A giga to compliment the hyper- Is it becoming a trend?

[fraroc]

With the addition of Fury 325 at Carowinds and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, we're now at three parks with a giga coaster and a hyper coaster (if you count Cedar Point which has Magnum and Millennium Force, but that wasn't in recent years.) I'm beginning to wonder, is this going to be a trend in parks that have a hyper coaster? Especially a B&M one? Are we going to see parks like Six Flags Great America and King's Island get a giga coaster and follow the trend of Carowinds and CW? '

Edited April 15, 2015 by fraroc

[michaellynn4]

As someone whose daily job function is to conduct investigations of consumer bank accounts in order to identify patterns of suspicious activity related to potential money laundering or terrorist financing, having only two examples to pull from is not enough to establish a firm pattern or trend (MF & MXL2K is too far in the past to be considered part of the same data set).

 

TL;DR: No.

Edited April 15, 2015 by michaellynn4

[Snowyowl1028]

Lots of people suspect Kings Island to get a Giga in the next 5 years, but I don't think other parks will get them for a while...

[A.J.]

I think that the fact that Leviathan and Fury are both giga coasters is merely a coincidence - they along with Gatekeeper were probably designed the way they are only so that park guests would go "wow" as they park their cars. They're effectively parking lot coasters, but done in a much better way than, say, Scream or Green Lantern.

[canadianparkfan]

As someone whose daily job function is to conduct investigations of consumer bank accounts in order to identify patterns of suspicious activity related to potential money laundering or terrorist financing, having only two examples to pull from is not enough to establish a firm pattern or trend (MF & MXL2K is too far in the past to be considered part of the same data set).

 

TL;DR: No.

I get that the example at CP is too far back to be part of the trend, however, I could also see them wanting to build a hyper and giga in all their major parks, then keep CP, their flagship park, to be the only one with a strata.

 

Just my two cents though, and I agree that we'd have to see at least one more park do this to say it's a trend that's catching on.

[DaMarkSta]

Fury 325 is so different than Intimidator that I think it's unfair to even compare the two or call it a "trend". Fury is all about speed and quick transitions, where Intimidator has the traditional hills you'd find on a hyper coaster with some floater air. Leviathan is also a little different than Behemoth. If you look at the original trend, Magnum and Millennium, they are different coasters. Hyper coasters in general include lots of hills that gradually become smaller, where as Giga coasters are definitely a different breed. Millennium, I305, Leviathan, Fury all of their second hill's are much smaller when compared to the first hill versus the second hill on the first hyper coaster Magnum XL. So in short no the two types of coasters are not the same at all, and are very different. IMO any major park can have a hyper coaster and a giga coaster in the same park.

[6flagsbrad]

I personally don't see why parks have been doing this. Why build a really great hyper coaster, only to leave it in the dust after building a bigger and better version of it in the form of a giga? Not that Behemoth and Intimidator aren't considered great coasters anymore. And I understand that the hyper is geared more towards air time while the giga focuses on height and speed, but why not invest in rides that are more unique and different from each other rather than just out-build their own rides? Needless to say, I'm still looking forward to riding all 4 of those B&Ms some day: Behemoth, Leviathan, Intimidator, and Fury 325.

[BugEyed]

CW is my home park and I've always felt that Leviathan and Behemoth each offer different experiences. That said, of the two I much prefer Behemoth. To say it was "left in the dust" is greatly overstating Leviathan's impact on the GP. They're both hugely popular with the crowds and they both have their fans.

 

Parks build coasters to attract park attendees, plain and simple. With coaster enthusiasts and those that notice element similarities and differentiate manufacturers being such a very small minority, I really don't think having two out and back style B&M's of varying heights in one park even registers with the overwhelming majority. Certainly not enough to make it a viable marketing device.

[fraroc]

I feel like it adds a sense of variety to the park, especially a park like Carowinds which is one of those parks that seems to have a little bit of everything in it. However, I feel like with Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland having gigas and hypers, Cedar Point is sadly becoming less and less unique

[_koppen]

As someone whose daily job function is to conduct investigations of consumer bank accounts in order to identify patterns of suspicious activity related to potential money laundering or terrorist financing, having only two examples to pull from is not enough to establish a firm pattern or trend (MF & MXL2K is too far in the past to be considered part of the same data set).

 

TL;DR: No.

 

[gerstlaueringvar]

If the two coasters offer very different experiences, a park can have two Gigas or even three Gigas. Imagine a park with both i305 and Leviathan, these two has close to nothing in common other than being 300ft+tall.

 

Having both a hyper and a Giga isn't a bad thing, I'm just not a fan of riding a 300ft+ coaster that's lamer than a 100ft Mega-Lite. I'd like to see that become a trend though because seems like B&M is at least trying to make some changes.

[VF15]

With the addition of Fury 325 at Carowinds and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, we're now at three parks with a giga coaster and a hyper coaster (if you count Cedar Point which has Magnum and Millennium Force, but that wasn't in recent years.) I'm beginning to wonder, is this going to be a trend in parks that have a hyper coaster? Especially a B&M one? Are we going to see parks like Six Flags Great America and King's Island get a giga coaster and follow the trend of Carowinds and CW? '

I think we need to see a few more giga coasters built in parks with hypers before we can say there's a hyper/giga trend going on, though I do think it's possible that Kings Island could receive a giga coaster in another three or four years. Not so sure about Six Flags Great America because I believe they a have maximum height limit.

