Walibi Holland's New RMC Opens July 1 + New POV Released

© Walibi Holland

We're getting close to another opening of one Rocky Mountain Construction's steel makeover coasters, this time Untamed at Walibi Holland.  The ride was previously known as Robin Hood, a traditional wood coaster that was created by Vekoma and opened in 2000.

The original ride stood 105 feet tall and hit 50 miles per hour, and now as Untamed, stands 120 feet tall and has a top speed of 57 miles per hour.  The ride's track length has actually increased to 3,559 feet from 3,395 feet, which is uncommon with a RMC conversion.

© Walibi Holland

While the ride's layout, featuring wild elements that are typical of RMC conversions, is top notch, the ride's trains are also worth mentioning.  The design, seen in concept above, features a front car that's kind of bug themed, and looks pretty slick.

When the ride opens on July 1st riders will be treated to a host of exciting elements, including a 116 foot, 80 degree first drop.  The ride then heads up into a 270 degree double-inverting stall element, essentially stretching out a stall and adding a bit more twist to create two inversions instead of one.  The ride has a couple more inversions as well, including the finale barrel roll that is reminiscent of Outlaw Run.

Ready to see all that Untamed has to offer?  Check out the park's official POV film below.

New Elements of Walibi Holland's RMC Conversion Coaster - Untamed - Revealed to Fans

© Walibi Holland

Walibi Holland is being pretty sneaky about reveal the details of their Rocky Mountain Construction conversion of Robin Hood.  They're only releasing the main elements of the coaster a little at a time in a series of construction videos, the third of which recently was released.

Robin Hood was built by Vekoma, one of a handful of wood coasters the company has built, and opened in 2000.  When it opens again in 2019 it will be named Untamed and feature a twisted steel track layout created by Rocky Mountain Construction.

© Walibi Holland

The latest video gives us a look at the start of the ride, from exiting the station to the top of the lift, the first drop details, and the first element post-drop.

After exiting the station the trains will encounter a simple yet interesting element, what was a simple 180 degree turn to the lift will be outwardly banked at 45 degrees.  It can be seen in the image above, and should be a fun little start to the ride - something nearly all RMC rides do.

© Walibi Holland

This shot shows that Untamed will be a taller ride than Robin Hood was when it is complete, which is not unusual for some Rocky Mountain conversions.  Robin Hood's lift hill stood at around 105 feet tall, and Untamed's has been revealed to max out at a hair under 120 feet tall.  The ride's first drop will then extend 116 feet to the ground at 80 degrees, an impressive angle for a relatively short drop.

These changes are being accomplished by the new lift (which can be seen going up in the image above) being at a steeper 40 degree angle.

© Walibi Holland

Those increased statistics should make the first element, described in the video as a "micro bunny" hill that will give ejector air-time, even better.  More speed and a small air-time hill will mean that riders will quickly embrace the lap bars as they exit their seats.

The rest of the ride remains a mystery for now, but if you want to watch the whole video from the park (use captions) here it is:

Walibi Holland's Robin Hood to Receive Rocky Mountain Transformation in 2019

© Walibi Holland

Sure, the crop of new-for-2018 roller coasters aren't even open yet, but it's never too early to get news of a new-for-2019 ride!

Walibi Holland has announced that their wooden roller coaster, named Robin Hood, will receive a Rocky Mountain Construction makeover, turning it into a wood and steel hybrid ride.  When the ride reopens in 2019 it will have a new theme and new name, as well.  That is fitting since the ride experience will be dramatically different.

Walibi Holland is not ready to give more details on the transformation just yet, only saying that it will be faster when it reopens.

Robin Hood is one of only a handful of wooden roller coasters that were created by Vekoma, having opened at the park in 2000.  It has a lift hill of 105 feet, a top speed of 50 miles per hour, and a total track length of 3,395 feet.  As with most Rocky Mountain conversion projects, I would expect those statistics to change considerably when the steel track is complete.

The ride's layout is generally a giant U-shaped out and back, which will leave Rocky Mountain's designers with plenty to work with.  Here is a point of view video of the ride, you can start to imagine what extreme elements the coaster will have when it reopens!

Unique New Mack Coaster - Lost Gravity - Now Open at Walibi Holland

© Walibi Holland

Back in December we took a look at a new Mack-designed roller coaster being built at Walibi Holland, featuring a tight layout with fairly wild drops and inversions.  At the time the ride, named Lost Gravity, was speculated to be a spinning coaster, however that turned out to be false.

The coaster is quite unique, however, and uses Mack's new "BigDipper" style trains according to RCDB.  These individual cars seat 8 riders and although the ride has a couple inversions, only uses a nicely designed lap restraint.  The cars have two rows of four riders, and the very outside seats appear to be somewhat outside the area of the track, at least in this photo.

Lost Gravity starts with a 105 foot lift and has a 54 mile per hour top speed attained after the non-inverting 180-degree roll drop.  The track extends 2,231 feet long and there are two inversions, a 180 roll-drive combination, and a heartline twist.  The coaster also has plenty of air-time pops, a large wave turn, and a helix near the end of the course.  Add this design to my list of rides I would love to see in the U.S.!

Here's a point of view ride on Lost Gravity:

Wild Looking 'Lost Gravity' Coaster Opening at Walibi Holland in 2016

Yesterday we covered an innovative new water ride from Mack at Walibi Belgium, and today we will look at an equally interesting new roller coaster going into sister park Walibi Holland - also said to be from Mack.

The new coaster will be named Lost Gravity, that much has been confirmed by the park via their social media feeds.  The exact details of the ride however are still a mystery, though popular rumor pegs the new ride as being of the spinning variety.  We all know for sure that the ride will have a bit of a bumble bee color scheme going on:

© Walibi Holland

So yes - the track alternates between black and yellow throughout the ride, however this photo (one of a few "official" ones the park has sent out) has another important thing to point out... that first drop!  The track quickly inverts as it drops toward the ground so as to not really invert riders but is still quite dramatic in appearance.  The rest of the ride (a speculative layout was created and posted here) that is standing so far includes a large top hat, several air-time hills and a long elevated mid-course with another inverting dive.

A great set of "through the trees" type of photos was posted to Imgur two days ago, available at this link.  While zoomed in quite a bit to get past the trees, you can still see several of the newer elements that are in place.  The park's full reveal for Lost Gravity, whenever it takes place, will be most anticipated.