Heide Park Colossos retracking (2019)

[spicy]

Foundations are for the giant Wicker Man statue - they are all the rage these days!

The more I look at these foundations the more I think this could actually come true :emoji_grin:

Would be the most Merlin thing to do, ever.

 

[Zek_Teh_Kek]

The more I look at these foundations the more I think this could actually come true :emoji_grin:

Would be the most Merlin thing to do, ever.

Actually, the most Merlin thing to do would be put a Wicker Man cover over the Statue of Liberty!

 

[Pokemaniac]

Would be the most Merlin thing to do, ever.

And possibly with a touch of Six Flags as well.

 

[Pear]

Yeah who cares about that. Fix the track first!

 

[Fluorineer]

Hey guys, hope my question is in the correct place: now that Colossos is being retracked, does that mean that the Plug & Play Wooden Coaster Model is stell being "offered" by Intamin? In a sense of, would they bother building another one ground up if a Park showed it's interest?

I'm asking that because of two things, one: these things are killer machines and it's a shame that they are such a rare breed, but also two: Cedar Fair has done a pretty good job at keeping Kings Island and Cedar Point apples and oranges, and I'm wondering if Cedar Point were to get a Woody, if it could be possible they'd get an Intamin Woody. Just because you're probably not going to break records with a GCI, and also Mystic Timbers being already a thing.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Why spend the extra money and maintenance when a GCI, GG, or even RMC can achieve the same effect? These are just too big and expensive nowadays. I'm sure Intamin would build one if a park asked, but why bother when there's much cheaper options out there?

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[Ireeb]

In Intamin's Company Brochure the Wooden Coasters are still listed. They also offer them with LSM launches.
https://www.intaminworldwide.com/download/321/
Page 15.

 

[Efan]

Colossos 400 mph launch into 700 ft dive loop confirmed.

 

[CSLKennyNI]

Other than the completion of those mystery new foundations on either side of the final airtime hills, and that two cars from the train that has been left out on the storage track have disappeared (presumably taken away for refurbishment), still no work has taken place on Colossos.

Picture sources CoasterFriends.de

New painted fence advertising Colossos: The Return in 2019.

However interestingly in this interview the park's manager talks about how they had to present a compelling concept and business case to Merlin to get the 12 million euros for Colossos, outside of Merlin's normal investment cycle for the parks. Therefore Colossos' refurbishment will not effect Heide's future new investments. If true then Heide could be getting a new major attraction (possibly a coaster, its been a while since Flug) in 2020 or 2021. Previous major investments were: Krake 2011, Flug 2014, Ghostbusters 2017.

 

[Fluorineer]

I mean, they're called prefabricated Wooden Coasters for a reason. I'm actually not that worried that there's no construction work been going on yet. If they actually had issues with some sort of infestation or even simple and plain rot, I could totally see them just ripping out the old track all at once, as soon as the new track is finished, just to avoid cross-contamination. As evidenced by the 12 million pure retracking cost, this feels like the most expensive track in the world after all, so no shame in being overly cautious, now that they've hopefully learned their lesson. Well, at least for the next 2-3 years they will have.

A compelling concept and business case for Merlin could have been plain and simple: "you've spent 11 millions on Krake, you're getting a ****ing bargain with this one. How have we even been discussing this for so long". I mean, I guess a company that's operating 53 identical aquariums probably has never heard of unique selling points, forget the value a coaster like Colossos can provide. Because let's all be honest: with the development that Heide Park has taken during the past 10 years, it would considered be a ****hole that had the fortune of 2 mediocre B&Ms, if it wasn't for Colossos. I honestly would not know what the **** I'd even do during the day if I went there this season and I certaintly would have never visited this park again if they demolished Colossos, just to punish the **** out of this place. Well, there's only that much a single man can do, but still.

