Will we see another "coaster war"?

[Ian]

Antinio's post in the longest coaster gap topic got me thinking.

A new boom picked up when King's Island built Racer in 1972, which was basically the forerunner of the coaster wars

It seems ages since there's been a good "coaster war" between parks.

UK wise, I think that Flamingoland are chasing Blackpool for "most coasters in a UK park" record, but there seems to be a lack of "we're going to build one bigger and better than you" talk.

I blame the recent concentration on "family friendly" rides and, of course, the economic problems for the lack of a war. A lot could also be said about chain parks dominating the landscape.

There has been a slight burst of warring with Busch and Six Flags this year, but it's more handbags at dawn than nuclear war. Do you think we will ever see differently owned parks battle it out again?

 

[Snoo]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

Doubtful.

Six Flags Magic Mountain seems to think so.. which is mildly amusing.. because they seemingly still don't know how to run an amusement park. But no one else really does. Quality over quantity I always say.

 

[khanage]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I think in the UK it's unlikely. The parks with the most money are all Merlin and the only park I could see waging a war with Merlin would be BPB but as you rightly say it's all family orientated these days.

 

[mouse]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I have a feeling there will be one between Flamingo Land and BPB, mainly to do with the whole 'most coasters in a UK park' thing. Then Thorpe'll join in somehow, and Merlin will buy BPB. And global warming will make all the coasters blow up and everyone is happy.

 

[tomahawk]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I think so, but it won't be biggest and baddest I think that will stay on the back burner until there is a new technology to get trains up to speed to rationalize breaking the 500 foot mark, but I think it will be about the experience, something Dollywood (from pictures) seems to do pretty well. We will see smaller rides, Eurofighters, ZacSpins, but I would not be surprised if ZacSpins became fully enclosed with special effects, and Eurofighters were almost completely enclosed. More of a dark ride/coaster hybrid.

But if all the economy's pick up there will be another bigger war, flats will be neglected, debt will be rung up, and I will still be face palming myself.

 

[andrus]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

If the rumors are true Port Aventura will build the tallest coaster in Europe next year, beating Silver Star at Europa Park. That sure has to count as some sort of "coaster war"? I don't think Europa Park will try to bring back the title but there might be some other park that wants to beat PA, maybe Heide Park that has had a rumored giga in the past??

 

[Darren B]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I dont see any war in UK happening anytime soon, Amanda Thompson is focussed fully on keeping PBB on a stable financial footing after doing so well with the masses of dept she was left with, Adding to the fact that there is no more room left to build anything spectacular in the park. Flamingoland are expanding well but arnt building anything mind blowing, nor do i think they will anytime soon. Drayton Manor know there target market so wont be building Intamin Mega coasters anytime EVER. So that only really leaves AT,TP and chessington....... Need i say more?

 

[Hyde]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

Looking back on height of the coaster war between CP and SFMM, it seems that marketing and PR were the real driving forces.

Since then, Cedar Point has moved on to greener marketing pastures, not having to rely on its coaster count to draw in the crowds. Actually, over the past 4 years Cedar Point has gone pretty hush on touting its coaster count.

I think the "coaster wars" have moved from overall coaster count to coaster specs, such as having the steepest drop or the tallest of a certain coaster type. But even then, the obsession of who is better has taken a backseat to new buzz words such as "fun for the whole family" or "affordability."

 

[Antinos]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I don't see another "coaster war" as we know it in North America or Europe. With additions like Maverick, Raptor, Twister, Diamondback/Behemoth, etc over the past few years, I think parks are starting to realize that smaller, unique, good quality rides bring back more customers than gimmicks. Maverick opened four years ago and Cedar Point is still basically milking it. It's the biggest gap the park has seen between coasters since 1985. I'm sure the economy has played a bit of a role, but I think Planning and Development is basically saying "why spend the money when everybody still raves about this ride?".

I also think that we have reached the limit as far as speed and height. To get the obvious out of the way, there comes a certain point where rides just take up too much space and get too long and cost too much. The other factor is the engineering. Look at Top Thrill Dragster, Kingda Ka, Ring Racer, and Formula Rossa. Dragster was built, it had it's expected issues, and a few years later, the bugs were worked out. Kingda Ka is only 8 miles per hour faster and 36 feet higher, but it's ripped itself apart more than once. Is it because the park just doesn't maintain their rides, or is the ride is designed for a mechanically unreachable speed? Ring Racer doesn't have the height, but it has the speed. After numerous tests at 135 miles per hour, the ride has had the same mechanical issue - a loud explosion. Since the ride is powered by compressed air, it's probably getting ruptures in its air system. I can imagine the pipes, tanks and valves are already heavy duty as is, but apparently it's not enough. How much thicker do they need to be? Can they even be manufactured thick enough to withstand the extreme pressures? Lastly, Formula Rossa takes the cake with its 150 mph speed. How long was the ride open before it was closed for 'rehab'? I don't know how much details have been released about Rossa's closure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was ripping itself apart as well.

