DaveDowning

Rode it the day before yesterday and I love it. It´s the best of the small dive machines - I´ve ridden them all, and this is hands down the best by far. The forces are really fun, especially the drop packs a nice punch. Now if you know the big dive machines (I only know Sheikra), it´s by far not as extreme and especially the Immelmann is quite different. On Sheikra it has more of a flying feeling, while this is much more twisty, especially with the Zero-G Roll that comes afterwards, which goes the other way. But the ride is smooth as glass and the theming, the preshows and everything around it is so beautiful. The only thing I do not like has nothing to do with the ride but with the people riding it. I don´t get what is so hard to understand about the term SINGLE rider line. There were so many groups discussing with the OPs, it was hilarious.

Are there any other examples of this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Island#Wreck_of_the_Maheno "Oh there´s a hospital ship stranded on this island. Let´s just leave it to rot. Might turn into a tourist attraction." (And it did)

I´m still stunned by what´s going on there. This coaster will be built just a few kilometers from where I live and I never expected anything like that to happen. This will be near-miss after near-miss, mixed with intense high-g curves. Now all that´s needed to make it perfect for me would be some nice hills to give it some . As for the launch: I think this is just marketing speech, and I guess they will only aim for coasters with multiple LSM launches as their "category" in terms of comparing the ride to the rest in the world. There is just no way they can beat a Kingda Ka / Dodonpa Launch. It´s similar to the way they marketed the last drop on Chiapas. The steepest drop on a log flume ride, but only if you count traditional log flumes (which is funny because the only thing about Chiapas that is "traditional" is the seating)...

Dueling has a lot to do with timing. See The Smiler as an example. If two trains are timed right, they will duel, if not, they wont. It really depends if it makes sense to do it, as in, if there are moments where you would be able to actually see the other train. This coaster might have 3 or even 4 trains on the track at the same time. With the right timing, there could be some nice interactions going on.

Nah, it just means that it will be a launch.

New Info. Translation: * Fastest Multi-Launch Coaster in Europe * 2 Launches * "Most intensive LSM Launch in the world" (?) * Longest Multi-Launch Coaster of it´s type in the world (means: Longer than Cheetah Hunt and Helix > 1400m) Last one is difficult: It´s say it has a very "convoluted" high speed layout with 58 Points where the track crosses itself, making 116 of these points. World-Record. I guess they might make it duel. Source.

Absolutely. Though when we were in the blue mountains, I never thought of Scenic World as a theme park. Ok, it has some rides, but it never felt to me like "Oh, this could use a coaster". The Scenic Railway IS funny indeed (especially the tilting seats thing, riding it in first row was quite thrilling, but going back up was more thrilling to me than going down), but the rest is really just the scenery. I don´t think any coaster could improve the scale of the surroundings, the views and everything there. I have to say, we changed our plans spontaneously due to some horrible accommodation in Sydney, so we spent three days in Blackheath (close to Katoomba), which I think is the reason why it never felt like a touristy "day-tour", and I would highly recommend anybody traveling there to do that exact thing, but still: The views from Echo Point, the whole area, the driving and the people up there in that remote area made everything around Scenic World so memorable, I never thought "Oh, I need to ride a coaster here". Actually (even though we visited Dreamworld and Movie World), Australia is one of the very few countries in the world that I would travel to without even wanting to go to a theme park. And of course, building a 10 Million Dollar Coaster in a remote area, never completing it, and then leaving it there to rot is so typical for Australia. It doesn´t get any more Australian than that.

I visited in March, and I was actually wondering if this was supposed to be a rollercoaster. Anyways, there is some track pieces missing already, so I doubt this will ever be open. It´s a beautiful place though, with or without the coaster.

Or paint it purple and make it the Wario Coaster

Haha, this is funny When the FX-Coaster was announced and the same footer rebars where spotted in Ferrari World & Phantasialand everbody thought this would be footer rebar for the SFX Coaster. Turns out it was Intamin all along

Plot Twist: SheiKra Clone

I went there again today and had a look at the ongoing construction. Intamin is on site. I am 100% sure. They have cars and a container on site.

I personally think that the backlash they got over Chiapas made them very careful. All that is officially announced so far is the name of the new area, nothing more. I guess they want to wait until they are 100% sure to say "Opening on [fill in your desired date]". Knowing my home park, I am 100% sure that this addition will not only be a themed roller coaster. There will be more. Restaurants, new walkways, photo ops, maybe even other attractions (think Flats or stuff for kids), locations for business meetings etc... Pretty much the same they did with Chiapas.

Looks like an overbanked curve or immelmann turn to me

I quite liked Formule X quite a bit and that was 2007 or 2008, right? Well you got me there, Robb I´m a german and I don´t follow dutch parks that closely, it was just a gut feeling.

