Strata Coasters: Are They Officially Dead?

[@barkeeperJJ]

5:51, I like you kept the mistake in :)

[@Thatdude-p1v]

I thought I was the only one hearing that

[@JakeCoasters]

Lol I was strugglin and thought it was funny 😂

[@julianhudson7811]

I have hope that another strata gets built and a park somewhere calls up B&M to build one. Kinda imagining it being a super sized version of Fury 325 or Leviathan with a height of 400 ft or higher and a very long layout packed with airtime and speed.

[@MyLifeAsBrandon]

They are literally the only reliable company to pull this off I feel. RMC has lost their reliability rating sadly so no TRex.

[@JoeyH-sb3fq]

​@@MyLifeAsBrandonRMC can do it, It's just no parks have shown interest in it yet. Alan has said they can do large coasters, But it's what the park owners want/can afford.

[@MyLifeAsBrandon]

@ I thought he stepped down from RMC?

[@JoeyH-sb3fq]

@@MyLifeAsBrandon Did he? I didn't know. But I'm sure he put qualified people in place to carry on with the industry if that's true.

[@namevone]

Six Flags recently sent out surveys with a 400 foot tall mack rides tower coaster as one of the options, and I think it's very likely that ends up being Ka's replacement. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that's what Great Adventure gets in 2026

[@Spike-sk7ql]

That thing didn't look particularly interesting. Looks like something I would ride even less than dragster.

[@namevone]

@@Spike-sk7ql I think the 400 foot one would be pretty interesting. Hanging off the edge 400 feet in the air would be a pretty insane sensation + the upside-down launch. I think the 200 foot one would be pretty pointless though

[@JakeCoasters]

The shuttle coaster? That would be interesting

[@namevone]

@ yeah. ML Designs posted a concept for it

[@gunsmoke132]

I think it's very likely too unfortunately. Definitely not a good replacement for Ka.

[@doublerunners9058]

I think you’re forgetting in a lot of documentaries they state for ka and dragster most of that price came from the launch systems which were about 15 mil a peice if you remove that you can cut down on the price.

[@JJJJ-he8bz]

A chain lift 400 foot coaster would be manageable but it would just cost an insane amount of money to construct

[@PennsylvaniaRollercoasterClub]

Great Video, Jake! Eventually, we will see it again. (Most likely something surpassing the north american record, first) History IS cyclical!

[@JakeCoasters]

Thanks, and I think so too

[@Sokobansolver]

If a giga/strata doesn't have to be a full circuit then I would consider Superman Escape from Krypton to be a giga coaster.

[@toddhensley880]

Short term, I’m expecting parks to lean into novel features and theming.

[@theojaggi3963]

Why isn’t Red Force considered a strata coaster?

[@JakeCoasters]

Who will build the next strata coaster and where?

[@Sprinkles_2nd]

Energylandia builds a giga from intamin that uses lsms and a top hat so supersized red force

[@rollercoasterheaven2170]

Maybe like the B&M and Intamin Giga

[@coasterfair2602]

II honestly think it all depends on falcons flight honestly but at the same time as you say cost

[@JakeCoasters]

It will be fascinating to see what happens with Falcons Flight

[@Sprinkles_2nd]

What about herschend?

[@JakeCoasters]

Possible

[@roadtripnerd2432]

Even if they build another one the launches won't be the same since manufacturers no longer use hydraulic launches and use LSM/LIM launches.

[@JakeCoasters]

Yeah, sadly it has been discontinued.

