USA: Hybrid Coaster Trend in US Amusement Parks

The so-called hybrid coaster, which combines a wooden structure with a steel track, shows to be a current trend in US amusement parks, following latest announcements for new attractions for the 2018 season:

Located in Doswell/Virginia, Kings Dominion plans to open up the new “Twisted Timbers” hybrid coaster with a track length of more than one kilometer (3,351 feet) in 2018, featuring a total of three inversions, three overbanked turns, a 33 meter (109 feet) high barrel roll drop as well as 20 (!) airtime moments.

Also, Ohio’s Cedar Point plans to open a hybrid coaster in May 2018, promising several world records with “Steel Vengeance”, which is set to be the world’s highest, fastest and longest hybrid coaster until to date, according to the park. With a height of more than 61 meters (200 feet), the ride includes a 90 degree drop, several airtime hills and an outerbanked element in some 35 meters (116 feet) height. Additionally, riders will enter a half-barrel roll, hang upside-down for a brief moment and then turn back in the direction of travel. In total, a ride on “Steel Vengeance” will last about 2.5 minutes.

Both attractions will be supplied by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). The Idaho-based manufacturing company has already realized several hybrid coaster projects in the past years – in most of the cases, an existing wooden coaster had been upgraded by replacing the wooden track by a steel track for a smoother ride experience and reduced maintenance efforts. The company’s references include “The Joker”, a hybrid coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom opened in 2016, the former “Colossus” coaster in Six Flags Magic Mountain, which since 2015 has been operating as “Twisted Colossus” hybrid coaster, as well as Six Flags New England’s “Wicked Cyclone” (former “Cyclone”) hybrid coaster, which was launched back in 2015.

However, RMC is not exclusively specialized in upgrading wooden coasters: California’s Great America amusement park, which belongs to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company’s portfolio just like Cedar Point and Kings Dominion, will open up a new single rail steel coaster, named “RailBlazer”, in 2018. It will be the first coaster of its kind on the US West Coast featuring a single rail track throughout with an eight-passenger single file train. This new model of a single rail track was introduced to the market by RMC at the end of 2016 (cp. EAP 1/17). (eap)