Jhcbiinoc

Current favorite is Dollywood, so I am saying chain (Herschend). Before that it was Knott's (also a chain) and SFMM (another chain). I have only been to a few non-chain parks in my life, and while I enjoyed them, they were not my favorites.

For Six Flags Magic Mountain, I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express across the street: http://www.ihg.com/priorityclub/hotels/us/en/valencia/vacca/hoteldetail If you're doing the Knott's part, you can't do too much better than the Knott's Hotel: https://reservations.knottshotel.com/knotts/?requestType=promotionCode&code=EASYPAY

Very nicely done. I wish I had those photo skills! I have to say that the more pics I see, I am not only blown away by what B&M has done here, but also what a magnificent job the park has done with the entire area around the ride!

Wish I could have done this today as well. I am working on getting the nerve up to ride this. I am still shocked I got on Windseeker at Carowinds last month-although I got a last minute reprieve from conquering this irrational fear I have of mega-tall swing rides as it broke down before the ride started.

Although there may not be as many "big" new coasters this season-this, Outlaw Run and Gatekeeper all appear to be great new additions to the US coaster lineup.

Thanks so much for the awesome (as usual!) coverage of what appears to be a fantastic new ride. Wish I could have been there!

If only this were true regarding the replacement for Ninja! Seriously, I would love to see SFOG get a B&M Wing Coaster, either an X-Flight clone or better yet, something with a totally new and unique layout. I can see that happening at some point in the future.

Considering that I work from home and that I don't have a typical Mon-Fri work schedule, I would definitely be open to attending a during-the-week bash event!

SFMM -Every minute of X2, but especially that first drop and Raven Turn -Pretzel loop on Tatsu-they saved the best part of the ride for last -Zero G Roll on Scream Knott's -Overbank and Zero G on Silver Bullet -Xcelerator's launch out of the station -(At one time before it got rough and trimmed) the second half of GhostRider SFOG: -Drop over the lake and the overbank turn on Goliath -S:UF Pretzel Loop Dollywood: -Wild Eagle view from the first drop and the Zero-G Roll where the world seems to rotate -Thunderhead between the top of the lift and the brakes Those are just the ones that stand out to me at the moment...my personal favorites. As I get to more parks this year will expand on it!

Awesome job on the POV, and I am glad to hear that the ride delivers and meets and perhaps even exceeds expectations! I look forward to riding this one. Now, if only those rumors about something like this showing up at Dollywood turn out to be true...

Riddler's Revenge, followed by Batman: The Ride immediately afterwards.

Those who have not watched the off ride videos, definitely check those out...you can't tell as much in the POV but this thing just hauls.

^Where are you seeing the wooden coaster layout? I couldn't find it on there.

I had an interesting thought about this. I recall in the IAAPA interview, when Walter Bolliger was asked why we had not seen inversions on a hyper coaster that he did not want to discuss that point. I cannot help but wonder if that could be related to SOB's replacement.....

