Rougarou teaser video

Is any one else impressed by how much of Mantis er... Rougarou is painted already? Looking at Tony's pictures on Twitter they are making great progress.

I love that the ride is painted with PointBuzz's colors, let's just hope they change Iron Dragon's supports.

I can't help but think B&M weren't very pleased themselves with the ride. Perhaps they wanted the update just as much. Stoked to ride the finished product.

And perhaps mantis, errr.. Banshee was designed to roar

Never understood the Iron Dragon change. Was that 2004? Only thing that makes sense is they bought paint in bulk, as it was similar to the paint used in Geauga Lake's Thunderhawk. It looks like McDonald's.

Bring back the old scheme, or paint the supports a charcoal grey.

I would have to say that B & M was very satisfied with Mantis. For its time, it was a popular coaster built at the world's most popular amusement park, and it broke world records for its type. And this was also a time when the stand-up coaster was still a novelty. Sure, many folks from Ohio had ridden King Cobra down at Kings Island, but never were those same coaster-riders treated to a ride like Raptor while standing up.

It was a niche in the coaster market that was wildly popular for a time, but it has simply run its course.

Mantis had a good run. Frankly, I've always admired the course and found it quite stunning to look at, I just gave up riding it for at least the last 5 - 6 seasons simply because I find it terribly uncomfortable to ride.

ID was repainted in 2004, along with the defunct Wildcat. Thought I once read somewhere that bright colors stimulate people's minds to think of food and get hungry?

TwistedWicker77 said:
The thing that I've noticed on certain posts is people commenting about the restraints. For a floorless, there really is no need for the vest restraints if you ask me.

I kind of assumed that the vest-type restraints were a B&M advancement, not an option the parks could choose from. They are clearly more comfortable (even if they had a tendency to clamp down hard on the clavicles early on), allow for much more visibility and arguably much safer. Much like Intamin put OTSR's on Kingda Ka and Intimidator 305 and ruined rides that should otherwise be better than their predecessors, I assumed B&M simply modified their train design for the vests and any new rides or trains would get the vests. It doesn't make any sense to me that one of the most highly-regarded coaster firms in the world and probably the safest one would even give parks an option on something as critical as restraints.

See, I've never had issues with Raptor's restraints. I like them better than Gatekeeper's actually.

clevelander said:
^ It makes you think that if the idea really came from us here.

Well during speculation times during the summer, I mentioned how cool it would be to see Mantis converted to a Floorless. Some people thought I was crazy because it was a long shot. Well as of last Thursday, that fantasy became a reality. :)

I mean there is also that thing where it has been a rumor for about the last 10 years.

Maybe this could be a new trend for some of CP's older coasters. Disney has done renovations to their major rides over the years and so has Six Flags. Maybe Iron dragon with open air trains and the original paint scheme;) But seriously it would be awesome.

RyanRSheets said:
...I assumed B&M simply modified their train design for the vests and any new rides or trains would get the vests. It doesn't make any sense to me that one of the most highly-regarded coaster firms in the world and probably the safest one would even give parks an option on something as critical as restraints.

It's been pointed out that the vest restraints require a wider train chassis, which is likely why it's not an option on Mantis.

The restraints in the renderings look similar to those used on other B&M floorless coasters. My guess is that they haven't yet designed a new restraint system for those particular trains...so CP was offered what was available. It's not like new floorless coasters are in high demand so restraints on those trains probably haven't been a priority project-wise.

If B&M does ever incorporate a vest restraint system into this type of a train then I think the shape and angle of the grip bars could be modified to fit within the space. Truth be told I wish they would have used a narrower design on the existing vest restraint system for rides like Gatekeeper and Banshee because the bars are too close to one another. It makes for some awkward and limited hand placement during the ride.

I for one am not a big fan of the restraints on GK, if I ride it more than a few times the vest straps start digging into my collar bone. However, I rode Banshee numerous times without any trouble so I have no idea what the difference is between the restraints on GK and Banshee.

cpfourlife1 said:
^agreed, probably the most likely option. I'm sure at least part of one of the trains will be used in a halloweekends event.

It already was added to Halloweekends. Jason McClure tweeted the picture last week with the caption "That didn't take long..."

https://twitter.com/JasonMcClureCP/status/513078127107792896

JUnderhill said:
I for one am not a big fan of the restraints on GK, if I ride it more than a few times the vest straps start digging into my collar bone. However, I rode Banshee numerous times without any trouble so I have no idea what the difference is between the restraints on GK and Banshee.

The banshee vests require less force to pull out than the gatekeeper ones do based on my 50 rides on both of them. It might also just be the forces that the rides give.

GateKeeper's vests also did appear looser at the end of last season before the off-season refurb but after the vests were modified..

People always say that the force tightens the restraints on gatekeeper making them tighter. Mantis i think has so much more force than gatekeeper so if rougarou had vest restraints then i feel like it would get too tight at the end and make the ride uncomfortable

Kevinj said:
...but it has simply run its course.

Pun intended? ;)