Children's Family Rides
www.parkworld-online.com
Fun for all the family
For Korey Kiepert, Engineer and Partner at The Gravity Group, his own children helped to inspire a formula for wooden coasters which kids - and grown ups - can get on board with
A
bout 15 years ago, we began working with Quassy Amusement Park in Connecticut to develop a family wooden coaster for the park - the Wooden Warrior. The park had some unique constraints, including a
35 ft (11m) height limit, which we needed to work around to create a thrilling kids’ coaster. At the time, I had two small girls and who I kept in mind when designing the
coaster for Quassy Amusement Park. I wanted to create the best first wooden roller coaster experience possible for them, but also something that offered a little bit extra - something with universal appeal. Where most junior rides can seem dull and boring for everyone but the
youngest of guests, we were determined to develop a ride that everyone could enjoy.
Hills for thrills I noticed that my two girls really loved their swing set and being tossed in the air. What that told me was that increasing airtime on our smaller rides was the first step toward making a fun ride for all ages. Next, we reduced some of the lateral forces through curves in the coaster.
The result was a ride with a nice mix of nine strong airtime hills and a variety of gentle twists and turns - and all of this on a ride which was only 35 ft (11m) tall and 1239 ft (377m) long. The key to the success of our family rides lies with the trains. Our
Timberliner trains have a fully steering wheel system that is able to follow the track shape more perfectly than any other wooden coaster train. The Timberliners can also comfortably fit an adult next to a child as small as
100cm tall, allowing a parent to experience that first roller coaster alongside their child.
A fail-safe formula Since the opening of the Wooden Warrier in 2011, The Gravity Group has gone on to create eight more unique family wooden coasters around the world - from Oscar’s Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania to Twister at Gröna Lund in Stockholm. Each of these rides follows our family formula for success: • Multiple airtime/0G hills • Full-sized Timberliner cars: •
Parents and children comfortably ride together • Class 5 restraints for safety and security
• Capacity of up to 750 guests per hour The structure for our family wooden coasters can take the form of traditional
wood or a steel angle structure. The steel structure can be galvanised, or it can be powder-coated in a specific color. The result is a traditional lattice structure which may be customised to complement any theme. The track on our wooden coasters now features our patented engineered
precut track system, delivering a traditional wooden track that is precision machined and unparalleled in strength and smoothness.
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SUMMER PART 1 2022
Timber at Walibi Rhône-Alpes
Wood Express at Parc Saint Paul
Oscar_s Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place
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