Coaster Hipster

Indeed! The launch looks spectacularly more powerful than existing Mack rides.

Quite curious to hear guest feedback on the spinning backseat. Over to the Americas and to Europe both Time Traveler and Ride to Happiness received praise. The magnet mitigating the spin motion can be altered for more/less spin. I wonder what settings Dreamworld chose to that regard

With a little bit of a delay, here is the interview with Intamin. The Swiss supplier executives discuss design & engineering of many projects: Big Dipper, Velocicoaster, Kondaa, All Speeds (Taron clone), Light of Revenge (Cheetah Hunt inspired LSM coaster)... Both Sascha Czibulka and Daniel Schoppen provided long, insightful replies. Really Intamin takes the time to welcome media and fans at expos, despite their busy activity there.

The first interview of the batch is up! Many thanks to Maximilian Roeser, Mack Rides Head of Marketing, for sharing his insight on desiging Ride to Happiness, Hurricane and Steel Taipan! And also kudos to @themagician for his permission to use his Steel Taipan photos. Was Ride to Happiness specifically designed to provide a more intense experience? In that regard, did the Tomorrowland IP affect the ride design process? Maximilian Roeser: Ride to Happiness was designed to implement everything we learned from our previous tests and installations. So we could work on optimizing and tweaking the layout to the maximum and deliver a very thrilling experience. The Tomorrowland IP was added to a later date so that this did not affect the design at all. How did you design Ride to Happiness's layout with spinning motion in mind? Roeser: That’s actually a quite complex method of engineering. We have to keep in mind that the gondolas can rotate and therefore need to work with the most extreme outcome that we can predict. Generally speaking we still believe Ride to Happiness would be a great coaster even with normal trains – with the Xtreme Spinning Coaster it adds the ultimate experience. Ride to Happiness features very distinctive elements such as a "Curved Jojo Roll", an Outside Banked Top Hat and a "Banana Roll". Can you explain the thought process implementing those elements into the coaster layout? Roeser: Our layout engineers are free when initially working on a layout and presenting it the first time. Of course we have the guidelines of the customer and also budget and space are given. Therefore, we try to maximize the ride experience. We got very good responses on the "Jojo Roll" on Copperhead Strike and to the initial highlight of Time Traveller plunging down the station. We wanted to create something similar but with the given terrain an drop would not have been feasable. So in order to still keep this inital effect we installed the curved Jojo Roll and the drop effect was added behind the first launch section. The reason why the Jojo Roll is curved is pretty simple. The alignment of the launches and the station building was set due to the terrain and location of the ride. So, we had to get a curve to the launch section. The "Banana Roll" for instance is placed at the location where we needed to head back to the station direction, so we had multiple options and chose the banana roll for this. Hurricane at Suzhou Amusement Land Forest World will be Mack Rides' tallest coaster to date. Was breaking this record a requested feature from the client? Roeser: The client wanted to create a certain height but not breaking the record of our company. (Photo: Roller Coaster Dream China) Hurricane has a low-to-the-ground barrel roll just after the 62m Top Hat. What inspired you to create such a contrasting sequence of elements? Roeser: This ride is certainly the most extreme launch coaster we built. The inversion after the Top Hat will crack the speed record for world’s fastest inversion to date. So we look forward to the opening of the ride and how many people will dare to ride this spectacular attraction. (Photo: Roller Coaster Dream China) This coaster will also feature interlocking Cobra Roll and Looping. Can you describe the forces running through those inversions? Roeser: It’s a nice combination of hangtime and forces that push you into the seat. The elements are quick one after another so that you really have to look out where you will go next. The whole coaster is equipped with a high average speed so we look forward to riding it hopefully soon. What led to the introduction of a spinning car on Steel Taipan in Dreamworld in Australia? Roeser: It first started with the tests on Blue Fire for the Xtreme Spinning Coaster. We built 4 seats on top of the last coach of Blue Fire and tested at night to realize a working prototype. After this was done and we already got Time Traveller we knew we could provide an add-on for our launch, mega and hypercoasters and so we tested again with only a two seater configuration. Steel Taipan's final coach offers extra spinning motion (Photo: Gold Coast Theme Parks) As many coasters were designed as a standard seating coaster we can’t just put new trains on. But we have some of our launch coasters that would be capable of the new hybrid trains and we already see some parks thinking about this addition to their rides. We think it’s a great way to promote the ride with a totally new experience. Why did you add a backwards spike to the launch? The client requested this change in order to add an additional feature of three launches. There were also another ideas in place to create another launch sequence at the straight portion of the launch but we stuck to the launch as we got it on Blue Fire. (Photo: Gold Coast Theme Parks)