After all, this might have been the kick in the nuts this place needed to get it's ****ing head straight again. And it's a kick with a good ending as well, if it means we're getting our world class Intamin Woody back. I still won't expect much from this place, considering how this is their second chance with this ride and they already let their first magical timeframe slip in 2001, when they didn't continue with the development they were supposed to after getting a ****ing revelation which Colossos just was back in these days (in hindsight I even consider it to be the largest engineering-accomplishment of the Millenium era, specifically in the Wooden Coaster context and how long it took the rest of the industry to even slightly grasp at the quality this ride provided) but well, sitting on your arse for 6 years just to plop down a Desert Rita qualifies as having a plan as well, am I right?

This place is way too ****ing lucky. 12 million euros hurt, because money is the only language Merlin understands, but I'm sceptical they will remember this lesson for a long enough time.

With Merlin's investment-cycle, let's see. Considering the state of this park, actually going through with the "retheme" and taking care of the turdpiles Big Loop and Limit would already be way enough effort to justify that as a large investment, and I couldn't even hate them for it. This is a perfect example for things that should have been taken care of in 2001-2007, because now I really can't see this place talking about true expansion for a long time, I mainly see it replacing stuff over the next 10 years. I mean, Merlin likes to work with B&M and there's a new type of flying coaster popping up just 4 hours down the road, so hey, maybe there's hope for some cool stuff. Germany's first RMC could have been neato as well, but now with Colossos I can't really see that happening. That would probably only have worked if this place got it's **** together, already purchased a decent inverter in 2004 and wouldn't have left Colossos to rot. Then 2019 likely would have been a wonderfully fittingly year for that, but right now? Nah, the place just isn't ready.

EDIT: hahaha, the censoring after submitting this one. ****ing hilarious

EDIT2: I gues at this point it's getting obvious that I just can't sleep, but just think about the line-up this park could provide if everybody showed some heart:
- Bobbahn, and an acutally decent and long one
- Big Loop, with Python-esque treatment if you really want to
- Colossos
- B&M Inverter/Flyer replacing Limit (considering how it's just sitting there in the landscape, would have been super easy to tear down and could have just been sold to anywhere. BTW, can we talk about how a park opens a Vekoma SLC 2 years prior to Colossos? I mean, they certaintly must have had a pretty good idea of what Colossos will turn out to be in 1999, so WTF? What's up with that?)
- Intamin hydraulic launch coaster that shows actual progress from 2005 and 2006, maybe with a Stealth-esque top hat and an actual forceful layout following that. Heck, I'm not even asking for inversions. Nice airtime-hill over the launch-section, 1 or 2 low to the ground turns connected via a tall overbank and then back to the station with another airtime-bump, basically a beefed up Xcelerator
- Krake
- Flug der Dämonen
- Ground-up RMC

Man, this place would be a no-brainer season pass purchase even though it's 4 hours away and I avoid hotels like the plague.

 

[Jared]

^ You do realise an Intamin Giga Coaster was planned to be built where Desert Rita went...?

 

[Fluorineer]

^ You do realise an Intamin Giga Coaster was planned to be built where Desert Rita went...?

I do acknowledge that sketches/plans of a Giga Coaster existed and still exist. But you have to wonder, when a park is planning a Giga Coaster and they end up with Desert Rita, were they really ever going to actually build a Giga Coaster? We all know that one guy in college who owns one decent pair of sneakers but is constantly bragging about all the cool stuff he's going to buy and all the awesome places he's going to visit during sommer holiday. Then, 3 months later you realize he's still wearing those same old sneakers and his tan pretty much tells you he actually went nowhere.

I mean, if the park actually looked into getting a Giga Coaster and realized they couldn't do it, still kudos for the heart and enthusiasm that it takes to even think of investments like that. I mean, if anything, a Giga Coaster shows ambition (and I say that because I don't even believe it would have been the perfect fit, they basically would have one-upped Colossos). And there's no shame in retreating from that idea and say to yourself "we can't shoulder this yet, let's think of a smaller scale. We still want to go high up, so maybe a lauch with a top hat? There's still B&M, maybe we could afford a Hypercoaster with a more twisty layout, to contrast Colossos' Out & Back layout". At no point in this conversation should a Rita clone ever pop up if a Giga Coaster has potentially been in the cards at some point. Desert Rita is not one step down, it's 5 steps down from a Giga, and yes, that still accounts for the technical state of launch coasters back then.