[Password121]

In all three cases, the parks were seeking major growth and attention. It happened that the technology and partnership were there at the right time for a giga coaster to be possible. In the two most recent cases, the parks were looking for a major coaster to add to their lineup and grab regional or national attention. They could've just as easily added the worlds longest/tallest/fastest anything (like SFGam), and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

To add to this, all three parks are in the same chain. We can exclude Cedar Point as it was a different era and CF didn't own the Paramount parks. In one chain or company, they are more likely to do things in a similar fashion among the parks/investments. It's not like Carowinds and Canadas Wonderland are competing in any way, meaning Fury was in no way a "response" to CW adding Leviathan. This is no trend at all; they are unrelated additons among two parks in the same chain. Both parks were looking for something huge, so both parks got Giga coasters. The only similarity is they were part of the same chain with the same ideals for investments, which allowed $30 million to be invested into one project, which is something Six Flags is willing or able to do. If Kings Island invests in a giga coaster in the future, it still will not be a trend.

 

To make sense of what I just said, do you think it's a trend for parks to add an RMC coaster to complement the parks other, pre-existing wooden coaster (Apocalypse, Thunderbolt, Viper, etc)? No, it is absolutely not. It was just an investment that was made, and because they are all from the same chain, it's not like other parks are catching on and adding RMC's because Six Flags is, they are because they're great coasters. It's the exact same thing with gigas, but nobody else is buying them--it's just Cedar Fair.

 

Tl;dr: Absolutely not.

[Angle O. Descent]

Is adding gigas to compliment hypers becoming a trend? No.

Is Cedar Fair adding adding large B&Ms becoming a trend? Yes.

 

2008 - Behemoth

2009 - Diamondback

2010 - Intimidator

2011 - I305 (Intamin)

2012 - Leviathan

2013 - Gatekeeper

2014 - Banshee

2015 - Fury 325

 

7 out of the last 8 major additions to CF have been a B&M.

[Manic Monte]

I certainly wouldn't mind B&M non inverting coasters becoming a trend. Not only are they near the top of my list in terms of coaster type, but I still can't believe the west coast doesn't have one yet.

[MrSum1_55]

If you discount Gilroy Gardens, there are an average of 1.167 hypers/gigas at Cedar Fair parks. Every Cedar Fair park that does not have a hyper or giga is located in California. As much as I would love to see a real hyper come to the west coast, I am generally not a huge fan of the trend of having a giga compliment a hyper. When I see a new attraction, I would rather see a new ride that rounds out the park lineup than one that is similar to a ride that was just built a few years prior. Granted, I am only saying that from an enthusiast perspective, as from a financial perspective it seems to be working very well. In terms of new attractions, I like what Six Flags is doing better with their mass RMC installations. Personally, I wish that these two chains could switch trends, because Cedar Fair parks tend to be far better operated. I would much rather have to go to a CF park for some RMC than a Six Flags park. Part of me is actually hoping that Cedar Fair has plans to capitalize on the RMC trend, but they are waiting for Six Flags to finish adding theirs before they start on their own. While the chances of that actually being true are very unlikely, that is just what I hope is happening in the back of mind.

[fraroc]

If you discount Gilroy Gardens, there are an average of 1.167 hypers/gigas at Cedar Fair parks. Every Cedar Fair park that does not have a hyper or giga is located in California. As much as I would love to see a real hyper come to the west coast, I am generally not a huge fan of the trend of having a giga compliment a hyper. When I see a new attraction, I would rather see a new ride that rounds out the park lineup than one that is similar to a ride that was just built a few years prior. Granted, I am only saying that from an enthusiast perspective, as from a financial perspective it seems to be working very well. In terms of new attractions, I like what Six Flags is doing better with their mass RMC installations. Personally, I wish that these two chains could switch trends, because Cedar Fair parks tend to be far better operated. I would much rather have to go to a CF park for some RMC than a Six Flags park. Part of me is actually hoping that Cedar Fair has plans to capitalize on the RMC trend, but they are waiting for Six Flags to finish adding theirs before they start on their own. While the chances of that actually being true are very unlikely, that is just what I hope is happening in the back of mind.

 

Everybody forgets poor Michigan's Adventure

 

Also, Xcelerator reaches 85mph and goes 205ft tall like Steel Force....Wouldn't it make that a hypercoaster?

 

Anyway, I would love to see RMC consider Cedar Fair.

[rollin_n_coastin]

I'm with A.J. on this one. I think the potential trend here is improving the first point of contact with guests and adding a wow factor through front entrance renos, which happen to include a coaster interacting with them. I still remember the first time seeing Leviathan's turn around at the gate. It really does work well and looks fantastic. So far we've had two gigas and wing rider. It really could have been any coaster.

 

The other is choosing one manufacturer to fill a certain type of attraction gap at CF Parks, from Morgan to B&M. I'm not sure how much Intamin did outside of Cedar Point in the past.

[Rai Fox]

I personally don't see why parks have been doing this. Why build a really great hyper coaster, only to leave it in the dust after building a bigger and better version of it in the form of a giga?

 

Because numbers sell. Hypercoasters aren't that big anymore, comparatively speaking, and tons of parks have 200 foot coasters. If the park wants its name in the record books, and wants to attract the general public, height and speed get attention and are much easier to market than TPR reviews or ACE awards. Those might matter to fans, but to 95% of park guests, all they know and understand is "100 mph is faster than 80 mph."

 

As for me, just personal opinion but I don't feel like there are any coasters anywhere that "leave Behemoth in the dust." Top 5 steel coaster in my book, no matter how much taller and faster others may be now.

[MrSum1_55]

Let us face it, no one remembers Michagan Adventure.

 

I did not include Xcelerator or Dragster in that calculation. While both are over 200 feet, they do not give an experience that is anything similar to a ride like a full length hyper.