News Tron coaster coming to the Magic Kingdom

flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
MansionButler84 said:
The ride’s current top speed does not make sense to me with a launch. And greater speed would not allow such tight turns. Is it technically possible? Sure. That’s just not how I’ve seen launched coasters designed. A launch into tight turns would be painful. A launch that merely gets you to the top of the mountain sounds completely unnecessary as it would require a completely different ride system for little gain
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You could do a launch into a climb to effectively just replace the hill climb. Since you already have a gravity design its not like you need a 'whole new ride' if the launch were to simply replace the initial gravity feed. Space itself would be the biggest issue with any sort of 'retro-mod' since the whole track is already designed to work with itself.

But frankly I find the hill climb the least of Space's problems :)
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
You could do a launch into a climb to effectively just replace the hill climb. Since you already have a gravity design its not like you need a 'whole new ride' if the launch were to simply replace the initial gravity feed. Space itself would be the biggest issue with any sort of 'retro-mod' since the whole track is already designed to work with itself.

But frankly I find the hill climb the least of Space's problems :)
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In practice, you'd have a launch and need a trim brake right at the top. Seems unnecessary to me. I would bet the current track gauge can't even support LSM. How about we settle for a silent lift like Everest and Mine Train and updated visuals along the lift hill?
 
Mac Tonight

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
giphy.gif


Dear Tron construction photos...

Please come back soon!
 
A

Absimilliard

Well-Known Member
cjkeating said:
You raise a very interesting point I've thought about before.

I think with Vekoma you have a company where if you are willing to spend the money they will produce a high quality, reliable coaster that is above all highly customised to your requirements. B&M are know for being very inflexible and Intamin unreliable (and a slightly dubious safety record at times).

Vekoma have also been very willing to step in and help with other coasters Disney have bought from other manufactures, I believe they have replaced track and systems on both California Screamin' and the Indiana Jones coaster at Paris. It wouldn't surprise me if much of the remedial work done to Primeval Whirl was done by Vekoma either.

The problem is most parks go to Vekoma for cheap/cloned coasters.
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One major misconception about Vekoma is that people in the US have mostly experienced so far pre bankrupcy Vekoma era. In 2001, Vekoma went bankrupt and out of the reorganisation, things changed a lot. Everest and Grizzly mountain runaway mine cars (hkdl) along with Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot are nice representations of that era. Smooth, well manufactured rides at a nice price. Alas, Six Flags abandoned large 15-20 millions investments from 2012 to 2019 and Cedar Fair been spoiling the same parks with massive rides from B&M with some GCI (Great Coasters International) wooden coasters sprinkled in there until 2018. Did not leave much space for Vekoma new products there.

Six Flags hooked their horses to the RMC wagon and it diverted a lot of ressources that could have gone to other routes . Cedar Fair tried that route last year to no success.

What changed at Vekoma? They upgraded fabrication yet again and hired a genius as a layout designer. Brilliant creations such as the Firestorm, Shockwave and Lech Coaster are from him. Intamin also hired a new guy and his "family launched coaster" that I rode last week in Shanghai was brilliant Steel Dolphin

American parks are behind the curve now for new coasters amazingly and you need to go to Europe or Asia to experiment the innovative rides.

Back to Tron at SDL, rode it last week and its still perfectly smooth. I had a ride in the TAV (Transfer accesdible vehicle, the standard seating car) and its a very different experience. In case you're wondering, out of 8 trains, two have the TAV in Shanghai. Tron in Shanghai runs 6 trains at a time.
 
gmajew

gmajew

Premium Member
I am excited about this addition and I was really worried about the placement but after seeing it under construction and riding the now short speedway it will work and give us another option but the park still needs more!

They have got to get on a pace where they are opening a ride or show every year for the next 5-7 years to keep up with demand.

Stitch replacement needs to get moving ASAP!
 
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Purduevian

Well-Known Member
egg said:
A launch would require a different style track which would absolutely take up more space than a tight wild mouse style coaster. There’s no way they could fit two decent launch coasters in there.
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Disneyland Paris with it's Launch coaster Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain is about 60,000 ft^2. WDW's Space Mountain is ~95,000ft^2. With some intertwining, I would say 2 decent launch coasters could absolutely occupy the space. Being a Lunch Coaster does NOT mean it has to be huge.

-both measurements based on google maps.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
Purduevian said:
Disneyland Paris with it's Launch coaster Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain is about 60,000 ft^2. WDW's Space Mountain is ~95,000ft^2. With some intertwining, I would say 2 decent launch coasters could absolutely occupy the space. Being a Lunch Coaster does NOT mean it has to be huge.

-both measurements based on google maps.
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It helps that the one in Paris loads and launches from outside the structure. I don’t think it’s very likely that two decent launch coasters could both fit inside WDW’s Space Mountain structure.

And I still don’t see why it’s a good idea. A lunch coaster on the other hand...
 
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Purduevian

Well-Known Member
egg said:
It helps that the one in Paris loads and launches from outside the structure. I don’t think it’s very likely that two decent launch coasters could both fit inside WDW’s Space Mountain structure.

And I still don’t see why it’s a good idea. A lunch coaster on the other hand...
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I included the outside launch and return area in my measurement of the hyperspace mountain. I just don't see why a launch coaster needs to take up any additional room over a lift hill coaster, in fact if space mountain launched you up such that you barely crested the lift hill... the coaster could be identical.
Also clearly I posted that while very hungry haha, lunch coaster does not sound like a good combo to me.
 

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