IAAPA held its first tradeshow in almost two years last week in Barcelona. Expo Europe 2021 boasted 439 exhibiting companies. More than 8,500 participants attended the event, a little more than half the 2019 figure (15,900 attendees in Paris) Attending all 3 days of the tradeshow, I certainly noticed a comprehensive set of health protocols in place to adapt to the Covid-19 situation. Seats were set apart by at least 1 meter during conferences. Everyone except for presenters on stage was required to wear masks. Vaccination or a negative Covid test was also mandatory to attend, with staff conducting temperature checks at the entrance of the Conference Hall. Some photos of the trade floor: The educational programme offered several new developments, such as a panel discussion on inclusivity (featuring Mack Rides' Chief Sales Officer Thorsten Koebele) and... a marketing session on how to best use TikTok! Also new for 2021 was the Sustainability Day in collaboration with PortAventura. IAAPA certainly appears to keep out for societal and marketing trends. Plopsaland' Marketing Manager Charlotte Depuydt offered her insight on the new opportunities TikTok offers. Last but not least, I had the priviledge to interview yet again Sascha Czibulka and Daniel Schoppen, respectively Executive Vice-President and Vice-President Design & Development of Intamin. Both offered comments talking us through the process of designing Hot Racer and Kondaa among several highlight projects. "Big Dipper is a good showcase for our Hot Racer product. [...] We learned very quickly what were the limitations [of this model] because the geometrical boundaries of this area have pushed us completely into these limitations checks" explains M. Schoppen. Full video interview coming later this month!

