originally posted on 4/10/2019
Busch Teases Record-Breaking Coaster as 2019 Addition Nears Opening
The folks at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay were recently in a celebratory mood, promoting their park’s 60th anniversary year (reminding us they were “Florida’s first theme park”) and touting all the history they have made over the decades. While they were at it, they added this teaser for their history-making future: “In 2020, Busch Gardens will be home to North America’s tallest hybrid, and the fastest, steepest hybrid coaster in the world.” So that means that Rocky Mountain Construction’s (RMC) remaking of the standing-but-not-operating dual track wooden Gwazi will exceed 205 feet (which is the height of North America’s current tallest hybrid, Steel Vengeance), exceed 74 mph and be steeper than 90 degrees. In a press release, Busch went on to say, “The ride will feature all-new thrill elements as well as restored elements of Gwazi.” Enthusiasts can’t help but wonder how this will play out — for example, in the teaser image provided by Busch, it looks like the redone ride will be a single track as opposed to Gwazi’s former two tracks. What will happen to the two former lift hills and separate tracks, and where will new RMC-style inversions be added and a new 200+-foot lift be created? Stay tuned.
In the meantime, Busch Tampa reminded us that it will be adding a new coaster this year, the steel Tigris (Premier Rides, Sky Rocket II model) launch coaster, by unveiling the look for the ride’s lead car. That coaster, whose track has all been completed, is slated to open this spring and will be the park’s ninth.
Photo: Courtesy Busch Gardens Tampa. View full-sized image.
Kings Dominion Spews Sad News: Volcano Coaster to be Removed
On February 8, 2019, Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia) made this announcement: “Part of getting ready for a new operating season includes an expert evaluation of our rides and operations.... After thorough evaluation, the decision has been made to remove Volcano: The Blast Coaster. This wasn’t an easy decision for us, because we know that people love this one-of-a-kind coaster; however, over time it became nearly impossible to keep the ride up to our high standards of reliability and guest satisfaction, and for these reasons we had to make the tough call.”
Volcano: The Blast Coaster, made by Intamin and designed by Ing.-Buro Stengel Gmbh, opened in 1998. It was the world's first inverted roller coaster to feature a linear induction motor and complete a full circuit. The steel ride was placed inside and around a mountainous structure that formerly held The Lost World and Smurf Mountain attractions. The coaster, though unique and popular, had experienced operational problems over the years and saw considerable down time. The coaster did not operate during most of the 2018 season.
Though down one, the park is still home to 12 coasters, including three woodies.
Volcano: The Blast Coaster Photo: Adrian Lloyd. View full-sized image.
The Beast Turns 40
The Beast wooden roller coaster at Kings Island (Mason, Ohio) celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2019. In honor of the occasion, the park will return to the original “flame-themed” color scheme on each of the ride’s three Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc. trains, with red for the front cars, orange for the middle, and yellow for the back. When it debuted in 1979, The Beast (designed by Jeff Gramke and Al Collins; built by Charles Dinn) was the longest (at 7,359 feet), fastest (65 mph) and highest (at 110 feet, with a 141-foot drop) coaster in the world. Since then, the ride has proved to be among the most popular and well-regarded coasters ever, providing beastly thrills to more than 54 million victims.
No Longer a Point to the Cedars
Earlier this year, Cedar Point began the destruction and removal of the Cedars. Originally built as the White House Hotel, then renamed the Cedars Hotel in 1915, it eventually transitioned into employee housing. No official plans have been announced for the site, located across Perimeter Road from Valravn. Cedar Point may opt to use the real estate for a new hotel, offices, storage or marina facilities, among the nonride possibilities. Still, coaster enthusiasts can always be intrigued with new large plots of land opening up at Cedar Point.
Primordial Lagoon
Area observers have noted that Lagoon Park (Farmington, Utah) has started excavation and construction work during the winter with steel pilings driven into the ground. Lagoon officials admit that it’s for a new ride but won’t say what that attraction will be or even when it will be completed, except maybe by 2020, or maybe later. Local TV channel Fox 13 took note of the work and interviewed Lagoon’s Guest Services Director, Julie Freed, who stated, “I’d say Lagoon guests can expect to see the skyline change pretty soon.” The footprint is similar in size to Cannibal (the park’s 2015 208-foot-tall 2,735-foot-long steel multi-inversion coaster), but Freed added that it's very different from Cannibal. What are some details on the attraction? "Things are still changing," Freed said. "So one big reason why we like to keep it a secret is we don't want to announce something prematurely and have it change six months down the road." One thing that is known is the likely name for the ride. Lagoon filed a trademark application looking to use the name Primordial.
