A ride that CP doesn't have & you wish it would...

RCMAC said:
I believe that’s correct. It didn’t last long though, because Colossus opened and took the height record at least.

Yeah, Revolution also had the first vertical loop in 1976. Two months before Cedar Point opened. It happens with records a lot.

Goliath at MM had the height record for two months before MF.

Bluestreaker said:

operative_me said:

Sorry to be that guy, but:

Gemini never was the tallest or the fastest.

When Gemini opened in 1978 it was the tallest, fastest, steepest coaster in the world.

Sorry for the Wikipedia link, but:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(roller_coaster)

Looking at RCDB the dates seem correct. Steepest? I dunno got me there. If I'm wrong then I apologize.

Based on RCDB it has the "highest drop" which, I believe, is what the marketing suggested. Several rides claim 60(+)mph from that year. I don't think the parks were super worried about absolute accuracy in the 70s.

(If anyone remembers, Millennium Force was advertised as 92 mph but ended up running faster after it was built.)

Absolute accuracy? How about Magnum, oops engineers had the heights wrong...
Wasn’t just a 70s thing

Yup. There was no websites back then to check all this either. Still makes me laugh that Magnum was originally expected to be 187 ft or something like that.

operative_me said:

Intamin's first roller coaster at Cedar Point opened in 1979, 10 years before Magnum. (Y'all know which coaster right?)

Jr. Gemini! Well, Wilderness Run now.

operative_me said:

Yup. There was no websites back then to check all this either. Still makes me laugh that Magnum was originally expected to be 187 ft or something like that.

Yeah going for the tallest record put it to that 187 number, which is only 13ft from the 200 mark, so they adjusted the plans to go over 200ft. Based on the layout, I would guess the change only really affected the first three hills.

The world is done with 200 foot wooden coasters because of Son of Beast? Which was built in 2000? By a company that folded in the early 2000s? Even though it’s been rumored that Paramount brought in their own team to cheaply finish the project?

But now it’s 2018 and we’re still ruling out a 200 foot woodie even though there are companies that I’m sure are capable of successfully completing the project.

The thing about wooden coasters are there upkeep and constant maintenance.

CP Maverick said:

dj, im pretty sure we’re all aware of the differences between gci, rmc topper, and rmc ibox.

But you're still suggesting CP's next coaster should be a hyper hybrid (essentially), 2 years after they just installed a hyper hybrid. For the sake of variety, a traditional wood coaster is much more likely, and probably a better investment.

The next ride Cedar Point needs to add is a 300mph bullet train between the peninsula and Rochester, NY. Anything else is just a waste of money.

djDaemon said:

CP Maverick said:

dj, im pretty sure we’re all aware of the differences between gci, rmc topper, and rmc ibox.

But you're still suggesting CP's next coaster should be a hyper hybrid (essentially), 2 years after they just installed a hyper hybrid. For the sake of variety, a traditional wood coaster is much more likely, and probably a better investment.

But its not. As much as you or i look at the topper track as “not wood”, every park that has built one advertises it as a wooden coaster.

Maybe so, but they'd still be marketing a 200 foot airtime-filled coaster, 2 years after marketing a 200 foot airtime-filled coaster. It's redundant and diminishes the ROI of both SV and the new attraction. Like I said - works great in RCT, but not so much in the real world, when you're the one writing the check.

To me, it makes infinitely more sense (assuming the park needs an airtime hyper) to install a B&M hyper and a GCI of the Mystic Timbers type. Or heck, for what a 200 foot RMC topper track would likely cost, they could install a Fury 326, and market it as the tallest giga coaster in the world.

I must have missed the part where someone said in 2 years.

I’d prefer a good GCI/GG twister, but with how the park typically advertises new rides, I don’t expect it.

As much as it’s a gimmick uncomfortable and unpopular design, I wouldn’t rule out a B&M flyer either.

Maybe a B&M hyper style ride fits best, which is why I suggested pages ago that they could do that by asking RMC to build a wooden Diamondback. They get a different style ride and all the records they love.

And it would apparently take them months to get it running with any sort of reliability. :-)

Or they could install a B&M and save themselves the headaches (and comparatively high maintenance cost of wood-structured coasters).

So many rides is a double edged sword. Cedar Point now has 30 years of heritage in record breaking rides, or more if you count Gemini & Corkscrew. There's a bit of everything, which means "What Next?"

Building a B&M hyper or giga would step on Magnum or Millennium's toes. Building anything taller or faster than Dragster would cheapen its appeal.

I can see a Smiler calibre Infinity fitting in nicely and being a solid addition. Or a T Rex hyper with inversions; Freestyle: The Coca Cola Coaster*

*Coca Cola to pay 50% of construction costs.

Oh, you can go back further than 30 to find record breakers at CP. Seriously.

I just came from a trip to KD and BGW. TT was awesome, but the surprise hit for me was Tempesto at Busch. After a few rides on that one I declared that every park should have a Sky Rocket ll from Premier Rides. It’s smooth, comfortable, thrilling, and is compact. And it would fit nicely in some of CP’s tight spaces, say if Wicked Twister should decide to move away or something.

I'm surprised by that. If I went to a park that had one of those rides, I would treat it the way I treat most boomerangs and walk right by it. I don't know why, but aesthetically it looks terribly uncomfortable.

I thought so too. I saw it from the parking lot and said no, and when I got to the ride it looked scary and uncomfortable. But it wasn’t.

I think it is more likely than not that Cedar Point will try to build a record. I am not saying that is what I want. I am saying that is what they do. So an RMC or Intamin wooden coaster is more likely than a GCI unless you see a GCI higher than Goliath which I think we all agree should not happen. Yes, we think RMC and Intamin woodies don't have a traditional feel, but I think the park will value the record more.

A flyer is possible but that type of ride seems to be going the way of the standup. Who knows. I think a wooden coaster is more likely.

Another possibility is B&M but again with a record being set. They could do the highest giga coaster or just the highest coaster. I do not think a 500' B&M is impossible but I think a hyper wooden coaster is more likely.

Front Seat Rider said:

...but I think the park will value the record more.

If CF has not yet learned that this is a terrible strategy with wooden coasters, they need new management.

So an RMC or Intamin wooden coaster is more likely than a GCI unless you see a GCI higher than Goliath which I think we all agree should not happen.

Even if we (for some inexplicable reason) ignore CF's relationship with Intamin, how many Intamin prefabs have been built in the US in the last 20 years? Exactly 1, and it was built more than a decade ago. That should tell you something.

And again, an RMC "wood" hybrid coaster would be a poor ROI case, given that it simply duplicates SV. I mean, it's not just that it duplicates the ride (hyper and giga airtime coasters can coexist with success, after all), it's that it duplicates the ride while being very expensive to maintain. Frankly, the park is more in "need" of an airtime-heavy steel coaster than another RMC hybrid. It would be one thing if CP already had a modern wood coaster, but they're sorely lacking in that department. I'm not sure how a steel-tracked coaster fills that role, especially for the "Roller Coaster Capital of the World."

CF has had pretty great success with GCI. They've also got Maverick, a very popular ride that didn't break any records. So I think anyone expecting anything other than a modestly-sized GCI is playing too much RCT, and not paying attention to the industry.