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Ride Engineers Switzerland - Roller Ball

Harry

Harry

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Since Drayton are moving more towards the family market, and I don't expect to see any major thrill rides anytime soon. With the loss of G-Force, hypothetically speaking if G-Force was to be removed and replaced by another family oriented roller coaster, what coaster can fit where G-Force and Chairlift was? I wouldn't be surprised if they might return back to Zamperla as a supplier and could introduce a compact MotoCoaster as the minimum height required for the ride is 1.2m.

But looking into other coasters and ideas, and a coaster that would be brilliant to see is a Ride Engineers Switzerland (RES) Roller Ball. Currently there are two models of this ride so far, 19m and 28.5m at Schwaben Park (2018) and Parc Spirou Provence. Considering the footprint for the coaster, that can easily replace Chairlft only, but does open the G-Force area for future development.

Here's the stats for the 19m version:
Rider height: 1.2m/1.3m (Minimum/Unaccompanied)

Length: 288.7 ft
Height: 68.9 ft
Inversions: 0
Duration: 1:30

3 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 4 riders per car.

Capacity: 360 riders per hour
Footprint: 59.1ft x 23ft

"The Roller Ball gondola carries up to 4 passengers and is lifted up to 19m, where the gravity run starts. The Gondolas are smoothly decelerated before entering the curve. In the curve, the gondola accelerates nearly free fall down and drives in the other direction.
While the Gondola is accelerated and decelerated it swings free side to side, in combination with the gravity run this coaster is a very good ride for any park not only because it has a very small footprint.
  • The whole column and track construction is calculated that without any additional steel construction the whole ride can be themed and covered similar to the renderings."


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(Photos by Ride Engineers Switzerland)
 
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Looks very interesting and could easily fit where just Chairlift was alone. However, I'm not sure about the height due to the height restrictions, and also 360 riders per hour isn't really very good.
 
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I assume it has a conveyor station, which would keep throughput up.
 
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Ciaran said:
Looks very interesting and could easily fit where just Chairlift was alone. However, I'm not sure about the height due to the height restrictions, and also 360 riders per hour isn't really very good.
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360 is great. When I used to do James and Buccaneer I usually got about 110-125 riders per hour. As long as it has the staff on ride the through puts will be great. Operator, load attendant, unload attendant.
 
It looks interesting. I think this would be a horrible fit for Drayton though. I don't think it could fit in anywhere without looking out of place. Also, 360 people per hour. The ques on this would be horrendously long. As the park expand they need to look at rides with larger capacities, rather than small ones. Especially considering this would be a larger and more popular attraction. A few hundred per hour is fine for a few small secondary flat rides. Not for a large ride though.
 
Damg said:
It looks interesting. I think this would be a horrible fit for Drayton though. I don't think it could fit in anywhere without looking out of place. Also, 360 people per hour. The ques on this would be horrendously long. As the park expand they need to look at rides with larger capacities, rather than small ones.
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If the ride can achieve 360 guests an hour, that is pretty good for Drayton. When I worked on the rides (Apart from Bounty) I just got over 120-170 guests an hour, both during peak and off peak times.
 
Agreed, it is good. But as they move forward, they should be looking at larger throughput rides. Especially on a coaster. I know back in the day Pirate Adventure, Excalibur and Splash Canyon could all achieve over 1000, maybe 850 on a flawless day with a good staff. They never always did but it was possible. Storm Force 10 with a full company of boats could come pretty close to 1000. As this would be positioned as a major ride I think they need higher capacity. But this is the park that build G force, with its terrible throughput. So who knows.
 
maybe a launch coaster would be suitable for where the chairlift and G force were/are as launched coasters are quite popular at the minute
 
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