[RollerBee]

I dare guess that Intamin and B&M prices are competitive to each other, my question is does the price include construction costs and everything or just the cost from the maufactor.

[Jonathan]

I assume the dollar figures are the comprehensive cost of the project from planning and design through construction.

[Edwardo]

Intamin is actually significantly cheaper in most cases from what I've seen.

Everyone says that B&M 'refused' to go over 300' when MF was built when the reality was they gave a proposal that was way more than Intamin.

I305 was $25 mill. Leviathan was $28 mill. Built 2 years apart, and Leviathan is only 300' longer for $3 mill more.

[Jwrickner]

Is Intamin cheaper? Carowinds' Intimidator was $23 million while Intimidator-305 was $25 million. I-305 is obviously taller but it has a lot of low to the ground parts and the Carowinds ride is a bit longer.

Millennium Force would be around $31.6 million in 2010 dollars. $34.3 million in 2014 dollars.

Are these costs just the coaster itself, or the coaster plus deconstruction, groundwork, permits, labor, and landscape?

[KingHippo1]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Intimidator when first rumored was supposed to be around 10-12 mil before we knew it was a hyper. Costs do change because changes are probably going to occur in the process just like in any other type of construction. 30 mil is probably a low ball number.

[Chris]

That's news to me.

[Jay]

Because it isn't true. 11 million was "leaked" initially but I don't think we ever found out what that was for, maybe just the construction costs for York County?

Story on the 11 million

Starting with this post there is a lengthy discussion about the story, resulting in mass confusion and hysteria.

Reading that old thread is actually pretty funny with how terrible it is. Here is a quote from Mr. chknwing -

and I hate to burst alot of bubbles, but this coaster will not, leme repeat that, will not be a giga coaster, B&M doesn't do giga. They stick to what they know. It may have a launch or some new type of train but B&M will stay within their limits. The cost for a giga B&M would be insane.

[Capler]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Intimidator when first rumored was supposed to be around 10-12 mil before we knew it was a hyper. Costs do change because changes are probably going to occur in the process just like in any other type of construction. 30 mil is probably a low ball number.

Contractors, customers and the bank have a very good idea what the final cost is going to be before construction starts. If the amount is over, the contractor usually losses.

[KingHippo1]

Yes they usually have an educated guess and thats what it is. Just a guess, a ballpark figure. Human error is what usually changes that. Anyone in construction knows this is true. Wasnt sure about the 10-12 mil for the coaster but I'm dead on about the guesstimation

[intaminboy]

Why do all of the gigas, with the exception of SD2K, not have mid course brake runs but all of the B&M hypers do. MF and Intimidator have about the same duration and the same amount of trains, but Intimidator has a brake run.

[Jay]

It's not quite that cut and dry. When putting in any ride you want the best capacity possible. If you have a mid-course brake run that allows you to run 3 trains. 3 trains (in theory) usually provides a better capacity.

So lets break this down-

Millennium Force - runs 3 trains via a separate unload station, if it didn't have this it would only be able to run 2.
Leviathan - runs 3 trains, via a really really really long brake run
Intimidator 305 - runs 2 trains, but is fairly short in ride-time

As far as B&M Hypers go, Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia, and it's cousin Goliath at La Ronde in Montreal, don't have mid-course brake runs, and thus only run 2 trains.

Apollo's Chariot, Nitro, Raging Bull, Behemoth, Diamondback, Intimidator all have mid course brake runs, and all run 3 trains.

[intaminboy]

Oh, OK. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[tylerSC]

I wonder if preliminary foundation work will begin this month as previously predicted? May is almost half over and I have not heard of anything yet. But soon I guess. When did they start on Intimidator?

[Edwardo]

It's the twelfth of May. Calm down.

[Jay]

Trust me. There is no need to be concerned.

Here is a pretty thorough Intimidator construction gallery (with dates!), just for when these types of questions are asked. Again, all credit goes to Wormy for organizing the gallery and making it look pretty for the website. I'll take some credit for the photos.

It looks like re-bar for the first footers went in early July, and the concrete for the footers was being poured in late July/early August.

Here is a picture of Intmidator construction from May 16, 2009 -



And just for reference.. here is Nighthawk construction from May 17, 2003 -