originally posted on 5/17/2019
The Colossos wooden roller coaster, which originally opened in 2001 at Heide Park Resort (Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany), has been standing but not operating since July 2016. Three years ago, the coaster suffered a major setback when it was unable to pass TUV (safety) inspection — the condition of the track was unacceptable for the coaster to operate further, causing concern about the future of the ride.
Luckily, Heide Park ultimately decided (and announced in January 2018) that it would refurbish, retheme and retrack the coaster (replacing the entire track surface) at a total renovation cost of 12 million Euro ($13.5 million). In contrast to a recent trend, the track remains wood. The coaster’s rebirth comes with a similar reopening at Lakemont Park (Altoona, Pennsylvania), as Leap The Dips will operate again this year, adding two more operating coasters to the global total.
Photo: Courtesy Heide Park. View full-sized image.
In mid-June 2018, old rail began being removed, and 320 rails were eventually replaced (totaling 9,850 feet). More than 10,000 bolts were used and 300 under-the-rail ledgers were installed. This mammoth undertaking was tackled by Ride Construction Services of Hamburg, specialists in the construction and dismantling of roller coasters, and Cordes Holzbau, a wood-engineering firm from Rotenburg that was also involved in the original construction of Colossos. Both companies operate globally in the business of building wooden roller coasters. Two new 30-passenger trains were provided by Intamin.
Photo: Courtesy Heide Park. View full-sized image.
As for the retheming, Heide Park got fired up and went big. The coaster will now be known as Colossos: Kampf der Giganten (“Battle of the Giants”). The struggle of the giants and the themed backstory involve a fight between wood and fire. Most interesting, a giant 82-foot-high tree-like creation has been erected and now stands in the midst of the ride, with shining eyes and fog and flame effects. The huge creature appears to be grabbing the coaster track. This dramatic centerpiece structure was designed by the Portuguese company Universal Rocks. It looks amazing (shades of Wicker Man at Alton Towers, perhaps not coincidentally — that park and Heide are both operated by Merlin Entertainments). There is even a matching soundtrack. The coaster station and ride-accompanying gift shop have been themed according to the story as well.
Photo: Courtesy Heide Park. View full-sized image.
Colossos: Kampf der Giganten opened on April 19, 2019. Ride stats are a length of 4,409 feet, a height of 164 feet and a top speed of 56 mph. It is the fourth tallest wooden coaster in the world. Of note, this Intamin Amusement Rides and ING.-Buro Stengel GmbH-designed ride was the first of only four wooden roller coasters made with prefabricated track (laser-cut in a factory with sections designed to snap together, some planks tightly bonded in multiple layers instead of traditionally nailed together by hand, thereby speeding up construction and saving on labor costs, hopefully). The other three Intamin “Plug ‘n’ Play” coasters are: El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure in the United States, Balder at Liseberg in Sweden and T-Express at Everland in South Korea.
— Randy Geisler
The author thanks InPark Magazine as an information resource for this article.
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