Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

The next major project to be announced/discovered ?

K

Kalistos

Mega Poster
Hey guys,

Unlike the previous years which average at maybe one major announcement/discovery per month, for obvious reasons it's been a while there hasn't been any exciting project announcement/discovery for months. In fact there hasn't been any since the 15th of april which is the SFMM Jersey Devil Clone, and it's not even something official but only non-officially confirmed. The one before was the Sioux Fall Raptor on the 25th of February, and it's been delayed ! (so far for this year we'd have 5 projects discovered including Powerpark (3rd of feb), Tusenfryd (14th of jan) and Suzhou Mafical Forest's 60m height mack launch (5th of jan), this list does not include water-ride, free spin, kiddie .. this kind of ride)

So in order to break with the boredom, I thought we could play a little game and try to guess what could be the next major coaster to be announced/discovered (discovered = provided that the proof are strong enough to go from "rumor" to "almost 100% confirmed", like approved well documented permit applications or track on site).

Your guess attempt could be anything (djurs coaster and seaworld surf thing excluded), the point being to see who could be the closest to win ? Do not hesitate to argument why you see a certain coaster arriving at a certain place !
 
Last edited:
This is usually the quietest time for announcements and discoveries, and it also seems like the sleuths have been quite discovery heavy as of late. But considering that we're in a pandemic and numerous projects are delayed, I'd be surprised to see any announcements until the fall with fewer announcements in general.
 
I’d certainly expect less new announcements for 2021, as the parks will have taken a substantial financial hit, and many parks are using the attractions they intended for 2020 as 2021 attractions.

I have a question; do we think there will be substantially reduced ride investment over the next 5-10 years, as in pretty much none? As I’ve heard varying estimates from people; I’ve heard some say that they think investment will continue, as parks will see COVID-19 as a temporary blip, whereas I’ve heard others predict nothing until at least 2025, if not 2030. My personal prediction is that while investment over the next few years may not quite be at the levels seen in the 2010s, I still think we will see a good amount of investment made into parks. Big new investments are a perfect way to bring in new guests, and parks will arguably be wanting that more than ever right now.
 
I guess it comes down to what we define as "major". I see you put TusenFryd in the list, but that one's (probably) a fairly minor Gerstlauer all things considered.

I'm going to guess Dollywood has something in the works. They cleared out a lot of land a while back, and I don't think they've used most of it yet. Then again, it might have been pushed back given the current situation.

Similarly, I don't think we have quite seen Disney's answer to Universal's expansion works in Florida yet. OK, they just opened Galaxy's Edge, but does that bring them even with Hagrid and Velocicoaster at IoA? And even so, how do they plan to respond to Epic Universe? Then again, an economic downturn may have severe effects on tourism to the high-end Florida parks, so it's hard to tell if they can afford to escalate this. Speaking of Disney, there's also their second gate project in Shanghai that has been rumoured, but not given any detail about.

King's Dominion has also whacked out a headliner attraction without announcing a replacement for it. Last I remember, it was meant to be a fairly minor B&M Wing Coaster, which was to be replaced with something smaller. I guess it will exceed TusenFryd's project in size, however, so it should count.

On this side of the pond, in Europe, there's ... uhh ... it has always been hard to tell. My hopes for the UK are somewhere between "none" and "actually expecting a major ride removal before a big new attraction". I guess it has been a while since Europa Park built anything major, but they've got their waterpark project and the Pirates of Batavia rebuild to keep their hands busy at the moment. PortAventura last built something big in 2012, with the neighbouring park still suffering from a lack of rides, so they could have something in the works. Or have had, depending on how Covid impacted them.


The big common denominator here seems to be uncertainty about the current economic situation, which is pretty disastrous for the whole industry. We can't really know which plans have been put on the back burner or for how long they will stay there. I have a feeling that the first park to announce something big won't be one that's "due" for something big, but whoever is the first to feel it's worth attempting to increase their market share. For all we know, all planned big projects that haven't seen hardware built already could be on hold. Perhaps it won't pay off to go big for a few years, but rather to keep the park at sustenance by allowing a trickle of visitors and not investing anything beyond regular maintenance. A situation where competition means nothing, because nobody can afford to compete or gain anything by doing so (if there is a max limit to your number of visitors, building a new attraction won't do you much good). In that case, it will be hard to tell who will see the need (and have the funds) to take the first step.
 
I don't think most parks are going to make major new investments for a while, even after the pandemic ends, so I'll rather just be looking forward to the stuff I know is coming like F.L.Y or Gröna Lund's 2021 invert / visiting new parks like the three I had planned for my Netherlands trip once it's safe to do so before I start thinking of what'd come years from now.
 
I'm gonna make a ballsy prediction: a thrill coaster for Efteling. Yes the family park with pain in the arse neighbours and strict planning restrictions.

Parc Asterix and Walibi Belgium are adding what appear to be coasters in the world class category. Plus Taron and Untamed have popped up in recent years. All within a couple hours drive from Efteling - maybe it's time they got involved too.

Obviously their target audience is kids and families but surely they've reached their ceiling there? There's not much more they can add to make it more appealing to families, it's perfect already.

They'd point to Baron already but that's not gonna bring the thrillseekers in. There are some big bad bastard coasters out there with 1.2m height restrictions, that's what they should be looking at.

Intamin Blitz - Efteling 2024. I'll be back in a few years to collect my prize.
 
Had this thread been made before Covid was a thing, I'd have put my bucks in Orlando. Universal expanding its Potter areas and adding a big bad Jurassic World coaster would already be an appropriate response to Galaxy's Edge, so Epic Universe would really tilt the scales in Universal's favour and begging for Disney to answer in turn. However, those plans seem to have been snuffed out for the time being, who knows when the climate will be in favour of a new Orlando park again, so Disney wouldn't need to roll out those big guns just yet.

That being said, didn't they close like half the attractions in Dinoland in Animal Kingdom right before Covid hit? It's not like they would be in a hurry to replace it the way things are now, but I bet they still won't just abandon that part of the park. Perhaps my bucks would go to Orlando after all? Anyone know what the quarantine rules for reindeer are like?

EDIT: whoa, the thread I originally replied to was created by a spambot by copying a previous thread. Will move the posts over there.
 
Last edited:
Pokemaniac said:
That being said, didn't they close like half the attractions in Dinoland in Animal Kingdom right before Covid hit?
Click to expand...
They closed them when the parks shut down and decided not to reopen them, rather. Likely, Primeval Whirl was already planned to be killed off prior to the pandemic but it gave them an excuse to do it early.
 
I'm predicting a few things and here's one of them:
. RMC Loop Garou - Walibi Belgium 2024 - It makes sense because they did Robin Hood into Untamed in 2019 and i think if they'll want to capitalize on the fore coming success of this airtime filled megacoaster, meaning due to the Vekoma partnership with Rocky Mountain Construction also gives it another reason for this happening. The reason why i'm saying 2024 is because of the pandemic so it could be either 2024 onwards tbh!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top