Canada's Wonderland 2008: Custom B+M Hyper Coaster 70 m

[Duck 16]

So, Canada's Wonderland announced this morning! Horrible, horrible name. Fantastic looking ride.

• , Monthey, Switzerland (they're the Mercedes-Benz or Lexus of coasters, seriously)

[*]70 m top height

[*]85 degree first drop

[*]125 km/h top speed

[*]1.6 km of track

[*]8 airtime-filled hills

[*]new prototype speedcoaster trains

[*]investment of $26 million

Canada's Wonderland - Behemoth

My favourite comment so far from the enthusiast community: "HA! this ride is all up in IJ's buisness." (IJ = Italian Job: Stunt Track)

-Iain

[Hammer Smart 0]

The thing I love about this ride is it's simplicity. UP DOWN UP DOWN UP Turn DOWN UP DOWN Up DOWN UP DOWN UP TURN DOWN DONE.Or something like that.

[Duck 16]

Goliath at La Ronde is the same (also a B+M Speedcoaster) - it's totally honestin what it does, totally pure.

I LOVE B+M Speedcoasters. I've done Apollo's Chariot (will be riding it this weekend again actually!), Nitro, Raging Bull, and Goliath. Silver Star is my favourite from an aesthetics standpoint (it's at Europa Park in Germany, and sponsored by Mercedes-Benz - hence the name!). But yeah... the thing that scares me is when a park like Wonderland (with so much crap in the coaster-department) gets a B+M... it's like, you've got a lot full of Cavaliers and Tauruses, and you drop in an R Class and watch people's reaction as they drive each of them. This is going to be so far above anything that is at the park that it's going to be a shock to people that "Wow, these things CAN be engineered to be smooth and perfect, why aren't they ALL like this?!".

rcdb.com - Silver Star

The layout is really good but I can not get over how Cedar Fair instantly has to do there "look at me I'm blue and orange and yellow!" thing of painting ALL THEIR RIDES THAT COLOUR SCHEME! And the train just screams "Hi mkay I'm a candy shoppe lol!" with those silly farings.

Raging Bull - Six Flags Great America

-Iain

[darren 192]

85-degree drop? That's insane!

The Mighty Canadian Minebuster is kinda like that... big-hill-up-down-up-down-turn-up-down-up-down-big-finish-stop.

Only the Minebuster is wood and will shake your fillings out in the process. Though not as violently as the Wilde Beast.

[bilgladstone 13]

I'd definitely be having a BM on that one! ;)Bil

[Duck 16]

It turns out the drop will "only" be 74 degrees.

It will still be the steepest B+M in the world (well, besides their dive coasters... one of which I'm riding this weekend!!)

-Iain

[Duck 16]

Couple shots I took today. What a gorgeous day to be at the park! Light crowds, perfect weather. Man I love this time of year.

Massive supports!

Base lift mechanics.

Steepest part of the first drop.

Maintenance track. The track on the right holds two trains; the one on the left holds one.

Final brakes sure are steep! They're magnetic.

Sledgehammer is pretty.

-Iain

[jackblack 0]

A friend of mine is helping design and build that thing. He was telling me the other day about all the prep work that has been going into getting ready to build it.

[Duck 16]

Probably not design, unless he lives in Switzerland. ;)That's great though! Maybe he can confirm that the first drop is actually 74 degrees, so I can lay the smack down once and for all on some internet forum brats online who still insist it's going to be 85. -Iain

[jackblack 0]

No, not in that sense, but there are a load of practical technical issues surrounding the building of a coaster on site that are beyond the drawing room in Switzerland, right? I have no idea if he'd know about the degree of the first drop. I'll ask him. His company has been involved in the production of a good deal of Wonderland's coasters in the past. It is interesting to talk to him about it.

[Duck 16]

The lift is about a third of the way up! This thing dwarfs Italian Job!

(Not my photo)

-Iain

[Francesco 71]

The first drop on Millennium Force is something like 85°, no? And about 95m?

[Duck 16]

Pretty close to that, 92 m, 80 degrees! ~150 km/h.-Iain

[Duck 16]

Took this Saturday morning on my way to La Ronde (Montreal).

-Iain

[Duck 16]

The final support for the lift went up today, track should be topped off by tomorrow evening!-Iain

[Francesco 71]

Ever been to Magic Mountain? Thinking of going in December for the day...

[Duck 16]

I haven't ventured out west yet; but I'd go just for X, and Tatsu!

-Iain

[Duck 16]

The lighting today was just perfect. I didn't get up to the park until close to 4pm, but by then the sun was beginning to set. There were several other groups of people walking around, looking at Behemoth - I'm not sure if they also climbed across the ravine or not like I did, but two of them had dogs so I assume

they live in the housing development there.

I'm shocked at how good the ride looks, it's simply unbelievable.

Looking across from the housing development. This is the view some people have from their porch!

-Iain

[gotwavs 0]

That thing is ridiculously cool.

[Duck 16]

It's purely majestic! Just 4 supports for the entire lift hill.-Iain

[Francesco 71]

Wow! Since taking the airline job(s), we decided to only hit the best US (and possibly, some day, overseas) parks... but this is one great enticement back to CW, which we used to hit every June while the crowds were still thin. Looking forward to it!

[jaylibby 0]

Working for cedar fair (cedar point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio) I have a fair share of knowlege and interest in the coaster department. I was supprised to see this on here.. I guess this forum has everything I like!

[Duck 16]

Behemoth dropped its first train about 2 weeks ago, and has been running continuously to get in test cycles since then. It looks majestic in real life. Hard to belive preview night is just a month away!-Iain

[MikeT 744]

Dropped a train? As in: fell off the tracks?

[Duck 16]

No no, I mean, the first train was "let go" off the top of the lift, as in, completed the circuit under gravity for the first time! Before that, they do a "pull through" - where the first two cars on the train are winched with a come-along before and aft of the pair, to check clearances, etc...We'll be riding Behemoth's older sibling in Europa Park (Silver Star) in less than 3 weeks!-Iain

Edited March 28, 2008 by Duck