Is the B&M family coaster starting to take off?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. For years, B&M completely avoided family coasters, which are possibly one of the most competitive sectors of the roller coaster market. For the first 20-25 years or so of B&M’s history, they completely steered clear of entering this sector, with no interest shown from the company whatsoever in manufacturing family coasters. That changed with the opening of Happy Valley Shanghai’s Family Inverted Coaster in 2014, which was the inaugural outing of the newly created B&M Family Inverted Coaster model. While this ride proved that B&M were not necessarily averse to building family coasters, the Family Inverted Coaster did not exactly fly off the shelves, with there being radio silence in terms of new installations aside from a clone of the original at Happy Valley Beijing in 2018. It was suggested by some that B&M hadn’t even wanted to manufacture the model in the first place, with the only reason for the two family coasters’ existence being a specific request from the Happy Valley chain to manufacture that style of ride, and any hopes of B&M making a dramatic entry into the family coaster market seemed to be quashed.

However, that all changed fairly recently. In May 2021, Chessington surprised everyone in the theme park industry by revealing a family thrill wing coaster manufactured by B&M as their 2023 coaster, and this was swiftly followed by the reveal of Maximus, a family B&M wing coaster at Legoland Deutschland, for 2023. A flurry of new Legolands in China are set to bring a large quantity of new B&M family coasters into the world, with each containing a family inverted coaster and family wing coaster. And it would now appear that SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment may want a piece of the B&M family coaster pie, with a B&M sit-down family launch coaster of some description allegedly heading to SeaWorld Orlando for 2024 and rumours swirling of a possible B&M family inverted coaster for Busch Gardens Tampa in 2024.

My point here is that there seems to have been a sudden flurry of B&M family coasters after an initially very slow start. Even though B&M would traditionally have been one of the last companies you’d go to for a family coaster, we’re now starting to see some big names within the industry put their faith in B&M to manufacture such rides. With this in mind, the question I ask today is; is the B&M family coaster starting to take off? Will parks the world over be filled with B&M family coasters in 10 or 20 years’ time? Or is the current flurry of popularity for B&M family coasters a false dawn, with them being likely to remain a fairly rare phenomenon?

Personally, I’m unsure whether B&M family coasters will necessarily blow up and become “the next big thing” in the industry, but I do think that they might gain some minor ground within the industry.

The family wing coaster in particular is a very unique proposition that no other company manufactures, and the initial installations at Chessington and Legoland Deutschland seem to be going down fairly well, so I could potentially see more parks snapping those up. B&M are also a trusted name in terms of reliability and build quality, so I could see that assured quality tempting some parks to build B&M family coasters.

With that being said, B&M’s track design is very bulky and robust, and the rides are very expensively engineered. I can imagine that a great many parks may view the extra robustness of a B&M coaster as not being worth the increased cost, with many less costly manufacturers providing family coasters that are perfectly well engineered in their own right. The family coaster market is very competitive; I can see a scenario where a park would think “Why would I go to B&M for a family coaster when Vekoma (as an example) can build a perfectly good one for far less money?”. With this in mind, I’m not sure I ever see B&M’s family coaster offering overtaking that of the likes of Vekoma, Gerstlauer, Zamperla et al to become the go to family coaster option.

So overall, I could see more B&M family coasters being sold, but I’m not sure that they will blow the family coaster industry wide open and become the new family coaster option of choice.

But what are your thoughts? Do you agree with me, or do you think that the current influx of B&M family coasters is just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s to come? I’d be really keen to hear your opinions!

 

[Sandman]

You raise some good points, and although I'm not sure on the answer to the question, the way I see it is:

- B&M is a high end, expensive manufacturer - therefore not hugely competitive when compared to an array of other well established manufacturers
- B&M coasters, as you have correctly pointed out, are rather large and bulky, and often take up a larger footprint than other established manufacturers; many of whom have much more compact, nimble layouts.
- Mandrill Mayhem is definitely not a great showcase for future B&M family coaster options. It's never going to churn guests out with the same impressive capacity as most modern family coasters these days have

Perhaps B&M will be more open to custom family coaster options for particular parks that they have a good working relationship with, but I still think that their main focus will be on their high-end thrill coasters, and that's what most parks will opt for from B&M.

 

[Efan]

B&M's thrill rides are more expensive than other manufacturers' but parks still buy them. I can think of three reasons why:
- Reliability and uptime
- Smoothness and resistance to aging
- New innovations e.g. dive, invert

I'm not sure these translate over to the family market so well. Reliability is a hallmark of B&M coasters, and this is a great selling point - I'm not aware of how reliable Gerst, Zierer, Zamperla etc. are for family coasters (though I haven't heard anything bad) but a B&M would certainly be an upgrade on them, which is a plus point.

