New Gerstlauer Infinity Shuttle Coaster to Open at Cotaland in Late 2022

© Gerstlauer

Gerstlauer Rides and Ride Entertainment have announced a brand new custom designed Infinity shuttle coaster that will open toward the end 2022.  Named Palindrome, the unique coaster will be located at Cotaland in Austin, Texas.  Cotaland is located at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and currently is a kiddie park with several small attractions and rides.  In 2022 the park is planning a great expansion to offer many more rides, with Palindrome being the star of them.

© Gerstlauer

Palindrome will start with a vertical lift hill of 95 feet, followed by a near vertical twisting first drop.  The individual trains will seat 12 riders at a time as they hit a maximum speed of 51 miles per hour.  Trains will then soar though a zero-g stall which takes place over an active road.  A "flipped wave turn" is taken next, with a high-speed inline twist inversion right after.  Trains then soar up a "vertical hop-stall" tower, which sends the trains backward through the entire course.

© Gerstlauer

A turn table eventually points the trains back at the station to complete the ride.  The coaster will have 1,230 feet of track but due to the backward run a total of 2,080 feet will be covered.  Palindrome will also utilize the park's terrain to offer a total of 111 feet of elevation change despite the lift only being 95 feet tall.

 

© Gerstlauer

Gerstlauer is especially excited for the ride's vertical hop-stall tower, which features a bump in it that trains pass over on their way up.  As they plunge down backward the bump will give riders some air-time while they float downward, an exciting prospect for passengers.

 

A full set of video renderings of Palindrome are available from Ride Entertainment at this link.

Gerstlauer Amusement Rides to Build Mystery "Record Breaking" Coaster in the U.S. in 2022

© Gerstlauer

While the amusement industry gets its footing back as the pandemic subsides we're not exactly having a big year for new rides - understandably - so it's nice to look ahead as we always tend to do to what's coming next.  While we have no idea at what park just yet, Amusement Today is reporting that Gerstlauer will be building a custom designed "record-breaking" coaster at a park in the U.S. slated to open in May of 2022.

Well that's certainly something to look forward to!  Sure, we don't know the park just yet, but at least someone out there is feeling strong enough about the future to sign what must be a very large contract for next season.

The manufacturer is represented in the U.S. by Ride Entertainment.  Their CEO, Ed Hiller, notes in the story on Amusement Today that the custom ride will utilize a "challenging location" and is expected to be a "showcase attraction known around the world."  Ride Entertainment will handle the instillation of the coaster, saying that it will be one of the most "formidable installations" they have faced.  Seems the mystery park's layout and terrain will play heavily into the coaster's design, which I'm sure might help all the detectives out there narrow down their guess on the park.

© Gerstlauer

Gerstlauer is known for many different types of roller coasters, though their Infinity line, which uses both lift hills and launches, has produced many of their largest.  Recent installations of this type in the U.S. include HangTime at Knott's Berry Farm and Monster at Adventureland.  To be fair though, they have made some very large Euro-Fighter models as well - an example of that would be TMNT Shellraiser at Nickelodeon Universe.

As always, time will tell, but for now we can only speculate on what park is adding this new coaster for 2022!

The American Dream to Open in "Chapters" - Nickelodeon Universe to Open October 25th

© The American Dream

Finally - after waiting what seemed like a decade, we finally have an opening date for the Nickelodeon Universe theme park at the American Dream, located just across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey.  Oh, and the date is October 25th!

The project has announced that it will open in "chapters," with the first chapter being the opening of the 8.5 acre theme park, complete with 35 rides and attractions, and the ice rink.  That's just over a month from right now, which is exciting since we've been waiting for the new park to open for years now.

