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Zebraman

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I can see this very much being of the same style as Zadra in the sense it will focus on intensity and speed over airtime. Wherever or not that’s a bad thing will depend entirely on your preference. This could very well be the best coaster in Florida when it opens and when you then add in the three B&M masterpieces at Busch, the park will have one heck of a coaster line up.

 

Cant wait to get out there in 2021

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

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Fred Grubb of RMC filling suit against Busch Gardens. Busch still owe RMC 3 and a half million dollars of the rides 9 million cost.

 

Poor form from both in my book. Busch really should and could have paid way before but bit poor of RMC to time this with the park only just opening post lockdown.

 

On a side note. ONLY 9 MILLION FOR AN RMC!!?? 😮

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6 minutes ago, Martin Doyle said:

On a side not. ONLY 9 MILLION FOR AN RMC!!?? 😮

Yes, but actually no.

 

$9m is for the labour and materials, which may or may not include the partial deconstruction of the original Gwazi where required (it's not clear). But there's lots of extra costs, from things to station building, pathways, etc, to other contractors required and other stuff. Not forgetting things like marketing and all that other stuff. Those costs will all add up VERY quickly.

 

To be fair, it's not that surprising that a RMC conversion sounds cheap. The base is there - literally! - so in terms of raw materials, you're paying for significantly less. That reduces costs for labour, groundworks, etc by a lot too. 

 

I expect a ground-up RMC is much more expensive.

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1 hour ago, JoshC. said:

Yes, but actually no.

 

$9m is for the labour and materials, which may or may not include the partial deconstruction of the original Gwazi where required (it's not clear). But there's lots of extra costs, from things to station building, pathways, etc, to other contractors required and other stuff. Not forgetting things like marketing and all that other stuff. Those costs will all add up VERY quickly.

 

To be fair, it's not that surprising that a RMC conversion sounds cheap. The base is there - literally! - so in terms of raw materials, you're paying for significantly less. That reduces costs for labour, groundworks, etc by a lot too. 

 

I expect a ground-up RMC is much more expensive.

The thing is though, some RMC's only really roughly use the existing structure (RMC Gwazi is a brilliant example of this). But in general, they are usually a fairly budget manufacturer and a good deal. Zadra only cost around 12.5 million pounds, which for a Hyper coaster with over 4,000 feet of track, it really speaks to how economical RMC is.

 

Remember RMC got their start with Six Flags, they got their start working for a chain that infamously only builds cheap rides. Their Raptor model probably doesn't cost much either, especially considering a random waterpark in South Dakota just reportedly just bought one.

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2 hours ago, Martin Doyle said:

 

 

Poor form from both in my book. Busch really should and could have paid way before but bit poor of RMC to time this with the park only just opening post lockdown.

 

 

How is this poor from RMC?

If I built a coaster, I would want my money upfront Covid or no Covid.

Also wouldn't it be fun if RMC decided to open the ride as a $30 upsell in the park until the payments were made.

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By the sounds of it, the Seaworld company owe money for Ice Breaker and Emperor as well. One could presume that a lot of the final payments were due for all these attractions just as park closures and furloughs hit. I doubt Seaworld would want to be sued by RMC, B&M, Intamin & Premier all at the same time...

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  • 4 months later...

Considering the space they had to work with it doesn't look like it uses it up particularly well.

 

Plus from looking at this and Zadra, RMC seem to never be too sure what to do with height.

 

Still looks good, but considering the hype it doesn't look like the best one. But then again none of the RMCs POV particularly well.

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26 minutes ago, Benin said:

Considering the space they had to work with it doesn't look like it uses it up particularly well.

 

Plus from looking at this and Zadra, RMC seem to never be too sure what to do with height.

 

Still looks good, but considering the hype it doesn't look like the best one. But then again none of the RMCs POV particularly well.

 

I think RMC definitely hit its plateau with Steel Vengeance.

 

Untamed and Zadra also are real top draw coasters and this looks to follow in that vein, but even they do not hit the heights that Steel Vengeance gets to. Which is a common opinion amongst the community sadly.

 

I think the decline in the RMC hype may not be too far away.

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1 hour ago, Benin said:

Considering the space they had to work with it doesn't look like it uses it up particularly well.

 

Plus from looking at this and Zadra, RMC seem to never be too sure what to do with height.

Steel Vengeance

 

1 hour ago, Benin said:

But then again none of the RMCs POV particularly well.