In terms of smoothness, I don't feel family rides necessarily need to be as smooth as thrill coasters; due to higher speeds and G-forces, I think thrill rides would have a greater detriment from a rattle/rough spot than a family coaster would, reducing the appeal of a B&M. The fact that Vekoma, Gerstlauer and other manufacturers have recently upped the smoothness of their track has also provided B&M more competition. In terms of resistance to aging, I again think this is less of a plus point than it would be on a thrill coaster, since family coasters represent a lower initial outlay; parks may want to spend big on thrill rides to future-proof them but given the comparatively lower cost of family rides they may not want to pay such a large premium as B&M would demand.

In terms of new innovations, B&M obviously have the recent innovation of the surf coaster (wonder how that would translate to a family ride?). If they can bring a new idea to the family market then they could have the marketability of a world's first. However, given that Merlin have been the main buyer of B&M, and their penchant for world's firsts, the fact that there isn't anything uniquely marketable being built suggests that B&M doesn't have a rock-your-socks-off ace up its sleeve. Parks looking for crazy elements on a family coaster would likely usually go to Intamin or Gerstlauer imo.

Overall, I think the reason for B&M family coasters popping up is mainly due to their reputation in the thrill market. Having seen their reliable track record, and being blessed with relatively deep pockets, Merlin and Seaworld may have found it appealing to pay more for a B&M, which guarantees a reliable and guest-pleasing ride. That being said, I don't think that explains how they've popped up out of nowhere; I think either B&M have lowered their prices (as suggested in another thread), or Merlin decided to give them a try and then Seaworld noticed that they could too (Seaworld and Merlin are the only parks that bought them, to my knowledge?). The relatively small pool of individual buyers purchasing multiple coasters (with both being chain parks with greater means to spend more) suggests that it won't become a phenomenon where Gulliver's and Pleasurewood buys them, in my opinion.

 

[teapoollogreality]

Hi guys. For years, B&M completely avoided family coasters, which are possibly one of the most competitive sectors of the roller coaster market. For the first 20-25 years or so of B&M’s history, they completely steered clear of entering this sector, with no interest shown from the company whatsoever in manufacturing family coasters. That changed with the opening of Happy Valley Shanghai’s Family Inverted Coaster in 2014, which was the inaugural outing of the newly created B&M Family Inverted Coaster model. While this ride proved that B&M were not necessarily averse to building family coasters, the Family Inverted Coaster did not exactly fly off the shelves, with there being radio silence in terms of new installations aside from a clone of the original at Happy Valley Beijing in 2018. It was suggested by some that B&M hadn’t even wanted to manufacture the model in the first place, with the only reason for the two family coasters’ existence being a specific request from the Happy Valley chain to manufacture that style of ride, and any hopes of B&M making a dramatic entry into the family coaster market seemed to be quashed.

However, that all changed fairly recently. In May 2021, Chessington surprised everyone in the theme park industry by revealing a family thrill wing coaster manufactured by B&M as their 2023 coaster, and this was swiftly followed by the reveal of Maximus, a family B&M wing coaster at Legoland Deutschland, for 2023. A flurry of new Legolands in China are set to bring a large quantity of new B&M family coasters into the world, with each containing a family inverted coaster and family wing coaster. And it would now appear that SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment may want a piece of the B&M family coaster pie, with a B&M sit-down family launch coaster of some description allegedly heading to SeaWorld Orlando for 2024 and rumours swirling of a possible B&M family inverted coaster for Busch Gardens Tampa in 2024.

My point here is that there seems to have been a sudden flurry of B&M family coasters after an initially very slow start. Even though B&M would traditionally have been one of the last companies you’d go to for a family coaster, we’re now starting to see some big names within the industry put their faith in B&M to manufacture such rides. With this in mind, the question I ask today is; is the B&M family coaster starting to take off? Will parks the world over be filled with B&M family coasters in 10 or 20 years’ time? Or is the current flurry of popularity for B&M family coasters a false dawn, with them being likely to remain a fairly rare phenomenon?

Personally, I’m unsure whether B&M family coasters will necessarily blow up and become “the next big thing” in the industry, but I do think that they might gain some minor ground within the industry.

