The Future According to Intamin

We're all familiar with Intamin's record-breaking, envelope-pushing, adrenaline-depleting and flat-out fun thrill rides. They have become pioneers of sorts in the ride industry, pushing themselves to the limits and beyond in terms of design.

I'm wondering what people think Intamin might have in store for us in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now.

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*** Edited 10/12/2005 12:42:07 PM UTC by djDaemon***

Hopefully they will come up with a ride that slightly larger than average people will be able to ride!

^...and maybe is B&M reliable........ok yeah im asking for too much! hehe

what?

He's hoping that in 20 years, Intamins will be as reliable as B&M's are today. Frankly, I don't think Intamin will be around in 20 years, at least not as an independent company.

Pioneers? Their stuff never works out of the box. Several of their rides have killed people the last few years. I don't think they're pioneers of anything.

pioneers of death rides...

...but i guess those existed in CP's past, too... those old wooden things that cracked your neck. :)

Well... by the very definition of that word, I'd have to disagree. Because they have created new rides based on new technology (definition of "pioneer": a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development), I would think that indeed they are pioneers. The fact that their stuff has technical issues, as well as safety problems does not make them less pioneer-like.

And of course their stuff has problems. Its easy to improve upon the wheel, but much harder and more costly to develop the wheel. Why does everyone seem to overlook this when the IAG-hating starts?

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*** Edited 10/12/2005 5:41:51 PM UTC by djDaemon***

They have some great ideas, but they become reality to soon. TTD and KK shouldn't exist in all honesty. Though they do so I guess we just have to be patient and ride them when we have the chance. I'm being hopeful about TTD's fourth season in 2006.

All it's going to take for Intamin to collapse is one slip up at one major park on one major ride. It'll be like roller coaster tycoon where no matter what you do no one will ride that ride. Tell me honestly that if something serious happened on KK, such as loss of life that you wouldn't have second thoughts the next time you get on TTD.

It would depend on the cause of the death. If it was operator error a'la S:ROS then I probably wouldn't have much trouble with it.

If it was a mechanical failure (like what shut down Ka over the summer) I'd have a little apprehension about riding, at least until it had made a couple hundred laps without incident.

and that's an enthusiast talking lets not forget.

The GP isn't so ride-happy when they hear stories of error and death.

But they also hear about that stuff on a somewhat smaller scale.

They hear what the local news station tells them. Which, like the park usually tells us, isn't the full story. This makes it all the harder. Well for some. Doesn't S:ROS still get people on it?

I will take a B&M over an Intamin anyday.

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Cory Marshall

SuperNitroForce said:
^...and maybe is B&M reliable........ok yeah im asking for too much! hehe

Yeah, Intamin does have a lot of downtime, but Dragster is doing a lot better than it was in the previous years. Plus, Kingda Ka is doing great, besides the major breakdown. Not bad for only the second one in the world.

By the way, B&Ms break down from time to time at Cedar Point too. I remember being stuck, standing up, for 30 minutes on Mantis. Raptor breaks down periodically too.

If I recall correctly...Raptor has dropped kicker wheels or other things in the station a few times.

MIA-Mike said:

SuperNitroForce said:
^...and maybe is B&M reliable........ok yeah im asking for too much! hehe

Yeah, Intamin does have a lot of downtime, but Dragster is doing a lot better than it was in the previous years. Plus, Kingda Ka is doing great, besides the major breakdown. Not bad for only the second one in the world.

By the way, B&Ms break down from time to time at Cedar Point too. I remember being stuck, standing up, for 30 minutes on Mantis. Raptor breaks down periodically too.

LOL... you call a ride being down for 2+ months "doing great"? KK would have mutilated it's riders if there were people on board. KK is the second generation and yet it had more problems then the first and is a worse ride overall then the first.

Dropping a kicker wheel is not something you can compare to flinging riders out of or shredding your trains.

Please, for those of us who don't know, tell us what exactly a "kicker wheel" is?