I've actually thought about this a few times before. To build a new theme park in the present economic climate which could sustain itself, there are quite a few factors to be considered, and the planning would depend upon factors such as location, target market/demographic, and a multitude of other factors best handled through honest and meticulous market research. That being said, I can just say what I would do if planning a new park given the current economy and the way things have been trending. Number one consideration would be location. There are only a handful of metropolitan areas remaining which could support and sustain a decent sized park, and beyond those, the only areas which I feel would work are areas which already possess a potential market, such as areas with heavy tourist traffic. (Hard Rock Park aka Freestyle Music Park aka abandoned ride parking lot could have been very successful had it been thought through more carefully and marketed correctly, but that's another story.) In the heavy tourist traffic areas, even more careful planning would be required: for example, if I were planning a theme park type attraction in Las Vegas or the surrounding area, it would likely be one with a handful of "extreme" thrill rides/coasters catering to that market, rather than attempting to do what MGM Grand Adventures did. But for the case of this example, I will stick with what I would do for a "something for the whole family" park catering to all ages from kids to teens to adults. Second factor would be balance. I would definitely want a varied assortment of rides, from rides just for kids to rides for the entire family to a few extreme rides as well as a good balance of entertainment and non-ride options. Not only that, I would want to have them spread out so that all of the rides for younger kids are not isolated to one small area but alongside the other attractions. Third factor would be the capability to make a decent investment at the outset with a thought out expansion plan. I would want to go for value and quality of the rides more than the amount. For coasters, I would have two "major" coasters to open with: a major wooden coaster, and a major steel coaster with inversions. For the wood coaster, I would definitely go with a GCI of decent size and length, maybe around 100-120 feet tall and anywhere from 3200-3600 feet long budgeted at about $10-12 million. For the steel coaster, I would definitely go with a B&M-either a floorless, inverted or more than likely, a wingrider given their "wow" factor to most of the GP with 4-6 inversions, not a "record breaker" but but something anywhere from 130-150 feet high and a decent layout anywhere from 3200-3500 feet long to appeal to the thrillseker demographic-which would likely run anywhere from $16-22 million (a big investment, but worth it in the long run as they are reliable, high capacity and the GP eats them up.) In addition, there would have to be some kind of family coaster-maybe a custom Wild Mouse or spinning coaster from MACK but something the family could enjoy together, and a coaster just for small kids. The only other really big and pricey ride I would want to start out with would be one of the S&S turbo drop towers, it wouldn't have to be a record breaker but maybe something about 175-200 feet tall as kind of an "icon" ride and the other major "big thrill ride". Beyond that, I'd probably want a good assortment of flat rides (not sure exactly which ones, but maybe an S&S 40-seat Screaming Swing and one of the Zamperla Air Race rides to cover the high thrill ones, as well as milder ones like a wave swinger, disko, a carousel and a few others). And there would have to be water rides-I would definitely want a classic log flume, a rapids ride and a splash battle. A good dark ride attraction of some sort and some just for younger kids ride would round out the initial ride assortment. That's at least $150 million in rides alone and likely more once you factor in theming and all of the other necessities. But I feel it would be worth it based on the value and the variety. As part of the five or ten year expansion plan, I would want to plan to add a balance of family and thrill rides including a second wooden coaster, a B&M hyper, a family launch coaster, etc. depending on how the park did. But rides are only one factor. I would also want a good variety of entertainment, with at least three venues for major live shows of some type, at least one of them indoors, as well as smaller venues. I would hope to have one entertainment option in each themed area. There would also need to be a good assortment of quality dining options with a variety of menus, mostly counter but at least one family sit-down restaurant, as well as shopping venues (a great place to maximize profits) and arcades/gaming options. I would want to offer as many guest services at no charge as possible, and create as much positive incentive for people to stay in-park as possible. Altogether, that is several hundred million, and especially when you consider not only theming and facilities but three other imperatives to any type of project such as this being successful: 1. Operating budget. IMHO the ENTIRE operation budget needs to be carefully thought through and planned for before profits. I think it is better to underestimate projected attendance and expect the best while having the backup in case first few years expectations cannot be met. 2. Marketing. A good marketing campaign combined with promotional tie ins with vendors and products if need be to get people in the gate is a critical part of any budget for a theme park. 3. Quality staffing, and the time and resources to train, manage and compensate them properly; IMHO and experience happy employees=happy customers=profitable success. And after all of that, there are likely factors I overlooked. Others have offered some good points here as well. Sorry to ramble on, those are just thoughts I have had. There is still room for new parks, but whoever elects to take it on would really need to remain focused and remember the saying I have always liked: "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail".

I have to make a comment-those are some of the best Knott's photos I think I have ever seen-great job! I agree with what a few have said in this thread already regarding Silver Bullet, it is IMHO very underrated. Still my favorite of all of the B&M inverted coasters I have been on. I miss living so close to Knott's! It was great to call it my home park for many years. However, I am really enjoying the parks out here.

This is some great news! If WCB had been in a few weeks, finances and family issues might have caused me to have to miss another year, but with this being in September and with plenty of advance time and planning, I should be able to make it this year; not only that, will get to try out the new SFMM/KBF additions. Eagerly looking forward to more details as they become available.

I think it was Riddler's Revenge, and then immediately afterwards I rode B:TR. Both rides were great but it was that zero-g roll on Batman that really "wowed" me on their coasters.

Although I loved it when I lived in So Cal and lived 25 minutes from Knott's and about 1.5-2 hours from SFMM, I am actually happy that now I am only a few hours away from SFOG (about 2 hours) and Dollywood (about 4 hours) as they are both great parks with a good assortment of coasters. I just wish some park out here had a 4D!

You guys have really outdone yourselves this year. Great job on the interviews! I am glad to see that S&S has not given up on the 4D coaster concept, and was excited to hear about the possibility of a launched one. I was a little disappointed that a B&M 4D may be far in the future, but why do I have a suspicion that we might be seeing an inverting hyper/giga from them someday soon?

Once again.....truly awesome coverage! I thoroughly enjoyed the first video and look forward to the others coming-in the meantime am enjoying all of the great photos. Thanks again for a great job of covering IAAPA.

Question for all coaster manufacturers: In the media over the past year, there have been numerous stories regarding riders who were handicapped to the extent that they were missing both hands or both legs and were denied rides. Are any efforts being made to accommodate these riders?

The two coasters I really want to hit in 2013 are Gatekeeper and Outlaw Run, although Iron Rattler looks great as well. I am curious to see how Full Throttle turns out at SFMM.

Question for S&S: I am as anxious as many others are to see more 4th Dimension Coasters - especially in North America. Have you ever looked into the possibility of a launched 4th Dimension Coaster using your air launch system?

Question for Hopkins Rides, LLC: Looking at your new website, it appears as if you are coming back in a big way as a manufacturer specializing in water rides including log flumes, super flumes, raft rides and chutes rides. Has there been significant interest in new installations of these ride types, and can we expect to see a rebirth and resurgence of these classic types of rides, as many parks have retired their old versions of them?