LOL ! Let´s post this a few times in a row. It will take a few hours and every german coaster board will be full of posts saying that this will be the worlds first inverting Aquatrax

I guess the thing is that this might be the first good inverting coaster to go into a dutch parks since..how many years? I´m not sure, but I think it must be at least more than ten years. Of course thats exciting.. You brought up Black Mamba, which was excatly the same case. The first Big-Scale (for european standards) inverting B&M coming to that country. I guess that is what makes all the folks go so mad about that coaster. It´s something new, something that might make you think it´s better than everything else, even though you didn´t exactly try to find out what "everything else" is before

IIRC the next launched Intamin nearby would be Desert Race at Heide Park. My personal idea is that they will install some kind of special element that they don´t want to be spoiled so far ahead of opening. Think of something like Winjas, or the T13rteen Freefall Element, or the Gringotts Element...or something like that. There must be a reason for them to be so secretive - I mean, even Chiapas had some worlds first special elements and they never went that far in terms of keeping the building site secret.

No I did not, as the park stated multiple Times that the rule is: Don't take Pictures during off-season and don't release anything online. And I abide by those rules. I'm quite sure that details will be released on March 28th, when the park opens . And yes, I do think that this is a totally ridiculous idea..

I can confirm this rumor. After all the frenzy going on on German message boards, I decided to take a look myself. There were supports and track with lsm modules, both wrapped in foil but showing the same Intamin sticker that was visible during the construction of Chiapas. So this is confirmed to be a launched coaster made by intamin.

This whole discussion is exactly the reason while I don´t post on German Coaster Boards. It´s always the same. The ride will be the best in the world, it will have some special element that nobody has, it will be better than everything anywhere in Germany, but in the end it´s just a standard coaster. I don´t know why people feel this need for comparing. For me personal, if I like a ride, it doesn´t matter if people from the US love or hate it. I just plainly don´t care. I mean, I can understand a certain amount of "loving" your home park, but this need to compare and judge what is better is just pointless (and lame!). When it comes to comparing European coasters to American ones, I don´t understand it at all. When I visited florida I loved all the B&Ms I´ve ridden, but I would never go and compare, lets say Montu, to Black Mamba. And even if I did, it wouldn´t matter to me at all which one was better. I loved Montu, I loved Black Mamba, but they are just so different that a comparison does not make any sense. For me, the biggest difference is that I can ride Black Mamba when I want, because it´s close to where I live. But that doesn´t make it a better coaster. I hate all this hyping of new coasters. Kärnan is another example of that. In the german scene, this is already "THE BEST RIDE EVAAR" even though we don´t even know the Layout. My thought on this: Maybe size DOES matter after all. I mean, America has huge rides, Europe...well not so much... Anyway, I look forward to Baron as I love well themed coasters. Nothing more, nothing less. Will I ever compare it to Sheikra? NO WAY !

Three new pictures from rideonblog showing some of the theming going into Klugheim. I must admit, I´m quite impressed. (Please note: These pics where taken from within the park) The general rumor is that this will be a launched coaster, possibly another SFX-Coaster. But nothing has been officially announced. More Info here + source

To be honest, I must say I disagree. While it might be true that RMC has spawned a completely new type of coaster, I don´t see RMC as the leading company for the years to come. Still other companies (*cough* B&M *cough*) sell way more coasters than RMC do, and that´s what counts for me in the end. As already mentioned here, the problem with the RMC Hybrid Coasters is that it will be extremely difficult to construct a vertical loop with that technology. But I don´t think it´s impossible. Just look at the Goliath Lifthill - this is something that might have a "classic" look but *technically* still makes the whole thing a steel coaster. Steel track on Steel Supports = Steel Coaster. So when they pull this off on a lift hill, why not do it on a loop? They could still call it a "hybrid" coaster and have a vertical loop aswell. But to get back to the question: No, the Vertical Loop will not go away soon. Each year there are more new coasters with Vertical Loops than RMC Creations. So the Loop is here to stay (which is a good thing, I think at least).