© Gerstlauer

Nickelodeon will open with five new roller coasters, many of which are quite thrilling for an indoor theme park.  The largest are TMNT Shellraiser, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter that is a near clone of Takabisha, featuring both a beyond vertical drop and a launched section.  Intertwined with it is Shredder, a Gerstlauer spinning coaster that's quite large for its ride style.  There will also be a twisted Intamin creation named Sandy's Blasting Bronco, a speculated Intamin half-pipe ride, and the Nickelodeon Slime Streak, a family coaster from Chance Rides.

This video is from earlier in the Summer, but it shows off several of the rides operating and gives an idea of the feel of the park.

© Proslide

The property's second chapter opening will be November 27th when the largest indoor water park in America opens, the DreamWorks Waterpark.  The massive indoor waterpark will feature a ton of rides and slides from Proslide, including a huge water coaster that heads around the outside of the whole complex.  There will be record breaking water slides, play structures and a huge wave pool as well.

Chapter three will open on December 5th when Big SNOW, an indoor ski facility opens.  Finally, in March of 2020 the shopping and dining sections will open, along with more attractions such as a giant observation wheel, Legoland Discovery Center, Sea Life Aquarium, KidZania and more.

New Multi-Launch Gerstlauer Coaster Now Open in the Netherlands

© Attractiepark Slagharen

Attractiepark Slagharen has officially opened their brand new, custom designed roller coaster, Gold Rush, to eager park visitors.  The compact coaster has been designed by Gerstlauer and features a forward and backward multi-launch system to give the trains their power.

Fully decked out in Wild West theming, Gold Rush packs a lot of ride into a small space, but doesn't go light on the thrills.  At the end of the launch sequence the trains rush out of the station at 56 miles per hour and up to the top of a 108 foot tall twisting top hat.  The first element after the plunge down from the top hat is a sling loop, also one of the ride's two inversions.  A mid-course helix leads to a dive loop that places tracks on the brake run just before the station.

A trip on Gold Rush is over pretty quickly, but that doesn't mean that the coaster doesn't pack a punch!  Take a spin on the new ride with this video from the park:

Casino Pier Releases New Details of 2017 Euro-Fighter Roller Coaster

© Casino Pier

Casino Pier has already taken delivery of all the parts of a new roller coaster, but has kept many of the ride's details quiet until now.  Sporting lime green track and brilliant blue supports, the Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter (final name to be released later) will be located on a currently under construction expansion of the seaside amusement park's pier.

The announcement of the ride's specifics came via this video:

The video shows other example Euro-Fighter roller coaster footage, but gives all the important statistics for us:

• 72 foot tall vertical lift hill
• Beyond-vertical first drop at 97 degrees
• Top speed of 45 miles per hour
• Track length of 1,050 feet
• 3 Inversions - Vertical Loop, Heartline Roll, Immelmann Turn

The only real photo of the ride's layout can be seen in the just-released concept art at the top of this story.  That looks a bit like other Euro-Fighter's we've seen, including Untamed at Canobie Lake Park and Rage at Adventure Island - both Euro-Fighter 320+ models.

© Gerstlauer

This is the layout of the 320+ model, who's statistics match the new ride's with one exception, and that's track length.  The 320+ has 1,185 feet of track, with Casino Pier's ride coming in at 1,050.  Looking at that concept art I wonder if they're removing the final helix to make the ride fit better in a limited space?  Makes sense to me.  Either way, it's great to see another of these rides opening in the U.S.!

New Multi-Launch Custom Designed Gerstaluer Coaster Opening at Slagharen in '17

Attractiepark Slagharen, located in the Netherlands, has announced a brand new, custom-designed, Gerstlauer Infinity coaster for its 2017 season.  Named Gold Rush, the ride will feature three launches - two forward and one backward - that will blast the trains at 56 miles per hour up and around the course.

Gold Rush's track will span just over 1,300 feet, but with only a launch track there will be no lift hill track to account for.  The park reports that due to the multiple launches just over 2,000 feet of track is covered during the experience.  The ride's single train will feature five rows of four passengers, for a total of twenty riders per cycle.

