Six Flags Magic Mountain Thrilling Riders with World's Longest Hybrid Coaster

© Six Flags Magic Mountain

For a couple weeks now visitors to Six Flags Magic Mountain have been experiencing Twisted Colossus, the hybrid Iron Horse track makeover of the theme park's venerable Colossus wooden ride.  The new experience is the longest hybrid coaster around, stretching nearly 5,000 feet long and effectively giving riders what appears to be two laps around the ride.

While the original Colossus was a wooden racing coaster with two separate tracks, Twisted Colossus' steel track just makes it appear as though there are two rides, but each train completes both the blue and green 'tracks'.  Timing of the trains make them race; and if timed well the effect is pretty neat.  This video, the second half, shows how much the trains interact when racing correctly.

© Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain has opened Twisted Colossus in a new steampunk themed area, which also includes a new live show at the Gearworks Theatre.  The roller coaster is the big draw, naturally, and has turned an aging wooden ride into something new and unique, to say the least.  Twisted Colossus starts with a 116 foot drop at 80 degrees, then riders do it again halfway through the ride.  There are two inversions, 18 moments of air-time, and the western hemisphere's first "high five" element, according to the park.

Twisted Colossus is Six Flags Magic Mountain's 19th roller coaster, the most at any park in the world.