Scott And Carol Present - IAAPA 2008 Final Report

When Jim Seay , President of Premier Rides, hears people say that rides and attractions aren’t rocket science he laughs, because as a project engineer for Hughes Aircraft he is one of few able to make a valid comparison.

Constant expansion of the amusement ride envelope is the hallmark of company. A recent breakthrough is the revolver coaster which opened at Hard Rock Park.

Some other areas include maintenance and technology improvements by offering new types of chains and wheels for existing rides.

Sartori has some of the cutest coaster cars being produced today

But their real news is the introduction of their compact inverted coaster called Cobra. With a small footprint of 100 feet wide and nearly 200 feet long, it’s hard to imagine that this coaster actually has an inversion. And at one point it pulls over 4.5 gs.

The fact that it is built on a platform means there are many options for installation. We need one of these in the US for us to go and check out.

Great Coasters International's 2008 Installation, Evil Knievel was the star of this year's booth, wonder which of their woodies will have that honor in 2009?

GCII' is going to be piling up airline miles before next year is done. Being based near the east coast and building coasters in Missouri, California, and Germany, they will be road warriors for the winter of 2008.

It appears that some travelling plans need to be made for wood coaster fans next year.

Philadelphia Toboggan Company was showing one of the cars for the new coaster in China being designed by Gravity Group.

Here also is a shot of the one bench car and the open front modification available for their current and past trains.

This is just one more option for customers in the competitive wooden coaster rolling stock market.

If you would like to have a coaster built in your back yard you should contact Amusement Rides by Bailey.

They will design, fabricate, and install a steel coaster for only $350.00 a linear foot.

Here is a photo of their first coaster built in Peterborough, ON. When you look at the condition of the track you can see how well designed their products are because this neglected ride is still in operation.

Vekoma has projects for next year on every continent except Antarctica. A lot of excitement surrounds their second generation Flying Dutchmen coach.

A more comfortable train and a new reclining feature that uses an electric motor instead of hydraulics should ensure more consistent reliability for future customers. The new Stingray layout features a vertical chain lift and is only one third the size of the original Flying Dutchman.

Maurer Sohne is hanging their hat on the new coaster for Universal Escape in Florida. Due to limitations from the customer, no photos of the ride layout were permitted but it looks to be a positively special roller coaster. Hopefully the veil will be lifted soon on this upcoming attraction.

Rides 4U sells both new and used rides. We mentioned them because they have listed all the rides from Cypress Gardens.

They even said two of the rides are already sold, but not the wooden roller coasters at this time. Well, there’s still hope for tomorrow.

So, here's the show floor. All 8.3 miles of entertainment.

When you look out through these overhead windows at the show floor, almost everyone in the room supports GKTW through gifts-in-kind, monetary, or supporting the various fundraisers.

Give Kids The World is a special place where terminally ill children get the trip of a lifetime to Orlando and hopefully enjoy the present while forgetting the future for a little while. For more information, and possibly make a contribution, check out their website at http://www.gktw.org/

Give Kids The World has a special relationship with IAAPA and its members. They are building a new splash pad for their guests supplied by Vortex

So that is the last of our onsite reports for IAAPA EXPO 08. We hope you enjoyed them.