After the forward - backward - forward launch, the train will head up a 102 foot tall top hat, and plunge down into a highly overbanked turn.  After that comes a large air-time hill, another helix and finally a dive loop back to the station area.  CoasterForce shared this animation of Gold Rush, including a point of view ride:

The new coaster fits in perfectly with the park's overall wild west theme, as indicated in the themed queue and station seen in the video.  The new coaster will replace Thunder Loop, a classic Schwarzkopf Looping Star.

Attractiepark Slagharen is a part of the Parques Reunidos family.

Gerstlauer's First Hyper Coaster to Open in 2015

© Hansa Park

2015 will usher in the start of Gerstlauer's foray into the hyper coaster market with the opening of KÄRNAN'S OATH  – Beware of its Spell!, commonly being referred to as just Kärnan.  The coaster will open at Hansa Park in Germany, and will be the park's second Gerstlauer ride with the first being a Euro-Fighter named Fluch von Novgorod.

Kärnan will easily be the tallest roller coaster that Gerstlauer has done, as it will stand around 240 feet tall, and have a 220 foot first drop.  Hansa Park has released the details of the coaster in little bits, and no full layout (other than the concept art above) has been released.

© Hansa Park

We do know that the coaster will utilize a vertical lift hill that is located in the giant tower (seen above) that has been built.  That lift will be followed by a vertical drop through the tower, with the trains speeding out of the hole you can also see above.  The rest of the ride features track that stays relatively low to the ground, an inversion in the dark, and an element that is in the shape of a heart.

The trains will seat four riders across, with four rows for a total of sixteen passengers.  The short train design will allow for tight transitions and elements.

© Hansa Park

The park finished the tower earlier this fall, and has since started the instillation of the ride.  Much like Fluch von Novgorod, Kärnan will have dark ride sections and an elaborate story line - there will actually be a dark ride section before the lift and again before the station at the end of the ride.  The total track length will be 4,051 feet which is fairly long considering the ride does not have a traditional lift hill.  Hansa Park has said they will open the coaster in 2015 and then work on applying the theming for the 2016 season.

To my knowledge, Takabisha at Japan's Fuji-Q Highland was Gerstlauer's largest coaster before Kärnan, utilizing both a lift hill and launch section.  I would expect the company to be showing off as much of Kärnan as they can at next week's IAAPA convention, so perhaps we'll learn more about the ride then.

Ride Into the Abyss at Adventure World

A brand new, custom designed Euro-Fighter roller coaster, named the Abyss, has opened at Australia's Adventure World theme park.  Bearing a decidedly dark theme, the Gerstlauer designed Abyss takes riders up a vertical lift hill, down a beyond-vertical drop and through several inversions during the experience.

© Adventure World

Abyss actually starts out with an indoor section, complete with a couple quick drops and turns before a heartline roll.  The dark theming, which includes many creepy looking hooded "guardians" placed around the ride, makes the dark section of the ride a perfect fit.

© Adventure World

Topping out at around 100 feet in height, the individual cars pass over 2,000 feet of track.  The inversions listed for the coaster include the aforementioned heartline roll along with an Immelmann and a dive loop.

Adventure World held a giant opening celebration for the ride last night, again tying the coaster's theme to that of the haunted evening.  The first dispatch of the Abyss was accompanied by some great pyro and fireworks as well.  Quite a spectacle!

A New Euro-Fighter for Germany: Karacho

There are many international amusement parks that I will admit I do not know much about, including Germany's Erlebnispark Tripsdrill.  However, the brand new Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter than the park has recently opened could make that a different story!

The recent designs in the Euro-Fighter category each look better than the last, and this one is named Karacho.  The coaster features a launch that sends the cars out of a darkened tunnel (which contains a heart-line roll to boot) up into a nearly 100 foot tall top hat element.  After that there are several elongated inversions, including a great dive loop into a tunnel immediately followed by an oddly shaped corkscrew.  At the end of the video make sure to check out the awesome theming on the back of the cars!

