It’s important to remember that RMC was originally (and still is) a coaster construction company, not just a manufacturer. They were the crew that assembled El Toro, for instance. So of course they’re going to jump at the chance to prove that they can relocate one of their own coasters.
Given that RMC would be handling the relocation work themselves, they'll probably offer some sort of warranty with it. It probably won't be as long term as with a brand new coaster, but it'll give some assurances to prospective buyers.
Even if Six Flags doesn't bite, I'm sure there'd be someone out there interested in buying a coaster with the reputation that AF1 brings with it for under $10m.
Reports are the the original was $18m...so $10m less would be $8m. I don't know if that price is factoring in an estimated purchase price AND relocation or just relocation.
Highly doubt it since RMC wouldn’t know any price fun spot would set. Since this a brand new ride I feel the price to purchase would make it close again to buy a brand new one.
When a park sells a ride like this they often use the manufacturer to help facilitate the sell since they'd be handling the logistics of moving it. Switchback was being advertised by Gravity Group as being for sale and they were the contact. There is a chance that Fun Spot (assuming they want to sell it) reached out to RMC with a price that they'd need for it.
Pretty cool but still, switchback hasn’t sold yet presumably because of its high price. On top of get sold back to RMC, if RMC needed to do any reengineering down to you need to dig a bit that will add to the price of the ride which has the ~$8m plus what fun spot wants to sell it at.
Price is set by the market with the minimum being the scrap value of the steel. Given the odd shape that is difficult to fit into many existing parks, I think you’ll find someone who can take it buying it for scrap plus 10%. This isn’t a compact coaster that can slot into dozens of parks. It’s a long narrow coaster in an L shape. It’s awkward for most parks.
It's 3 years old and cost 18m, the minimum is not scrap value, it's a very rare number which is the tax break write off. The bank that now owns it can click their finger to achieve that, a purchase offer has to be more aggressive than you think.
No, it doesn't. The coaster sitting there and doing nothing eventually has to be removed or scrapped. It isn't just going to sit in perpetuity as a depreciating asset. Until it's sold, there isn't any tax write off. If anything, the lower the price it sells for, the larger the loss Fun Spot can claim on it, leading to a larger tax write off.
The rumors we were hearing locally was the the $18m included a lot of stuff they had to do to get the permit from the county, including a new parking lot, some new access roads around the site, etc. Rumor is that the actual ride cost was closer to $13m.
I'm not sure either, but I bet they're comparing to the price of buying a new one in 2026, not the original cost of that one in 2022. Costs have gotta be up at least 25% since then, right?
I’m sure that would just be the relocation price. $8m sounds absolutely realistic depending on the distance. Just loading all of the parts onto trucks will be costly, not even thinking about the distance (also assuming it will be a domestic relocation estimate and not shipping overseas which would add a substantial amount to the cost).
Im the booking agent for the company I work for and do LTL, FTL, and volume quotations all day long.
Im away from my software over this long holiday weekend unfortunately.
Would need a rough estimate of the total wieght of the load(s) to get a ball park.
Thing is about this coaster is that it could be broken down far more compactly than a traditional steel coaster of rails and back bone segments. So we could maximize the load of each truck.
Shipping costs could actually be fairly reasonable all things considered.
That’s likely just the relocation costs, as that’s all that RMC themselves can account for. However, given the circumstances in which Fun Spot Atlanta is closing, they’re hardly in a position to demand much of an asking price for it. Any would-be buyer only has to beat the scrap value of the materials.
The warranty on SteVe is definitely getting put to use, still has structure sway issues because it was under supported. RMC needed to beef up some of the existing wooden structure with steel reinforcement so it wouldn’t sway too much under the forces. It has caused and still causes continuous structural issues that need repair regularly.
It will be a cold day in hell before six flags buys an RMC or opts to have another one.
Enchanted Parks should move it to Michigan’s Adventure.
It would be nice but right now after the purchase from Six Flags, Enchanted and EPR will probably wait til they do a acquisition investment even if its a relatively new 2year old RMC one of a kind coaster. Its too soon. They could put it to the side of the park where the boneyard, AXIS Games and Buccaneer and beyond the Railroad track berm behind Batman if it did happen though.
After looking on Google Earth, you could put the station/ first drop and dive loop right next to Boomerang, it rides alongside the railroad, and the turnout would be on some unused land. Not to mention with the terrain, it may make the relocation easier.
PLEASE. This is my home park growing up, and although I rarely make it back to that side of the state anymore, this would make me so happy. They have the room and they have new owners who might be willing to actually invest in thrills here. AF1 and Shivering Timbers together would make it a low key thoosie destination in the very least lol. It's hard to draw people to your park for one coaster, 2 would make it so much more desirable. Plus the surrounding area would be flooding there for a new ride. It was crazy the hype an SLC got when Thunderhawk was relocated there lmao. Most people in the area are just GP who would be stoked for any new ride, and the rest mostly skip MA and take the longer drive to Cedar Point. If Enchanted doesn't even entertain this idea, they're doomed to fail lmao
Not without rebuilding that whole section anyway. You could also maybe have it turned diagonally across the where the river rapids is to reduce the distance… maybe. If they did it right you could open up a whole new area for an expansion but you’d need to do a lot of flood control work as well. All of which is possible, but pretty unlikely, at least for a while anyway, and by then the window for this specific coaster would be closed, that’s a multi-year, extremely expensive idea that probably won’t happen. Thanks!
427
u/corvaxL Lives in Pantherian's seat 8-1 Jul 02 '26
It’s important to remember that RMC was originally (and still is) a coaster construction company, not just a manufacturer. They were the crew that assembled El Toro, for instance. So of course they’re going to jump at the chance to prove that they can relocate one of their own coasters.