Steel Vengeance lol

 

Seriously though, this honestly looks like a middle tier RMC IMO. Definitely not in the tier of Steel Vengeance or even Zadra which looks to be paced very well. I honestly think GCI's don't tend to give the best framework for a RMC, as most of them have twisty layouts with banked turns. And RMC are really all about airtime hills (look at Steel Vengeance). 

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/12/2020 at 5:52 PM, JoshuaA said:

Seriously though, this honestly looks like a middle tier RMC IMO. Definitely not in the tier of Steel Vengeance or even Zadra which looks to be paced very well. I honestly think GCI's don't tend to give the best framework for a RMC, as most of them have twisty layouts with banked turns. And RMC are really all about airtime hills (look at Steel Vengeance). 

 

 

I admit, on looking at the POV first I found the coaster to look a tad underwhelming.

 

HOWEVER, the more I sat and watched the POV to properly delve into it, the more I CAN see where this could really be a top class coaster.

 

Whereas Zadra utilises a more out and back style layout, the more twister style layout of Iron Gwazi could lend itself to some real forceful and intense transitions with its turns with that overbank turn (which is NOT an inversion Busch!!) looking to be a real forceful moment. It also looks to have some good drawn out elements after its first drop (the first outwards bank style element looks set to offer a great airtime moment and the "death roll" looks to also be one great inversion) and there also looks to be some good headchopper elements to it aswell. On first viewing, I found the last few moments after the stall to look meh but on further watching, I can see that having some decent airtime pops and some nice forces to it even though it would have been nice if it ended with the Zadra style snappy inversion before the breaks. Sometimes a POV can be deceptive (for better or worse) when it comes to a coaster. I know many people who think Taron for instance looks naff on a POV....very quick to change their mind on that once they have ridden!!

 

Will Iron Gwazi be the Steel Vengeance killer?? - I highly doubt it. I cant see ANY coaster being that so I would find that unfair to hold against Iron Gwazi.

 

Will it be as good as Zadra?? - I absolutely can see it being on a similar level. Whether it will be better or not will remain to be seen.

 

Will it be a top draw elite coaster? - Given its an RMC hyper hybrid, that looks to very much be a given taken into account this company makes hit after hit. Even the worst RMC will give 95 percent of coasters a run for their money and this looks to be far from the worst RMC.

 

On a side note, RMC actually more or less built this from ground up given the condition of the pre existing Gwazi track. So its not really a conversion as such.

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  • 6 months later...

Double po...oh who gives a monkeys!!??

 

In a fairly recent Q&A, a Busch official confirmed they are waiting for the "perfect opportunity from a commercial and marking stand point" to open Iron Gwazi

 

This could very well translate into a 2022 opening as an initiative to drive season pass renewals and get guests to return when the ride opens whilst also keeping steady numbers in the mean time. Could also mean that they are waiting for the Velocicoaster hype over at Universal to die down a notch or two and thus the ride can open to a greater fanfare.

 

Several rumours of a potential september/october soft opening of the ride going about but the credibility of these sources are very much in what I call the "HP source" category.

 

JUST OPEN THE DAMN THING BUSCH!!

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  • 6 months later...

 

Iron Gwazi is open now for Busch pass holders and opens next month for the public!!

 

This video shows this thing to look absolute nuts!! I can see a lot of Zadra in this. The intensity looks there, the pacing looks there and my lord that death roll looks like its trying to rip you from the seat. Also promising how it slams into the breaks Zadra style.

 

Seriously can not wait to ride this AND Velocicoaster!!

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  • 6 months later...

Visited Busch Gardens a couple of days ago, mixed opinions on the place. 
 

The rollercoasters there were really good and a nice mix of different styles and each had their own stand out features. Bit of a toss up between Iron Gwazi and Cheetah Hunt for the top spot here.

 

What seemed to let the park down though was its overall presentation/condition and staff. A lot of the park needs quite a bit of TLC as it was generally grubby and tired looking. As for the staff, almost everyone we spoke to came across rude or weren’t able to help as they’d been moved to Busch Gardens temporarily from the water park opposite so couldn’t point us to simple things like the closest toilets. 
 

Still had a good day though as the max we queued was 10 minutes for Tigris, just hope they take a look at their overall guest experience soon as it’s quite a noticeable difference to somewhere like Magic Kingdom.

 

 

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