Will it be a coaster? Although Lagoon won't say (the buzz on various enthusiast internet sites claims it will be), Freed did remark that it's "truly a one of a kind, meaning there's nothing else like it in the world."
Williamsburg: What’s in the Busch?
Busch Gardens Williamsburg has filed documents indicating that its new attraction for 2020, code named Madrid, will be up to 315 feet tall. Its footprint will take up a large expanse of land in the Italy section of the park, requiring construction, erosion controls and new vegetation running from the Italian Village to the park’s railroad tracks and then along the edge of the Rhine River. The ride will be located across the Rhine from Verbolten and between the footbridge and railroad tracks that stretch across the river, according to the article in the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily. That area of the park does not currently have any public attractions. Based on the pattern of the ride’s footers shown in the plans and its proposed height, speculation is that the ride will be very large. Expected to be an Intamin multilaunch, the coaster’s reported speed is 76 mph. The final drop will be viewable from the Italy Bridge – or so say Busch fans (based on alleged insider info). Busch Gardens has not officially released any information.
Mad Mouse Leaving Joyland, but New Coaster Arriving; Mouse Heading to Arnold’s Park
Joyland Amusement Park (Lubbock, Texas) has removed its Mad Mouse. The Allan Herschell Company metal coaster had trapped thrill seekers at that park from 1976 to 2018. The thankfully long-lived (so far) coaster formerly stood at the (now defunct) Bell’s Amusement Park (Tulsa, Oklahoma), where it debuted in 1959. And now it looks as if the cunning critter will thankfully live even longer. Although the removal of any coaster can make an enthusiast mad, the good news is that the wild critter will find a new home at Arnold’s Park in Iowa.
Details are promised soon from Joyland as well, which has indicated that a new coaster will be taking the Mad Mouse’s place. Named Sand Storm, footings are already in place for it, and elements of the structure have been arriving, but the park is providing few other details about its newest coaster. Stay tuned.
Mad Mouse Photo: Courtesy Tim Baldwin. View full-sized image.
Quebec City’s Mega Parc reopens, adds new “Cloud” Coaster
Inside the 280-store Galeries de la Capitale Mall in Quebec City, Ontario, Canada, the Mega Parc amusement center has been closed for the last 16 months to undergo a major renovation. It just reopened in January 2019. The enclosed park contained 18 attractions before closing, four of which were retained, including Electro, a steel 1,500-foot-long, 20-foot-high Mack Rides junior coaster. Nine new attractions were added, including the new suspended steel Telegraphe, a “Cloud Coaster” model, the first to be built from Extreme Engineering (Athens, Texas). During the experience, riders soar in single seats suspended below the up-to-60-foot-high track.
Of note, a Ferris wheel unique to North America was also added to Mega Parc – unique because the wheel is hubless (no spokes) ─ offering the park a signature iconic draw. Even cooler, Telegraphe travels through the wheel.
Furious triple-launch coaster soon to fire up at Bobbejaanland
Bobbejaanland (Lichtaart, Antwerp, Belgium) is set to open a new themed area called Land of Legends. The new section will incorporate two already existing attractions – the 2004 steel Typhoon coaster and the Huss (Giant Frisbee model) Sledgehammer. The biggest news for enthusiasts is that Land of Legends will include a newly built Gerstlauer coaster to be called Fury. Statistics show it at 1,963 feet long and 141 feet high, with a launch forward and backward and four inversions.
The concept for this new area was created by Leisure Expert Group. The rides will be themed to the four elements (earth, fire, wind and water). Two existing rides will have an adapted theme to fit in with the new area’s concept. Typhoon will be linked to the element of Wind, Sledgehammer to the element of Earth, Fury to Fire and an interactive water play area will be associated with the element of, duh, water.
