B&M coasters nearly always look gorgeous though, something about the chunkiness of them.
1. Expedition Everest 2. Hollywood Tower of Terror 3.Superman De Acero 4. Katun and Nemesis 6. OzIris 7. Blue Fire 8. Black Mamba 9. Manta 10. Oblivion
I am sure last year at some point I read somewhere that B&M will ONLY create 3 coasters per year!
But this has been thrown out for next season easily with the opening of:
B&M Giga Coaster: Canadas Wonderland
B&M Wingrider: Thorpe Park
B&M Wingrider: Six Flags Great America
B&M Wingrider (Possibly): Dollywood
B&M Invert: Parc Asterix
B&M Floorless: Ocean Park
B&M Hyper (possible): Portaventura
So for next season up to now there is 7 new B&M coasters around the world, what do you think has caused the company to realise they can produce this many NEW coasters in one season?
Can we expect a decrease in the quality of the rides?
Hopefully 2013 will be a big year for them with SW7 coming, and I am hoping for it to be the next generation of the Wingrider!
Some of these coasters have probably been on the drawing board for years and most likely designed a long time ago. It's just a case of manufacturing time. Bearing in mind the wingriders are fairly short, this probably balances out to manufacturing 3 Hypers, or the larger flyers and dive machines that have been built recently.
On the subject of the wingriders, everything is probably set up in the factories to produce them in 'bulk', now that the first one is out and installed so it makes sense to roll a few out at a time.
Well I just hope that if we will be seeing B&M expanding as a company their attention to detail and care taken when designing and building will remain. Provided the quality and ideas keep on coming and improving I think it's great that they are producing more rides each year.
This year certainly has proved how successful the Wing Walker concept has been though to say to least. As I said in the Dollywood topic, I think that parks have all been itching to get their hands on a Wing Walker/Wing Rider style ride, but after the disasterous attempt by Intamin have been put off until B&M perfect one :P
You forgot to mention that nearly all of them have unique layouts
I don't think we should be worrying about this move. It seems more likely that the company has expanded to be able to support the high demand. Anyway people have said for years that B&M spend so long doing their calculations which results in each ride feeling almost the same. Maybe a bit less calculation and more employees working on creative layouts is exactly what they need.
What I a going to say could be quite controversial, but I do believe that B&M NEVER get it wrong. Okay, The Wing Rider concept has faced mixed reviews from the coaster community, but generally it would appear that they have nailed it; compare that to Intmain that have only ever built one of their take on the coaster, and that was some time ago now. The numbers speak for themselves; B&M could now have a possible 3 orders for a coaster type that only made it's debut this year. How are Intamin fairing? Not too well when it comes to the Wing Rider.
The likes of Intamin have built some spectacular coasters in their time, but I have never come off a B&M without a huge smile on face. The demand is high for B&M and they make sure they get it right first time. I can never see their products declining in quality; that's just my opinion.
With all of this news coming from B&M in one year, they are a busy bunch. Will they be ambitious enough to take on a new worlds first in 2013? Who knows...
As myself and Duckman were saying this weekend Intamin seem to somewhat stumble upon good rides and concepts. Rather doing what B&M do and refusing to give anything to go ahead until it's perfected they seem to just build anything they can, and then see how well it works.
This seems rather clear when you look at how they create some really good and amazing rides, and then the exact oposite other times :P
[quote=""Bote""]As myself and Duckman were saying this weekend Intamin seem to somewhat stumble upon good rides and concepts. Rather doing what B&M do and refusing to give anything to go ahead until it's perfected they seem to just build anything they can, and then see how well it works.
This seems rather clear when you look at how they create some really good and amazing rides, and then the exact oposite other times :P[/quote]
This probably also explains why they have a sheer colossal amount of rides operating around the world. Intamin's arsenal of attractions is unbelievable.
For quite some time B+M have had quite a lull in the development of new attractions. We've seen nothing too major in terms of innovation until the likes of the wingrider came along. As Dylan has mentioned, they have most likely been in development for many many years. Don't forget we're still in the midst of a financial crisis and things are only just starting to pick up in terms of construction and manufacturing, so many parks may have chosen to put their projects on hold.
On top of that, B+M I feel have fallen behind somewhat and need to bring themselves ahead of the game again. Longterm rival Intamin have been furiously adding new rides, and newcomers such as Gertslauer have been threatening their position too. Providing these new additions are decent in terms of layouts (and indeed it seems they are) I don't see any issue in them upping their infamous 3 a year quota.
Not saying it is a bad choice I just hope the quality doesn't decrease!
I love b&m coasters and the more around the better! It's fantastic that more parks are able to afford these beasts!
Here's hoping 2013 brings the first b&m 4D coaster which is higly rumored amongst staff!
I think I know why it is. I imagine a lot of these projects have been planned for years ago but were put on hold due to the recession. Next year is presumably the year where it's been deemed that the economy is strong enough to go ahead with building big expensive B&Ms again...
I think I mentioned they only built 3 a year. The reason for this is at last years IAPPAPAPAPA Rob Alvy interviewed Bolliger himself in which he stated they only built 3 coasters a year.