Park News
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Efteling mines Dutch history for new coaster name
Opening in summer 2015, Efteling’s new dive coaster will be called Baron 1898. The Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) construction will be augmented with a rich back story taking visitors back to the golden age of the Dutch mining industry in the late 19th Century. Riders will assume the role of mineworkers and experience a 37.5-metre freefall down a mineshaft at a speed exceeding 90km/h.
The famous Dutch park in Katsheuvel, near Tilburg, is committing around
€18 million to the project. Find out more about the construction and theming of the coaster in a series of ‘Making of’ films available via the Efteling YouTube channel (
youtu.be/PHqCFEGHQ_4). “There are three clear reasons why Efteling has chosen a dive coaster,” says Efteling CEO and chairman Fons Jurgens “In order to achieve our projected growth, an expansion of our current range of attractions is necessary. In addition, within the extended family target group, on which Efteling normally focuses, there is room for an attraction specifically targeted at teenagers. Finally, a dive coaster is an exciting and unusual thrill ride in Europe, which continues to set Efteling apart from other leading European theme parks. Baron 1898 is an excellent combination of steel and a story”. The legend goes that a greedy mining baron discovered a vein of gold in the south of the Netherlands. He wanted to extract as much gold as he could from the ground but the fertile soil was under the protection of the Wittie Wieven (White Women). Mining baron Gustave Hooghmoed called upon his mineworkers to help him, promising them mountains of gold. During the ride it becomes clear that the Wittie Wieven will do everything in their power to sabotage the gold mining. An enthralling experience surely awaits Efteling guests in 2015!
Work Zone New Jersey’s Storybook Land has opened this nice new attraction from Zamperla. Work Zone is a themed Convoy ride featuring custom-made steam rollers, bulldozers and excavators, each equipped with make believe steering wheels and horns.
Storybook Land adds
The ride takes passengers and young aspiring builders through a road construction scene, complete with animated characters, smoke and sound effects. The loading station and queue line is located in a beautifully built and themed building. In fact, the ride is arguably the most-themed attraction at the park in Egg Harbor Township – and it’s been a hit with children and their families since opening.
Barrels of fun at Diggerland USA
Children at the new Diggerland USA in New Jersey can now take a trip through the construction-themed park in personalised barrels pulled by a dumper truck. Each oil drum is fitted with a single seat and a pair of wheels.
Apparently it’s quickly become a guest favourite, proving that the best ideas can sometimes be the simplest.
Thunderbird takes shape
America’s first launched wing coaster hit a milestone recently as the highest piece of track was lifted into place by a 165ft- tall (50m) crane. Now taking shape in Santa Claus, Indiana, Thunderbird is the largest ride investment ever for Holiday World, a $22m steel monster from Bolliger & Mabillard (does the Swiss company do anything else?) Unlike every B&M other coaster, however, it will not feature a standard lift hill, but instead will launch winged trains into a 140ft-tall loop, accelerating from zero to 60 mph (96km/h) in just 3.5 seconds. The top piece of the loop,
which weighs nearly nine tons, encloses the first of Thunderbird’s four inversions. This, the highest loop, is called an Immelmann, named incidentally for a “half-loop, half-roll” aircraft manoeuvre created by German pilot Max Immelmann a century ago.
Thunderbird’s topping last month represented 21 of Thunderbird’s 77 track pieces in place (more by the time you read this). The hotly-anticipated coaster will also feature a zero-G roll, barrel roll, and a loop soaring 125ft in the air. Continuing Holiday World’s tradition of sending roller coasters through its thickly wooded and hilly terrain, Thunderbird will at first soar and loop high in the air and then hug the ground, surprising riders with rapid-fire “near misses” such as keyholes, themed elements, other rides, trees, and even the ground.
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