Tripsdrill, as the park is commonly referred to, is also home to Mammut, a large wooden coaster, and G'sengte Sau, a Gerstlauer bobsled ride.

I've said it before, but a ride like Karacho would fit so many mid-sized parks over on our side of the pond.  You have to wonder why there haven't been more of them built?

Interesting European Attractions Show Wrap-Up

I've had this article open in my browser for a couple weeks now, meaning to share it with you all because it contains some pretty interesting information.  At least I think so.

Coasters and More did a great write up on the EAS, as it is known, which is the European version of the IAAPA show.  It's smaller, but quickly growing and most of the big manufacturers are there, which means that plenty of news leaks out.

If you click through and read the full story, you'll see what I mean about interesting news.  Take for instance the fact that Gerstlauer is transforming the Schwarzkopf flywheel launch Turbine at Walibi Belgium into an LMS launch, complete with brand new trains.  Or that Mack rides has sold a clone of Blue Fire, and Vekoma a Dive Pretzel Coaster, that crazy looking thing that was proposed for the Orlando Thrill Park.

On the water cooler talk side of things, the article also reports that a lot of attention has been going to Dynamic Attractions, a company that has been in the industry for decades, quietly building the hardware for some of Disney and Universal's most impressive attractions.  From the Soarin' theaters to full Space Mountain track replacements, they've done them all.  The original founder of Premier rides is with them, and it sounds like they're ramping up to become a much better known supplier in the industry.  Their motto is "Anything you can Dream.  We can build" after all.

Regardless, check out the story and read all the details!

News From Premier Rides, Chance, Vekoma, and Ride Entertainment

Maryland's Premier Rides, known for some of the wildest and unique rides and attractions out there, has welcomed Pete Barto as their new Director of Sales.

Pete will travel directly to customers in order to meet specific client needs and interests, and better present the wide variety of products that Premier Rides offers.  He has worked in the industry previously, as the Vice President of Exhibitions, Conference and Sales with IAAPA - where he worked the marketing efforts of the organization's trade shows, along with FunWorld Magazine.

A true ride fan, Pete is a theme park enthusiast, and seems quite pleased to be rejoining the industry after spending some time working outside of it.  He and his wife, Heather, have traveled to many parks, even spending part of their honeymoon at them.

Jim Seay, President of Premier Rides, commented, “We are excited to have Pete on board. The combination of Pete’s sales expertise and extensive experience in the industry will allow Premier to better anticipate the needs of our valued customers and to identify new opportunities.”

Congratulations to Mr. Barto and by all means, get selling!  

***

Chance Rides and Vekoma Manufacturing have announced the discontinuation of their partnership in North America.  The two have had a licensing agreement for Vekoma products sold in the U.S. market since 2006.

"Despite the good cooperation during the past years, effective October 2012, Chance and Vekoma have decided to separately approach the US-market. Our companies have valued the relationship and will work together to ensure a smooth transition on the existing projects. Chance Rides will continue to provide spare parts and technical service for all the rides built under the license agreement," says Chance.

The partnership successfully delivered three Vekoma family coasters in the U.S. market, with another one currently under construction at Fun Spot Action Park in Florida.

***

Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, represented in the U.S. by Ride Entertainment, has had a very busy past couple of years.  So busy in fact that for the last few years they have been producing coasters at capacity, filling as many ride orders as possible.

To keep up with the demand, Gerstlauer previously expanded in 2008 with the addition of a new production space dedicated to track manufacturing.  At the time it seemed that the new space would allow for almost endless expansion, however, now with so much coaster track being bent throughout the year they're in need of more room once again.

Enter the above new production facility, this time tailor made to handle sandblasting and painting.  Large track pieces can now be easily handled by Gerstlauer on site, substantially upgrading the company's efficiency.

So just how busy as 2012?  Well, three SkyFly rides opened around the world, a unique spinning coaster, complete with a world's first inversion, opened in Japan, a Family Shuttle Ride went to France, and a Polyp flat ride opened in Sweden.  The U.S. saw the creative Iron Shark open in Texas, new coaster trains fabricated for Hersheypark, and a SkyFly at the Mall of America.

