While news of this Prototype Coaster is cool enough what is even cooler is that the demo, including a brand new train type, runs on the No Limits Platform! I wonder how long until we might expect this type of train to be available as an update?
Orlando Will Host the Debut of New Roller Coaster
ORLANDO (Orlando Business Journal) ????????? For years, Las Vegas has tried to one-up Orlando by adding theme park rides to attract families, featuring wild-and-woolly roller coasters that wrap around the exterior of hotels and roar through the inside of casinos. Well, now Orlando's about to offer that type of high-flying fun, too, thanks to the imagination of Bill Kitchen. The Orlando inventor of two of the theme park industry's most unusual and successful rides ????????? the Skycoaster and the SkyVenture wind tunnel ????????? is finishing up the engineering work at his Sand Lake Road workshop on his newest design, the Unicoaster roller coaster. "The Unicoaster design allows a lot more freedom and more visibility than other coasters," Kitchen says. "Riders will have a full range of motion." While the new ride offers a number of unusual features, one of the biggest surprises is for whom it's being designed. "The main customer is not the theme parks," Kitchen says. "New regional activity centers, like The Meadowlands complex in New Jersey, are in the market for exciting attractions," he says. And to call the Unicoaster exciting almost seems like an understatement. To be sure, its design uses a conventional roller coaster-type track, which can be up to 5,000 feet long and designed with the conventional loops, dips and climbs ????????? taking riders to top speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour, depending on the track dimensions. But the real fun starts for riders once they sit in the attraction's Ferris wheel-type seats, which are suspended from an axle that's turned by a large revolving wheel moving along the track. Each wheel can be a different color with different lighting and designs, creating a visually attractive kinetic sculpture as the ride operates. Daring riders also can spin their own wheels while in motion to do a forward somersault. A modification of the design, Kitchen says, uses computer-controlled, individual cars that can move individually or in a sequence of up to 10 ????????? ideal for connecting buildings at a resort or convention center or to hang above a ceiling and wrap around the inside of a large building. A computer simulation of the ride, including views from the rider's point of view and from above, is available online (http://www.unicoaster.com). The first Unicoaster will be built in Central Florida so it's close to Kitchen?????????s lab and, thus, will be easier to fine-tune, says Kitchen. He's currently talking to several potential customers, including one themed restaurant and a family entertainment center ????????? but he prefers not to reveal who they are at this time. One of those local customers says the proposed design would completely encircle his building and swoop over part of the parking lot as well, adding a dramatic themed touch to the experience. Kitchen says the engineering will take another three months, with the first new Unicoaster scheduled to open locally in the spring of 2006.