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IAAPA Expo 2015

Rob

Rob

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It's that time of the year again, the IAAPA Attractions Expo 2015 actually started yesterday but the trade show floor opens today through Friday. It's always an exciting time of the year when everyone in the industry gathers together to show off what they have in stall for us in the near future.

Dollywood are having a live broadcast from the event later today (10.15am EST, 3.15pm GMT) which will no doubt be at the RMC stand. Expect a POV of Lightning Rod and the unveiling of the train's front car.

I'll try and keep this thread updated over the coming days with any exciting news to come out of the expo, there's nomrally some good coverage of the event.

:)
 
I have a few things to note about what has been announced and what is at IAAPA.
  • Lightening Rod- Looks like a fun ride but it is seriously too short. I was expecting a longer ride.
  • Where is the Sally dark ride for Walking dead going?
  • Love the Fury 325 train in B&M stand.
  • I don't like the train for Phobia or Gale Force.
  • The Legoland new dark rides concepts sound amazing. Only time will tell if they work or not.
In conclusion, I am impressed with some things announced but some things were underwhelming.
 
Well, I have to say the thing that has caught my eye the most so far has come courtesy of the Mack stand! Truth be told, I don't really know what they're doing and I'm not entirely sure they do either.

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Photos courtesy of Theme Park Reviews twitter feed.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is a spinning car on Blue Fire! For those who have ridden it... Imagine that damn heartline?!!
 
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There is a model of Cobra's Curse. It confirms the layout. The first part is the vertical lift, then later on is a normal lift.

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The above Spinnging Fire is why I love Mack!

"Hay, we've got a cool new idea we want to test, what should we do?"
"...oh just slap it onto Blue Fire and see how it goes"

:eek:
 
It's the loss of two seats that worries me. Also, how is the queue going to fit in?
 
DiogoJ42 said:
It's the loss of two seats that worries me. Also, how is the queue going to fit in?
Click to expand...
This is clearly just a test of new hardware. Firstly the spinners have Mack's promotional logo on not Blue Fire or Europa Park. Second the train is not reconfigured to fit, they've just removed the back cart and a few seats to attach the spinning train. Third if they intended to run it like this they'd no doubt have people in the other seats to see how they are affected.

The point of this is to show such a ride is possible. Rather than building a mock track at their factory (like the one scene for Arthur) they've just decided to use Blue Fire. One of the perks of owning your own park.
 
Surely they haven't used Blue Fire in reality? It's a digitally edited photo, as the spinning car isn't completely solid to show some chassis elements.

The spinning car looks interesting, and is presumably for when parks want something a bit more intense than the Twist/Dwervelwind train type. I wouldn't be keen to see a combination of car types on a ride though!
 
I agree this is purely for test/demonstration purposes and will not be implemented full time on Blue Fire. But it absolutely has been done for real and people have ridden it!



The above video posted on Facebook by Dutch fansite 'Vijfzintuigen' shows the promo video being played on the 'Mack' stand at IAAPA. It certainly looks a little bit too real be edited!

One thing that has crossed my mind is the various rumours regarding Walibi Holland, there have been both 'Mega Coaster' and 'Spinning Coaster' stories so this certainly links the two together. It would also explain the larger/thicker spine on the track that is headed for the park, accounting for the extra weight of spinning trains? I'm not saying this is what they are getting, but it's certainly a possibility.
 
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IAAPA Day One Summary

Thought I would post an update of the most significant and interesting events from day one at IAAPA. All credit must go to Theme Park Review who's updates and photos I will be using as the basis for this.

New launched El Loco trains from S&S, vest restraints seem to be the way forward for OTSRs at present:

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A good comparision of the difference between RMC IBox track and Topper track:

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RMC's new TRex track concept (see more from this in it's dedicated thread):

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The new Triotech dark ride concept for Legoland parks (not Windsor though of course) which uses hand motions for guest interaction rather than any physical hardware, interesting:

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Maurer have a new wing coaster concept:

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Very unusual and I can't quite work out how the restraints work. My main worry with this is the distrance out from the track that the seating is, could be very shakey.

A new simulator concept from Intamin called the Ultra Tower:

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Lots of interesting ideas and concepts on show and hopefully there might be some more revealed by manufacturers over the next couple of days. Of course we have seen concepts at previous IAAPA Expos that are still yet to materialise so some of these might be a way off.

God knows what Mack have been smoking with this launched spinning coaster concept! Can't say I'm a huge fan if they plan on using it with inversions, seems like a recipie for being sick. Makes sense to test it on Blue Fire though. It just seems like a bit of a gimmick to me though, Mack should focus on doing more of what they are good at, they've only just made a name for themselves when it comes to top class thrill coasters.

:)
 
The Maurer thing reminds me of the S&S Free Fly concept, looks like it's just a seatbelt restraint system too so can't imagine it being too much of a major thing...

The new Triotech thing won't last two minutes under Merlin's maintenace regime...
 
The new S&S cars look weird to me. They're just some seats bolted to an overly large, flat piece of metal!
 
And what Mack say about it in the video description:
Mack said:
See our latest test on a crazy spinning ride. Our launch coaster blue fire was equipped with a spinning coaster car to test what is possible with this ride. And it was an eyeopener. Riding a free spinning car while doing inversions and loops is awesome. We hope to take this test further to a project real soon!
Click to expand...

They really are just mad! It is a very interesting concept but I''m yet to be convinced. I can imagine it's something I'd want to try once but then just want to ride the coaster normally. I think we could well be seeing something like this at Walibi Holland next year, it would explain a lot about that very secretive project.

:)
 
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