 Welcome back to the sixth installment in the series Whatever Happened To. In this episode, I am going to take a look at the Intamin Impulse Coaster model. I will analyze why I think they were so popular initially, why I think they declined in popularity, and whether I think we could see more being built in the future. The Impulse Coaster by Intamin is an inverted shuttle coaster that travels along the same track forwards and backwards and is propelled by an LSM launch. The introduction of the very first Intamin Impulse Coaster came in 1998 with the opening of Linear Gale at Tokyo Dome City. This Impulse Coaster is different looking than all the others that would follow, as it actually does not feature a twisting spike, only two vertical spikes where you are looking straight up or down. This is actually the only Impulse Coaster built that has gone defunct as of 2019. I'm not sure why, but Linear Gale was removed from Tokyo Dome City in October 2010 and was never relocated. The next Impulse Coaster would come in the year 2000 with Superman Ultimate Escape at Six Flags Ohio, which would later be renamed back to Geogalake and Superman was renamed Steel Venom. Before Geogalake's closing, Steel Venom was relocated to Dornie Park for their 2008 season, also owned by Cedar Fair, but renamed once again to possessed in 2009 which still operates as at Dornie Park. This is the first of the twist and spike model, which would come to be commonplace among impulses. The front spike is twisted while the back spike is vertical. Next, 2001 seemed to be the height of the Impulse craze, as three would open that year. Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Great America, Screaming Condor at Liofu Village Theme Park in Taiwan, and Flash Vertical Velocity at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, then known as just vertical velocity. These were all built as the 185 foot twist and spike model, however, Six Flags would have to make significant alterations to the one at Discovery Kingdom due to a city height limit of 150 feet being enforced. For the 2002 season, vertical velocity was modified to feature an inclined 45 degree spike on the front rather than the vertical spike, also adding an inversion there, while the back spike had to be shortened to meet the height limit. For 2002, Cedar Point would open Wicked Twister, which to this day is the world's tallest and fastest Impulse coaster, standing at 215 feet tall and featuring a top speed of 72 miles per hour. Wicked Twister is also the only twist and twist Impulse coaster to be built, featuring a forwards and backwards twisting spike. Another standard twist and spike model would follow in 2003 at Valley Fair, which was named Steel Venom. This is the last brand new Impulse coaster that would be built and opened up to this point. As mentioned earlier, Dorney Park's possessed in 2008 was a relocation, however, I do have to mention that there is a theme park slated to open in China in 2019 that is said to be under construction. They have plans to build a 70 meter Impulse coaster, which would make it the tallest in the world at 229 feet. This makes this episode the first in the series where a model actually isn't completely dead it seems, which also throws it a bit of a curve. Let me explain my reasoning for asking whatever happened to Impulse coasters though. Prior to this Impulse coaster being built in China, 16 years went by since the last brand new installation had been put in. Most of these coasters had been built in the United States, but it seems to me that many of these were likely added due to contracts between Intamin and Amusement Park chains at the time to build multiple coasters from Intamin. Impulses are also much cheaper options compared to many of Intamin's other models. Roller coaster database lists Steel Venom at Valley Fair with a price tag of 8.5 million US dollars, and Cedar Point's Wicked Twister at 9 million US dollars. As far as I can tell, these Impulse models have never been super popular with a general public either. Even on busy days at Cedar Point, Wicked Twister often doesn't get much of a line, even with only having one train. On regular days it is usually a walk on or just a station wait. The biggest reason however that I think the popularity of Impulse coasters have dwindled is the way the industry has shifted. The early 2000s were a very important and influential period for the coaster industry, but a lot has changed since those years, and there are many more options currently on the market that are a much better value for the same amount or less than what these Impulse coasters ran 15 plus years ago. Look no further than RMC with their hybrid conversions, raptors, and topper track models, as well as new Vekoma models like the Bermuda Blitz and Top Gun. These are just a few examples of the plethora of rides that amusement parks of all sizes can choose from currently, and the Impulse coaster just doesn't offer the same bang for your buck that these other models do. I honestly do not see any amusement park in the United States being interested in building a brand new 10 million dollar Impulse coaster in the year 2019, as it wouldn't yield a good return on investment I believe. I think that, like the stand up and floorless models, Impulse coasters are a product of their time when parks were trying to go all out and build these crazy or gimmicky concepts. I am not trying to make it sound like I hate Impulse coasters either. I have only been on Wicked Twister currently, but I have always genuinely enjoyed my experience and find it to be quite exhilarating, especially in the backseat, twisting up 215 feet in the air and looking straight down at the ground while getting some good laterals. I do ride Wicked Twister every now and then because of this, but I think that's a big problem. It's not a ride that people want to keep going back to. They are fun rides, but not worth the price anymore, as they would not see a good return on investment for these parks. They also don't have the best capacity due to only being able to run with one train, though the relatively short ride cycle does help with that issue a bit. All in all, I think Impulse coasters were decent for the early 2000s, when all of these major theme parks were at the climax of the original coaster war and trying to outdo each other and building the biggest baddest rides. These were fairly cheap models from a company like Intamin, who many companies in the US were working with at the time, and took up a very narrow footprint as well in terms of land. However, from a financial standpoint, they just don't hold up anymore. Even with the exception of one being built to open up soon in China, I don't believe this is a significant indicator of the Impulse model making a big return. There have even been many rumors in recent years about Cedar Point relocating Wicked Twister to another park in the chain, such as California's Great America. I don't think that lends much promise to US parks building a new Impulse coaster either. Thank you to everyone who watched this video. I think a lot of people really enjoyed this whatever happened to series when I produced the first five episodes earlier this year, and I know it's been quite some time since the last one, but I really enjoyed exploring some of these models and talking about them as well, and have been wanting to revive this series for quite some time. Please let me know what you thought about this episode, and if you enjoyed this one, be sure to check out the first five installments, which I have in a playlist on my channel if you have not seen them yet. Be sure to subscribe if you enjoyed this video, and be sure to like my page Coaster Daddy on Facebook, and follow me at Coaster Daddy Official on Instagram. Thanks again for watching. This is Coaster Daddy. Bye.