Are megas becoming less popular?

i'm wondering that if megas becoming less popular these days.....
could someone tell me the truth?

[hyyyper]

Well, Nowadays parks tend to focus on smaller coasters that are cool too. Building a big coaster doesn't mean you're building a good coaster. But you are building an expensive coaster.

And the fact that the 'rollercoaster-race' of the 90ties-mid-00ties is kinda over, parks are focussing on being amusement parks again, and not just a parking lot and a lot of big coasters.

Also consider the cost of them. And most parks that want one already have one.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Well first off. Find me a park that is large enough to have a mega coaster that already doesn't have one. The only parks I can think of that fit this description are HersheyPark, SFFT, Knott's Berry Farm and the European parks with height restrictions (why they don't exist there to being with except at Blackpool).

Intamin's megas seem to be making a comeback with the mega-lite product introduction, however when your company has a fat people ejection record and a good percentage of their original good market (America until around 2002-2003) is fat, that's not good. Cost of raw materials is a factor as well. The price of many raw materials has gone to hell because of China's recent activity. Also in case anyone hasn't noticed, especially the people in yuppy towns where they're isolated from everything in America, there is a war going on right now which probably affects raw material rates to some degree.

Knotts Berry Farm Has no room. and all they are builing there are small coasters.

thanks.~

I don't think it only has to do with the fact that they are becoming too expensive, but look at every major park in the US. Almost all of them already have a mega coaster or they don't have the room for one. They're not only losing popularity only because of the cost of building and maintaining them, but also because the parks just lack the space or don't want to be redundant.

Also, it might be worth mentioning that most of the coasters built during the coaster war of the 90's and early 2000's were built within corporate parks. Remember why they were built in the first place? Because back then, Six Flags and Cedar Fair were running around and buying up every small park they could get their hands on, and then immediately building a megacoaster or two to thrust that park into the market.

But then, when the economy started going bad back in 2002-2003, those companies started losing money. Six Flags has since sold about 80% of its parks back into private hands, Paramount was sold, and only Cedar Fair and Anheuser-Busch have emerged mostly unscathed. However, without all these big corporations with deep pockets funding the coasters, the plain truth is that most parks can't afford them anymore. Very few privately-owned parks can build such coasters, except maybe Holiday World and Mount Olympus.

for some reason I have trouble with heights and there names, but just for the record... Aren't the smaller accelerator coasters mega? AKA Stealth?

[hyyyper]

The term 'mega', 'giga' and 'hyper' have no real meaning. They are all names for non-inverting-lift-hill based sit-downs. B&Ms are usually called Megas, while Intamins mostly Gigas and Hypers.

Coasters with launch are just called launchers.

^mega is for a coaster, that's higher than 200ft, and giga is for the ones taller than 300ft...
I'm not sure about the term "hyper", but I think that's the name for non inverting airtime machines... With a lift.

[hyyyper]

Megas can also be under 200ft:
http://www.rcdb.com/id3621.htm

There are no rules about the height/name relation, everybody uses the therms almost at random

Though their website says "Hyper Coasters," I was pretty sure B&M called that style "Speed Coasters." Intamin designs "Mega" and "Giga" coasters, as seen on the plates on the cars. At one point, EGF had a plate that, instead of saying "Mega Roller Coaster" like the others, said "Mega Cost Roller." I always thought that was pretty funny.

Megacoasters and Hypercoasters are the same thing!



The Same thing with Stratacoasters and Tera-coasters






I think.

Hyper coasters have a height or drop of over 200', while Mega coasters are Intamins in that style...not necessarily over 200', as we see with Goliath and EGF. B&M may have adapted that word to include all their coasters of the hyper style though, if their website is correct.

Originally posted by cjd
Very few privately-owned parks can build such coasters, except maybe Holiday World and Mount Olympus.

Why would Holiday World be able to afford it? The major coasters they have are all wooden, and wooden rides are much than steel.

It's been my understanding that:
Mega-Coasters are 100ft. at their tallest point
Hyper-Coasters are 200ft. at their tallest point
Giga-Coasters are 300ft. at their tallest point and
Strata-Coasters are 400ft. at their tallest point

I'm willing to accept that these terms don't apply to their tallest point, but their longest drop, but I think these terms should be able to be applied to every coaster.

The term Mega coaster stopped being popular when we started building things larger than 200ft. on a fairly regular basis. It seems that Giga-Coaster only applies to Intamin coasters because not many other companies build in that range (and the other ones that do aren't very good at it). Strata and Rocket seem to get confused. Right now there are only two Strata coasters both of which happen to be Rocket coasters.

I would have to agree, Mega-Coasters seem to be less popular these days. Parks still build over 100ft, but it's defiantly a lot cheaper to just buy a small coaster, and advertise that at least there's one more coaster this year. Parks still WANT to build big stuff, it's just not financially responsible. It's a lot easier to go with a sure thing and buy a reliable Mouse coaster. Parks know they can get their monies worth out of something like that. There are still some bigger coasters being made, but in general it seems we're going to have to sit through a few "off" years so parks can make sure they can safely afford to expand.

Originally posted by hyyyper

The term 'mega', 'giga' and 'hyper' have no real meaning. They are all names for non-inverting-lift-hill based sit-downs. B&Ms are usually called Megas, while Intamins mostly Gigas and Hypers.

Coasters with launch are just called launchers.

They are coasters over 200 feet and a giga coaster is one over 300 feet.

I am inclined to agree that the lack of large Corporate backing, and lack of Space are the 2 primary reasons for the decline in Megacoasters (not gonna debate what a Mega Coaster is). I also think that many parks are trying to include more amusements in the parks.

Aside from restrictions, i think one reason in UK/EU parks focus on getting rides that are smaller but more unusual is because coaster enthusiasts will (and do) travel to US just to ride the giants. There's no point a UK park trying to tap into this market when its already dominated. (particularly as international travel has become so much cheaper over time)

Not really. Progress is as steady as it was a few years back.

If so, I'll be really happy. I really don't like oversized coasters. Lol, maybe it's because I grew up within walking distance of Cedar Point, so now I'm overdosed.

I would have to say that they are becoming less popular due to the demand of smaller coasters and the coolness of them!

I think that parks are finally realizing that bigger is not always better. I would rather ride a smaller, well thought out, well themed, original coaster than some parking-lot mega with no theming.

[DouggieB]

Well, I think the economy at this point is definitely a factor. Plus, there's the fact that you have a coaster like Steel Dragon, which is taller than a coaster like Millenium Force, but has ignited nobody's interest. Plus, taller coasters seem to be more of a maintenance nightmare, as the cable snap of MF will testify.

I think gigantic first hills were a fad that mostly died off when the 90's ended. Coaster riders today, by an large, want something more than height, and the parks are responding to that demand, I think.