Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, Ill.

The Ride: Superman—Ultimate Flight by Bolliger & Mabillard

The Skinny: Riders experience Superman— Ultimate Flight in the flying position, secured in over-the-shoulder harnesses and lap bars. Face down with the track above, they slowly ascend a 109-foot lift hill with nothing but open air below. The signature turn, a pretzel inversion, is first, followed by many harrowing low-to-the-ground twists and spins. The track is 2,798 feet long with two 32-seat trains traveling at speeds greater than 50 mph.

Currently in its twenty-eighth season, Six Flags Great America (SFGA) has 11 other coasters, three of them designed by B&M: Batman the Ride, Raging Bull, and Iron Wolf. It is one of only two parks in the world with that many B&M coasters.

SFGA originally intended Superman—Ultimate Flight, which debuted in May, to replace the Whizzer, its oldest roller coaster. After fans protested, though, the park axed The Shockwave instead.

In Their Words: According to Susie Storey, spokesperson for Six Flags Great America, “Our park has worked closely with B&M for the past three years on this ride. It is the perfect complement to our coaster package—the park’s 12 coasters offer very tall and fast, boomerang, suspended, wooden, stand-up, backwards, kiddie coasters, and traditional steel looping coasters. The addition of Superman—Ultimate Flight rounds out our package and provides our guests with the only flying coaster experience in the Midwest.

“Guest reaction so far has been so positive. The media loved the ride and the line has been approximately two hours long since we opened. The pretzel loop is the favorite part of the ride and people immediately want to ride again to experience other parts of the train—the front, the back, the middle.

“Walter Bolliger, president of B&M, was here for the media day. He told the guests that his company set out to create an experience in which riders will ‘fly like a bird.’ While I have never seen a bird fly in a pretzel loop, I think we have truly created that exciting feeling of flying and added something more with the creation of Superman—Ultimate Flight. As part of media day, we invited people whose name was either Clark or Kent. We had a young pair of brothers: nine-year-old Kent and five-year-old brother Clark. The five-year-old was too young to ride—but Kent rode 13 times!”

Parc Asterix, Paris, France

The Ride: Transdemonium by Farmer Studios and M.G.H.

The Skinny: After seven months of construction, Parc Asterix opened its new dark ride, Transdemonium, described as a “ghost train,” in April. Located in the Middle Ages section of the park, it is themed as a haunted castle with evil spirits and witches giving chase. There are wizards; there are ghouls; there is simulated peril. Ghostly apparitions and haunting characters are created through advanced special effects.

Designed by Farmer Studios and manufactured by M.G.H., a mining train manufacturer that now makes cars for amusement park rides and attractions, Transdemonium can accommodate up to 1,300 visitors an hour. It cost the park around $5 million to build.

Lagoon Park, Farmington, Utah

The Ride: The Spider by Maurer Söhne.

The Skinny: The Spider is the first of its kind in North America: a spinning coaster that allows free horizontal spin up to 20 rotations per minute, depending on riders’ weight and gravity. The track configuration includes an 82-degree banked curve called the Immelmann—an aerobatic move that’s half loop and half roll—and a 360-degree carousel turn.

The Spider cost Lagoon Park $4 million to build, about $1 million of which went into spider and castle theming and landscaping. Lagoon added a Maurer Söhne wild mouse seven years ago; its success was one of the main reasons it went with The Spider.

Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari, Santa Claus, Ind.

The Ride: Liberty Launch by S&S Power

The Skinny: Liberty Launch, an 80-foot-tall drop tower that seats 12, is one of three new additions to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari this year.

In Their Words: According to park spokesperson Paula Werne, “Reaction so far has been very positive and enthusiastic. I was just out with a TV crew that was interviewing riders after they’d ridden Liberty Launch. The word “awesome” was shouted over and over.

“Liberty Launch is part of Holiday World’s 4th of July section. With our 20 percent attendance growth in 2002, we knew it was important to add several new rides to keep lines short, which our guests have come to expect. So we added Liberty Launch, HallowSwings (a Zamperla Flying Carousel), and Zinga (a ProSlide Tornado water ride) to keep families busy and happy all summer.”

My Word

Jim Seay, president, Premier Rides

As a student at Cornell University, I was fortunate to be in an internship program at Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles. Upon graduating, I stayed with Hughes for six years, working on the development of advanced weaponry. During my time at Hughes, I had sail boat racing as a hobby, and met a number of individuals in the entertainment business.