But how about next year, we're always looking forward to next year, no?  "Next year we are busy doing more classics like hybrid coaster trains and Bobsled Coasters, but also some more firsts, such as our newly-designed 8-passenger launch vehicles," says Gerstlauer.  Projects will appears on three continents next year, so keep an eye out for future announcements.

Gerstlauer's Busy 2012

Gerstlauer's Iron Shark under construction

Germany ride manufacturer Gerstlauer is following up an amazing 2011 with even more exciting projects in 2012, some of which are quite close to home for North American riders.  The company will debut three of their SkyFly rides, where passengers are able to control their experience - from mild to wild.

Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America will open the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Shell Shock ride, lifting riders up 72 feet while they spin and twirl.  Further away, SkyFly rides will also open in France's Nigloland and Legoland Germany.

Seen above, the company's North American coaster project for 2012 will be Galveston Pleasure Pier's Iron Shark.  Standing 100 feet tall and featuring 4 inversions, the Euro-Fighter will actually not use concrete footings, instead relying on a steel base frame designed to withstand hurricane force winds.

Best of all, Iron Shark will utilize eight passenger trains that have lap bar restraints, instead of over the shoulder models.  After riding Dare Devil Dive I can attest to the comfortable and open ride these trains provide!

Finally wrapping up the company's larger projects are brand new trains for Hersheypark's SuperdooperLooper, a 1977 Schwarzkopf coaster.  The new trains will offer riders more comfort and still have lap bar restraints.

Elsewhere around the globe Gerstlauer will open a family coaster at Duinrell in the Netherlands, a Polyp at Sweden's Liseberg, and a junior shuttle coaster at France's OK Corral.

Gerstlauer Sky Fly Debuting at Two Parks in 2012

Gerstlauer's latest amusement ride is an interactive one - allowing riders to roll and twist high above the ground in their own independently controlled car.  The attraction is named Sky Fly, and it's a more stationary version of the Sky Roller ride the company has already created.

The Sky Fly allows twelve riders per cycle to control the movements of their car - including full inversions - as the arm is lifted to 72 feet in the air.  Two of the rides will open next year at European parks, Legoland Germany and France's Nigloland.

This is the model of the Sky Fly that will be debuting at both parks.  The Nigloland version seemed to be themed to airplanes, while the specific theming at Legoland has only been hinted at in some concept art the park released:

The Ninjago theme, combined with Legoland's usually thorough theming on even the simplest attractions should make for a nice ride.  While the rides are quite low on hourly capacity, they make a thrilling and unique attraction for smaller parks.

And we may not have to wait too long to try one out in North America.  If rumors are true, then Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America just may be building one right now. 

Weekly Rewind 7.23.11

Could Carowinds be going big in 2012?  Like a giant Huss flat ride big?  Some markers in the open area next to Intimidator are leading fans to think so.

Gerstlauer's new family shuttle ride at Germany's Freizeitpark Ruhpolding looks like it packs a bit of a punch.  The train are almost launched through the course, definitely a little help to gravity.

The Thing is coming to both Universal Orlando and Hollywood's 2011 Horror Nights.  With a movie due out this year it's a perfectly frightening fit.

Takabisha is just so crazy looking with all its inversions and way beyond vertical drop.  I know we've seen photos before, but check out some new ones from the ride's manufacturer.

With the ride opening next Spring, Universal Hollywood has started just a bit of a teaser website for their new Transformers ride.  Not much content now, but I'm sure that will change in time.

Opening in 2014, Adventure World Warsaw will open in Poland as a complete year-round fun park.  The designs look cute - construction is scheduled to start next year.

WhiteWater West has opened a new set of four AquaLoop slides at Korea's Everland Caribbean Bay.  I love the theming and unique lighting they are using at night!

