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Universal IoA | Jurassic World VelociCoaster | Intamin Blitz | 2021

Why would they build a Multi-Launch-Coaster, when they are just building one in the Harry Potter part of the park?
 
jj23w said:
Is Islands Of Adventure just going to essentially be a launch coaster park.
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Yep pretty much. To be fair, it's easier to explain launches in a narrative (motorbike acceleration, being pulled by Gringotts dragon etc) then it is to explain why your vehicle is climbing a slow hill.

Interesting to see Blue on the construction walls though, looks like it'll be Jurassic World then, or perhaps even an entire island retheme. A shame imo because Jurassic World is terrible, but I suppose if it makes money, it's the best option.
 
Tulum said:
Why would they build a Multi-Launch-Coaster, when they are just building one in the Harry Potter part of the park?
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At this point, a launch is just a means of propulsion for a coaster, like lifthills are (and hey, there are plenty of parks out there with half a dozen lifthill coasters or more). Unlike lifthills, a launch allows the coaster to reach any desired speed without adding any height, so they are very useful and versatile if the park can afford them. And as said above, they are much easier to work into a story too. There's possibly also an argument of capacity, as a launched train will complete its circuit and be ready for another trip much faster than one that lumbers up a lifthill for half a minute, but I guess it makes a pretty small difference compared to aspects like efficient ride ops.
 
Pokemaniac said:
At this point, a launch is just a means of propulsion for a coaster, like lifthills are (and hey, there are plenty of parks out there with half a dozen lifthill coasters or more). Unlike lifthills, a launch allows the coaster to reach any desired speed without adding any height, so they are very useful and versatile if the park can afford them. And as said above, they are much easier to work into a story too. There's possibly also an argument of capacity, as a launched train will complete its circuit and be ready for another trip much faster than one that lumbers up a lifthill for half a minute, but I guess it makes a pretty small difference compared to aspects like efficient ride ops.
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First statement is a good point, actually. Hadn't really thought of it like that, but you're right.

Disagree with the second though, at the lift hill acts as a giant block so you can run more trains. The bigger limitation is how long the block after the lift/launch is, as that'll more likely be the throttle. Having seeing lightning operations on Fury or Silver Star, those crews were able to keep trains basically stacking on the lift hill. One train clears the lift hill as the one ahead clears the next block, but the one behind is basically already waiting to hit the bottom of the lift. Sure, the total ride time is longer, but run with the right number of trains (and with suitable block sizes) it shouldn't really make a difference. As you note, crew efficiency is the bigger factor.
 
Lifthills take you out of the "theme" ; how often did you ride up the lifthill on Duelling Dragons marvelling at the gas station and suburban streets beyond the castle walls?
Hulk gets away with a hill as it is mostly enclosed (and throws you out over the lake) ; but how many other coasters at the big immersive parks have big lift hills, especially ones that you can see out of the park from?
 
Universal builds a second Multi-Launch coaster and people ask why?
Phantasialand builds a second Multi-Launch coaster and people can’t wait for it to open?

Brilliant!

Yeah, I get that they’re completely different styles at Phantasialand, but the point still stands. It’s a similar thing here, just embrace and be happy that parks are building these things rather than doing what most UK parks are doing and stagnating from under investment.
 
Pokemaniac said:
At this point, a launch is just a means of propulsion for a coaster, like lifthills are (and hey, there are plenty of parks out there with half a dozen lifthill coasters or more). Unlike lifthills, a launch allows the coaster to reach any desired speed without adding any height, so they are very useful and versatile if the park can afford them. And as said above, they are much easier to work into a story too. There's possibly also an argument of capacity, as a launched train will complete its circuit and be ready for another trip much faster than one that lumbers up a lifthill for half a minute, but I guess it makes a pretty small difference compared to aspects like efficient ride ops.
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Sorry, I missed this - just my thoughts;

Whilst I do agree that some coasters use a launch as a means of propulsion, I think the blanket statement of 'at this point, a launch is just' referring to all launch coasters, I don't agree with. Some coasters definitely rely on a launch as a key feature of the ride itself; Taron, Icon (although not a very good launch), Copperhead Strike (will do) and Rex's Racer to name a few of recent years actually feature their launches as key elements to the ride itself. This is obvious from the temporary pauses and 'show scenes' highlighting the launch itself. I feel that there are 100% rides out there that just use launches for their propulsion, such as Helix.
 
bioreconstruct has some new pictures of the clearance work taking place.
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Before image from last year for comparison.
D0NMPaiXcAAOPcJ.jpg
 
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