In light of the upcoming Steel Taipan at Dreamworld, thought sharing my recent experience on another thrill spinning coaster by Mack Rides could shed some insight. A few years ago, Plopsaland de Panne surprised many European fans when announcing The Ride to Happiness. The first Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster on the Old Continent is also only the second model produced by Mack after Time Traveler. Plopsaland is usually visited by a crowd of familes and young children. To see the park invest in such a daring attraction, partnering with an "adult" IP (electronic music festival Tomorrowland) to boot it up, seems to indicate a desire to target teens and young adults this time. In short, I really enjoyed The Ride to Happiness. The spinning motion offers unique sensations, although I find it a bit too disorienting to re-ride. Let's describe the ride experience a little more in detail. The layout begins straight out of the station with a very funky curved barrel roll. I've never been a huge fan of such pre-launch slow inversions (Copperhead Strike's roll feels sluggish to me), but with Ride to Happiness I found the spinning dynamics help compensate for the lack of speed through the element. The train momentarily stops afterwards on the first launch section. You may notice magnet fins on the left side of the track. Those create extra spinning motion when each car traverse the launch track. Getting launched sideways and/or while your vehicle spins really compensates for the relatively tame acceleration of the Mack LSM boosters! The Top Hat offers great airtime, especially at the front and back seats. It is cut in the middle by an outerbank turn - another funky manoeuvre which takes advantage of the free spinning. Each ride can feel quite different from the other depending on how you spin. The cars could push you outwards through this element for an exhilarating effect. I find the Banana Roll to truly be a perfect inversion for this kind of ride. This inversion type first appeared on Takabisha, and its continuous curving shape gracefully matches with the spinning movement of the cars. This section of three consecutive inversions also delivers substantial G+. Unfortunately, I also consistently experienced vibrations through those elements. Having ridden a fair amount of thrill Mack coasters over the past 4 years, I found the German manufacturer has an uneven track record when it comes to smoothness. Some coasters feel perfectly fine to me (Icon, Helix, Star Trek) while others appear to feature a slight but noticeable rattle (Hyper Coaster at Land of Legends, Copperhead Strike, Lost Gravity). It's a nit pick though, and it says more about how much the standard for coaster smoothness has risen over the past decade. The twisted hill into the second launch delivers the only real dead spot through the ride. No airtime, no whip, similar to Alpina Blitz's first hill after the drop. Honestly given the sheer intensity of the coaster, I could happily use a respite. I suspect this s-hill purposely has an elevated height in the event of a rollback on the second launch. This way, the train can operate a backward then forward launch procedure if it ever gets stuck on the second LSM track section. Speaking of the second launch, it offers the lateral boost excitement of the first launch, and adds further speed and a surprising pop of airtime. Many coasters lose steam during the second half. The Ride to Happiness does the exact opposite. The second LSM section leads you right into a double inverting roll + dive loop combo. What a way to ramp up the intensity! The train twists and twists some more while you keep spinning. It is SO disorienting. With a little bit of luck, you may end up plunging down sideways while the track continues twisting (see car n°2 above). I've never experienced something like that on a coaster before, and I love it! The layout concludes with a strong airtime hops finale. The G- are arguably some of the strongest on a Mack coaster, and add welcome variety to a ride experience filled with disorienting inversions. The ride re-uses Silver Dollar City's Time Traveler trains. The Steampunk design fits well the Tomorrowland theme. Sadly the on-board audio did not work every time I rode the coaster, but when the music blasts, it very much adds to the insanity that RTH offers. After riding The Ride to Happiness 11 times, I would argue this attraction really push the boundaries of what roller coasters can do. I would compare it to the extreme experience of X² at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but with the rotation on a different axis. Most often, I find most inversions unexciting compared to airtime hills or snappy banking changes, but not on THRH! It appears Mack and Plopsaland decided not to restraint the spinning motion (as opposed to Time Traveler which moderates the spin with a magnet) for trial on opening year. The free spin creates very unique, breathtaking dynamics through each inversion. It also means the ride experience can be uneven depending on how your car spin - sometimes, the spinning movement work against the G-force profile of the layout. I found myself unable to re-ride Ride to Happiness in quick succession as I experienced motion sickness - something I rarely ever feel on coasters. While many enthusiasts present with me that day did not mind the intense spinning (quite the contrary in fact), some did find the free spin to be too much. The general public seem to enjoy the coaster though, as I heard no complaint going out the station, and the line remained consistently long enough for a 15 to 30 minute wait with 2 train operations. The Xtreme Spinning Coaster fill very nicely Mack Rides' attraction portfolio. It's not my favourite kind of sensations (I much prefer classic launchers or airtime-focused hypers) and at moments the intensity becomes too extreme for me to fully enjoy the ride. But the ride type certainly is very promising, and shows Mack Rides can deliver very, very forceful coasters! On-ride screenshots taken with a GoPro Hero 6, chest-mounted with the permission of the park.

I made and translated to French this interview during IAAPA Expo Asia 20 with MM. Czibulka and Daniel. They prove reponsive to interview questions - and take the time to share insightful answers. Thanks for sharing it! Another interview with Intamin is expected sometime later this year. If Parkz's admins are ok with it, I'd be happy to forward your questions about Big Dipper to the manufacturer and share their comments (without the hassle of translating to French then back to English!) here. Regarding the tyre launch, riding Yukon Quad at Le Pal in central France also makes me confident the acceleration will be satisfying. The second launch in particular should be quite exciting. Having ridden Taron, Hyperion, Steel Dolphin and Soaring with Dragon, I agree with Intamin's claim their open restraint offers a competitive edge on RMC's Single Rail model. Though I'm yet to ride a Raptor track, I feel the seating & lap-bar design on I-Box trains of both generations is among the US manufacturer's weakest points (rode Wicked Cyclone, Twisted Colossus, Steel Vengeance, Zadra and Untamed for reference). Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but Intamin market their Hot Racer (aka Single Rail) model in a wide range going from "1 - Family" to "3 - Thrill" in their portfolio. (For comparison, the LSM launch, Mega and Giga coasters are marketed in the "3 - Thrill" to "4 - Insane" range - while Wing and Wooden coasters are put in a "2 - Family Thrill" to "3 - Thrill" range.) It seems Intamin indicate their single rail's will offer a relatively less extreme ride experience than the current RMC Raptors. I wonder if that choice came from market demand, or purposeful differentiation from the competition.

