Indy

I might not be the best person to speak on the matter since I'm from the COVID dumpster fire of the world, but I'm not terribly concerned about going abroad seeing how most places are doing better than us. I currently have an international trip booked for May. However, all my reservations are cancellable.

Generally, none. They have largely been phased out in favor of batter-based structures. Plus, companies typically prefer to provide lateral support on the outside of a curve. There are a few outliers though. For instance, when Georgia Cyclone was RMCed, it retained some of the tension cables. However, those areas were also reinforced with more heavy duty tie rods. Ok, I'm done nerding.

Yeah, launch systems are not particularly cheap just from a hardware standpoint. Additionally, there can be a substantially higher controls/programming cost associated with them.

Ugh. This is awesome news, but now I feel an obligation to go back to Sydney whenever I return to Australia. Granted, Sydney is an amazing city, but it's just so much more effort to get there on top of every where else I want to go. But holy smokes, did anybody have this announcement on their 2020 bingo card?

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Roadrunner and to see that you feel the amusement industry assumes that disabled guests do not wish to go on rides. I can tell you that is generally not the case. In the U.S. by law, modern rides must be designed with disabled guests in mind. Furthermore, organizations that are responsible for generating the standards that are used for designing rides throughout the world are taking a more proactive and aggressive approach to ensuring that disabled guests are taken into consideration. Not only are the methods for accommodating disabled guests improving, but there is substantial discussion on how designers and operators need to thoroughly analyze rider restrictions to make sure that they are as inclusive as safely possible. I know this doesn't change your feelings and the challenges you are experiencing now, but hopefully this situation will continue to improve as time goes on.

Agreed. I was surprised at first by how beefy this structure is. It looks like it is built for a seismic area, but the coastal location certainly makes sense. For a coaster that isn't THAT tall, it looks like an absolute unit. Weaving in and out of that structure should be a rush.

As a 25 year old coaster that has more or less operated year round, my gut feeling is the ride is about fatigued out and reached its end of life. I'd be fairly surprised if it was relocated, but I suppose it's possible.