South Dakota's New RMC Raptor Coaster Delayed to 2021

© Wild Water West

Wild Water West, a water park located in South Dakota, surprised us all earlier in the year by revealing that they were planning on building one of Rocky Mountain Construction's Raptor track roller coasters.  The park received permission to build the ride, which will be their largest major non-water amusement attraction, and initially construction would have started in April for the ride to be open some time in August.

The pandemic had other plans, however, and with that construction timeline no longer possible the park has announced that they are delaying the new coaster until 2021.  The park plans to start construction this fall, so that the ride is ready to open with the park next year.

This story notes that the park was signing the contracts for the coaster when the pandemic began, and the manufacturer had to do some furloughs which also contributed to the delayed timeline.

While disappointing, it's certainly understandable that a smaller park like this takes a little time to breath before taking on a coaster that will elevate it to a new level for visitors.  The Rocky Mountain Construction Raptor rides are some of the most intense compact coasters out there, and Wild Water West visitors are in for a thrill in 2021!

Wild Water West has already opened for the 2020 season, with plenty of COVID-19 changes in place to keep employees and visitors safe.

A New RMC Raptor Coaster Headed to South Dakota's Wild Water West?

© Wild Water West

If you haven't heard of Sioux Falls, South Dakota's Wild Water West Waterpark (to be fair I hadn't), it is a name that you may be hearing a lot more of soon.  The water park has gone to their local government to seek approval to build what is shown as one of Rocky Mountain Construction's Raptor roller coasters.  From the images used in the planning, the ride looks to have the same layout as the prototype rides, which are operating at Six Flags Fiesta Texas as Wonder Woman Golden Lasso and RailBlazer at California's Great America.

© Wild Water West

The addition of a super-thrilling RMC Raptor to a small water park in South Dakota is about as surprising as can be, but at the same time - how awesome!  In reviewing the planning documents submitted, which start on page 18, it is noted that the new ride will stand 113 feet tall, feature no additional noise issues due to the monorail style track, and only operate within the parks existing hours of 11 am to 8 pm.

The best part is that the staff recommended that the plan be approved, with some generally easy conditions for the park to follow.  This means that formal plans for the ride can be submitted for engineering review and then a building permit issued.  A letter from the park's general manager confirms the plan is to open the ride for the 2020 season.

There were photos from this year's IAAPA Expo from RMC's booth that showed that they were trying to sell one of their Raptor coasters for a nice discount, which makes one wonder if this is the result of that sale.  However that sign did indicate the ride would be for 2021, but maybe they found some extra room in their production schedule.

© Wild Water West

If the coaster plan does make it all the way through the planning station and opens, it will certainly have a large impact on Wild Water West.  The park's water park offerings can been seen above in the aerial from Google Maps, and the park already offers some dry attractions such as go-karts, mini-golf, batting cages and paintball.  This would be their first large mechanical ride, and it certainly would draw a lot of people to the park.  RCDB lists the state of South Dakota as currently having two roller coasters, one small kiddie ride and one mountain coaster, so this would really be quite a improvement in that regard!