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PortAventura | Ferrari Land | New Area

Because Ferrari is about more than a single F1 driver and most people couldn't give a s**t?

The target audience is theme park goers, not Alonso fans.
 
Awesome!!

Is there a height ceiling then? I thought that there wasn't one?

Seems weird not to just go for the height record? Or at least just build a TTD clone? Unless that little bit of extra height and speed makes the cost really increase is only thing I can think.

Still going to be awesome, the park looks tiny other than this coaster though.
 
Cost is something that doesn't really affect a huge project like this with both Ferrari and PortAventura's huge capitals.

If you remember back, when B&M proposed Shambhala to the park, they had three options of height and layout and the park chose the smallest. In my opinion, as long as they've got the European record, they have absolutely no need to battle for the world's tallest and with SkyScraper opening in 2016 or whenever, they would only be holding the record for a number of months. It just makes sense to create a coaster that has the same draw and style/experience as Kingda Ka without the size and not-so-much of a bigger pull to bring guests to the park.
 
spicy said:
Awesome!!

Is there a height ceiling then? I thought that there wasn't one?

Seems weird not to just go for the height record? Or at least just build a TTD clone? Unless that little bit of extra height and speed makes the cost really increase is only thing I can think.
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I think it's due to the lack of space. If you look clearly at the map above, then the coaster stretches all the way from Mediterranea (left) to the road leading up to the parking lot (right). Of course they could've moved the road, but then why bother? They already got the tallest coaster in Europe (with quite some margin) and wouldn't be able to keep the world record for very long. I personally hope for a little bit taller/faster, but think it's still gonna be awesome :--D

spicy said:
the park looks tiny other than this coaster though.
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Couldn't agree more! Don't know what more attractions there will be other than the launcher, drop towers and go-carts? Looks like you wouldn't spend more than 1-2 hours at the park tbh..
 
I don't know, I can't really get excited over something that's a smaller version of something America had thirteen years before.

These things have moved on so much from launch, up, down, done that it's a shame to see a shorter one not doing anything to make up for it.

Oh, cool, they broke their own record.
 
spicy said:
Awesome!! Seems weird not to just go for the height record? Or at least just build a TTD clone? Unless that little bit of extra height and speed makes the cost really increase is only thing I can think.
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Remember that Intamin had hell to get Kingda Ka to clear the top hat. The faster these launches go the harder it is to make them work. It works really great for Formula Rossa, should it miss-launch it will still clear the first hill without any problem.
 
I was at Portaventura last week and construction seems to be to be well underway now with lots of ground work happening on the site.

They've a Ferrari F1 car sitting on a stand just after the park entrance to promote the new park and a new sign outside the ticket booths to show where the new entrance will be

Interesting that they seem to be branding it Ferrari Land 'Barcelona' on the sign, rather than Portaventura, Salou or even Catalunya to tie in with the near by Grand Prix circuit name


On a separate note I saw what looked to be a Portaventua magazine in one of the resturants when I there coveing the 20th Anniversary stuff, Ferrari land plans etc and also all the developments at the park over the years

It was all in spanish but I kinda wish I'd taken a copy of it now as they had some great pictures of the original ground work and construction of the park which was really interesting to see - also intersting to see how little they was in terms of big thrill rides when it first opened!!
 
Just got back from PortAventura today, not much seems to be going on, however, they've clearly marked out where the coaster will be,and they look to be preparing the land by removing the tarmac from the carpark, and digging up soil etc, and seem to be stepping up advertisement throughout the park.... It's looking like it's going to be quite a bit bigger than I had initially expected, It goes right up to the front gate to the park, which makes me think it'll be a separate park?

There was some concrete work going on towards the back of the site, but no footers yet, and there seems to be very few people working on the site...
 
How can you say not much is going on when the amount of ground work they have done is crazy! At the back of The PortAventura Hotel the construction is crazy!
 
Yesterday, PA confirmed that the new area/park will be open in 2017, and not at the end of 2016, as it was previously mentioned.

They still have a more than a year to finish, so hopefully it won't feel rushed or anything...
 
I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but apparently it's going to take 5 seconds to reach the 111mph.... to me that indicates an LSM launch.... :(
 
^That's probably a good thing given how unreliable the hydraulic launches are, especially at that speed.

I wouldn't even question getting LSMs if I was the park.

I still just don't understand why they're breaking their own records and couldn't have gone for something a bit more exciting.
 
I hope that isn't true. kind of defeats the whole point of this style of coaster.

If they are going for LSMs they should have gone for a Ferrari themed cheetah hunt style coaster with multiple launches.
 
^100% agrees! Yes, it's more reliable with LSM's. But a coaster focusing on speed and acceleration needs a powerful launch! A 5 seconds LSM launch would just feel so underwhelming with a ride of this type..
 
To your every day coaster enthusiast it would but the general public are gonna eat this **** up.
 
Yeah, parks aren't going to pick launch systems based on what we want, they'll pick them based on cost and efficiency.

With LSM launches as good as they are now hydraulic launches are out of date and I'm not sure we'll see many, or any, more.
 
^ Yep.

Unless I'm mistaken, the last time Intamin used a hydraulic launch was on Formula Rossa 5 years ago. Vekoma have used one since then (only a year after) on a motorbike coaster installation, but that's been it.

Other than Beijing Jihua's knockoff of the Vekoma Motorbike model - which is f**king dreadful - I'd agree that the launch type is likely dead now.
 
Lofty said:
To your every day coaster enthusiast it would but the general public are gonna eat this **** up.
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Nah, I don't think so. That's more of an enthusiast comment (or at least there is always some enthusiast on this forum claiming that is the truth). But from actually talking to general people like friends, colleagues at work etc I've found out that e.g. most people love Helix as an overall ride but found the lunches underwhelming and dissapointing. I would assume the same thing would go for this Ferrari launcher if it'll actually use LSM's. A lot of visitors would be used to more extreme launches, like e.g. Brits who have the powerful Stealth back at home. And even more so since PA already got the mighty Furius Baco in the park. The problem is that Helix has a very substantial ride beside it's launches, while this ride will focus only on the launch. What would people think when this new 100m tall coaster provide a much weaker experinece than what people are used to?

General people are not stupid, and will notice. Especially with todays media, where comments on youtube about how "lame" that new giant ride at Ferrari Land is. Making people turn down a vacation there, in favor of other places.

Ben said:
Yeah, parks aren't going to pick launch systems based on what we want, they'll pick them based on cost and efficiency.

With LSM launches as good as they are now hydraulic launches are out of date and I'm not sure we'll see many, or any, more.
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This is more like it. If PA will go for LSM's; it'll be because it's a more reliable system. It's a bold move though, since the weaker launch could potentially backfire on them if visitors will find their new bad ass ride "lame".
 
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