There could be a coaster war going on and we might not even know it. China is rapidly developing and many amusement parks are popping up everywhere. Is it possible that there could be some sort of battle between Chinese parks that we don't know about? I wouldn't be surprised if it was happening.

 

[Hyde]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

It would also appear that at present, park chain focuses are wanting to boost the quality of all parks, instead of pooling all resources on one flagship park. This seems to hold especially true for Cedar Fair, who has been working to drop high quality coasters at all parks ever since the merger with Paramount.

 

[Xpress]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

Anything is possible. We shall see in the next couple of years. With SFMM pushing their ride count like the way they do, someone is bound to pickup on it. Maybe not in the states, but perhaps in other countries, where funding isn't an issue.

 

[madhjsp]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I say no, for the very same reasons that Antinos outlined. We've reached a point where parks really can't feasibly continue one-upping each other with taller and faster rides.

 

[Coastermaniac94]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I think Formula Ross at Ferrari World proved that there is still an incentive for parks to achieve records but evidence from other coasters tells us that the coaster war is less heated than it was. Anyway I prefer to see good well built coasters rather than some gimmicky coasters in a attempt for parks to build bigger and faster than one another.

 

[TjChapperz]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

With alton reportadly building there next major coaster in 2013 and drayton building a major coaster to replace the buffalo in the same year, other parks may follow suit but still being 2 years away only time will tell.

 

[Martyn B]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

If the rumors are true Port Aventura will build the tallest coaster in Europe next year, beating Silver Star at Europa Park. That sure has to count as some sort of "coaster war"? I don't think Europa Park will try to bring back the title but there might be some other park that wants to beat PA

With that in mind, there already is a bit of a war going on, with them bloody S&S El Loco's, and adding 1' more each time....YAWN.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Re: Will we see another "coaster war"

I think there won't be any more "world wars" when it comes to coasters. The reasons have been stated already; to push the current records requires tremendous investment and maintenance that easily eats the income generated by the coaster.

However, "local wars" will still blaze up every now and then, whether it is about having the most coasters, the tallest, the steepest, the fastest, etc. In countries with many parks and small rides, such as Denmark, or to some extent France, it's relatively easy to snag a record, and it can still be marketed with great effect. I don't know how Chinese parks market their rides, and how big their target demographic and geographical sphere of influence is, but I expect some solid rides to pop up there shortly. In a few decades, perhaps some pretty epic stuff will see light in India as well.


Also, somebody give this topic title a question mark. It bugs me. Thanks in advance.

 

[MouseAT]

I don't see another "coaster war" as we know it in North America or Europe. With additions like Maverick, Raptor, Twister, Diamondback/Behemoth, etc over the past few years, I think parks are starting to realize that smaller, unique, good quality rides bring back more customers than gimmicks.

Can someone please tell this to the Merlin group?

I'd love to see a quality war amongst parks. Attempting to actually coasters that are amazing to ride, rather than just going after numbers or statistics. Whether or not it'll happen is a whole other question. Ask me again once Thorpe and Alton get their next coasters.

 

[Anonymous]

I will be going against everyone and say that there will always be a War between theme parks on who got the best ride, maybe not on a global scale, but more between local parks.
Since having the newer ride will more likely mean that they will bring in more visitors than the other ones around, so other parks would have to counter every addition to stay competitive and make money...

 

[s15c]

As soon as someone develops a scientifically proven formula for how fun or exciting a coaster is (like in RCT2), there will be a war. I'm not seeing anything, though. Maybe Fun=(Airtime/Straight Track+Good Inversions)*([Average Speed+Height]/Bad Inversions), but doubtful, because that's a bunch of crap

I'm also still waiting for the 500 foot tall ride built into a cliff that does small increments at a time and just sorta gradually goes down.

*Waits for extreme outrage to comment's stupidity*

 

[andrus]

^There kind of already is a way to determine how fun/exciting a roller coaster is! Notifying people that a coaster rank high at the Mitch Hawker poll or Golden Ticket Awards would be an excellent way to promote a ride imo, but unfortunately it is rarely used..

I can only remember two parks which I've seen promoting their ride with those polls and thats Liseberg (Balder) and Holiday Park (Expedition GeForce). For example I visited Mirabilandia last year which incorporates the awesome invert Katun, currently #9 in the world according to Mitch Hawker. But I didn't see a single sign, promotion material or what so ever notifying the puplic of this which is a shame!