[@Sprinkles_2nd]

Red force was a huge success so intamin could build a taller lsm top hat coaster

[@user-du5sj3dx7x]

That person might be me lol

[@Jadentheman]

I don't think another strata coaster will be built new in the United States ever again. None of the big amusement companies seem focused on doing it and the smaller owned parks can not definitely afford it. Yes the RMC t-rex exists but that along with anything Intamin or S&S builds will likely be in the Middle East/Asia for the foreseeable future. Those countries aren't looking for costs or efficiencies. They want the best offered that can put them and their locations on the map for international travelers and bragging rights. An art that is lost in the US and will be for a very long time. I don't see a turnaround in the thought process of the industry. Unless a billionaire coaster enthusiast wants to d*ck wave

[@JakeCoasters]

Tbh, I'm kind of with you on this

[@Sprinkles_2nd]

Energylandia has the money and intamin has the capability to build a taller red force

[@kaneworthington]

Aside from Kingda Ka's rumoured replacement, id say no. Steel costs are too high, and will only climb higher as the closed circular economy is implemented 2030-2050 to ensure no new raw minerals are mined outlined in UK Fires: Carbon Zero as one example. Energy prices and availability is then the secondary issue for LSM launches as they use so much power versus a lift hill. The issue then is balancing the cost of the steel for a large lift hill on a taller coaster versus an LSM launch, and with an LSM Strata youve got both costs plus expensive maintenance. I think storytelling and immersion is key with unique ride experiences as opposed to having the tallest or fastest rides. They can still be tall and fast, but the taller and faster you go the more people you exclude from potentially wanting to ride it.

[@JakeCoasters]

Much to ponder here, good thoughts

[@Nobodyisperfect-us6pk]

Forget the urban myth of the steel prize please. In comparison of the total costs, it is unimprotant and for decades the steel prize more or less has had not really moved in any direction. So with inflation, it was the only thing, getting cheaper and cheaper in comparison. The whole steel prize will be now around something like 1.5 to 2 million $ for a strata coaster? Steel prize is already going down again, so it is even getting better. Few years ago, it was just half of it...If strata coaster has prior during the coaster wars a prize tag of 25 million $; it will be now around 50 million $? So in 2005 it was 5% for the steel of the coaster, now it is again 5% (and few years ago it was less)? And for the costs of the electric power, spent during the start; as we can see for electric cars/motors, recuperation during the elctric breaks shall be possible. It shall be possible to get back a small part of the electric power spent, so perhaps 20% for a regular coaster? For a strata coaster with such an easy (and in my opinion very boring (sorry I am a European, seems I am far less interested in records) layout of start, up hill, down hill, break...a far better recuperation rate shall be possible.

[@EveryoneIsFamily]

With a height of 65 feet (a world record) and a top speed of about 30 mph (another world record), Geauga Lake's Big Dipper delivered an airtime adventure with about 12 hills. Today a coaster can be nearly 5 times taller, and fail to have 12 hills- let alone the 60 hills that are proportionately attainable. In other words, coasters are now more designed for bragging rights (transitory superlatives and lazy marketing) rather than for the Universality of joy (lasting happiness and nostalgia-based marketing). Maybe it is good that parks are struggling to go larger. Larger is not the answer. Better is. And better begins by coordinating with the rightful managers of the land... those who existed on the land many millennia before Christopher Columbus and his thieves decided that they absolutely had to be in charge... of driving ecological sustainability into the ground.

[@EveryoneIsFamily]

The Voyage at Holiday World is popular because it harmonizes with the land. Instead of the traditional coaster layout of: Act 1 - Big Hills / Act 2 - Waste Energy Swerving Because We Don't Know What We Are Doing Or Why We Are Here / Act 3 - Only Little Hills Are All That We'll Budget (Intense Repetition Is Risky And Keeping Our Jobs Is More Important Than Doing Them Well) / Encore - Wasted Height/Energy At The End Of The Ride.... ...the Voyage replaces Act 2 with "We seem to know why we are here, to break the rhythm with swerving, but not to needlessly relinquish energy" and then continues along its way. Earth is conscious, and working with- rather than against- someone a thousand quintillion times our size in mass... is a good idea. Earth is conscious. She can speak in terms of earthquakes and landslides, if that's all that people will heed. She also speaks through songbirds and through reverence for ecological diversity for those who prefer to heed their hearts and learn the easier way.