Always nice to read TRs about lesser known parks in Japan - albeit obviously Cosmoworld has the clickbait photo op. Vanish seem like a brilliant marketing idea, poorly executed. (Imagine current Intamin working on a similar feature?)

Coming late to the party but I'm really excited about Leviathan. The Gravity Group delivers very decent woodies with lots of airtime (quantity-wise at least) and great pacing. Great to see Australian parks picking up the pace, and it seems Sea World will have a good 1-2 combo with Jet Rescue

Great report and nice photos! Visited this place in 08' back when I was an inexperienced enthusiast. Never bothered to return as the park did not add anything noteworthy. Le Monstre has terrific RMC potential but sadly this is so unlikely to happen..

Untamed looks terrific! Walibi Holland's management claims the layout went through many iterations and ajustments to maximal the original structure's potential. Based on the POV, they must be right! The amount of airtime looks outstanding, and the inversions feel just right. Might as well dump some of the pictures I took during my visit last Friday: Otherwise, also got the opportunity to discover Lost Gravity (previously visited Walibi Holland in 05, 06 and 15). Fab little ride with a wicked drop! The little hop after that delivers excellent ejector airtime, some of the best Mack has ever produced - for reference, I rode Helix, Icon, Alpina Blitz and Hyper Coaster at Land of Legends. The first half is very eventful, whereas the half after the mid-course brakes is less intense and focuses on floatier elements. Not exactly overwhelming, but very fun imo nonetheless! https://www.instagram.com/p/ByLqwOfo1A9/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet Goliath is still my favourite (for now!) at Walibi Holland, though I must admit nostalgia bias as it was my first Intamin, and still today my most ridden coaster thanks to non-stop marathons back in my teenage years in 05/06. Only the final bunny hops get exhilarating as these provide brilliant ejectors. The elements before that have more 'moderate' intensity, and lack the relentless dynamics of newer Intamins. Despite that, I find Goliath to be very re-ridable - to the point I stayed on the coaster for about 10 laps that day

Imgur is banned in Turkey for some reason!

I have a new biggest cred spite -_- Was told by Land of Legends the ride would be open when I booked my 2-day stay. But of course it didn't go according to plan. Oh well.

Here are as promised the interview with Martin & Vleminckx and The Gravity Group! Sorry about the delay: Chuck Bingham, Vice-President of M&V briefly discusses the upcoming arrival of Rocky Mountain Construction coasters in Asia - and his company's involvement in it The interview ran short due to circumstances on my behalf, but we'll certainly meet again for another more in-depth one probably at AAE 19! This interview is no short one on the other hand! Even after editing out many clips, The Gravity Group's Chad Miller and Korey Kiepert are just so talkative But they're also very much on-point with their comments, giving incredible insight into their work of designing wooden coasters. From layout style preferences, to the appeal of smaller family woodies, to polishing a nose car design and so on... Chad and Korey know how to communicate their passion and knowledge, while not taking themselves (too) seriously I hope you really like the interviews so far. I'll try to post more here when my schedule is a little clearer. There's yet another final one coming up with Universal Rocks - the scenery builders of Taron, Fenix, Wicker Man & more!

Another good interview at IAAPA to share! This time it's Maximilian Roeser from Mack Rides answering questions for Theme Park Crazy. Max is definitely passionate about the industry - approachable but also brilliant in knowing how to communicate the great work of his company. Mack is ceetainly having a great momentum building some high-scale rides, I'm certainly curious to try some of these in the near future. Maybe coming to Movie World to see you then

Coaster Studios who was at the tradeshow as well filmed this valuable interview with RMC designer/consultant Alan Schilke: @GoGoBoy you might be especially interested

