Bring on the B&Ms

[Stu]

The UK is lucky I guess to have four B&M coasters, as some places don’t have one at all (poor Australia) be still but I can’t help feeling we’re missing out on some of the rides they offer.

Germany has a hyper / speed coasters, definitely the most deluxe non looping mega coaster product available

Spain has no less than two large scale multi element coasters, one of which is a floorless, I guess they owe that to their good weather, I’m not too jealous of their Batman, I think our Nemesises are on par with that (if not better)

Denmark has a floorless coaster too, although it may have a relatively short layout, it does include an immelman, I think the UK has been deprived of a dive loop or an immelman to be honest

And of course there’s the Mirabilandia inverter, although we have two excellent inverters, it would have been nice to have had a bit more variety, a large scale inverter like Katun

So there’s definitely some choice close by, but wouldn’t it be great to have that a little closer to home?

What sort of B&Ms would you like to see and where would you like to see them pop up?

[Graeme]

I certainly think it's time for a new B&M in the UK. Their concepts are so good they don't really get outdated. To me, it's not a problem that the sitdown looper, floorless and speed coasters didn't debut in the past couple of years. Good layouts of each would be the best steel coasters in this country anyway.

Hopefully when Thorpe and Alton have got their Intamin launched coasters, they'll look to the B&M style of doing things for their next coasters. I really don't think Intamin are going to be able to come up with something to match the Accelerator for a while anyway, in terms of how desirable it is to theme parks.

So, which types would I like?

Well, I agree Nemesis and Nemesis Inferno are highly decent inverted coasters. It's a shame we didn't get one with an immelman, but they're basically enough for me now. Wouldn't say no to a new one though, perhaps duelling!

Thorpe and Alton could both do with a sitdown looper or floorless, but that's perhaps unlikely at Thorpe now. Here's hoping for Alton 2007...

A speedcoaster is a huge, expensive coaster, so thinking about who could afford it, I think we're basically limited to Tussauds still. Even though they will have a 200ft Accelerator, one could go at Thorpe. After all, SFGAdv has Nitro and Kingda Ka. Also, if Alton could ever use that valley, I agree with your suggestion of a few years ago that a speedcoaster would be better to build in it than a woodie.

An alternative (although perhaps unlikely) is for a moderately rich company like Grevin to buy somewhere with great planning guidelines like Oakwood. You could perhaps even get a speed coaster that way!

The only existing type I think we're likely to get is another flying coaster, at Thorpe in 2008. After that, I think we'll only get new types, unfortunately, like if they could debut a 4D.

[Stu]

interesting ideas, i think i have to agree in reality the only companies that can afford B&M would be BPB Ltd, Tussauds, Flamingo Land, Fantasy Island and Grevin,

i would doubt grevin would install a B&M at PWH as the park is perhaps too small to support such a ride, and i would doubt Flamingo Land would go for one at their home park or Pleasure Island as they like to invest the least ammount as possible

i'd really like to see an inverted version of Batman Knight Flight i think either Blackpool or Flamingo Land (if they dont get the SLC2) could be the parks for this

and back in the early to mid 1990s it would have been great to have a small scale sitdown looper, wooshing around the log flume at Chessington, i dont think with the current idea to turn this park into one for families with younger children a B&M coaster would be selected now, unfortunately

i do believe Alton Towers, Fantasy Island, Flamingo Land, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Pleasureland Southport could realistically install a floorless coaster, as they have the avaialble funds and visitors numbers to make a return on such an investment

i particularly can see a close to the ground, hidden amongst the trees floorless making its home where the supposed booster bike was planned at Alton Towers, i'd personally go as far as removing the log flume to create a more spectacular ride

but at the present time parks are more focused on adding quick, easy to install and low cost spinning coasters, x coasters and the euro fighters, which i think we'll see a lot more of, so i dont believe even the parks that can afford a B&M will get one sadly,

also if we looked at the uk parks which had space for one, but sadly not the visitor numbers to make it finacially viable, like American Adventure, Lightwater Valley, Oakwood or Flambards it becomes even more frustrating!

[Graeme]

I have a slightly different opinion on this subject since my last post, due to a recent visit to Thorpe.

In a way, I think the UK has bungled its B&Ms!

Well OK, the Alton Towers ones are results of good, solid projects - Nemesis being a total success and Oblivion and Air being successful in different ways to each other - but Nemesis Inferno really is the result of tokenism!

"We've got Colossus; we need a B&M in the park now"
"What's the best type they do?"
"The inverted coaster"
"We''ll build one of those then" (Draws up modest design on paper)
"Yep, that'll do!"

I'm being cynical, but I really do think that one lacks passion in its design. It would have stood apart from Nemesis much better if it was much larger, longer and had more elements, more like Montu or Top Gun: the Jet Coaster.

As it is, it's almost as if they deliberately kept it modest, so as not to overshadow Nemesis. I know they had a ceiling height, but how come it can be extended when they want to build a rocket coaster?

Really, Thorpe could have built one large, 7-looping B&M floorless or inverted, and that would have covered both Inferno and Colossus in one go.

Another thing that always happens when I ride Inferno is I get the desire to ride a B&M speedcoaster! It's because sitting at home (and standing at Blackpool!) I find the 200ft height of hypercoasters a real turn-off, yet I could definitely manage twice the height of Inferno if it was a B&M.

Thus, my other comment on the subject is this: I'd love to ride a B&M out & back speedcoaster at Thorpe! I've heard rumours they were at least considering a huge wooden out & back at some point. Well really, if it's going to be 150ft or so, why not add 50ft (or keep it at 150ft) and make it a B&M speedcoaster.

I'm definitely in the mood for some non-launched, non-looping coasters.