Mach rides unveiled an attraction model a few years ago that, in my opinion, could have revolutionized the boat ride in a way that's never been done before. It's called the rocking boat and you can find the demonstrate video on YouTube for anyone who'd like to see. To summarize the features of the ride, it's a boat ride that can rock and float on real waves, ride on track above the water, make sharp turns, and reverse/stop at any time. It looks like a fairly advanced model, and I'm surprised of its underutilization.
I waited for a while to see whether it would be incorporated into any American park or not, and to my knowledge, it hasn't, (please correct me if I'm wrong). Universal's much-conversed epic universe will have a Mach boat ride, but it's just the interactive model that I've seen everywhere by now. There is a rumored phase two expansion of Dark Universe that could include an indoor boat ride based off of the swamp thing, and I hope that uses the rocking boat. At the very least, I hope studios brings Jaws back to Florida with this.
Disney's D23 expo has revealed at least two boat rides, one being a slow moving ride. The other ride, an Avatar ride to be placed in California, was described as being more thrilling than Na'vi river journey. I hoped this would mean using the rocking boat, but all the concept art shows larger boats than the rocking boat system supports.
I genuinely don't understand what the deal is- I would easily ride a ride like this. I would hope that this model doesn't go unused in the future.
@ Russell - The same splash battle that is be often closed (Tsunami Soaker SFSL) or is being ripped out (Buccaneer Battle SFGA, River Battle Dollywood) of parks all over the country?
@MLB - It certainly looks like if from the concept images of Isle of Berk. Though I think a lot of the versions in the US have been closed because they're just not popular outside of hot summer days. I think the best comps are the ones at Legoland California and Florida (pirate themed Splash Battle and Battle for Bricksburg, respectively), which are both fun attraction that can operate year-round in warmer climates.
@ Russell - Thanks for the reply. I still feel like that is an odd choice for a new "state of the art" theme park. This feels like an attraction better placed in regional amusement parks or smaller parks (Legoland.) I'd imagine that they would need to "super size" it as well, to increase capacity above the 800ish per hour...
@MLB - My guess is that there will be 2 parallel tracks (just as Dragon Racer's Rally is a pair of Gerstlauer Sky Flys) with unique targets for each path and spots where boats on the adjacent track are within range of the on-board cannons. That should give the attraction a pretty solid capacity, especially since the load/unload process for the ride is pretty fast and simple (no restraints or safety checks aside from making sure guests are seated and the boat is not overloaded).
In response to the original post, Futuroscope in France are currently building a new ride with this system called Mission Bermuda.
There are tons of prototype rides that are introduced by manufacturers all the time, but never get built in a theme park because no one wants to buy it. It takes 2 to tango, as they say, and just because someone invents something doesn't mean it's something worth buying. I would say it's pretty telling that if it is such a revolutionary ride that Mach wouldn't have installed the technology in their renovated Pirates of Batavia ride at Europa Park as a proof of concept that they have often done for their products.
That doesn't mean someone doesn't come along 3, 4, or 10 years later and says "that system would be perfect for this concept", and decided to buy it. Whether that happens at Epic Universe as part of a future expansion, Disneyland Forward as part of the announced Avatar land, or at MK in Villains Land, it's impossible to predict at this point as all of those are at least 3-5 years away. Certainly, you can speculate and imagine the possibilities of a unique ride system such as this, but I prefer to not count chickens, especially with ride manufacturers coming up with new ideas all the time that could improve upon what already sounds like a pretty revolutionary ride system.
FWIW, the Mach water ride being installed at Epic is a "Splash Battle" attraction where guests ride in slow moving boats and use hand-cranked water canons to fire at targets and adjacent boats - a model used around the world, though it's unclear if Epic's version will have any unique features that would align with the Isle of Berk theme where it will be located.