The family wing coaster in particular is a very unique proposition that no other company manufactures, and the initial installations at Chessington and Legoland Deutschland seem to be going down fairly well, so I could potentially see more parks snapping those up. B&M are also a trusted name in terms of reliability and build quality, so I could see that assured quality tempting some parks to build B&M family coasters.

With that being said, B&M’s track design is very bulky and robust, and the rides are very expensively engineered. I can imagine that a great many parks may view the extra robustness of a B&M coaster as not being worth the increased cost, with many less costly manufacturers providing family coasters that are perfectly well engineered in their own right. The family coaster market is very competitive; I can see a scenario where a park would think “Why would I go to B&M for a family coaster when Vekoma (as an example) can build a perfectly good one for far less money?”. With this in mind, I’m not sure I ever see B&M’s family coaster offering overtaking that of the likes of Vekoma, Gerstlauer, Zamperla et al to become the go to family coaster option.

So overall, I could see more B&M family coasters being sold, but I’m not sure that they will blow the family coaster industry wide open and become the new family coaster option of choice.

But what are your thoughts? Do you agree with me, or do you think that the current influx of B&M family coasters is just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s to come? I’d be really keen to hear your opinions!

It's interesting to see the emergence of B&M family coasters after a slow start in that sector. While it's hard to predict the future, it appears that B&M is gaining some ground in the family coaster market. The uniqueness of the family wing coaster model and the positive reception of initial installations at Chessington and Legoland Deutschland may attract more parks to invest in B&M family coasters. B&M's reputation for reliability and build quality could also be a factor in their favor.
However, the family coaster market is highly competitive, and cost plays a significant role in park decisions. B&M's robust track design and higher engineering costs might make some parks consider alternative manufacturers that offer well-engineered family coasters at a lower price point. Manufacturers like Vekoma, Gerstlauer, and Zamperla have their own established presence in the family coaster market.
While more B&M family coasters may be sold, it remains uncertain if they will dominate the industry or become the go-to option for family coasters. Each manufacturer brings unique qualities and cost considerations, and parks will weigh their options based on their specific needs and budgets.
Overall, the current influx of B&M family coasters signals some growth in their presence, but it's unlikely to revolutionize the family coaster industry entirely.

 

[Pokemaniac]

For years, B&M completely avoided family coasters, which are possibly one of the most competitive sectors of the roller coaster market.

I'd put an asterisk and a few caveats to that statement.

Arguably, the most competitive sector of the roller coaster market is that of big-box, white-knuckle thrill coasters. Only a handful of such coasters are built worldwide each year, and there are multiple manufacturers that compete to build them. B&M used to exclusively participate in this segment. They barely built small coasters, unlike their other competitors that have multiple legs to stand on besides huge thrill coasters.

However, there isn't much business to be made in the huge thrill coaster segment even if you're one of the dominant players in it. B&M were increasingly relying on the Chinese market because Western parks rarely build 40-meter, multi-inversion thrill machines these days. It's not a segment you can rely on exclusively to stay in business, and it's not too good to let oneself be dependent on China continuing to buy such big coasters, since they have a tendency to only do so when building new parks from the ground up. That's a fickle market. B&M had to diversify, and the logical step down was to enter the market for mid-to-large family thrill coasters. Yes, there is more competition here, but also way more business. More parks can afford or want to build a 20 m tall coaster than a 30 m one by an order of magnitude I'd say.

Also, B&M's family coasters still aren't small per se, and that leaves out a lot of competition from the likes of Zamperla, ABC Rides, or SBF Visa, who almost exclusively deal with coasters small enough that you don't even need a stepladder to inspect every point along their track. B&M's family coasters still reach the 20 m height mark, which is firmly in the upper range for family coasters. That's also a segment of the market with less competition. Notably, these coasters are bigger than most cloned and mass-produced coaster models like Vekoma's Junior Coasters or Intamin's Mine Trains. You can get those coaster models that big too, but it'll usually require a custom design (it's harder to find space for big coasters designed for a generic. flat piece of land), and that means B&M can compete.

It seems that B&M is aiming for a similar segment to the one they've known before: that of parks that want to go out of the ordinary and splurge on a big-ish, premium coaster. The difference is, these parks want their big premium coaster to cater to families rather than thrill seekers, so all things considered it won't be that big. A bigger scope than the mass-cloned models, but not so big it scares people away. The best part for B&M is that even family parks will occasionally find themselves in want of such coasters, and there's a lot more of those than there are thrill parks (evidently, even the likes of Legoland and Chessington find themselves in the target group). With so many potential customers, the level of competition is not troublesome, so it's a fairly safe place to do business. I think they'll do fine.