Should parks #RMCitorWreckit?

[Hyde]

It strikes me as an opportunity cost question: classic, old wooden coaster vs. new RMC layout/design. With the first generation of RMC's, we had a majority mixture of CCI/Dinn Corp. large woodies that had simply not aged well. Yet as these 80s and 90s wooden coasters get reprofiled, retrofitted, or removed; more eyes will square on those older generation woodies. Colossus was RMC's first true foray into working on a classic wooden coaster. While the ride has surely improved with the RMC treatment, I do lament at the loss of a large, classic wooden coaster that rode pretty well in my experiences.

I would guess the primary factors that calculate into whether or not to RMC a ride are:

• Current Ride Experience - does the ride give a good experience at present?
• Ride Layout/Plot Size - Is there a workable structure for an RMC retrack?
• Inherent Value - Is there any value in the ride beyond the immediate ride experience?

The third point is what sits most with me; while there are wooden coasters that flunk the first two tests, they still carry cultural/historical context making them too valuable for an RMC retrack. Losing John A. Miller, John C. Allen, etc. designed coasters would be a cultural loss to the amusement park industry. What's more; why not build an RMC from scratch instead, allowing for greater customization of the layout?

 

[balrog]

For me the biggest issue is that on one side, you have mass produced items, while on the other side, you have unique artisanal works. Who cares if thousands of copies of an car get destroyed, but if there is only a dozen remaining, you can be sure some are going to be preserved in a museum.

So the best analogy would be cities. Depending on the city policy, either most old buildings eventually get destroyed to make place for new ones, or the city stands still and the entire old town is preserved, risking ending up with a "museum city" which might be nice to look at, but not necessarily to live in. This debate is ages old, pre-dates by far the very existence of amusement rides and never came to conclusion. We should not expect the similar coaster related debate to settle any time soon.

Jarrett's point of view reminds me Le Corbusier's vision for Paris, which he considered an outdated city unfit for the rising age of the individual motorised car.

Today, most people agree that cars belong to the countryside, the late XIXth - early XXth century buildings that represent the core of the city are preserved, and Paris has the densest public transportation system in the world.

 

[TommyAlex]

The worst part of this entire thread for me is the use of the hashtag #RMCitorWteckit in the title like its a thing.