Dutch Wonderland Building New Family Inverted Coaster for 2017

© Dutch Wonderland

A brand new family-sized inverted roller coaster, named Merlin's Mayhem, will open at Pennsylvania's Dutch Wonderland in 2017.  The steel ride is being built by S&S Worldwide at a cost of $7.5 million - a very large expansion project for a park the size of Dutch Wonderland.

Merlin's Mayhem will be located in such a way that it includes a pass over top of the park's skyride, a swing out over a pool of water, and what appears to be a below grade section.  Plus, the ride's trains will feature on-board audio. As this is a family park, the ride will only have a 39 inch height requirement.

The coaster will be themed around Merlin, taking riders "on a high-flying adventure in search of his dragon friend, Mayhem, who has disappeared into the park. Thematic events, beginning in the queue, reveal the story of Mayhem and Merlin. Once guests board the ride, Merlin will begin giving clues and encouragement through on-board audio within the seats. As the enchanted flying machine returns to the station, the mischievous Mayhem is safely reunited with Merlin."

Most of the ride's layout, except a helix located on the far right.

The view from the top of the lift hill.

Merlin's Mayhem will stand 60 feet tall (the tallest ride at the park) and have 1,300 feet of track.  The lift hill is followed by a small drop and then a 90 degree turn and drop.  Then there is a helix that takes place over some water, a stretch back under the lift, one more helix and what looks like a below ground level dive before the brakes.  The above photos are from a news clip covering the ride which features animation from S&S Worldwide.

© Dutch Wonderland

This image also shows the full layout of the coaster, please ignore the blue box as it is from the park's website as a background image.  If you look at the larger image you can see where just before the end of the ride it appears to dive down below grade - pretty neat.  I'm having a hard time figuring out where in the park the ride will be, but from the Skyride interaction it looks like it will be right near the main entrance.

Dutch Wonderland will begin construction on the new coaster in the coming days so it is ready for summer 2017.