Fury is slated to open in June 2019. Including Typhoon, Bobbejaanland is already home to seven steel coasters.
Fury Photo: Courtesy Bobbejaanland. View full-sized image.
Robin Hood Untamed
The wooden coaster Robin Hood (opened in 2000, Vekoma-built, Stand Company-designed) at Walibi Holland park (Biddinghuizen, Flavoland, Netherlands) closed in October 2018 to begin undergoing a Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) transformation into a new steel IBox track redesign.
Walibi has confirmed that when Robin Hood reopens this season (slated for July 1, 2019) after the conversion, it will be renamed Untamed. The park is providing few other details, but in a construction video update sent out they announced that the height of Untamed will be 119.8 feet (an increase from the original 105 feet), the first drop will be at 116.1 feet and at 80 degrees, and that the track will roll into a “micro bunny” element for ejector airtime. Beyond that, the park did not reveal further details, although those-in-the-know claims abound on enthusiasts’ sites saying that the coaster will actually feature five different inversions, the most of any RMC hybrid. Stay tuned.
Once Untamed opens, Walibi Holland will boast seven coasters – all steel.
A side note: Robin Hood was one of only three wooden coasters ever made by Vekoma (out of the 365 coasters they’ve created over the years, according to rcdb.com). The two remaining woodies are the 2001 Loup-Garou at Walibi Belgium and the 2001 Thundercoaster at TusenFryd in Norway.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die, But the Coaster Will in France [Walk This Way to Disneyland Paris Before It Does]
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is one of the few extreme coasters in any of the Disney parks, but it’s going away at Walt Disney Studios Park in Marne la Vallée, France – or at least the Aerosmith rock band theming for it is. On September 1, 2019, the attraction will close to make room for a new Iron Man-and-Avengers-themed coaster overlay. The experience will be reimagined, but the ride system and existing building will be kept in place. The coaster will reopen in 2020 to thrill anew.
The ride, which originally opened with the park in 2002, is a Vekoma 3,403-foot-long linear synchronous motor power launch multi-inverter. Each of the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster's five trains currently carries a different soundtrack at Paris and is accompanied by a different light show during the experience. Riders in each of the five operational trains hear Aerosmith perform “Back in the Saddle,” “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” “Young Lust,” “F.I.N.E.,” “Love in an Elevator,” “Walk This Way,” “Nine Lives” and/or “Sweet Emotion.” (We have no idea what kind of soundtrack Iron Man will rock to [if any], but we wonder if any early eponymous Black Sabbath song be on there if there is?).
The Orlando version of this coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will remain the same, at least for now.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Photo: Alex Rigsby. View full-sized image.
Poland Is Where It’s Been Happening
You might have noticed there’s been a fair amount of coaster activity in Poland recently. ACE has covered the country’s rides quite a lot lately. Check out RollerCoaster! 148, ACE News October 2018, RollerCoaster! 144 and ACE News December 2018 for news.
Roller Coaster DataBase notes that there are currently 43 coasters in Poland, and now there’s news of another one on the way for 2020. Construction has begun at Energylandia on Zadra (Polish for “splinter”), slated to open April 2020. Zadra is a Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) hybrid (wood structure, IBox track) that will be 4,265-feet-long and 200-feet-tall, have a speed of 71 mph and feature three inversions, including a zero-G roll and an inverted airtime hill.
The new hybrid roller coaster will be part of a new section at the theme park called Smoczy Grod, an area reminiscent of the legendary fairytale town, inspired by dragons and medieval architecture. In addition to Zadra, the new area will be developed with other attractions, including a dark ride featuring a journey to the medieval times of knights and dragons, a mini monorail stylized as medieval carriages, a castle and finally, of note to enthusiasts, a junior coaster (by Preston & Barbieri) slated to open April 2020. This coaster, along with Zadra, would jump Energylandia’s count to 14.
Enthusiasts who find RMC’s hybrid coasters exciting but are displeased when such are created as part of renovating an existing ride and losing an all-wooden coaster in the conversion process will be pleased to note that Zadra is a totally new hybrid ride and a fresh creation for this park, not a redo (i.e., this exciting hybrid did not come at the cost of losing a wood coaster). It is RMC’s first from-the-ground-up hybrid.
— Compiled by Randy Geisler
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