Six Flags New England this morning announced that it will push the debut of its new Quantum Accelerator coaster until 2026.
The Intamin family launch coaster had been set to open this summer. The Massachusetts park even had sent out invitations for a media preview day, before postponing. That was the first sign that something might be amiss with the coaster's debut.
Quantum Accelerator Is the same model as United Parks' Arctic Rescue at SeaWorld San Diego, DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio.
In its social media announcement, Six Flags said, "When it comes to debuting world-class attractions for our guests, we won't rush the process. Therefore, we are moving the debut of Quantum Accelerator to 2026. This reflects our commitment to quality, comfort and reliability. We appreciate your patience and understanding."
BAHAHAHAHA that's actually hilarious that both Cedar Fair and Six Flags shunned Intamin for like 10 years because they kept getting burned over and over and over and over. Then after all these years as soon as they decide to build an Intamin, this happens.
So this one is actually 100% Intamin...
Back in early June, Busch Gardens Williamsburg contacted Intamin for assistance on a problem with DarKnoaster. Intamin responded by issuing a do not operate order to all of their family launch coasters. Apparently, there is a part that failed in an unexpected way, and if it were to fail during operation it could cause a serious accident. From what I've heard, it sounds like Intamin just sent out an update on the fix in the past couple days, and from the sound of things it's going to be another two to three months before any of these attractions can return to service. As such, this decision is perfectly understandable, because it makes more economic sense to have the ride ready at the start of the 2026 season than to open it in October.
This is an extremely unlucky situation that is entirely out of Six Flags's hands, but unfortunately they're going to bear the brunt of it from the public. However, I think it further signals to park operators that selling passes based on new attractions has become an increasingly risky proposition in this day and age for a number of reasons. If I'm counting correctly, since the pandemic 37% of the coaster projects across both Six Flags and Cedar Fair have either opened after the start of the summer season or not even made their announcement season even if the rides originally scheduled for 2020 are excluded. That is a pretty poor record, especially when in the five years before the pandemic, only 16% of attractions had the same issues.
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I wonder if this is related to the temporary closures of other Intamin straddle coasters and that Intamin wants to make significant design changes before signing off on this new installation. This is such a minor coaster that it must be a pretty major issue to force SF to delay the opening until 2025.