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Legoland Windsor

Matt N said:
In terms of who Merlin has worked with on junior coasters in the past, I'm also afraid to say that Mack aren't on the list. They have worked with:
  • Gerstlauer on coasters for Legoland California and Legoland Deutschland.
  • Zierer on coasters for Legoland Billund, Legoland Dubai, Legoland Malaysia and Heide Park.
  • Zamperla on a coaster for Alton Towers.
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They're all pretty decent family/kiddie coasters, so this should be pretty good.
 
Matt N said:
In terms of who Merlin has worked with on junior coasters in the past, I'm also afraid to say that Mack aren't on the list. They have worked with:
  • Gerstlauer on coasters for Legoland California and Legoland Deutschland.
  • Zierer on coasters for Legoland Billund, Legoland Dubai, Legoland Malaysia and Heide Park.
  • Zamperla on a coaster for Alton Towers.
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For what it's worth, both those rides were constructed before Merlin bought the parks.
 
Solid idea for the youngest visitors and desperately needed to help reduce queues... Although I doubt it will have a good throughput.

A cred is a cred, but not exactly going to stand out vs Mingos new coaster or Paultons new area in the marketing stakes for 2020.
 
Rick said:
For what it's worth, both those rides were constructed before Merlin bought the parks.
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Ah right. Thanks for the clarification @Rick!
Islander said:
I was under the impression that Ba-a-a Express was an ART Engineering coaster? Which given Legoland have worked with ART on the Ninjago rides, would seem reasonable to assume they'd be working with them again.
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Rob said:
Indeed, Mack subcontracted Ba-a-a Express to ART Engineering.
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Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but this does beg the question; what involvement did Mack actually have in Ba-a-a Express' manufacture if it's an ART Engineering coaster? RCDB lists Mack as the manufacturer, but I'm not sure if this is the case judging by what's been said...
 
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Matt N said:
Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but this does beg the question; what involvement did Mack actually have in Ba-a-a Express' manufacture if it's an ART Engineering coaster? RCDB lists Mack as the manufacturer, but I'm not sure if this is the case judging by what's been said...
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RCDB has Ba-a-a-Express listed with Mack as the manufacturer, but ART Engineering as the subcontractor in the details section - which does match up with what's been said here :)
 
Even B&M do not manufacture rides. They have never manufactured a ride in their life. Not a single one. They subcontract the manufacturing out to selected third party engineering companies. Some handling the track manufacturing in a few locations across the globe close to large markets, others the trains and then usually Consign AG for the electrical and control side of things. With B&M just designing the rides on paper down to the last nut and bolt. Obviously, they would still oversee the manufacturing to ensure the quality is there, a staple of B&M ride hardware. Then they also act as the glue bringing it all together and being the people who ensure all these company's work together so that one of their coaster designs gets successfully delivered and opened.

This is quite a common way of working in the industry and I would imagine is similar to what is going on here. The Pepsi Max Big one for example was manufactured by a steel fabricator in Bolton, from designs given from Arrow Dynamics. The steel fabricator never had or has to this day any direct links with themeparks or theme park manufacturing. They were just in the right place at the ride time. The bigger companies though have their 'goto' subcontractors, a way of ensuring consistent quality.


I believe Mack rides do manufacture in house but they can only manufacture so much at once, so from time to time when orders are busy they would subcontract the work out to other companies.
 
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Ah right. Thanks, guys! I was only asking because even though B&M and others have subcontractors to do other things, they're never listed on RCDB, whereas ART International are.
 
DistortAMG said:
This is quite a common way of working in the industry and I would imagine is similar to what is going on here. The Pepsi Max Big one for example was manufactured by a steel fabricator in Bolton, from designs given from Arrow Dynamics. The steel fabricator never had or has to this day any direct links with themeparks or theme park manufacturing. They were just in the right place at the ride time. The bigger companies though have their 'goto' subcontractors, a way of ensuring consistent quality.
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Actually think the Big One situation was more complex, the Bolton fabricator could only make the straight track (the curved track still had to be shipped in), which is why Big One has the unusual ramped profile.
 
Dave said:
Actually think the Big One situation was more complex, the Bolton fabricator could only make the straight track (the curved track still had to be shipped in), which is why Big One has the unusual ramped profile.
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Interesting... I always thought the PBMO ramped profile, that which renders most of the ride as a sort of monorail for sadists, was some clever cost cutting by GT at the time. He was determined the coaster would maintain its height, and look, er, Iconic. Personally, I would have rather it span back round above Watson Road had it left us with a ride more akin to Magnum XL-200, which was the initial idea. Ho hum.
 
Dave said:
Actually think the Big One situation was more complex, the Bolton fabricator could only make the straight track (the curved track still had to be shipped in), which is why Big One has the unusual ramped profile.
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Plastic Person said:
Interesting... I always thought the PBMO ramped profile, that which renders most of the ride as a sort of monorail for sadists, was some clever cost cutting by GT at the time. He was determined the coaster would maintain its height, and look, er, Iconic. Personally, I would have rather it span back round above Watson Road had it left us with a ride more akin to Magnum XL-200, which was the initial idea. Ho hum.
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I am really not sure the "we can only make straight track in Bolton rumour" stacks up, I know it's become more prevalent over the years, but I don't recall where it started. Watson also fabricated lots of other Pleasure Beach company rides including Revolution, TRAUMAtizer, Valhalla etc. They also built other international rides for Vekoma during their troubled times.

Edit: this article is quite interesting on the subject of what Watson did over the years.
 
The concept art certainly showed more curvy hills, can’t say I buy the theory though. Weren’t the hills designed as “speed hills” and that’s why they were straight?

If you look at the track overall, Watson would only have been able to manufacture half of it, if they could only make straight sections - which just doesn’t sound like a feasible solution.
 
Rick said:
I am really not sure the "we can only make straight track in Bolton rumour" stacks up, I know it's become more prevalent over the years, but I don't recall where it started. Watson also fabricated lots of other Pleasure Beach company rides including Revolution, TRAUMAtizer, Valhalla etc. They also built other international rides for Vekoma during their troubled times.

Edit: this article is quite interesting on the subject of what Watson did over the years.
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From my perspective it came from a children’s book on modern engineering marvels released around the time Big One opened. Goes into great detail about how the ride was built and works. Vividly remember pestering my parents to buy it because of its section on roller coasters (would have been about 10 at the time).

Might still be at my parents house, will look for it next time I’m there.
 
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Legoland get the Daily Mail treatment,

Legoland nightmare as The Dragon rollercoaster breaks down 30 feet in the air stranding riders including a grandmother in searing 90F heat


    • Grandmother Danielle Hollins, from Stoke-on-Trent, was at Windsor theme park with relatives
    • Group of nine, including four grandchildren, were stuck on ride for 45 minutes
    • Were trapped 30 feet up and had to be rescued by staff wearing harnesses
    • Ms Hollins claimed the group were not given harnesses and were told 'we'll catch you' when she raised concerns
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They all got passes and fastrack and water. woman is upset they weren’t given harness to wear during the evacuation. It is surprising they weren’t harnessed given there is a tarmac road on the side you could fall from.

Someone probably made the decision given the heat and length of exposure it was best to get them off the quickest way despite risk of a fall.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...aster-breaks-30-feet-air.html#article-7394631
 
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