably blame the fact that B&M was so late to the launch party and there were just other manufacturers that could provide a similar product that have more experience.

    Intamin Winged Outer Seats: Coming from the opposite end of the spectrum, Intamin doesn't get nearly as much business as they used to, so this might not be the best comparison, but considering how nobody in the US has seen Skyrush and been like "we want that!" I think it's safe to say this didn't catch on. Now another one was built, but it doesn't seem to have sold many other parks on the ride system.

    Swinging Coaster: When I say this, I don't mean like an Arrow suspended, as those did fairly well. I'm talking about coasters in which seats are suspended on a pin around where the heartline is to careen around corners, such as Seven Dwarves Mine Train. If I'm correct, three were ever attempted, and with Orphan Rocker unsuccessful, the only two to actually open were Seven Dwarves and that Drifting Coaster traveling ride from German fairs that makes its rounds on social media every month or so. Considering how both the similar bobsled and suspended models did fairly well from multiple manufacturers, it seems odd that this one never really took off.

     
    Jarrett, Jan 14, 2018
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  10. balrog

    balrog Well-Known Member

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    But isn't the floorless coaster just an upgrade of the sit down model, rather than an all new coaster type ? They basically do the exact same stuff, with slightly different trains. Therefore, it is kind of logical that most buyers went with the new and improved model after it was introduced at the turn of the millennium. I don't see it as a model that didn't took off, just a model that was upgraded shortly after its introduction.
     
    balrog, Jan 15, 2018
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