This is coming... to my home park!! Parc Astérix will be building an Intamin LSM multi-launch in 2021! A layout animation was shown today (well, tomorrow for you Aussies ha) at IAAPA: Features: 51m (167ft) high 4 launches, including a forward/backward/forward half-pipe with no stop 23 moments of airtime! Looks incredible and has so many daring features, but wait! Walibi Belgium has shown their work too, it's a Megacoaster with a twisty drop like Expedition GeForce... Two crazy awesome designs, both within driving distance from home! Intamin made a huge statement today, and kudos to the Compagnie des Alpes (which own both parks) for allowing the manufacturer to make their ambitions come true

Cool topic! I wonder if some sort of interactive media gadgetery could be possible in the future. So far you experience the ride as it was designed by the engineers and creative team... but what if you could decide and impact on the ride's course, video-game style? I guess interactive dark-ride already exist now I think about it, but is there more to do than just shoot and get a high score?

Very good points actually. From my understanding Vekoma now creates several designs for each type of coaster (it's actually one topic I discussed in the interview linked above). Basically a customer ask for a layout which is then available for other parks to re-use/'clone' unless specifically forbidden by the original customer in a non-compete clause. So Thunderbird is actually only the first of several Next Gen SLC layouts to be revealed. My educated guess is that the park who ordered that Suspended coaster wanted something intermediate between tame family and extreme intense experiences and Vekoma came up with this design. Hence the relatively smaller 1.2m height requirement and presumably a softer force profile. Just like their new Sitdown coasters come in several sizes and elements, there are certainly bigger and more daring Suspended Thrill Coaster layouts arriving eventually...

Vekoma today launched their new website just in time for the IAAPA in Orlando! The revamp not only displays their new logo and branding, but most importantly displays their exciting new concepts: https://www.vekoma.com Among the revelations are a layout for the Suspended Thrill Coaster, the next generation of SLCs: Finally some info about the Next Gen Flying coaster has been shown too: Also announced are an upcoming Next Gen Motorbike coaster, and the Lech Coaster (Bermuda Blitz) and Formula designs are finally present online too. (Lech photo by Flex) Super excited about the developments at Vekoma as you may know. Lech is my personal favourite coaster in Europe (above the likes of Helix, Taron, Expedition GeForce and Nemesis...) and the improvements in smoothness and ride elements from the company are spectacular. I actually met their new lead engineer Benjamin Bloemendaal for a video interview last September, and he's definitely very talented but also skilled at communicating his passion and ideas for designing rides (shameless self-advertisement there, but hey it's an insightful vid I swear!) 😍

I've been a huge fan of the new Vekoma designs (particularly Lech Coaster), so it was an incredible opportunity to meet the mastermind behind the manufacturer's incredible transformation! Benjamin's answers were fab - really informative and definitely engaging in the way he talked me through the thought process of designing coaster elements or layouts ❤️ Also wanted to apologize for not posting here much. Been a hectic few months travelling, doing all sorts of projects and montage. But here are a few pictures from my trips Steel Vengeance lived up to the massive hype. Its airtime actually isn't the most extreme, but it's still strong ejector, and there are so many of it! The second half just keeps going at an incredible pace, and the sections through the structure make the ride even wilder. Special mention to the exhilarating wave turn - sideways airtime is so much fun! Maverick ain't bad either. The layout shines with its diversity of forceful moments, the drop is awesome at the back, and the Stengel Dives are among the snappiest transitions I ever experienced Fenix is incredibly photogenic! The ride itself was a pleasant surprise, delivering a very fine sustained airtime hill as well as an unexpectedly sustained forceful helix. It's short, but really sweet. Hyperion was pretty fun, but didn't exactly live up to my (overhyped) expectations. It doesn't have the same pushing the envelope extremeness of other Intamin masterpieces like El Toro or Expedition GeForce. Some moments are almost dull, like the floater airtime hill, and other could have been more intense to really be exciting. Still, a great ride and the twist and dive inversion is fab! Martin & Vleminckx then The Gravity Group interviews are coming next