In Los Angeles, the two big businesses are aerospace and entertainment. Interestingly, in the late ’80s companies like Six Flags and Universal were developing rides that used technical applications that were similar to those incorporated into the development of military technology. I was hired by Six Flags in 1988 as a corporate engineering manager on location at Six Flags Magic Mountain. In addition to handling the engineering function, I had the opportunity to work as the rides maintenance manager for several years. In 1995, I went down the entrepreneurial road and joined Premier Rides, Inc., and have been there since. My favorite part of my work has always been being part of a creative team that focuses on innovation and relishes all the challenges that are a natural part of the development process.

I had no expectation that my efforts at obtaining an undergraduate and graduate degree in engineering would result in being part of an industry that provides entertainment to millions worldwide. I consider myself very fortunate to have this opportunity. I have been mentored by many great individuals. My early years at Six Flags were greatly influenced by my corporate mentor, Harold Hudson, who always instilled the importance of safety as the primary focus of all our efforts; by my park mentor, Jim Blackie, who time and again proved that lack of vision was the only thing holding back creativity, not the lack of resources. At Premier Rides, Peter Schnabel passed on the entrepreneurial spirit and instilled in me the value of never quitting until the job was done and the customer was satisfied. I’ll never forget Del Holland’s (general manager at Six Flags Magic Mountain) advice on the importance of knowing when one should or should not risk everything and become an entrepreneur.
My proudest moment was when Premier Rides was recognized by the industry and received the IAAPA Impact Award for the Mr. Freeze coaster and all of its advanced technology. I accepted the award not only on behalf of the Premier Rides team but also on behalf of all of the individuals at Six Flags who contributed to the ride’s success.

Thorpe Park, Surrey, England

The Ride: Nemesis Inferno by Bolliger & Mabillard

The Skinny: A quadruple-looping steel inverted coaster from B&M and designer John Wardley, Nemesis Inferno has further positioned Thorpe Park as the extreme park of the United Kingdom. With a track length of 2,460 feet, the 95-foot-high ride also boasts the “first interlocking corkscrew element on any single inverted coaster.” (If you’re unsure about exactly what a locking corkscrew element is, just nod your head knowingly and act impressed.)

Nemesis Inferno, like The Spider, is elaborately themed. There is a volcano motif in the station and along the track, with a descent into the volcano crater during the ride. Nemesis’s speed maxes out at 50 mph and the intense twists and turns impose up to 4.5 Gs.

Valleyfair, Shakopee, Minn.

The Ride: Steel Venom by Intamin

The Skinny: Last year it was the Wicked Twister; this year the newest linear induction coaster is Steel Venom at Valleyfair. With five launches, maxing out at nearly 70 mph, the $8.5 million Steel Venom is a towering yellow addition to Valleyfair’s skyline.

In Their Words: According to Amy Maikkula, Valleyfair marketing manager, “We felt Steel Venom was a nice complement to our existing roster of coasters. Plus, the technology involved with the LIM system is cutting-edge, and the impulse coaster is a great ride.

“Before Steel Venom was even ridden by the general public (it opened May 17 of this year), the media was very positive, as were the American Coaster Enthusiasts members who came out to ride.”

Paramount’s Carowinds, Charlotte, N.C.

The Ride: Rugrats Runaway Reptar by Vekoma.

The Skinny: Based on Nickelodeon’s Rugrats television series, Rugrats Runaway Reptar is a kiddie coaster with ski-lift-style seats suspended below the coaster track. Riders reach heights of more than 50 feet. The ride has all the high-speed swings and turns of an adult coaster, with 360-degree loops and 33-feet-per-second controlled free falls. At the top of each loop, riders are treated to a 70-foot-high panoramic view of the park before plunging into a series of speed loops.

The new coaster is in the recently constructed 105-acre Nickelodeon Central kids’ section of the park, which opened in March for Carowinds’ thirty-first season. The park also introduced the Wild Thornberrys River Adventure, a water ride, and Blue’s Clues, a free-fall tower, both of which are based on the television shows of the same names.

In Their Words: Says Tim Fisher, Paramount’s Great America’s general manager, “Kids and parents can now be part of the action that they were previously only able to enjoy on a television or movie screen.”

Says Watt Burris, general manager of Carowinds, “We’ve had an outstanding relationship with Nickelodeon for many years now, so we decided to go one step further and provide a dynamic, one-of-a-kind Nickelodeon-themed area at Paramount’s Carowinds.”