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Eurofighter Lands at Oakwood

Stop the press, Oakwood are getting a new coaster!

OK, you got me – you knew that already. What you also probably know is that this will be Europe’s third Gerstlauer Eurofighter, that it will be 120ft tall, and will include a vertical lift, a beyond-vertical drop, bunny hop, overbanked turn, vertical loop, inline twist and a figure-eight helix finale.

European Coaster Club magazine First Drop first announced the yet-unnamed ride almost two years ago, and despite being delayed by a year, will be the tallest version of the Eurofighter to date at 120ft tall, which also makes it the seventh tallest coaster in the UK.

While B&M introduced the concept of a full-circuit [near] vertical drop coaster with Oblivion, the Eurofighter pipped the prestige manufacturer to the post with elements even B&M still seem unable to use on their version of the ride.

While Busch Gardens’ Shekra has finally proven B&M’s protractors go beyond 87-degrees, Gerstlauer’s version of the ride is beyond vertical at 97-degrees – a whole ten more than Oblivion, and while almost every conventional inversion is available to Gerstlauer’s clients, Oakwood’s Eurofighter sidesteps the temptation of relying on inversions by offering interesting elements such as the bunnyhop, overbanked turn as well as an exotic finale with highly banked helixes following an inline twist off of the mid-course brake run.

Novelty Coasters

3D Branded Attractions' MountainGlider. Images: 3DBA

Belgian unknowns 3D Branded Attractions, barely known for Walibi World’s Splash Battle, are adding their first MountainGlider coaster to another Star Parks attraction; Walibi Belgium.

MountainGlider is a twisted combination of Caripro’s Batflyer and a zipline, using semi-flexible and self-supporting track suspended using just a handful of supports for the entire circuit.

Walibi Belgium’s MountainGlider layout includes a vertical lift from the station, with helixes circling around each support, and the track swooping from support to support on a lakeside setting.

As a high profile but low capacity ride with the potential to be marketed as a world first, it will be interesting to see whether MountainGlider will upcharge to avoid inevitable queues – or, as we suspect, it will be included in Walibi’s admission price, in which case it may fall fowl to the same problems as Islands of Adventure’s Pteranodon Flyers which are now limited to family groups only in order to avoid long queues.

Putting their German efficiency to good use, Wiegand are on the verge of opening yet another Alpine Coaster, this time at Colmiane, Germany.

Already home to one of their Alpine Slides (like the one found at Oakwood), the Alpine Coaster follows a reassuringly similar routine, although has the ability to climb up to heights of around 20ft thanks to the fact cars are held onto a tubular rail much like a roller coaster.

Like the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster has a cable lift before gravity takes over and the rider can control the speed of the two-seater bob. Also, because of the lightweight track design, no substantial earthworks are required meaning that the Alpine Coaster has become a popular choice for ski parks and country resorts.

Another vorsprung durch technik from Wiegand is the misleadingly named Flying Coaster. A similar coaster operates at Erlebniswelt Seilbahnen Thale also in Germany as Hexenbesen, and runs as a rider-operated attraction.

Wiegand-loyal Rodelparadies – already home to one of their Alpine Slides and an Alpine Coaster – will be getting the ride, although disappointingly it doesn’t appear to be the powered ride as previewed on Coasters and More but a gravity coaster which suspend riders in space-shuttle shaped tubes beneath a single-rail track.

Rodelparadies’ Flying Coaster, though, does thread the track through a heavily wooded area of the park, with the single-seater ‘tubes’ swinging out as they slalom through a short series of turns and helices.

Dark Rides

Over and above the de rigour Haunted Swing, dark rides just seem like too much hassle for parks nowadays. Even if your heart is in the right place, you can end up with a stinker of a ride (Valhalla), and even if you pass that test, keeping people re-riding something that is an ultimately passive experience is easier said than done.

This year sees Buzz Lightyear: Laser Blast replace Visionarium at Disneyland Paris. Using a ride system not dissimilar to Phantom Manor’s so-called omni-mover system, riders are equipped with laserguns so they can join the ever-confident Buzz Lightyear in defeating the evil Emperor Zorg by shooting the targets that litter the blacklit scenes.

Don’t get too excited. While Buzz Lightyear: Laser Blast is the longest version of the Buzz Lightyear ride to date, leave the delusions of grandeur to Buzz Lightyear. It’s a fun ride, but nothing special, and certainly doesn’t have that Disney charm to it.

Something that I never thought I would be writing about with any form of enthusiasm was Alton Towers’ revamp of Toyland Tours – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a ride that is apparently costing the park a monumental £4m.

What could have been a load of Aniseed Balls could actually end up being a Turkish Delight, with a pre-show, a boat ride through a Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake-inspired chocolate factory, before riders then embark on a simulated glass elevator ride through the factory roof which the park are touting as a world first.

While various verbs are being cast forth from the Towers explaining that you will "see, hear and smell" how it was for Charlie Bucket to travel through Willy Wonka's magical factory, from Towers Almanac's coverage of the ride to date, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory looks like just the golden ticket. 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is inspired by Quentin Blake's drawings. Image: Towers Almanac/Alton Towers

Elsewhere...

Hot on the heels (all eight of them?) of Parque de Atracciones’ Tarantula is Abismo, a 151ft tall Maurer Söhne X Coaster, complete with the now-trademark (and incredibly ugly) vertical lift hill into a so-called Sky Loop – a cross between an inline twist and dive loop.

So, Abismo or abysmal?

Well, Drayton Manor’s G-Force certainly threw us off the scent. It looked great, but was as average as they come. Abismo, however, doesn’t even really look that great. With an opening similar to Skyline’s Sky Wheel, several overbanked turns and a bunnyhop, there doesn’t seem to be much that would give it the obvious edge over any other of the X Car coasters. It looks like we will have to wait at least another year before Maurer can do this wonderful idea justice.

From a manufacturer very much in their infancy, to one that every manufacturer aspires to, Miribilandia inherit a classic Schwarzkopf this year – Katapult.

Schwarzkopf’s Katapult is, as the name suggests, launched. Like Flamingo Land’s dearly departed Bullet, it is a quirky shuttle loop coaster that is designed to travel on the fairs, although unlike the Bullet is not the only one in the world, although our research suggests it will be the only one operating until Leon Snep tours his ride in Holland and Germany.

Katapult is a far easier ride to explain than the Bullet, too. Imagine a figure eight, buckled in the middle so that the top half is a vertical loop, and the bottom half is a horizontal helix that doubles up as a highly-banked station.

From the station, the ride is launched using tyres much like the Bullet, and then climbs up and into a tight elliptical vertical loop, dropping out into the same station helix.

Other noteworthy rides this year include Cobra, a new Gerstlauer at Paultons Park. Sans one helix, this is a carbon copy of Tripsdrill’s phenomenal G'sengte Sau, possibly one of the best and most unassuming family coasters in the world.

Although it lacks the theming of G'sengte Sau, it is the coaster itself that has a magical flair to it with flamboyant helixes and bunnyhops providing a supremely forceful ride without overstepping the mark.

Unproven as yet, though, is Europa Park’s Pegasus, Mack’s first YoungSTAR coaster which is being built towards the back of the existing Watercoaster, Poseidon.