OrlandoGuy

First off I agree B&M as a company now doesn't need launches, They are doing very well. But Your statement about other company's variety in products have to disagree. If were talking about in terms of most offerings, I would give that to Intamin, Mack, and Zamperla They offer not just a variety of different coaster styles but as well as a huge selection of Flats. If you were talking just in coasters, Intamin or Vekoma would be my picks. According to there websites Vekoma has 10 different styles of coasters while Intamin has 26 styles (water coaster Included). but If you want to go off how the trains are set up like how B&M is then just for the sake of typing I'll write down the different styles of Intamin provides, Half Wing Style, Sitdown OTSR, Sitdown Lapbar, Spinning Coaster, Mine Train Coaster, Wing coaster, Half Pipe, Zach Spin, Wooden Coaster, AquatraX, Inverted, and Motobike. While not every single product hasn't had the success of B&M's products I don't see many people (enthusiasts and GP) wanting to go back to CP (for example ) For Raptor, Mantis, or Gatekeeper. So in terms of success differs whether your saying whose sold more or what people like. Not to 8 of the top 12 in Mitch hawkers 2012 steel poll were Intamin and 2 B&M or on the 2013 wooden coaster poll 3 in the top 10. The key to my statement was the word "success". Sure, Intamin offers a lot of different styles, but how many of them are actually solid products? Zac Spins get very mixed reviews and have low capacity and few installations. They only have 1 wing style (FB, which is apparently unbearably bumpy), one half-wing (Skyrush, another allegedly painful experience), and the spinning coaster/mine train/inverted coasters are dominated by other manufactrers. What Intamin does best (and has the most of) are blitzes, mega-lites, accelerators, amd gigas...but even then, hypers/gigas/blitzes/mega-lites are practically the same ride, just with different sizes. Sure, you can list all the different coaster types they OFFER, but if they actually install very few of them with true success, then the argument is moot. Sure, Intamin offers different vehicles, but they usually dont change the ride experience for the better.

First off I agree B&M as a company now doesn't need launches, They are doing very well. But Your statement about other company's variety in products have to disagree. If were talking about in terms of most offerings, I would give that to Intamin, Mack, and Zamperla They offer not just a variety of different coaster styles but as well as a huge selection of Flats. If you were talking just in coasters, Intamin or Vekoma would be my picks. According to there websites Vekoma has 10 different styles of coasters while Intamin has 26 styles (water coaster Included). but If you want to go off how the trains are set up like how B&M is then just for the sake of typing I'll write down the different styles of Intamin provides, Half Wing Style, Sitdown OTSR, Sitdown Lapbar, Spinning Coaster, Mine Train Coaster, Wing coaster, Half Pipe, Zach Spin, Wooden Coaster, AquatraX, Inverted, and Motobike. While not every single product hasn't had the success of B&M's products I don't see many people (enthusiasts and GP) wanting to go back to CP (for example ) For Raptor, Mantis, or Gatekeeper. So in terms of success differs whether your saying whose sold more or what people like. Not to 8 of the top 12 in Mitch hawkers 2012 steel poll were Intamin and 2 B&M or on the 2013 wooden coaster poll 3 in the top 10. Oops, double post.

Uh... I should hope so. This might be the next generation of inverts we're looking at, but it might also be the moment the invert finally jumps the shark. I'm hoping for a big shake-up in the coaster world, where the riding public at large, I'm talking the GP, says, "Ok, big drop, bunch of inversions, we get it. We don't need any more of these rides. Something new, please." Call it unlikely all you want, but I don't think it's impossible. Personally I think B&M better hop on the launch coaster bandwagon or they're gonna be left behind. You can say that about any ride, though. If B&M were to get "left behind", and their presence in the industry were to be minimized, the market would be dominated by Intamin hyper-twisters and Mega-Lites...of which the GP would then eventually say they dont need any more of those either. B&M are the only company that do these mega-loopers (correctly). For that reason alone theyll always be relevant in the market in my opinion. But even more significant is B&M's ability to innovate. In just about 20 years the company has come up with eight (by my count, correct me if Im wrong) different styles of roller coasters, all of which have been met with massiv success...what other coaster company has that amount of marketable variety in their catalogue? They dont need to do launches and they dont need to make rides that are ridiculously intense. They offer parks with reliable looping rides in several different styles that other companies cant match. Even if Banshee is relatively "forceless", itll be a people-pleaser that offers something different from the rest of the Kings Island lineup, and the same can be said of many other parks that will continue to utilize B&M's servives for years to come.

