Millennium Force: A Lonely Giant?

[rollermonkey]

As an aside to locals to BPPB whining about a 400 foot tall monstrosity, are you referring to the Blackpool Tower?

That's actually 518 feet, and a fair bit uglier than a coaster would be, IMHO.

 

[costar]

PMBO has some of the toughest protection around, so hoe do you think they could protect something twice as tall?

Huh? I wasn't aware that structural height had anything to do with corrosion. Do tell...

Unless you are refering to the marginally stronger winds? Without wishing to be petty, I imagine the effect of natural sand scour that Blackpool suffers would be less up there so it would probably require just the same as PMBO in protection.

Anyway, I was just pointing out they did consider it so it could have happened, whether you believe it or not. They would have paid consultants thousands of pounds to scheme ideas so there is no doubt that they would have checked with the council first. Planning was not out of the question.

 

[Anonymous]

What about the upcoming Intimidator 305? How much is that worth?

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

^ $25,000,000, so I believe that would be the same as like, Millennium Force and whatnot.

 

[CMonster]

^ But, you have to remember, $25 million today is different from $25 million in 2000, what with inflation and rising prices and whatnot. So, if Millie were to be built today, I'd say it would cost a lot more than $25 million.

 

[andrus]

What happened to the planned morgan gigacoaster in south america? I searched for pov:s on youtube but couldn't find any so I guess that it was never built? And what about the rumors of Heide Park getting a giga, are there any substance in those?

 

[Snoo]

^Nope.

 

[rollermonkey]

What happened to the planned morgan gigacoaster in south america? I searched for pov:s on youtube but couldn't find any so I guess that it was never built? And what about the rumors of Heide Park getting a giga, are there any substance in those?

Never heard of any Morgan coasters planned for Central America, but...

They did take like 3 years to install the Morgan Hyper in Mexico. Maybe that's what you'd heard about?

 

[andrus]

I was referring to a couple of old posts in this very same thread:

Not to mention the rumors about an Intamin Giga coaster for Heide Park in the near future.

There is also some wild rumors about a new Morgan coaster that is supposed to be larger then SD2K and is supposed to be a part of a new park under construction in South America.

Also, next year a park in South America is adding a 330 foot drop (not tall) coaster from Morgan Manufacturing by the name of VertiGo Force. So yeah, 300 footers are still possible.

The ride was announced with the park back in December. Mr. Chance of Chance/Morgan also told me of the ride at the IAAPA conference but wouldn't mention the park it was going to. He said his favorite coaster that they've designed is Superman: El Ultimo Escape down in Mexico because its not just hills and bunny hops, and hinted that the one being installed in 2009 could beat it though.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9xo6uUlnsMo

So according to 'loefet' and 'Mike T' there was supposed to be built a Morgan gigacoaster called VertiGo Force in a brand new park in South America (not Central America) this year..

 

[Snoo]

If we don't know about it, it didn't happen.

 

[Snoo]

All built at the same park, which happens to be one of the most popular traditional amusement parks in the world.. not exactly the best example..

Behemoth cost 20 million.. in Canadian, but its at a park which gets nearly the same attendance as Cedar Point.. the investment was due. I'm pretty sure Fahrenheit and Max RPM aren't over $15 Million.

Lets not even touch Disney, as 1) They aren't into huge rides such as MF, and 2) The money supply they have is from another world.. no regular amusement park is even close.

Other then that, aside from a few bigger B&M's and experimental rides, you typically don't see coasters over $15 Million USD built anymore. All of the major parks which have the ability to get one of these mega giant expensive coasters have done so.. so investing in another.. as essentially the Coaster Wars are over.. would be a mistake, as you see with Cedar Point's investment into Maverick.

Size and speed are really a thing of the past in the Amusement Industry IMO.. which is evident in the recent investments within the industry. If you see anything over 275ft or $20 Million in the next 10 years, I'd be incredibly surprised.

Wow.. @Pokemaniac putting me on blast with this 12 year old comment!

 

[cocoa]

this thread is a good reminder of how dumb we all are and how confident we are about it

 

[Antinos]

But then again...what other parks can realistically build a traditional giga coaster? Dollywood is probably the only realistic park due to the scale of their current expansion and the opportunity to use terrain. Silver Dollar City? Maybe...but where? BGW looks to be planning a launched coaster so it'd likely be a stretch to build a traditional one. BGT is probably the next likeliest behind Dollywood since they have space and SEAS wants to spend. Cedar Fair has saturated their chain with gigas - of the parks without one, MAYBE World of Fun could build one. Six Flags wouldn't touch a giga with a 300 foot pole.

