A.J.

There are 3 ride manufacturers that currently make this type of pendulum swing ride with a 40 passenger gondola. Does anyone know which manufacturer is providing the ride for Kings Dominion for 2016? The Frisbee XL is just a little bit larger and swings just a little bit higher than the Mondial one, 118 feet and 130 degrees at max swing. The Zamperla one goes even higher, 147 feet. I'm pretty sure this one's going to be made by Mondial.

Skyhawk is a 24-seat Sky Roller - it's the first of its kind on North America because Shell Shock is a Sky Fly.

The perspective of some of those photos likely makes the vertical loop seem taller than it actually is.

So, the same slide complex that was installed at Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park. Looks good, but it's a little anticlimactic.

Playing Devil's Advocate here - we can't automatically say that the coaster would remain smooth regardless of who would do the installation, and that includes Rocky Mountain. What matters is that Knott's needs to maintain the thing regularly, or else it will devolve back to the way it currently stands (a "ghost" of its former self, knee slap).

I would argue that the animation is the next stage beyond simple concept art, that texture underneath the coaster looks really close to a master plan.

Regular two-row cars, a giant character taking up half of the front car, family-level ride movements... Smells like a Mack Youngster / YoungSTAR coaster.

...implying that anyone would be willing to fork over the money and build that monstrosity in their yard.

Jokes aside, Skyrider is already operating at a park in Italy.

Nice presentation. Not too shabby. I'm also curious about the ride manufacturer of the Slinky coaster. First guess is Gerstlauer because they did Firechaser Express, and it looks like a similar kind of ride.

Hm, maybe I'll stop by on my way home through Pennsylvania this Christmas.

There we go, so there's no more confusion.

I was honestly expecting a copycat line with an RC Racer, parachute drop and Slinky Dog spinning ride. I love how it's so different!

I think that's just how Maurer has been doing things lately. That new coaster at Romon World doesn't have any brakes either, it's stopped by the launch motors.

Arg, too far away from Dollywood to be a part of my "courses, coasters and culture" tour.

Gawker's recently run this story as well, but their comment threads actually seem miraculously sane.

"Ride the edge" gets a resounding "meh" from me, because I never take the winged seat by choice. Also, am I the only one around here that thinks Wildcat is at the very least "okay"?

Lightning Rod, because I'll actually be able to make the drive and go ride it.

For those of you who like to keep score, this looks like a Hopkins flume.

So, which will reopen first, Goliath or Stinger?

Skyrush doesn't break any records or has anything marketable except for its seating arrangement, and yet here we are. "Largest wooden roller coaster we've ever built" is enough. Heck, you might even be able to play the "largest / best / fastest / etc wooden coaster in Pennsylvania" card.

Yes. Next question.

What are you on about? At least three new installations on the books for 2016 so far, six for this year, at least three per year since 2005 - Intamin is still making plenty of coasters.

The fact that they would rather send the Fast Track seats empty than fill them with normal guests makes it so much worse.

Every roller coaster is a set of beams and / or rails being twisted around. Just sayin'.