Europe Trip 2014

Tomorrow, I will fly to Europe and stay there for the next few weeks. I've talked about this before, but plans have changed a bit when it comes to the parks particularly. You may recall the post from May that I will be going to Thorpe Park and Heide Park. But we will not be going to Thorpe Park this year and instead our European parks will be:

Phantasialand (7/13/14)
Heide Park (7/14/14-7/15/14)

I'm very excited to see these parks, especially Heide Park where I've followed the construction of two of their coasters:

Krake (B&M Dive Machine) - actually did updates on this one on this blog - 2011
Flug der Damonen (B&M Wing Coaster) - 2014

There's also other coasters there like Colossos, an Intamin Plug n' Play like El Toro (so I'm expecting this to rock my world, just like El Toro did), and Desert Race, an Intamin Accelerator, which should be fun. They also have one of the tallest drop towers in the world, Scream, an Intamin Gyro Drop like Drop Tower at Kings Dominion. This one will be 338 ft tall, 3 ft taller than Falcon's Fury at BGT and 33 ft taller than Drop Tower at KD.

Phantasialand looks pretty interesting too. It seems more like a Universal "theme" park than a coaster park, but it surely has some of the most unique looking rides around. I like the log flume they opened this year, Chiapas (made by Intamin), which has a very unique system especially for a log flume. They have Black Mamba, a B&M Inverted Coaster, known as one of the best themed B&Ms in the world; Mystery Castle, an indoor drop tower (Intamin Bungee Drop); Talocan, a HUSS Top Spin like Crypt at Kings Dominion except much more themed, and from the looks of it, a bit more thrilling too; and some more.

So there are already two parks that will make this trip thrilling!

The America portion of the trip has changed a bit too, with Kings Dominion and BGW being taken out. Now the parks will be:

Dollywood (8/4/14)
Carowinds (8/5/14)

Dollywood has Wild Eagle, a B&M Wing Coaster that I followed the construction of in 2012; Mystery Mine, a part indoor/outdoor Gerstlauer Eurofighter with some incredible theming; Thunderhead, a GCI Wooden Coaster; and many more.

Carowinds, I've already visited in one of my trips (2011), twice actually. We skipped it in 2012, so it's great to be back in this park again! I also think it will be cool to see construction on the Giga coming next year (and yes, I'm definitely going to Carowinds in 2015. I must ride that Giga as soon as possible).

So there you go, the next few weeks are going to be super fun in my opinion. I will post a review of the European parks once I come back, while after the America trip, I will post a review on Dollywood and Carowinds. See you guys in a few weeks.

Holiday World 2015: Could it be a B&M?

On second thought, I do not believe Holiday World will be giving Voyage an Iron Horse treatment.

Here's some recent news about what's going on at Holiday World (from Erik Johnson at Theme Park Review on June 17, 2014):

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1462202#p1462202

Some construction is going on near the water slides that are next door to the old Pilgram's Plunge location. We had a great day so far at the park, but Voyage has been closed most of the day.

 He also posted pics of the land clearing.

Koasterking48 posted a pic on Theme Park Review from June 19th, showing footers, looking to be for a steel coaster:

This photo was pulled from Facebook, but it's not mine and I unfortunately cannot give credit to it as I don't know who the original poster is (I found it on another coaster fan page and they obviously didn't state who took it either).

The construction appears to be to the right of Voyage behind Hyena Falls (in Splashin Safari). The footers here seem to indicate a B&M of some kind.

Now that brings up something interesting. Recently there have been four different track pieces at the B&M plant: yellow (for the Wanda park in China), orange (most likely for Gardaland's Dive Machine), white (another dive machine, probably for Efteling), and teal (unknown). I do not think teal will fit in this area of Holiday World very well, but the orange track could. While I heard the orange track is going to Gardaland, it could fit nicely here too.

