originally posted on 7/20/2019
Photo: Courtesy Majaland Kownaty. View full-sized image.
Only two wooden roller coasters are newly built this year. And the second has now opened at Majaland Kownaty amusement park in Torzym, Poland (the first and only other new woodie for 2019 is Kentucky Flyer at Kentucky Kingdom). Made by Great Coasters International, Inc. (GCII), the new attraction has been named and themed as Wilkolak (Polish for Werewolf).
Photo: Courtesy Majaland Kownaty. View full-sized image.
Joyce Stablewski, office manager at GCII, said the coaster was designed by Jeff Pike of Skyline Design (and Skyline Attractions, LLC, where Pike is president). She remarked that Jeff used to work for Great Coasters, and though he is now heading another company, he and GCII still “work hand in hand.” (For example, Pike designed White Lightning at Fun Spot and InvadR at Busch Williamsburg with GCII in recent years). Joyce noted that Wilkolak is essentially a mirror image copy of another GCII-built coaster, Heidi The Ride. By way of explanation, Poland’s Majaland Kownaty is managed by Plopsa (a division of Studio 100, a Belgian corporation that produces children’s television series). The corporation also operates six other amusement parks, including Plopsaland De Panne in Belgium, which contains Heidi The Ride, built there in 2017. Stablewski explained that the Plopsa folks “just love” that coaster, so they asked GCII if they could build a similar one at their newest park in Poland. GCII obliged and provided two of their Millennium Flyer trains for Wilkolak as well.
Photo: Courtesy Majaland Kownaty. View full-sized image.
Majaland Kownaty, a joint venture undertaken by the Plopsa/Studio 100 group and Momentum Capital (a Dutch private financial holding company), is an indoor and outdoor amusement center. Costing 20 million euros initially, the park just recently opened its door and gate in September 2018. Themed around Studio 100 characters, such as Maja the Bee, the park debuted with 10 outdoor attractions and 14 indoors, including Rollercoaster Wikingow, a Zierer-made (Ing.-Buro Stengel GmbH-designed) 728.3- foot long, 29.5-foot-high family coaster, with its ride theming based on the Studio 100 character Wicky de Viking.
The indoor facility section of Majaland is open year round.
Construction on the woodie began last year and has been completed at a cost of 7.5 million euros, leading to a grand and high-profile coaster-opening ceremony held on June 29 attended by Martijn van Rheenen, president of Momentum Capital, and Steve Van den Kerkhof, president of Plopsa.
Wilkolak used over 183,700-feet of wood while constructing the 72-foot-tall, 2,027-foot-long course. Maximum speed is 44 mph, and the ride lasts 75 seconds. The attraction has been themed with a gentle horror/haunted look for the station and queue areas — all beckoning you to “a journey through the dark world of werewolves.”
Photo: Courtesy Majaland Kownaty. View full-sized image.
Majaland notes that Wilkolak represents the first part of an investment plan for a large amusement area to be known as Holiday Park Kownaty. In 2020, the park is planning to open a completely new outdoor zone, "Wickieland," in which “the famous television character Wiking Wicka will play a major role.” There will be two water attractions: Splash Battle and Disco coaster. In 2021, a large water playground is planned.
All of this offers the newest component in the incredible amusement park and coaster news coming out of Poland lately. With Majaland Kownaty and Wilkolak, the country is now home to 14 parks hosting 33 coasters, with four more planned for opening in 2020 (according to RCDB).
— Randy Geisler
As for Wilkolak (Werewolf), don’t wait for the full moon to be check out this exciting new wooden coaster. If you’d like to take a virtual howl, watch the video below for a POV ride.
Video: Courtesy StarParc Tv.
@#$%&!
#ACENews