Just a quick report from me with a longer one following. We´re in Florida for the first time at the Universal Orlando Resort and in our first American Theme Park. AND IT IS AWESOME ! We love it. We have two more days to come here and some rides left to do. Some thoughts. A full photo TR ouf our three weeks in Florida (not just parks) will follow when we´re back. Royal Pacific: Really beautiful hotel, nice pool. Rooms could be bigger for the price. The bathroom is the biggest let down for me. Stayed at an airport hotel before we left for 80 Euros and hat a better room and a better bathroom than here. Nice perks which make up for a big part of the price, which makes it just seem like a "little" waste of money for me. Considering that it´s just a 10 Minute walk, I´d choose a cheap hotel somewhere around IHOP and buy unlimited express next time. Overpriced food and drinks. Horror Nights: Visited yesterday and it was awesome. We did AVP, Dracula, Giggles, Dollhouse and Walking Dead just with early entrance which was nice. Great Scareszones. Scareactors there were totally on top of their game and got us a few times. My girlfriend used the photo op in Face/Off and one sneaked up behind us. When we were done he totally got us. Also two at Maskerade got us really bad Great. We actually already think about coming back for a short stay next year. Yep. We seriously consider coming again. From Germany. For this. Harry Potter: I´m really not a big fan of Harry Potter, so many of the movie details are lost on me. But these two areas really just look like a giant money printing machine to me. Shops, Shops, Shops selling useless stuff for prices that are totally through the roof. These wands and robes and stuff.. I would never buy something like that for my child. It rather make them myself. The theming.. well the buildings are nice but I´m used to great theming at my home park and while I agree that the attention to detail is great, there are some places where it is lacking. For example the marble walls in Gringotts. It´s just some foil glued to the wall and not even glued correctly in many places. Looked and felt fake. On the construction site of Kong: Vertical construction is underway with lots of steel rising and a huge crane at the site. Took some pics that I will post later tonight. So, the rides: Gringotts: I was seriously disappointed by this one. Praised as the best ride ever, it was nice and fun, but it also has some faults. You can see switch tracks during the ride. And the final scene was a big bummer for me as I thought this would be a completely enclosed dome but you could see the end of the screens which broke immersion for me. We waited 45 Minutes (with 60 Minutes posted), the ride broke down for around 15 minutes so it would have been 30 I guess. Would not wait more than 30 Minutes for this one. And when we got out, 75 was posted but the queue looked to be less then when we started. I personally think that they keep the times high to make it seem like there is a huge demand. Forbidden Journey: I liked this WAY better than Gringotts. The flying sequences are really great to feel and the animatronics are awesome. The dragon, womping villow, dementors and so on. I was SERIOUSLY scared. I would wait an hour for this, but I´d never wait more than 30 Minutes for Gringotts. Transformers: AWESOME. Loved the movement on this one. Better than both potter rides. The scenes played out perfectly and even though I didn´t know anything about Transformers (I have never seen a transformers movie), I understood the story - which I did not on the Potter Rides. Spiderman: 3D was really AWESOME. Great water, fire, heat fx, also better than both potter rides. (I have never seen a spiderman movie). But this story just made sense to me. I don´t know who the bad guys are and so on, but still, I understood the story (pretty much the same as with Transformers). The Simpsons: I loved this one. Great fun and the best simulator I was on so far. The whole Springfield area is just plain beautiful. Great Photo Ops as well. We didn´t try the food because somehow the smell in most of the Burger / Quickservice Restaurants in the parks kills all my appetite. Don´t know whats different in comparison to Europe. But I never had that at any european park. Dudley Do Rights: Nice ride and soaking wet. I would have loved this if my home park didn´t have Chiapas which, for me, is ten times the better flume. Ok, it´s 15 years younger, but all these unthemed passages just didn´t work for me. Loved the first little drop with the camelback, that came completely unexpected. Loved it. Jurassic Park: Loved it! Loved the last drop on that one. Yes, it´s aging and some of the animatronics could use a little love. Hopefully this will happen when they open kong. Jurassic Park is my favourite area at IOA, and I´m a huge fan of this ride. A part of me still hopes that this expansion will be for Jurassic World and have a new ride thats themed to that and not to Kong. Dr.Dooms Fearfall: I still haven´t decided if I love or hate drop towers. Phantasialand has Mystery Castle which I love due to the story and the theming, and this is quite similar, except for the fact that you don´t stop at the top. This ride gives some serious airtime. And who doesn´t love airtime? I´m excited to try out Falcons Fury this week. Poseidon´s Fury: I don´t think it stands out in the park´s contest but still a nice ride. Minion Mayhem: We love Despicable Me, so it was clear that this was a hit for us. Loved it. Minion Dance Party is a funny idea. Areas: Lost Continent: Beautiful theming. Port of Entry: I love the music here. Nice theming and great photo ops. Seuss Landing: This is so cute! My girlfriend still has her inner child, so she was just laughing and squeaking all the time. I enjoyed it as well. We rode Red Fish, Blue Fish just for fun and had a fun time. Though there were some evil looks from parents, especially as we used our unlimited express The coasters: Incredible Hulk: My favourite coaster in the park. My girlfriend blacked out twice in the second loop. I love how this thing roars around the track. The sound of it is just nuts and it makes the ride seem so intimidating. Swimming in the pool at the Royal Pacific and hearing Hulk roar through it´s track is great. The corkscrew at the end rocks. A bit of refurbishment (think floorless trains) and most of all some new paint could do wonders on this one. Dragon Challenge: I prefer Fire over Ice. The Airtime hill is so cool and so unexpected on a invert. I found it interesting how different the two Immelmen (is that correct ??) ride. Of the inverts I rode so far I would put this on number three after Black Mamba and Nemesis, before Ice on rank four and Oziris on five. Flight of the hippogriff: Theming is cool in the station, but it´s really just a kiddie coaster. I would have preferred a mine train instead. It´s also quite rough. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit: I think this one is seriously underrated. It delivers great forces and some airtime aswell. The non-inverted loop rocks. Will ride this many more times tomorrow. And as the last thing, my only real point of criticism: I know it´s in the law here that you have to provide ID if you want to drink, but what happened is just ridiculous (Keep in mind, we are both over 30 and also look that way..). We both have German IDs and German Drivers licenses on us, and we experienced six different situations: a) No asking for ID b) German official ID was ok c) German official drivers license was ok d) German official ID and drivers license together was ok e) ID and Drivers License was not ok, asked for passport (WTF ???) f) Are You over 21? Cases a) and e) even happened with the same person behind the counter (Loaded Fries at HHN). So, more too follow in the next days if I find time.