Dear Coaster Friends,
Is there anything left to be excited for in 2020? Are we taking all the fun out this season's reveal for next year by looking at some of these projects with such a long lead time? Some say yes, and some are impatient. I'm impatient and had the thought the other day that this has to be it right? If not who is left to build it, because many companies have been booked, some even beyond 2021 already. So let's take a look at what we believe is yet to be announced, if anything, and who could be building it. Let's start with the old guard, B&M. They have typically taken on many projects for a single season, and they appear to be busy right now. We know they are building Mako a dive coaster at SeaWorld San Diego. Hersheypark recently revealed Candymonium their front gate hyper coaster, and we believe that B&M is building the unannounced Kings Island giga. They are also building a wing coaster in China and are booked for two 2021 projects. I think it is safe to say they are booked for 2020 and they aren't looking for more work. We recently got a peak at Pantheon, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's multi launch coaster being built by Intamin. This is the only project Intamin has scheduled in North America for 2020, but they also have one in China and another in Europe. Additionally they have two projects in Europe for 2021 and 2022 already announced. Intamin is used to doing multiple projects at the same time however with 5 projects in progress they may be booked as well. We do have an idea that all of the SeaWorld owned parks will be getting a new roller coaster in 2020 so there is a possibility that the rumored launch coaster for SeaWorld Orlando could be an Intamin. I am going to put that one on Premier Rides dance card until I know otherwise. There are two other SeaWorld parks SeaWorld San Antonio and Busch Gardens Tampa. SeaWorld San Antonio has not announced their ride but it is already visible and it appears to be a wooden coaster by Gravity Group. This is the only project Gravity Group is working on in North America, but they are doing another wooden roller coaster for SeaWorld in Australia. But they have opposite peak seasons so they can do one project at a time as this project has a projected opening date in December. The other park is BGT and they are working with Rocky Mountain Construction to turn Gwazi into a hybrid roller coaster. With no other announced or anticipated plans RMC could be a builder of an unannounced project. This is typically the time when last ride notices are out out there for potential candidates for the iron horse, but at this time none have been revealed. So if RMC has other 2020 plans it will be ground up. I know Holiday World is teasing a 2020 addition, but with all of the animal clues I am going to assume it is for the water park until I know for sure. I think the best possibility would be a single rail. The real question is where and which style? With only one Cedar Fair coaster in the works another raptor track could be possible. If they have the larger T-Rex model ready then Six Flags Great Adventure could be the park to see the first one. They did recently tease that Great Adventure would get a new world record breaking project. There is also one wildcard in the mix and that is Lagoon, they have begun building a ride called Primordial. Not much is known about this project other than it will open in 2020 or 2021, park officials are very vague with the details so anything is possible. We also speculate that Mack has an unannounced project at Six Flags Over Texas. This rumor was stated when shipping records were uncovered and point to the possibility that they may have purchased a PowerSplash. Mack has two other projects in Europe for 2020 and a whopping five more in 2021. It is safe to assume that their dance card is pretty full. So who still needs a date in 2020? S&S has one project in Asia, so they could be a possible manufacturer for an unknown attraction. GCI has nothing announced at this time so they could be a possibility too. Gerstlauer has had a very busy 2019 and only one project for 2020 overseas so it is hard to say if they are looking likely for next season. Premier Rides is the last likely player who also has nothing announced for 2020, but it isn't unusual for them to do one project at a time and I believe they will have work in Orlando. While we did know that several large projects were in the works for 2020 for a while now I see the potential for a few surprises that could present themselves especially with the Cedar Fair and Six Flags announcements. I would guess each brand will have at least two projects each and we only know about one. If that isn't enough Universal Island of Adventure has a velociraptor themed coaster in the works as well. So who is getting what? Author Jeff Goodman |
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