Intarider

Well actually when researching the name BGW had several they wanted to chose from, I now give to you the EXCLUSIVE list of alternative names for the ride- -Dasher -Dancer -Prancer -Vixen -Comet -Cupid -Donner But in the end it was decided to go with Blitzen. THE END! Actually it's Donder, not Donner. Donder means thunder in German. Same goes for Blitzen, which means lightning. Perhaps we will actually see a ride one day with Donder in its name at BGW. Um.. Actually The SETGO Guys is right, thunder is Donner in German. And although lightning would translate into Blitz (without -en), the name Blitzen-Volt sounds like complete nonsense to me as a native German speaker (same with Mäch Tower). However, apart from the name the coaster is quite interesting- it's small, but I think it will be a very enjoyable and re-ridable experience. I also think that 80kph is much more realistic than 80mph as the layout seems to be rather tight and Busch Gardens is usually quite accurate with their theming, and in Germany nobody would ever specify speed in mph

Do you know if the construction has started already? If not, you're problably right and it will open in 2013 or later.

There will be a new park in the Rome area next year. It will be a studio park by the Cinecitta studios which turned films like Ben Hur and it is said to have a budget of $800 million. It has already be semi-confirmed that it will have some kind of Intamin rollercoaster, and most rumors point to a multi-inversion coaster. Homepage of the park: http://www.cinecittaworld.it/main.html

^After the Behemoth/Diamondback/Intimidator package I would firmly believe that it will also be built by B&M . Actually, the markers in the park indicate a more stretched-out layout with many tall curves and overbanks, much in the style of Leviathan. But we will see, the important thing is that it will be built after all

A new interesting rumor is that unfortunately, the 12-inversion coaster would not be installed in 2012, neither in Brazil nor in Italy- however, both countries would get a clone of the 10 inversion coaster (Colossus). This has been posted at Coastersandmore.de along with the Gigacoaster rumor at Knott's. which would translate into http://coastersandmore.de/rides/bestof/bestof6.php

I still wouldn't rule out a Giga Coaster at Knotts in 2012 or 2013 (the latter being more likely). Coastersandmore.de has updated its article about record breaking roller coasters today, and Leviathan is mentioned as well as a Giga Coaster project being in the planning stages for the Los Angeles Area. which would translate into http://coastersandmore.de/rides/bestof/bestof2.php As the project is being described as waiting to be realized, I think Cedar Fair might have problems with the city laws or the land where this monster will be built, so I don't expect it to go up before 2013. Also, the manufacturer remains a mystery. I believe CF might wait for feedback of Leviathan before deciding about the manufacturer.

^Looks great with the two dueling trains, but I believe you could make it even tighter without risk to chop the passengers' hands (nice i305-style lift hill if I see it right btw).

Olympia Looping FTW! However, Thriller/Zonga looks even better in terms of layout and G-forces. I wish I could have ridden it when it still travelled around the German Volksfests.

^You are probably right, especially as it looks like a perfect clone of Xcelerator. (Btw, I hope the colors are more durable this time ). Nice to see another Intamin project, though, especially as Xcelerator seems to have a fairly good reputation under the enthusiasts.

Is it confirmed that this will be an Intamin creation? Based on what has been built in China recently, it could as well be manufactured by S&S. Triumph Kingdom looks really nice after all, and a launched coaster is always a great addition, no matter who builds it

Really difficult, Intamin has so many great coaster types For me the ranking is: 1. Mega coaster/Mega-Lite because "hyper-like" Intamins get better the smaller they are 2. Prefabricated Wooden Coaster basically for the smoothness and the amazing airtime 3. Accelerator coaster/Blitz Coaster as the launch is extremely forceful and the ride ususally doesn't let up until the brakes

The Invert is their best product in my opinion, at least the good old ones (like Raptor or Montu) with great forces (Black Mamba was a bit forceless). Their hypers are quite fun, but when you have one of the best Intamin hypers next door, you see that other manufacturers (Intamin) can do that stuff way better. However I haven't ridden many B&Ms yet, so my opinion might change sometime.

^Good point. If they haven't added a big new attraction for over ten years, they will probably have saved enough to pay for a new coaster. And to build the coaster next year or the year after is a good move, since in 2014, the soccer world cup will take place in Brazil and will bring lots of tourists. And to have a world record is sure to mobilize the crowds, especially as the GP usually like inversions and say things like "Expedition GeForce is boring because it doesn't go upside down" or something like this.

I don't think they are comparable to Maverick's. The roll on Maverick was forseen to be taken at a very high speed, but on the 12-Inversion-coaster they are on the end of the layout, and a steel coaster with only a 40m drop gets really slow after 1500 meters. I think the experience of the rolls will be very similar to Colossus' heartline rolls.

Now this sounds great! What I especially like about this concept is that it isn't purely based on inversions, but also has two or three airtime hills thrown in. Also, compared to Colossus, there are more "classic" inversions and fewer heartline rolls what makes the ride more diversified. It will be interesting to see if Intamin will go with the standard 3- and 4-tube track or with the new double backbone rails like on Intmidator 305. Furthermore I wonder which lift system (probably a cable lift) and which trains will be used, but time will tell. Oh, and the Aquatrax rumor still rules because no park has decided to build another one yet! By the way: I believe someone posted the recreation in the Intamin 12-inversion-coaster discussion thread.

Skyrush. I could easily see it in the Top Ten of next year's Mitch Hawker Poll, Intamin airtime machines are always a great thing.

