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SeaWorld Orlando | Penguin Trek | B&M Family Launch Coaster | 2024

Have B&M dropped their prices or something over the last year or two?

Just seems wild for parks to be choosing them for family coasters over Vekoma, Gerst or Zamperla when all do pretty similar things but surely at a different cost level - yet the Lego parks, Merlin and now potentially Seaworld are installing them seemingly out of the blue.
 
I suppose the fact that these are all chain parks might mean that they're not incredibly low - Merlin and SeaWorld have long worked with B&M, and they may just favour their reliability and overall GP-pleasing experience. I agree though that B&M are likely offering something different (which might be prices) to compete with those other manufacturers. If a smaller park commissioned a B&M family coaster that would certainly point to a lower price.
 
Rupert said:
Have B&M dropped their prices or something over the last year or two?

Just seems wild for parks to be choosing them for family coasters over Vekoma, Gerst or Zamperla when all do pretty similar things but surely at a different cost level - yet the Lego parks, Merlin and now potentially Seaworld are installing them seemingly out of the blue.
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I'd guess that B&M are dropping their prices a bit to get an entry in the small-to-medium-sized coaster market.

B&M has traditionally specialized in huge thrill coasters, but the market for those is extremely small and there's a lot of competition. Parks these days seem to aim for coasters of smaller size, even for their thrill coasters. B&M probably needs to dip some toes into that market if they want to stay viable in the long run.
 
I suppose the main cost for these huge roller coasters is materials, so I assume a smaller coaster will use less material - especially if it's a family one not going 100's of feet in the air.

Maybe they've realised that they can make a healthy profit on a family coaster so have thrown their hat in the ring. B&M aren't usually overly complex as most of their coaster types have been around a while - so you know you're getting something reliable vs some overly complex that has a lot more to go wrong.
 
Ehhh maybe? But wasn't the main issue there, the comfort collars slapping kids' ears? If those are gone now, IB should be fine as a family->thrill ride. This supposed B&M looks even more mild and family friendly. Never hurts a park to have more family rides, especially when their "extreme" line-up is so solid.
 
I thought the issue was that the height requirement was raised from 48" to 54" so the entire selling point of the coaster was ruined.
 
Efan said:
I thought the issue was that the height requirement was raised from 48" to 54" so the entire selling point of the coaster was ruined.
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The height restriction has actually been lowered to 48” again following the removal of the comfort collars, so that particular issue no longer exists!

I loved Ice Breaker a lot more than I expected to, but I would not have called it a family coaster; I’d have gone with “family thrill” at very least. I do think that the park could probably do with something else to close the gap between Ice Breaker and Super Grover’s Box Car Derby, and it looks like this will fill that particular void quite well.
 
Hutch said:
Is this supposed to be them compensating how they ****ed up Ice Breaker being a family launcher?
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It has to be 😂 But even then, the height requirement is gonna be the make or break here. In no scenario should this tame of a ride have a 48" height requirement. I sure hope B&M can modify/create a restraint to allow for 42" at least.

They absolutely should have got on Vekoma's waitlist for a Big Bear Mountain style ride. Or call up Gerstlauer for a Firechaser/Wakala style ride. Or call Skyline down the road for a prototype TrailRunner.
 
New track code, FS-A! @roomraider time to update your spreadsheet😂😂

Very likely that'll be on a truck to Orlando soon; The abbreviation probably for Family Sitting/Sitdown coaster, as their family inverts are labeled "FI-__". Looks like a much narrower gauge of track as well.
 
I’m loving this year on year coaster expansion at sea world. My gf is massively anti sea world though (the whole blackfish thing. But animal kingdom is fine and dandy. Go figure) so I’m probably going to have a one shot to get them all done. Basically can’t justify going whilst there’s something new being built. I’ve not been since mako was the shiny new toy
 
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