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Legoland Windsor

JAperson said:
How sure are we that the manufacture is Vekoma? I'm just not sure it will be. Merlin haven't ever build a coaster from Vekoma, the Lego division seem to like buying from Mack. It could be a bulk deal with Exodus. It could also be from Gerst. There's plenty of options.
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Never say something like that on here
Gardaland under Merlin built Mammut in 2008, sorry
 
Wow; it looks like I may actually have been onto something predicting that a coaster could replace Raft Racers a bit back!

This looks like it could be a good choice; a family boomerang would be a solid fit for the park, and duelling models will ensure that the capacity is high!
 
The current Vekoma dueling family boomerang coaster has a capacity of 1100 per hr. This could be different through due to different layouts, but would suspect something similar. It could be a number of manufactures however I suspect it will turn out to be a Vekoma, which Ould make sense going with the manufacture that already produces this model, plus their are 31 already built or being built and have a good reliability record.
 
The current model on Vekoma’s website has a throughput of 1,250pph (625pph per side, which equates to 1,250pph altogether): https://www.vekoma.com/sitdown-family-coasters/family-boomerang-racer

So this should have a pretty reasonable capacity; even if theoretical isn’t reached, the stand-alone Family Boomerang at Paultons was hitting a little over 500pph on my visit last year, so these two rides between them should comfortably hit 1,000pph, which is more than sufficient for a coaster at Legoland, in my view.
EDIT: Sorry, I missed the post that @Maelstrom made above… even 1,100pph combined would be pretty good going, in my view.
 
That looks like a good fit for LLW, I was there in June for a 'nostalgia trip' and one thing that was clearly lacking were family coasters. There is just the Dragon really which unsurprisingly was a lot tamer than I remembered from when I was nine! Something akin to Max & Moritz would be a good addition I think.
 
Merlin continuing to throw investment at LLW it seems. Duelling Vekoma family boomerangs would be the obvious choice given the layout but the drawings don't match their normal track style at all - it's far closer to the Zierer force coasters Merlin have been installing at their new-build LL parks recently (and it's not just the distinctive V-shaped cross ties - details like the mix of octagonal & hexagonal base plates and the design of the loading gates are distinctly Zierer).

That said, Zierer would be an odd choice of manufacturer - AFAIK they've never built a shuttle coaster before so why reinvent the wheel when the Vekoma family boomerang is such a well-proven ride?
 
John said:
That said, Zierer would be an odd choice of manufacturer - AFAIK they've never built a shuttle coaster before so why reinvent the wheel when the Vekoma family boomerang is such a well-proven ride?
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I agree but I do think Zierer's possible, they do seem to do some odd stuff from time to time, I mean why on earth would they be building thrill coasters that look at lot like Eurofighters? But they have twice, one with a vertical launch. I think Zierer seem to be a fairly competent manufacture, I think there's a potential it's coming form them. As for why they haven't gone for a well proven ride: well to be honest I'm not exactly sure but we could say the same at Chessington's addition. I imagine they got some sort of bulk deal with one of the manufacture's for rides at there new Legolands and this, or perhaps in the RTP division too.
 
Matt N said:
Wow; it looks like I may actually have been onto something predicting that a coaster could replace Raft Racers a bit back!

This looks like it could be a good choice; a family boomerang would be a solid fit for the park, and duelling models will ensure that the capacity is high!
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I remember reading your comment, it took all my willpower not to respond as I'd already seen the proposal for these coasters! Glad we can finally discuss them.

I don't know if I'm sad or not about Raft Racers going. Spent many hours operating that ride, to the point that It broke me... but it was somewhat of a hidden gem in the parks line-up.
Still the replacement improves on it in almost every way. It'll still have the duelling element but with more interaction points. The capacity will increase by a factor of about x5!
 
Extreme Team was fantastic but probably showing it's age in terms of maintenance costs.

Considering this is just a check to see if it's lawful, I'd say it's 2024 at the earliest we'd see this being built.
 
On the note of manufacturer; I have changed my mind somewhat since yesterday, and I reckon there’s a good chance that Zierer could be our manufacturer here.

If I were in a speculative mood, I’d guess that Merlin may well have some kind of bulk deal with Zierer, or at very least an incredibly solid relationship with them for building Legoland coasters.

A substantial percentage of new Legoland parks are building/have built Zierer Force Five models as their Dragon coasters, Legoland Billund’s Flying Eagle was a Zierer Force, Legoland Billund’s Polar X-Plorer was a Zierer… Merlin does seem to gravitate towards Zierer quite heavily for building coasters in Legoland parks.

By comparison, Merlin doesn’t seem to have much of a relationship with Vekoma. Apart from Haunted House Monster Party, I’m struggling to think of any Merlin projects that Vekoma manufactured, and they certainly haven’t installed any Vekoma roller coasters, as far as I’m aware.

With that in mind as well as the other evidence (the track design looks very Zierer, and I also heard someone say that the airgate design looks very Zierer as well), I would not be at all surprised if this was Zierer building their first ever shuttle coaster. In fact, I’d argue it’s possibly more likely than Vekoma, in my opinion.
 
I'd be shocked if it's not Vekoma, why would you not go with them when it is a proven product!? Having said that, the track on the plans does look more like Zierer, but it could just be used as a placeholder.
 
Another interesting thing I’d point out is that the layout comprises of quite a few perfect circles and straight lines… which isn’t really very new Vekoma.

Vekoma does lots of wacky turns and weird directional changes in its newer layouts, whereas Zierer has a lot more form for building in perfect circles and straight lines (look at the Tivolis and their figure 8 layouts, for instance).
 
MattyH said:
Extreme Team was fantastic but probably showing it's age in terms of maintenance costs.

Considering this is just a check to see if it's lawful, I'd say it's 2024 at the earliest we'd see this being built.
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Isn't 'checking it's lawful' just planning terms for 'checking that you won't tell us we needed planning permission after we've installed it'? Like the Nemesis retrack for example?

Presumably it's better to do it this way around as you then have a black and white agreement that the development would not breach planning regulations.
 
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