But now, here's a little out-of-left-field speculation. I don't normally do this, but I've been hearing ideas spreading throughout Theme Park Review. Judging by the look of the footers and the direction, could we be seeing B&M's first launch coaster with a launch system made by themselves? While, Hulk is a B&M, but the launch system was designed by a different company. There has been a rumor for the past few years that B&M is finally ready to get into the launched coaster business:

(2/7/13) NewsParcs has posted a great interview they had with Walter Bolliger (of B&M coaster fame). They talk a bit about how B&M works as a company, their latest designs, and even mention that they are ready to do a launched coaster (LSM) as soon as a customer asks them to do one. In 2013 they will open two new Wing Coasters, Gatekeeper at Cedar Point and now we’ve got a name for the one in China’s Ocean Kingdom… “Flying over the Rainforest”. 

(7/11/12) I haven’t heard much about this in some time, but I did get an e-mail this afternoon reminding me that B&M are still working on new exciting coaster projects. With the full scale international launch of their Wing Coaster design now behind us, I was reminded that they are still hoping to evolve the Wing Coaster design into their very own version of a 4th Dimension coaster style attraction, with rotating seats. Don’t look for this to happen next year, and maybe not even the year after that… but from what I’m hearing, they are working on it.
    Of course, this leads me to wonder about the other new B&M concept that we have yet to see or hear anything about in some time… the launched coaster. I had heard on good authority that B&M was indeed ready to start building launched coaster layouts and had come up with their own new launch system they were comfortable with.  If I had to guess, I think we could see a launched B&M before we see the 4th Dimension. However, for either design, there has to be a buyer willing to take a risk and be the first to build one.

(9/28/11) Screamscape sources tell us that in the next season or two we can expect to see B&M premier an all new launched coaster ride system, as their next new coaster concept. Beyond this, I’m told that B&M would like to launch a 4D coaster concept, likely based on the new Wing Coaster technology, but this ride system is still several years away from becoming a reality. For now B&M have their hands full developing the new Wing Coaster system and getting their Launched coaster line off the ground.

So for 2015, could we finally be seeing this B&M Launch built? Since Holiday World had no experience with B&M, I'd guess that they will pick one of their existing designs first, like a Floorless or a Wing Coaster. But this ride is looking more and more like a launch coaster of some kind, and the footers do look like B&M (especially in this comparison by LogBur on ThemeParkReview):

"Confirmation is a bit strong but look at the footings in the center of this image.


And now look at Banshee's footings.


They look identical to my eyes. I'm waiting for someone more well-versed in manufacturer footings to clue us in as to whether other companies use the oval/almond shaped cutout or not."

They also just removed an attraction nearby, Giraffica, formerly Pilgrim's Plunge. Could that be a possible splash down zone?

What makes this more interesting is some of the clues lately. Here's a short summary from glouthan at Theme Park Review:

I was just thinking about something based on the recent clues (about a week ago - mentioning the storms. I was thinking they could be like Verbolten's event building - could be located on the pit). I was thinking that the clues could be hinting towards the layout of the coaster, each day being a hint of a certain element. Here is what I mean:
Day 1 "At last the day is here. After years of planning, we depart for the New World." Dispatch from station.
Day 4 "We are told to remain below" underground tunnel perhaps?
Day 5 "My worries drift away with the gentle rocking of the ship." Some pre-launch/lift turns?
Day 8 "The liar must clean what the swabber will not, the beakhead and chains." A reference to a chain lift?
Day 11"The children look to the skies and imagine what secrets exist within the massive clouds." High height, or nearing the top of the lift?
Day 15 "We count one hundred plus two passengers on board." Could this be the height?
Day 16 "And now we are one hundred and three" Drop length? 
Day 21 "The spray on deck feels colder now than at the start of our journey." Water effects? Maybe the old Pilgrim's area will be used?
Day 22"As the ship shifts unexpectedly, there are times we can no longer stay upright." Inversions, anyone?
Day 25"The skies are worrisome." Could this the coaster going into the pit? There could be a building like Verbolten, and 
worrisome skies are usually dark - a building could be dark on the inside.
Day 26 "We have survived our first storm at sea." Storm effects, turns, inversions that happen in the building?
Day 28 "The air on deck is fresh" Out of the "event" building?
Day 34 "The wind has taken on a deeper chill and stronger force." Launch to reach top speed?
Day 35 "The ocean waves rock our ship." Could this mean back and forth "twisties"? (Cheetah Hunt & Lightning Run are examples)
Day 36 "Another storm." Back into the "event" building?

