UK's Flamingoland Building 10 Inversion Coaster for 2020

© Flamingo Land

The United Kingdom's Flamingo Land theme park has announced that it is building a 10 inversion roller coaster for the park's 2020 season.  The announcement was made on social media and shows off the above photo of new signs that have been put up in the park.

The photo used in the sign shows off what certainly appears to be one of Intamin's 10 inversion coasters, of which there are several around the globe.  Interestingly, there is one of them also in the UK at Thorpe Park named Colossus, and even more interestingly Flamingo Land used the hashtag #colossus in their announcement.  Seems like a bit of teasing between the parks.

© Bing Maps

Here is an aerial of Colossus at Thorpe Park, these 10 inversion-layouts accomplish that high number with a loop, cobra roll, double corkscrew, a quadruple heartline roll and another heartline roll as a finale.  Roller Coaster Database is reporting that the new Flamingo Land ride might very well be one fabricated in 2011 for a park in Brazil, but never built, then sold to a park in Malaysia and again never built.  That ride gets around if true!

Flamingo Land is already home to coasters including a Zamperla Volare, somewhat custom Vekoma SLC, an S&S El Loco, Vekoma Motorbike and several family coasters.

Zamperla Opens New Volare Coaster at Flamingo Land

© Flamingo Land

The latest of Zamperla's Volare "hang gliding coasters" has opened at the United Kingdom's Flamingo Land theme park and zoo.  The compact layout ride is called Hero at the park, and is themed as if riders are defending the Earth from an intergalactic attack.  But mostly I think riders just get to have the sensation of flying in the individual four seater cars!

Flamingo Land had a big grand opening for the new roller coaster, which included a slew of local heroes to help with the celebration.

© Flamingo Land

The above article quotes the investment of Hero at 9 million pounds, which converts into over $12 million.  Flamingo Land has a couple of other new additions this year, so I can't help but wonder if that price tag includes more than the coaster.  That seems pretty high for a Zamperla Volare!

Hero starts with a spiral lift hill to save space, and features a twisted layout with just under 1,300 feet of track.  The individual cars treat the flying passengers to two heartline rolls at speeds approaching 30 miles per hour.

The coaster is the 8th Volare to open in the world, following three in North America (one relocated), three in Asia, and one in Europe. 

Behind All That Mumbo Jumbo

© 2009 user Spike at TowersTimes.co.uk

Photos and video footage taken over the past week reveal that Flamingo Land's soon-to-be record-breaking coaster, Mumbo Jumbo, is going up quickly! Strangely enough, some of the best construction photos I've found were actually posted to this forum thread on TowersTimes, the unofficial guide to Alton Towers. Well at least it's all in the UK, right? Looks like most of the structure as well as the station and queue are complete, and the theming is coming along nicely.

Flamingo Land TV, the official Flamingo Land TV channel, has also released a new video (embedded below) including some footage of the construction site as well as a Q&A session with Nick Buckley, Flamingo Land's Operations Manager. (He also happens to be a coaster enthusiast, by the way!) Among other things, Buckley confirms that Mumbo Jumbo's 112 degree drop will indeed be the steepest in the world, as Steel Hawg's advertised 120 degree drop was based on the original plans for the coaster; in reality, it maxes out at 111 degrees. Mumbo Jumbo is scheduled to open on July 3, and representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand to make it official.

Steel Hawg is a great coaster, so I'm really excited to see another El Loco appearing on the worldwide coaster scene. I hope there's even more where these came from!