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Most Unexpected Ride Announcements

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Sometimes a park announces a new ride and it's so out of the blue. This could be because it goes against the style and scale of the parks existing rides or maybe something else was strongly rumoured but never materialised.

Personally I was surprised when Busch Gardens announced Tempesto. For a park that prides itself on atmosphere and landscaping it seemed odd to put in a standard model coaster and such a garishly coloured one.

Which announcements had you stumped and surprised?
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
When Canada's Wonderland announced Leviathan.

Five hours or so before the announcement, I made a scathing post saying something to the effect of "Guys, the Giga rumours are completely and obviously false. Not only do they already have a large B&M coaster which fits the exact same segment, that is even the previous coaster they built, and B&M have never done such large coasters before. Come on, it will be something completely different."

And then Carowinds went and did the same. Built a very large B&M Hyper in 2010, then decided to build more or less the exact same ride type again the next time they added a coaster.

Can't say I dislike the results, though. But it was very strange that both parks decided to build such similar coasters in a row.
 

CanobieFan

Strata Poster
Fun Spot and Mine Blower.... was on vacation and out of phone and internet service for a week... Turn my phone on the day I got back and saw that... Was pretty stunned.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
All the Poland stuff recently. I never really thought that a real industry would build up there anytime soon.
 

Ketchup

Mega Poster
I never followed the rumours before hand but I recall Thunderbird at Holiday World being a surprise.

A family park known for it's collection of woodies investing in a B&M prototype seemed like a surprising move at the time.
 

Will

Strata Poster
I'm still surprised that Toverland have gone down the B&M route, to be honest.
Then, looking back, it's probably any small parks that suddenly got big rides - Holiday Park, Oakwood, Kolmarden etc.
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Thorpe getting a Eurofighter was quite unexpected, especially since most were expecting a B&M flyer.

Ankapark out in Turkey was a bit unexpected. I know most of it is tat / clones, but still the sheer number of creds there is a bit out the blue
 

peep

CF Legend
All the Poland stuff recently. I never really thought that a real industry would build up there anytime soon.

This. For me the rate at which Energylandia is expanding keeps surprising me. The posted on Facebook this morning that they're going from being 26 hectares to 112. That is just insane.
 

VTCGA5

Roller Poster
The Joker at Six Flags Great America. The whole speculation season I had no idea a new coaster was even an option and I was totally expecting a revamp of the park's Mardi Gras area with a couple of Zamperla creations after the park released a Zamperla video on their YouTube channel, so I was a bit disappointed when it became obvious that we were getting a free spin. I'm indifferent about it now. I mean, I mean excited, but not AS excited as I would be if we got a Giant Discovery or something.
 

Lucy

Hyper Poster
I think for me I was surprised when Europa Park announced they were building a woodie for the park as it's a coaster type I didn't expect them to install. But very glad they did as Wodan is fab :)
 

roomraider

Best Topic Starter
Phaethon in South Korea. The one and only time I know of since I've been an enthusiast where a B&M was fully complete before anyone even knew it was there.
 
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