Re: Bye-Bye Giraffica aka Pilgrims Plunge
Voyage was part of their Thanksgiving expansion as a whole, which total cost was 13.5 mil. They have publicly stated it will cost more than that, and be the largest expansion/additions in the parks history. So while what you said is true (that it can essentiallu just go back and forth endlessly til this is announced), lets look at some factors that are within HW favor:
- Their terrain. Voyage takes great advantage of it, and most theorize the new ride would too (who in their right mind WOULDN'T). It was stated in one of the many other threads, that a good part of B&M cost comes from the supports (not all, but a decent chunk of it). Keeping the ride low to the ground will help negate some of those costs. If true, then using the terrain could shave off maybe 3 million from its total cost.
- If this IS the launcher many theorize this to be, then that alone could potentially drop the price down 1-2 million (I am using general hearsay on this, as while it is not able to be proven, new types of rides seem to get installed at a lower cost (see Raptor@Gardaland)). So if this is hypothesis is true, then again we see cost drop a bit. If the total cost of the ride was 25, then its already been dropped to around 20 (again, this is all theoretical).
-If we use the given statistic of their annual gate price (which is what, 36 now?) and multiply that by their annual visitors (1.2+ million according to wikipedia), then that alone shows they make at LEAST 32mil a year alone from ticket sales (Im pulling 3mil because of random factors like Season Pass sales and their free giveaways). Take out roughly 20mil for expansion, employment costs and product fees (which I say is pretty high enough given Mayflower was their highest recent addition at 8mil), still leaves 10+ a year. Granted this is all assumptions, and would leave the park with a base of 70mil after that, I even say that is too high a number, so I will gladly drop it to maybe 35mil after all these years. That still is more than enough to cover Leviathan.
-The current footers poured. This one houses the most evidence towards manufacturer oddly enough. Each manufacturer cuts into their foots differently than the others, essentially giving their footers a "fingerprint" that sets them apart from the rest. Basically, if you can find me anotger manufacturer that uses the Almond Cut found on B&M additions, then you can disqualify the B&M theory as a whole.
As for going against the theory, their is only one main argument I have found, and that is simply stated as follows:
-It is a family owned theme park, they simply could not afford such an expensive ride based solely upon that alone.
Simply, you are right in that trying to argue with cost while having no form of data or access to that information is a moot point, but because they have never spent that amount before is also a void argument all on its own. They have run their park very smartly, and just cause they have never spent that high amount of money before, does not mean that they have never had that type of money to spend. Will was a very smart man, and was quoted as wanting to make Voyage the centerpiece of Holiday World before his untimely death. As such, he probably made the smartest and most inexpensive expansions while getting the most bang for the amount.