Overseas...Europa Park if Mack gets a bit crazier. I guess Heide Park could build one since they had plans at one point in time. Port Aventura? Fuji-Q? Maybe some random park in China? The potential is truly limited for giga coasters to be widespread attractions.

 

[Gazza]

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Energylandia?

 

[Pokemaniac]

Energylandia could be a candidate, but only in the long term, I think, as Hyperion is a recent addition and it's not that far from being a Giga already. I could also see SFMM going for a Giga, at least in an alternate timeline where they have the money for it. Busch Gardens Tampa is another interesting candidate, depending on how Iron Gwazi is received.

... or maybe Cedar Point would build another one. After all, when this thread was created, we thought it impossible that a park that already had a modern Hyper could ever build a Giga. It felt redundant until it happened, and then it happened three more times. Maybe somebody would build a redundant Giga too?

 

[JoshC.]

Energylandia could be a candidate, but only in the long term, I think, as Hyperion is a recent addition and it's not that far from being a Giga already.

Nah, Energylandia would definitely consider getting one whenever. They already have two 200ft+ monsters, with Zadra literally opening a year after Hyperion. They're getting a second launch coaster, a second Vekoma junior boomerang. The park has enough space to grow into that they could literally stick a giga on the complete opposite side of the finished park and it would not feel like it's dwarfing Hyperion or Zadra.

Whether they would is a different matter, but they definitely could. And I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they announced a giga for 2022, for example.


Once upon a time, I'd have said Thorpe could possibly get a giga. They certainly could in terms of restrictions, and 10 years ago the sky certainly felt like the limit. These days, not so much.

 

[Howie]

Ha - I was reading this topic for a full page before I realised it was 12 years old! The first giveaway was when @Hixee said he'd only seen pictures of 300ft coasters.
Huh?? ?

Anyway, yeah I think we'll see more giga coasters. Yes they're expensive, take up lots of space and from a business standpoint they don't make much sense but... and this is a BIG but... Giga. Coasters. Are. Awesome!
They just are. You know they are.
Well... not just gigas, but huge, imposing coasters in general.
Come on, is there anything more exciting than being at the entrance to a park and seeing a towering lift hill and a bunch of massive camel backs looming in the distance?
'The biggest coaster in the park' will always get lots of attention from press and public alike, regardless of whether or not it's the 'best coaster in the park'.
Size does matter, and while we can all agree that it's not the be all & end all, it can still be a key ingredient in a coaster's success.
So yep, it won't be very often, but once in a while a new park boss will want to make a big 'statement', and a giga coaster is and always will be a sure fire way of putting any park 'on the map', as it were.

So obviously, the London Resort will have one right from the off. ???

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Nah, Energylandia would definitely consider getting one whenever. They already have two 200ft+ monsters, with Zadra literally opening a year after Hyperion. They're getting a second launch coaster, a second Vekoma junior boomerang. The park has enough space to grow into that they could literally stick a giga on the complete opposite side of the finished park and it would not feel like it's dwarfing Hyperion or Zadra.

Whether they would is a different matter, but they definitely could. And I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they announced a giga for 2022, for example.


Once upon a time, I'd have said Thorpe could possibly get a giga. They certainly could in terms of restrictions, and 10 years ago the sky certainly felt like the limit. These days, not so much.

Have to agree, Energylandia don’t seem to understand the concept of not overshadowing their latest investments... The launch coasters are the best example (though there are a few) Formula will be completely overshadowed by the coaster stood right behind it...

What about Paramount London... IF it happens could we see a monster coaster there?

Edit:

So obviously, the London Resort will have one right from the off. ???

Ffs, you posted that as I was typing ?

 

[Hixee]

Ha - I was reading this topic for a full page before I realised it was 12 years old! The first giveaway was when @Hixee said he'd only seen pictures of 300ft coasters.
Huh?? ?

Blimey, yes, this is an old thread! Back in 2008 when I'd only ridden 55 creds! Now ridden all of the (operating) +300ft coasters with the exception of Steel Dragon! Nice.

Some good old-school members back on the early pages too!

 

[Howie]

Ffs, you posted that as I was typing ?

Yeah but your post was naive optimism. Mine was more blatant sarcasm. Very different. ?