SE is down indefinitely for unscheduled maintenance awaiting parts from Intamin.

last time this took months, hopefully not this time…

I've heard its been testing today

Edited August 23Aug 23 by TV15

With how often SE is going down for extended maintenance every year it’s definitely the next ride to go for new investment at MW. I suggest getting as many rides as possible now before it’s too late.

2 hours ago, Smol bean said:

With how often SE is going down for extended maintenance every year it’s definitely the next ride to go for new investment at MW. I suggest getting as many rides as possible now before it’s too late.

Will be interesting to see what they do with it given the other Accelerator coasters slowly failing, presumably due to it being one of the biggest rides there you'd assume BGH would want to be quick to replace it rather than it sitting there empty for years if it becomes too much to repair. Arkham yes that took around 5 years between closure and WOZ but Superman was always more popular I believe, so would have more of an impact than Arkham.

Only problem is you can't really replace the launch: you cant add in a spike to make up for the slower acceleration like Top Thrill Dragster to Top Thrill 2 as the Scooby building is directly behind it. The other problem for a replacement is there's not much space for a replacement with WOZ, Justice League and Flash directly bordering the current ride.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by TBoy

28 minutes ago, TBoy said:

Only problem is you can't really replace the launch

You can. Intamin sell a 'Vertical launch coaster'. So LSMs would just be added to the existing launch and the top hat.
Intamin will literally build anything you want... for a price.

Intamin Amusement Rides

Vertical Launch Coaster - Intamin Amusement Rides

Strongest LSM Launch Coaster on the market with single-, multi- or swing-launch sequences and the most comfortable state-of-the-art trains.

5 hours ago, TV15 said:

I've heard its been testing today

I can confirm that was the Case, I saw it done Several Cycles today.

1 hour ago, wikiverse said:

You can. Intamin sell a 'Vertical launch coaster'. So LSMs would just be added to the existing launch and the top hat.
Intamin will literally build anything you want... for a price.

Not sure if that's compatible with existing Intamin track though, the old track used for the hydraulic launch coasters and the newer Intamin track pretty look different.

1 hour ago, TBoy said:

Not sure if that's compatible with existing Intamin track though, the old track used for the hydraulic launch coasters and the newer Intamin track pretty look different.

I don't believe Intamins track gauge has changed. iSpeed is a similar coaster and uses LSMs. They can be retrofitted on, and I believe that LSMs are now powerful to be able to accelerate the train from a rolling launch. As @wikiverse said,

2 hours ago, wikiverse said:

Intamin will literally build anything you want... for a price.

33 minutes ago, TV15 said:

I don't believe Intamins track gauge has changed. iSpeed is a similar coaster and uses LSMs. They can be retrofitted on, and I believe that LSMs are now powerful to be able to accelerate the train from a rolling launch. As @wikiverse said,

It’s a rumour that TT2 had a proposal by Intamin as well however was too expensive and Zamprla chosen.

Even then it’s proven you can retrofit intamin hydraulic launch coasters even if not by Intamin themselves.

Not an expert at how much these things cost but if the decision to refurbish (ie through retrofitting the launch to LSM's) over replacement is a more viable prospect the park should 100% take the former option. And there is proof of a ride being converted this way without needing a swing launch. It can be done by at least 2 companies. Very much possible its just a matter of what village would like to do.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by Baconjack

15 hours ago, TBoy said:

The other problem for a replacement is there's not much space for a replacement with WOZ, Justice League and Flash directly bordering the current ride

They have an entire "sound stage". There's a lot of unused space in that building if they decided to remove SE and go with something else.

I think they'll do whatever they need to do to keep it though.

14 hours ago, TBoy said:

Not sure if that's compatible with existing Intamin track though, the old track used for the hydraulic launch coasters and the newer Intamin track pretty look different

We've seen partial re-tracking before. Intamin has the profile for the old accelerator and it wouldn't take much to design new pieces to drop in to replace the launch if necessary.

There’s a rumour that Maverick at CP needs a retrack it’s an LSM launch coaster which used to use the same trains as superman (still does just with softer harnesses)

And so there’s little doubt that it can be done, it’s just literally if Village wants spend the money on it, the ride is 20+yrs old so maybe it is time for a new coaster entirely.

Could be a Vekoma launched coaster, they did just work with Vekoma so it would make sense to get a package deal, however we have seen that Movie World only gets investments once every 7 years so I would say confidently that we shouldn’t expect to see anything for another couple of years.

5 hours ago, Themepark Enthusist said:

And so there’s little doubt that it can be done, it’s just literally if Village wants spend the money on it, the ride is 20+yrs old so maybe it is time for a new coaster entirely.

The ride is 22 years old, and it is still getting one of the biggest wait times in the park on the regular. I'd say it's worth a minor investment to kick another decade or two worth of life into it.

S&S also do retrofits of old coasters (Powder Keg). So if Village wanted, they could replace the hydraulic launch with a pneumatic launch. Given their history with S&S it's unlikely, and would be expensive, but it's possible.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by wikiverse

1 hour ago, themagician said:

Flying in on the 10th and arriving around 12:30, going to Sea World that day thankfully. Hoping it's not delayed and Superman opens on the 11th as that's when I'm planning to go to MW

The slow death of SE is hard to watch. ☹️

I have heard that it will be closing for a major refurbishment in February much in the same way Mick Dohans Moto coaster did

it’s sad to see it close for more then a month just prior to this.

This is pure rumours and speculation at this point as it was not a primary source I heard it from.

Edited Thursday at 01:43 AM4 days by Themepark Enthusist

I suspect whatever they're doing in the next downtime is designed to keep it alive over summer.

Definitely going to drive up north in december given there's been signs supermans been on its last legs for a while. Movie World could have pulled the plug when it went down for months last year.

Whether a retrofit or removal if you're interstate its worth making the trip irrespective of the state movie world is in on that alone as it could go down anyday and never come back up

Edited Friday at 01:27 AM3 days by Baconjack

Seems SE will go the way SDSC went.

Patch fixes until it become apparent patches won’t work, and then one day it will go into maintenance and never return (yes SDSC returned eventually but SE won’t)

I have not heard anything about SE being removed; what I have heard is that it will be retrofitted with LSM (much like TT2, or ThunderVolt at PNE Playland no mention of a specific manufacturer).

If they did end up choosing Zamperla maybe we will see a replacement to DDD as part of a deal.

SE plot of land is very constrained so I can’t see them opting for an outright removal.

As I have said ad nauseum on this forum there is a strong case for LSM conversion over removal (and it is possible engineering wise), but I don't know Village's thinking and what they want to do.

Fwiw there is quite a bit of land for a replacement if you remove the dark ride section building. Also would necessitate removing Flash, but that ride was added in as an afterthought when they needed capacity

Edited Friday at 03:49 AM2 days by Baconjack

My expectations are pretty low for what Village will do with SE, especially with my opinion that they’re turning Sea World Resort into a caravan park.

2 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

yes SDSC returned eventually but SE won’t

Curious how you can be so confident?