Dorney Park has been approved to change the wording in their height variance plan with the local Township so that replacement rides for "tall" attractions need not be the exact same height.

Fun Spot Action Park is making plans for their recently acquired new land, and shared a concept drawing of potential additions on their blog.  Nothing is concrete, yet, and the park says a coaster will be included along with a water attraction.

Gravity Group and Gerstlauer News

The IAAPA convention is also usually when we get some interesting details as to what all our favorite ride manufacturers are up to.  The Gravity Group has shared some images of the new racing wooden coaster they are building in collaboration with Martin + Vleminckx at Happy Valley in Wuhan, China.

The massive ride looks to have a great layout, with plenty of twisting and turning while the trains are interacting with one another.  The ride will use new Timberliner trains as well.

One of the most highly anticipated features of the new ride is the "high five" element, seen above.  Each track will head over an airtime hill, bank on their side at 90 degrees and go roaring past each other.  Wild!

Gerstlauer is going to have a very busy 2011.  The company has announced that they will have 9 separate projects that are set to open next season.

Among the exciting projects are new tailored trains that will be used to create high capacity single-train operation on a new family coaster.  The company is also building a family Shuttle Coaster that will let kids experience both forward and backward movements.

Gerstlauer will also build a large launched Euro-Fighter in Asia that will feature four-tube track which will save on foundation costs.

In all the nine projects are:

• Euro-Fighter for Canobie Lake Park
• Family Coaster in Europe
• Launched Euro-Fighter in Asia
• Family Coaster for Hansa Park
• Unnamed ride type for Movie Park Germany
• Spinning Coaster for Plopsa Coo in Belgium
• Family Shuttle Coaster for Ruhpolding in Germany
• Euro-Fighter for Six Flags Over Georgia
• 3 Custom Designed trains for Six Flags Over Texas

2011 will be one of the busiest years in the company's history with all these new rides going in around the globe.  That's great news for us fans!

Belantis' New 'Huracan' Gerstlauer Coaster

Gerstlauer is excited to share news of the opening of their latest Euro-Fighter style coaster - Huracan (Hurricane) at Germany's Belantis.

The custom designed ride starts with a vertical lift which is followed by a beyond-vertical first drop, both elements are signature features of the Euro-Fighter style coaster. Belantis had been excited to add a new coaster, after waiting some time to be able do it.

"The ride certainly is spectacular. It stands 32 meters (105 feet) high and offers up 560 meters (1,837 feet) of track that turns guests head over heels five times. The bright red paint scheme can be seen from anywhere in Belantis and adds an exciting element to the park’s ride line-up. Their other roller coaster is also from Gerstlauer, a Bobsled coaster named Drachenritt that dates from 2003."

Another special feature of Huracan is that it is the first Euro-Fighter in the world to have Gerstlauer's 6-seater cars. "They offer stadium seating, where each row is higher, and a horizontal split, where each row is a wider than the preceding one. This offers every guest a front-seat view."

I also have to throw in that the ride really stands out in the landscape with that screamin' red track. It's a great color for it! I love the look of the new trains as well, the "v" shape is a great idea as well. Congratulations to Belantis on their new ride, it looks like a hit!

Gerstlauer's New Flat Ride

Gerstlauer has been creating some awesome, unique roller coasters in the past few years, and now they've moved on to making a pretty awesome, unique looking flat ride.

And this one looks like it would make me vomit, a lot. It's called Sky Roller, and Coasters And More has a ton of fantastic photos of the ride in action, currently set up at the German Museum Munich.

Basically, the ride part of the tower goes up about 70 ft., spins, and each rider can then control their car using their own 'wings' - this allows them to flip around and all sorts of other vomit inducing movements.

Or, like I probably would, you could not mess with the wings and just enjoy the view! Gerstlauer has some additional photos and a video on their website if you want to check it out.

So who in the U.S. will build one of these? They're probably pretty bad on capacity ... but certainly unique!