Anyways, I might be overthinking, but this could be something.

If this is B&M's first launch, and it will be like this, man will I be interested! But alas, we'll have to wait and see. Good news is, we have 23 days left until July 24th when this thing will be announced.

B&M Track Speculation

At this point, there are 4 colors of B&M track in the Clermont Steel Fabricators plant near Batavia, Ohio (first quote from Cedar Fair Roller Coaster Construction Facebook; second quote from Tosu97 at Carowinds Connection; pics from themepark.nl):

Here are a couple of shots from http://themepark.nl, according to the photographer(Simon de Bruijn), the white and orange track are both dive coasters destined for Europe. The yellow track i think is still for China, so that leaves the green track that is unaccounted for.

Now up to four colors of B&M track floating around- white, yellow, orange, and teal

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=649698781781076&id=528819877202301

Pics can be found here:
http://themepark.nl/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2130553#Post2130553

We have white track, orange track, yellow track (mentioned below), and teal track. There are two Dive Coasters confirmed for Europe next year: one in Efteling (in the Netherlands), and the other in Gardaland (in Italy; I've actually covered this park in the past with the construction of Raptor, the first B&M Wing Coaster, back in 2011). Heth from ThemeParkReview speculated this:

The promotional material for the Gardaland one has used an orange and black colour scheme, so I'd have guessed it was the other way around.

So we kind of have an idea where two of the track pieces are going, the orange going to Gardaland and the white going to Efteling. I had a feeling the white track was going to Carowinds though.

For the yellow track, here are some pics from Screamscape (back in February):

(2/26/14) Our local Screamscape spy dropped by the B&M Track Fabricator plant in Ohio and snapped up pictures of brand new bright yellow coaster track. If I’m reading the label right this is for a new B&M Flying coaster, and they do have one on the way to China for the Wanda Group set to open in 2014 at the Xishuangbanna International Resort park. The concept art for this coaster found on VHCoasters however had blue track and not yellow, so while this track could be for another project, I’m still thinking this is still the Wanda coaster unless someone knows of another B&M Flyer in the works. 

I'd definitely expect the yellow track to be for the flying coaster in China. It's been a while since we've last seen a B&M Flying Coaster, but "LC" means Flying Coaster.

So now we know:

ORANGE: B&M Dive Machine for Gardaland, Italy
WHITE: B&M Dive Machine for Efteling, Netherlands
YELLOW: B&M Flying Coaster for Wanda Xishuangbanna, China

However, that just leaves the Teal track. Cedar Fair has been adding teal/blue colored coasters recently, most notably Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland and Gatekeeper at Cedar Point. Banshee at Kings Island is an exception, as it has purple track, but does have blue supports.

Teal track would make sense for Carowinds given this recent trend. Normally I would doubt this if it was still going to be called "Centurion" (teal wouldn't make sense then :/). But now with the recent trademark of "Fury 325," I suppose it's pretty possible. So my guess for the teal track is Carowinds at the moment.

Possible Name For Carowinds' 2015 Coaster?

Permits have been filed by Cedar Fair for a trademark, "Fury 325:"

2015 - New Coaster - (6/17/14) Cedar Fair has filed for a new trademark this month for the name “FURY 325”.  It certainly sounds like a good name for a very tall coaster doesn’t it?  Following in the same fashion as “Intimidator 305”, the reports that Cedar Fair is planning a 300+ foot coaster for Carowinds in 2015, it very well could be named FURY 325 I suppose. This isn’t the first time Carowinds would have brought an attraction to the market using the FURY name, as they launched a much-hyped new haunted house for their SCarowinds event a few years ago that was simply called FURY.
    Previously this year Cedar Fair has also filed trademarks for the name “FURY’ on January 23rd and Centurion way back on October 18th, 2013. Though I have to admit, I’m a bit more keen on the Centurion name, as the location of the new coaster is said to pass out in front of the park’s main gate area, giving it a similar feel to what they did with Gatekeeper at Cedar Point, and the name Centurion does have a similar tone to it. 