In my opinion, Intamin is the better company. I may be a bit influenced, though as i have two examples of Intamin's greatness next door (Expedition GeForce and Colossos) while Black Mamba and especially Silver Star were kind of boring. On Silver Star you feel just like riding a cabrio on a hilly highway and you can easily just sit there, enjoy the view and have some small talk with your neighbor. On EGF, hovever you just enjoy the ride and the totally awesome ejector airtime while your eyes are watering due to the wind - on every row! When I look at the recent developments in the amusement industry, I notice that B&M cares more for a safe and reliable ride rather than a totally awesome one like Intamin. And although B&M seems to be pushing the limits a bit more in the last years (crazy chinese flyer, Leviathan), Intamin is just even more extreme"OMFG" experience rather than a smooth hilly trip that might or might not include one inversion or two. Also I believe that the downtimes of typical Intamin rides are a bit exaggerated - in the last years I have visited Holiday Park and Heide Park quite often and there were never any problems with their Intamin rides - be it a coaster with a lift hill, a launch coaster (Desert Race), a Free Fall Tower or anything else. However, when I went to Europa Park, Silver Star broke down for half an hour while I was in line. That may not say anything, though. What I can't understand about Intamin however is their restraint policy. I'm quite tall (1,97m/6ft 5inches) and I don't like Intamin's OTSRs at all- to me, they feel amost as restricting as a "standard" OTSR. I think it is a shame that a classic Giga coaster like i305 has them (although it may be necessary due to the massive amount of extrme twists on the ride) and especially a ride like Skyrush would be 10 times better without them, I believe. Apart from this, however I can't understand why there has been only one major Intamin coaster announced for 2012 while B&M will build 6 or 7.

^^This was exactly how I felt. A few days before I rode Mammut at Tripsdrill, a woodie that is comparable in size and length, however it was totaly tame so my expectations to El Toro were not that high. Also, the only "true" woodie (not a pre-fab) I had ridden before was Anaconda in Walygator Parc which nearly broke my back (the Mitch Hawker Award for worst wooden coaster was totally justified) and so I was a bit frightened that all classic woodies would be that painful - but luckily they are not

Thank you I hope my English is acceptable.

Currently, we have Summer Holidays in Germany, so I decided to make a quick trip to Freizeitpark Plohn on my motorcycle yesterday. Plohn was one of the last German parks I hadn't visited yet, so I was looking forward to riding El Toro, my first GCI-Woodie very much, especially as it is "TPR-approved". The park itself is really nice- mostly a kids' park, but a lot of fun nonetheless. And alone for the awesome woodie, the trip was worth the three and a half hour ride. You really can't describe how great the out-of-control feeling on Toro is, especially as I had only ridden three woodies before, and none of them was "great" (Colossos was, but it feels more like a steel coaster and hasn't got the crazy turns and twisties). I hope you enjoy the TR! Nice western themed area This way to El Toro! Here it is! El Toro looks like "Raging Bull had a few too many litres of beer at Oktoberfest" to quote Robb Leaving the station And coming back This ride seriously has one of the best on-ride photo spots ever! And on top of that, it is extremely photogenic! Every inch of the track is visible from somewhere! In all seriousness, the ride is great! You get small pops of airtime where no one expects it, for example in this twisty section And on top of that, the coaster is really smooth! Great headchopper here. Recently, the park opened a new kids area called "Plohni Dorf" what would translate into "Plohni Village" (Plohni is the mascot of the park) Once again, very nicely themed. They also have a small Zierer family coaster called Plohseidon there Actually quite decent for a kiddie coaster. Plohni is happy because he always rides front row This is the site where the new-for-2012 Intamin Giga Aquatrax with 12 inversions will be built! On the other side of the park, there is a nice primeval themed area... ...with a kiddie free fall tower. Fake dinosaur skulls or the ancestors of Jeff Johnson? You decide! I guess the park's next coaster will be named Raptor? Raptor is going to eat you. Well, back to Great Coasters. Well, actually the best part comes after the ride because there are some very interesting items near the photo booth! No Plohn TR without this photo! TPR on display! Beautiful sunset

I'm currently working on a few No Limits creations, especially on an Intamin hyper coaster called Apophis and a yet unnamed compact B&M Invert. Apophis, a "new style" Intamin hyper with lots of twisties and airtime hills A compact, forceful B&M Invert (track not finished yet)

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if we will see one or two installations of the 12-inversion coaster in 2012. Apart from Skyrush, there haven't been any major Intamin projects announced yet and there are some clues which parks may build one. Apart from Hopi Hari it is suggested that the new-for-2012 Cinecitta studio park in Italy might also get one. This rumour was brought up by the german coaster blog coastersandmore.de, and their predicitons are actually very reliable (for example, they knew weeks in advance that BGW's 2012 coaster would be from Zierer).

Hi! My name is Frido, I'm from Germany and after having been a silent reader for a long time, I finally decided to join the forum. Until now I have ridden 56 coasters, mostly in Germany, but last year I also went to Walygator Parc to check out Monster. My home park is Holiday Park, so I can go and ride the best steel coaster in the wold multiple times a year I'm also quite talented at building coasters in No Limits, so maybe I will take part in some Game Exchange contest sometime. Yesterday I visited Freizeitpark Plohn to check out El Toro (the German Version). Maybe I will post a TR later today. I'm looking forward to having lots of fun on this site!