Hello everyone! Last month I attended the 2018 Euro Attractions Show, which is the IAAPA European event reuniting most of the professionals in the industry. I was covering the show for French website CoastersWorld.fr resulting in several interviews starting with these two: First of all I had the great privilege of meeting Sascha Czibulka and Camiel Bilsen of Intamin. Sascha is the company's Executive VP and has been with Intamin for 17 years, while Camiel is their promising young designer and has been heavily involved in the making of Hyperion. Highlights include: - Going for a bolder approach to design Hyperion and staying ahead of competitors (4:58) - The strengths of Intamin's new track design (5:55) - Intamin's new seat and lap-bar (7:18) Secondly, I also approached James Swinden who was recently promoted to Lead Engineer at Great Coasters International. In a more concise interview, James discusses various creative and technical aspects of designing wooden coasters. I very much thank him for his accomotation and patience doing this report, his serious dedication to his work truly shows I hope you'll enjoy these interviews. In any event, feedback/criticism is always appreciated. More interviews will be coming up, including one with Vekoma's lead engineer Benjamin Bloemendaal! He's arguably the mastermind behind Vekoma's spectacular renaissance and gave excellent insights into his job and the process of coming up with exciting coaster designs Some extra pictures from the event: Model of the Takabisha clone currently in construction in New Jersey

Thanks for the updates @MickeyD! I'm very interested in this park and its developments, as actually I am planning to go to Shanghai next June to attend the Asian Attractions Expo 19. Although it is spead out quite a lot, Steel Dolphin has several exciting elements such as the Top Hat with a twist exit and the outward banked hill. It really tells about Intamin's drive towards more daring elements in a much more competitive ride manufacturer business

Well all the advices put there are already very good so I don't have much to add. Been living in Paris all my life, and in fact, Disney Paris opened the year I was born I rarely ever visit due to high prices and not being very much into Disneyland stuff - so I'm not the most familiar with the place despite it being one of my home parks. Even though the resort is most generally quite busy, I believe both parks are manageable in a single day too. Agree with the plan to start with the Studios (it's a somewhat lacklustre park in comparison imo..) and you should be done with this park by 13:00 at the very most. Agree too that Crush's Coaster should be done first or at least towards the very beginning of the day. It's a generic (layout-wise) Maurer SC2000 which capacity doesn't suit best the crowds of a Disney park, so it often gets 1hr+ lines. Big Thunder Mountain's track has been refurbished a few years back. Nothing too mind-blowing of course, but it does deliver an exciting wild ride - and the setting inside an island mountain is truly impressive. Indiana Jones has good theming and a compact layout, however I find it very uncomfortable sadly. It is an Intamin/Giovanola imitation of the Pinfari Zyklon Looping coaster. Being from 1993, it predates by a long while the amazing Intamin designs of the 00s and it shows. Nonetheless the lone vertical loop is quite intense, which makes me think the ride would much benefit from updated restraints just like Hyperspace Mountain did last year. Speaking of which, Disney Paris' flagship ride is a very ambitious creative effort which, in my opinion, doesn't live up to its full potential unfortunately. Part of it is the 1995 Vekoma hardware which didn't aged so well (secretly I wish current Vekoma would completely redo the ride layout in line with their recent very daring designs, but that would be prohibitively expensive!), part of it is also the many rebrandings of the theming. Defunctland put it in a better way that I will, but originally Space Mountain Paris used to have a unique Jules Vernes steampunk storyline, which was an inspiring blend of French and US influences. This appeal is now mostly gone and replaced with the Star Wars theme we all know. But enough ranting here. Have a nice visit at Disney Paris! Even for a non-Disney fan, it is an enjoyable experience that I would recomment Bon voyage !

If you try to follow what's going on on the coaster scene, where do your get your info and updates from? Was curious to know if we share the same sources, and maybe discover a few more insightful sites Personally, I usually get new info on social media posts (CoasterForce, rcdb, the amazing VH Coasters for Asian stuff, and also official park/manufacturers pages) but also like to check the forums (CF mostly) to keep track and get a more in-depth look at the news. Forums are also great for discussion and insights on a broader perspective, much more so than the comparatively forums. I loved following the construction of DC Rivals here for example! Even though I do not have the opportunity or think immediately of going there, also discovered blooloop which delivers great coaster-related content with a more professional and industry-based angle. What's yours?