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I think its really a shame Skyline is one of the few companies that are truly trying to work with small parks to get a coaster within their budget.

Wazzupnerds

Mega Poster
With the announcement of Skylines new family coasters, and the semi-confirmation that the price tag for some layouts would be under a million dollars, I have come to the realization how most manufactures seem to be banking on the fact that the larger chains will always be calling for them to make them new rides. It seems certain companies, like a certain RMC, have forgotten that the Raptor, a coaster model that was made for small parks who want something more extreme, and have turned it into something that only large chains or if you have an in with the company can get. Lets not act like Silverwood getting Stunt Pilot wasn't a mixture of their previous relationship with the park and the cancelation. I can name multiple parks, all independent, and small, that could use a Raptor, but have been priced out from the model. Should every coaster model/manufacture be priced for the small parks? No, that would be unrealistic, but, there is a need for more coaster models that can be bought by small parks. There will be another time where both Six Flags and Cedar Fair are not on a buying spree, and manufactures will be left with priced out models sitting on their websites.
 

Snurt2theHark

Roller Poster
We have no insider information on how much parks pay manufacturers for coasters, and if a figure is ever released over the coaster's cost, then it is for marketing purpose and the full costs of the ride, not just what the park paid the manufacturer. Even in the rare exception we do get an exact figure, like with Iron Gwazi, it's because of some bureaucratic reason like logistics or court orders, something that's not meant to be seen by theme park enthusiasts and the industry at large.

We've seen that there are plenty of manufactures that have focused at selling large thrill rides for a relatively small price tag, look at ride models such as the Premier Rides Skyrocket II, Gerstlauer Eurofighter or even historically the Vekoma Boomerang and SLC models. This is because the market for $20 mill+ thrill machines is very small, you could probably list all them built in a year on two-hands, maybe even one.

We have no idea how much Skyline Attractions are charging for their new models but they seem to be small investments more akin to the SBF Visa coasters rather than being an alternative to multi-million thrill machines. As for the Raptor models, they are aimed at being cheaper thrill coasters but they probably still cost seven figures from RMC due to the fact they are still several tonnes of steel and all the technology that comes with it, and the fact that RMC is a business so wants to turn a profit. Theoretically they will sell their rides to the highest bidders and would bring down the cost if the demand for the rides ever decreases, even still you've got to consider if a new ride investment fails to pay off for a big company like Six Flags, Merlin, Parques, Herschend or Cedar Fair, then it can easily be written off as these chains will have the revenue streams to pay back the loan whereas smaller, independently owned parks won't have the extra cash flow to repay the banks if the investment fails to succeed. Meaning that medium-to-large investments for family parks are a lot more risky than a big chain.

TL;DR it's just Capitalism, they're not charities.
 
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