I genuinely believe that they had a Giga in mind, but let's look at the timeline: Colossos was opened in 2001 and taking all the planning and pioneer-work required into account, they probably started the groundwork for this coaster at least 4 years prior to that. 3-4 years is also the overall investment-cycle of most parks so even when Colossos wasn't even finished yet, they probably already had to think of what could follow this massive investment. That's where I believe the Giga Coaster idea popped up, around 2000-2001 (and notice I said "popped up". The first actual plans and sketches dated from around 2002, so it fits). When Tussaud took over the place in 2002, maybe the planning had already advanced far enough so that it was at least worth looking further into that idea, but truthfully, the moment Big Money went into this park, the Giga Coaster was already dead as a doornail.

And that right there is the difference between the ambition of a family-owned amusement park and the mentality of Tussaud and Merlin. One see Colossos as an enourmous chance to create something even more spectacular, the others see it as a cash cow that should be milked as long as possible before any more money is put into the place. And the Tiemanns were no dummies, they had and still have serious business smarts. Tussaud didn't bring change to the operational business, it brought change to the philosophy with which this park is operated.

 

[CSLKennyNI]

New large steel black beams are being erected on those new foundations for whatever sort of theming structure/statue/tunnel/wicker man will be added to Colossos.

However we won't be knowing what they are building there because as these pictures show (one is from the monorail and the other from the path)...

... they are building a temporary scaffolding wall to block the view of the construction site.
Pictures source: Niklas HP on CoasterFriends.de

 

[Tulum]

How they do not invest any 'unnecessary' money in their parks - you wait for hours, half of the effects are down - but of course a scaffolding to block the view is super important.

 

[Fluorineer]

How they do not invest any 'unnecessary' money in their parks - you wait for hours, half of the effects are down - but of course a scaffolding to block the view is super important.

I could put a clever short-term-long-term comparison in here but we've been there plenty of times.
I think this is fine. The circumstances (hello Hansa Park) at least make it reasonable to believe that this might be the start of a new "era" for Heide Park.

Merlin is still a piece-of-**** company but I think we can all agree that the decision to save Colossos is a goddamn revelation. I think everybody in here expected them to turn down the 12 million investment and go with a 600m-RMC instead. For 18 milllion of course. In 2020.

 

[Antinos]

The netting is also likely for guest safety. There is always the chance of shrapnel getting thrown by a rotary tool or rocks and dust getting kicked up by heavy machinery.

 

[Ethan]

I could put a clever short-term-long-term comparison in here but we've been there plenty of times.
I think this is fine. The circumstances (hello Hansa Park) at least make it reasonable to believe that this might be the start of a new "era" for Heide Park.

So a large scaffold structure indicates a new era for the park? Hmm. I didn't mind Heide that much on my visit, but I really don't think this will be anything life-changing, or revolutionary for the park.

 

[Fluorineer]

So a large scaffold structure indicates a new era for the park? Hmm. I didn't mind Heide that much on my visit, but I really don't think this will be anything life-changing, or revolutionary for the park.

Yeah bruh, my point was totally and specifically adressing the scaffolding. Well done.

 

[CrashCoaster]

What if they end up retheming this to a Wicker Man sequel? It wouldn't be the first time Merlin would do something like that...

 

[Ethan]

Yeah bruh, my point was totally and specifically adressing the scaffolding. Well done.

Thanks, I appreciate your praise and validation. xo

What if they end up retheming this to a Wicker Man sequel? It wouldn't be the first time Merlin would do something like that...

Tbh I wouldn't put it past them! The problem I can see with that though is it only passes through once and wouldn't really be a highlight?