Ooh, I guess youre right lol. Im getting confused with the speed coasters, which I seem to wedge myself into so my feet dangle a bit. Youd think Id know that, IOA is one of my homeparks and the floor is very noticeable on the Hulk. The point remains though, floorless trains arent really the end-all of coaster vehicle styles.

To me, floorless trains are actually pretty pointless. They're only effective in the front row, and even then that's assuming you're actually thinking about the prospect of the track being by your feet--but most of the time, I'm too distracted by actually riding the ride to care Really, even on sit-down coasters, your feet barely touch the floor (as seen in that picture above) so the whole concept is kind of a waste of research, development, and hype if you ask me.

Theres a few good ones, IMO: The B&M trio at Busch Gardens Tampa: Kumba, Montu, Sheikra and Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot, Griffon Cedar Point has the 3 record breakers, Magnum, Milennium, and Dragster (or swap out Magnum for Maverick and you have a great Intamin trio) And of course the Diseyland Mountains: Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Ive never been to Hersheypark or Great Adventure but those two seem to have an impressive lineup as well

Looks amazing, to my knowledge, isn't there going to be a path under Pipe Scream? I hope the GP isn't stupid enough to try to touch the track. It might just be the way I'm looking at it, but the airtime hill or center hill looks tall enough for someone to jump and touch it. if you use that guy in the picture as reference, you can see theres no way someone could just jump up and touch the track under the hump. That guy's head comes up just over the track and thats at its lowest point on the ground. Itll be fine..

I've only been once so I cant give the best review of the place, but when I went I just remember it being a generally unpleasant place. Granted, X2 was down so it kinda sucks not being able to get on the premiere attraction, but if your entire visit relies entirely on one ride thats not good either. I remember it not being the cleanest park in the world and the overall atmosphere being ugly...lots of barren, un-landscaped areas, and a lot of unsavory guests. I did get a FlashPass but on rides it wasnt good for, the lines crawled. To me a good amusement park should be pleasant to be in even if all the rides were gone...I would not want to spend any more time than I had to at Magic Mountain, which I saw as a big slab of concrete in the desert. I will say that I enjoyed Scream and Goliath more than most people seem to. But the rest wasnt anything great IMO. On another note, it looks like I definitely need to visit Great America and Fiesta Texas.

Im kinda surprised regarding the response to Great America...Ive never been there so I obviously am not the best judge, but from what Ive seen the layout seems very cluttered. And while Raging Bull, X Flight, and the original Batman seem like good coasters, they dont seem like major headliners in the same vein as El Toro, X2, Bizarro, or New Texas Giant. Maybe Goliath will change that. I will definitely make a point to try to check out Great America now.

I've been lurking around here for a while and decided to make an account because of a pressing question I've had since I started reading...which Six Flags park is actually the best in the chain? Coming from Orlando, I've always kind of looked down on Six Flags for not being AS themed or AS clean as Disney, Universal, etc. Plus there are all those stories about the gangs and stuff. But after reading a few threads on here, it seems like there are some that actually have a nice reputation. Personally, I've only been to Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Magic Mountain, and out of those two, I would say SFOG is definitely the "nicer" park, with lots of shade, generally well-themed and well-kept areas, and a pretty solid collection of roller coasters! Magic Mountain, on the other hand, was dirty and frankly a bit ugly in my opinion. So for those more in the know, what are the "best" Six Flags parks to you, and why? I'll have to check them out. (PS, I used the search function but couldn't find an existing topic like this, but re-direct me if necessary)