Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Why not a Strata/Accelorater/Giga?
The new extremely intense strata coasters are very popular. These are launched rollercoasters that go over 400ft high. They are very short in length. They simply consist of a launch track and a large top hat which is the hill and then it goes into the brake run and back into the station. There are only two of these coasters in existence. One at Cedar Point and one at Six Flags Great Adventure. Both of these parks have well of ten rollercoasters. Kennywood I felt didn't have a good enough supply of coasters to incorporate something with such a high cost and such a quick, and short duration. People love this coaster but it is simply too quick. The parks that have this coaster had room with their numerous supply of rollercoasters to simply just through this into the park which would offer riders a brief glimpse of an extreme adrenaline rush. Kennywood I felt needed something longer with more drops and perhaps loops. This wouldn't supply the demand of a new rollercoaster. To me the strata coaster is simply a ride. Up and down one hill I do not believe is a rollercoaster. The ride is less than 1 minute. It costs about $25 million and takes up lots of room do to the long stretch of the main launch section which has to be completely straight. There would be long lines and of course records broken but people wouldn't be satisfied. I believe this rollercoaster was made just to simply break a new record. I rhode this ride for the first time this past summer and was not impressed. It's simply just a speed thing. You don't feel anything throughout the ride but just speed. The ride is over within the blink of an eye. It's great because before you get on you get butterflies in your stomach because of the constant bragging of how high and how fast the ride is but once on the ride you don't get to truely witness the intensity of the height due to the extreme amount of speed. Also this ride has lots of mechanical problems. Alot of maintenance have to be done to these rides everyday. They also have to operate in very descent weather. Tons of money would have to be spent on safety features throughout the years. And it definately will need alot more precaution due to the height. Kennywood just overall doesn't seem ready for a ride of this nature regardless of popularity or not. Another very popular rollercoaster is the Giga coaster which is a steel rollercoaster without loops that goes over 300ft high and travels over 90 mph. Kennywood I felt definately could have added this ride but it requires alot of space. The hills besides the lift tend to be very high which would require lots of space. Also another major reason is because I felt the park has enough rollercoasters with just hills. And being as though the park has the phantom a giga coaster would just be like implementing another Phantom's Revenge ride just with a little more height. I felt it was definately time to implement a rollercoaster with loops and elements of going upside down. A more intense ride was needed but nothing too far over the edge at this point in time. I feel with the floorless coaster you get a variety of everything. You get a hills, loops, and curves. You get a little bit of height as well as speed. Although it's not higher than the Phantom's Revenge it is still set at a high height. The ride is still more intense than the Phantom even though it's not higher or faster. The ride has a good length and takes up just the right amount of space. It doesn't require too much maintenance. And overall people still love it.
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