While the name sounds generic, I wouldn't mind 325 being added to it.

As mentioned above on Screamscape, they added "Intimidator 305" at Kings Dominion, of course being 305 ft. Now they are naming Carowinds' giga "Fury 325" (or at least what I assume will be the case). Could Cedar Fair finally be ready to build a giga taller than Millennium Force at 325 ft (MF is 310 ft)? If this is true, "Fury 325" will be the fifth tallest coaster in the world and the tallest NON-LAUNCHED coaster in the world. If I were to guess, this could possibly be the fastest non-launched coaster as well.

Of course, this also means that Carowinds will be quite a destination park. I did hear a while back on a forum that Cedar Fair might make Carowinds essentially a "Cedar Point of the South." This certainly is a sign that they could be very well doing that to Carowinds. They also bought some land by I-77 just to the right of the entrance road, possibly for a hotel. It should be a very interesting future for Carowinds.

SFNE 2015 Update #1

I was surfing through SFNEOnline, and I noticed this JUST happening today (from BizarroAj):

Breaking news from sfne, land clearing has begun around cyclone

The whole area where the old que was, they tore down the fence and are clearing the area out. I tried to get pics from the sky ride but the trees and flashback is in the way, but you get a good view when riding cyclone. 

He then posted this image from today:



It's very interesting that they are land clearing around Cyclone this early, or are land clearing at all. Maybe it's a sign that Iron Cyclone might be more monstrous than initially thought by some.

This and Colossus at SFMM are already looking to be very successful 2015 additions.

UPDATE:

BizarroAj posted more images today (found in this link):

http://sfneonline.org/forums/index.php?threads/2015-speculation.1404/page-50#post-47568

It looks like the land clearing is between Cyclone and Flashback. I made a diagram of where the land clearing could possibly be (from the photos):

This brings us back to this report from May 24 (by Dennis, quoted by Bizarro #1 on SFNEOnline):

"...At the top of he lift hill, to my left on the walkway, I could see the orange marker with a number 9. And parallel with that is two more orange markers. All parallel to the lift hill. Maybe the lift hill is being moved to the left 20 or 30 feet??"

Why could they be land clearing this early? Maybe they ARE moving the lift to the left. I also do wonder if this could also mean the end/relocation of nearby Flashback, a Vekoma Boomerang that is now neighbored by a Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang. Cyclone could definitely benefit from Flashback's space, and if they are moving the lift to the left, Flashback seems much more likely to be removed. Plus, Flashback will just benefit in another SF park.

We've seen SFMM make their announcement on Colossus. I wonder when they will for Cyclone as well as a possible closure for Flashback. We'll find out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Breaking News: Colossus at SFMM to Close August 16!

Just found this out on Theme Park Review (picture courtesy of bostonlva):



Colossus at SFMM will close August 16! This just came in an hour or so ago.

If rumors are true, we can expect Iron Colossus to come by 2015/2016. I do wonder now if they are going to just open it for 2015. It really wouldn't make much of a difference since Iron Rattler was worked from August 2012 to May 2013, and it was ranked just as high, if not higher than New Texas Giant.

If it opens in 2015, that means we have THREE RMC rumors for next year:

Six Flags Magic Mountain: Iron Colossus
Six Flags New England: Iron Cyclone
Six Flags Great Adventure: Custom RMC

I believe 2015 could definitely be the year where RMC builds three coasters. The fact that RMC has a bright future ahead makes me very happy, and hopeful that we will see one in Florida soon.

