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Best family ride hardware

EndlessWire

EndlessWire

Mega Poster
I was thinking today that certain family ride models seem really well suited to parks wanting to make lower-cost but unique attractions. Mack Splash Battles, for example, seem like a cost effective way to have a solid/reasonable ride experience but also give room for distinctive theming and other opportunities (it wouldn't be too hard to add a dark section to one, for example). So that got me thinking - what family ride models (coaster or non-coaster) do you think offer a park similar bang-and-flexibility-for-buck?
 
Call me strange, but I personally think that powered coasters are good family attractions! I prefer the Mack model, but the Zamperla model is good too!

The reason I think that powered coasters are good family attractions is because they can have a very wide appeal. For example, whenever I go to ride Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers, I always seem to see a very wide range of ages riding and enjoying the attraction; in my opinion, it's thrilling enough to satisfy teenagers and young adults, but it's placid enough to appeal to younger guests, if you get what I mean. Even though it's not my favourite coaster, the ride still holds a very special place in my heart; it was one of the first coasters I ever rode and I still find it quite intense considering its statistics! It's just a really fun coaster all round, in my eyes!

I also think that most dark rides would fit the bill.
 
Honestly, I love Gerstlauer's new family coasters, I have ridden both FireChaser and Pegasse, and they were both really fun rides. Anyone can enjoy them, they are quite easy to theme and they are extremely versatile, with them having both forward and backward launches and lift hills. They also have pretty good layouts as well with them throwing you around quite and bit and they also have some decent floater airtime.
 
^Agree 100%. I generally bash Gerstlauer, I think their 'adult' coasters are poorly made, even if they ride well, but their family coasters are wonderful. FireChaser is the best, by a mile, but the others are pretty excellent too.
 
Hixee said:
^Agree 100%. I generally bash Gerstlauer, I think their 'adult' coasters are poorly made, even if they ride well, but their family coasters are wonderful. FireChaser is the best, by a mile, but the others are pretty excellent too.
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I agree, their Kiddy creds are fantastic, it's when they try anything with high forces it goes to ****.
Gerst lovers such as @jayjay incoming...
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Wish there were some custom Intamin Family Mine coasters spread across more of our European family parks. Not necessarily the best throughput out there but certainly nothing awful either. Just think the ride type is fab, and there's plenty of opportunity for theming one of these up and making a real experience of it, in my opinion. Beats your cookie cutter Mack powered mine train and most definitely a few levels up from the Arrow models.

 
Luca B said:
I agree that a lot of their eurofighters and a few of their Infinity coasters are pretty bad, but Kärnan is far from :emoji_poop:.
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Agreed, but it's definitely not built as well as it would be if Mack or Intamin had done it. It's got some strange pumping and heartlining issues all over the place after the first huge element thing.

The drop, and probably the first element, are what carries it.
 
Hixee said:
Agreed, but it's definitely not built as well as it would be if Mack or Intamin had done it. It's got some strange pumping and heartlining issues all over the place after the first huge element thing.

The drop, and probably the first element, are what carries it.
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Firstly, if Mack did it, judging from what I have ridden there would be little force, and it would generally be a boring ride. You have a fair point saying Intamin, based off of their whole portfolio, however their newer coasters such as Hyperion have had not so good reviews. Also in my opinion the strange pumping and heartlining of the ride, definitely adds to the experience, as you feel many unnatural forces that can not be experienced anywhere else, and it really throws you around. In a way it seems like Gerstlauer did not make mistakes with the heartlining and pumping, but were instead trying to push the boundaries of what conventional rollercoasters can do, and make an extremely unique hyper coaster.
 
Hello,

I'm Caffeine demon and I'm a eurofighter fan.

Seriously though - Gerstlauer kiddy and family coasters are great - Pegase express, Rattenmuehle, Truoblesome trucks, smurf thing at Motiongate... I could go on!
 
I just thought of another one; family drop coasters! Now I admit that they are pushing the boundaries of family a little, but I personally think that they are amazing step-up thrill attractions; Thirteen is a fantastic family coaster, in my opinion! The drop track is an element of the ride that always seems to get people talking, and I still hear of first time riders who are genuinely surprised by the drop track 8 years after the ride first opened!

I also agree that Gerstlauer's family coasters are fantastic; the only one I've done is Troublesome Trucks at Drayton Manor, and I thought it was brilliantly good fun for a ride of its size! Extremely smooth, too!
 
I also like powered coasters for families, they are fun because they are not too slow, but they also have no drops that could strain weak stomachs :D
To add on the Gerstlauer topic: Everytime I ride Karacho I get triggered by a small bump in the curve to the MCBR. They definitely messed up something there. Still a nice ride though, but either their designers or the people in the track manufacturing are a bit sloppy.
 
Luca B said:
Firstly, if Mack did it, judging from what I have ridden there would be little force, and it would generally be a boring ride. You have a fair point saying Intamin, based off of their whole portfolio, however their newer coasters such as Hyperion have had not so good reviews. Also in my opinion the strange pumping and heartlining of the ride, definitely adds to the experience, as you feel many unnatural forces that can not be experienced anywhere else, and it really throws you around. In a way it seems like Gerstlauer did not make mistakes with the heartlining and pumping, but were instead trying to push the boundaries of what conventional rollercoasters can do, and make an extremely unique hyper coaster.
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Don't deny that the Mack ride probably wouldn't be as intense, but it would be better built for sure. As with Intamin, or B&M. Please don't misunderstand - I think Karnan is great, I just think the build quality isn't up there with the best.
Ireeb said:
To add on the Gerstlauer topic: Everytime I ride Karacho I get triggered by a small bump in the curve to the MCBR. They definitely messed up something there. Still a nice ride though, but either their designers or the people in the track manufacturing are a bit sloppy.
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This is exactly what I mean. They do build good coasters, on the whole, but there's always one bit of trackwork that leaves you thinking "how did that pass quality control?". I know the bit you mean on Karacho, and it's present on Smiler (throughout but particularly the second half), every Eurofigher (Mystery Mine is just entirely bad shaping), and more.

If Gerstlauer could build track as well as Mack, they actually could be a better manufacturer, but until that day they're going to be a second tier company. Top of the second tier, mind.
 
Matt N said:
Gold Rush is apparently extremely smooth, though!
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Thing is, they're very inconsistent.

Karnan is very smooth, no rough patches at all, but the trackwork suffers from pumping (inconsistent turn radius) in one of the turnarounds. This is something you just don't see from other manufacturers.

Saw has the rough spot in the drop, Karacho has the jerk in the corner before the MCBR, Smiler has the jerk at the peak of the inversion, Karnan has the pumping. It's not like they're consistently rough, or jerky, or pump-y. Which is what makes it really annoying. If they had the best bits of all those coasters, they'd have some great rides!
 
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