Knott's Berry Farm's HangTime to Open on May 18th

© Knott's Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm fans only need to wait less than one month for the grand opening of HangTime, as it will premier to visitors on May 18th.  The park has been regularly testing the ride in recent weeks, billed as the West coast's first dive coaster.  Technically speaking, HangTime is a custom-designed creation from Gerstlauer, one of their Infinity coasters.

In addition to the nearly continuous testing of HangTime, Knott's Berry Farm is also finishing up the details of the coaster ahead of its opening.  The station is nearly complete, and the queue and even the entrance sign have now been installed.  (see a recent video update on that here, from Parks and Cons)  The park is also constructing a large new gift shop adjacent to HangTime, and that looks to be in the final stages as well.

The 150 foot tall coaster will take individual, 16 passenger trains up to the top and hold them delicately pointed toward the ground for several seconds before dropping them beyond-vertical at 96 degrees.  The ride features several twisted elements such as a cobra roll and a negative-g stall, in total there will be five inversions packed into 2,198 feet of track.

One of the most interesting parts of the ride will be it's amazing light package for after dark, with lights chasing the trains as they move through the course.  I haven't seen any footage of that quite yet, but the park did release an animation of the ride at night, embedded below.