I unfortunately haven't ridden Colossus yet (I point this out because I did visit Six Flags Magic Mountain in Winter 2010. I rode X2, Viper, Revolution, Batman, Riddler, Tatsu, Scream, and Goliath). I do think, however, next time that I'm at SFMM, Iron Colossus will be a must-do.

SFGAdv 2015 Update #1

This was just posted on Screamscape:

2015 - New Coaster - Rumor - (6/2/14) After doing some serious thinking and chatting with a reader about the idea… I have to say that I do have some doubts about the possibility of a custom RMC wooden coaster coming to SFGAdv for 2015. This rumor has been in the pipe for well over a year now, and while I do believe that we will see an RMC creation in the park eventually, 2015 just may not be possible. 
   The main factor to consider is just how many rides can RMC actually design and construct in one season at this point in the company’s development?  2013 was the first time we saw 2 new rides launch from RMC in the same year, one of which was an I-Box transformation of an existing ride (Rattler into Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas) along with the built from scratch Outlaw Run (Silver Dollar City). 2014’s work slate for RMC follows the same pattern… one I-Box transformation (Medusa at Six Flags Mexico) and one custom creation (Goliath at Six Flags Great America). Keep in mind that RMC also has a heavy load of other side work, as the company is heavily involved with off season maintenance, structure rebuilding efforts and re-tracking on a number of other wooden coasters throughout America as well. 
   Looking ahead to 2015 and 2016, IF the pattern continues, we should only expect to see 2 new RMC coasters each year as well. While 2015 is still technically wide open… the long standing rumor has been for SFMM to re-work Colossus for 2015, or maybe 2016. Kolmarden is on the books already to build Wildfire, a custom RMC, for the 2016 season (their first project in Europe). If the previous pattern stays, if SFGAdv doesn’t add one in 2015, they may have to wait until 2017. 
    Other factors are already starting to stack up against adding one to SFGAdv in 2015 as well. If my sources are correct, they claim that the park has yet to have or schedule a meeting with the Jackson planning board to discuss their plans and how any possible tree removal that may be necessary, which I’m told is always a sensitive subject with the township. For now we’ll just have to wait, watch and see what happens.

Well, I'm not sure I would necessarily agree with that. I personally believe the pattern will expand to three coasters a year. This is a different company, but B&M in 1990 only built one coaster (Iron Wolf at SFGAm, now Apocalypse at SFA). 1991, they opened another (Vortex at CGA). 1992, they started building two per year (Batman at SFGAm and Vortex at Carowinds). 1993, they built 3: Batman at SFGAdv, Flight Deck at CGA, and Kumba at BGT. 1994, they built 4, including their first TWO international coasters: Diavlo in Japan's Himeji Central Park, and Nemesis at Alton Towers; plus Batman at SFMM and Raptor at Cedar Point.

Why bring up B&M? Well, this is to point out that companies have built numerous coasters in their first years, per year. They started at one, and in four years went to four per year (of course, it didn't stay that way). Sure, RMC is a different beast altogether with its offseason maintenance, structure rebuilding and retracking (especially with it being a new company), but I personally think it's possible for RMC to boost the pattern. I also doubt SFMM will be redoing Colossus until 2016 (because of the past rumors of the refurbishment lasting as long as Texas Giant. That *would* mean SFMM will have to close Colossus by the end of the year). So for 2015, I think (if they were to follow the two-year pattern) that we would see:

Six Flags Great Adventure - Custom Woodie
Six Flags New England - RMC Conversion of Cyclone

While for 2016, we will see RMC open:

Six Flags Magic Mountain - RMC Conversion of Colossus
Kolmarden - Wildfire, Custom Woodie

Now that I think of it though, one thing I do question about this rumor is the part where it would "dive underground, traveling under 'the lake' at some point." After doing some research, I've heard that New Jersey does not like underground tunnels (due to an aquifer underneath). If that's the case, then we can definitely debunk the rumor of tunnel under the lake.

However, I still believe SFGAdv could get an RMC Wooden Coaster in 2015. Looking forward to more rumors coming soon. Stay tuned!