New Twists : Knott’s, Magic Mountain Build More Thrills

Knott’s Berry Farm promises that its newest attraction will elicit “the primal scream” from thrill seekers, while Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia vows to provide “the most frightening ride on earth!”

Behold, the battle of the monster roller coasters.

Early next month, both amusement parks will unveil their latest roller coasters in announcements timed to coincide with the beginning of spring breaks for California schools.

Trainloads of euphoric riders will swoop through upside-down turns and twists at freeway speeds, coupled with gravitational pulls strong enough to impress a fighter pilot.

The new, multimillion-dollar offerings at two of Southern California’s best-known theme parks are the latest evidence that the roller coaster is making an impressive comeback.

Fourteen new roller coasters are expected to open around the country this year, more than in any year in recent memory, according to American Coaster Enthusiasts, a 2,000-member organization based in Chicago.

“It just seems like they are taking off in the last couple years,” said Randy Geisler of St. Paul, Minn., the association’s president.

A couple of decades ago, coasters appeared to be headed the way of bumper cars and Ferris wheels. From a peak of more than 1,500 nationwide in 1930, the number of coasters around the country plummeted during the 1970s as traditional amusement parks were replaced by Disneyland-style theme parks.

While such attractions as flume rides, parachute jumps and dinosaurs remain popular, parks have returned to the old-fashioned scary thrills of roller coasters to lure in customers in the face of increasing competition.

Roller coaster builders say they have record backlogs as the amusement park industry grows ever stronger. Even wooden roller coasters, which once seemed headed for extinction, are back on track.

Magic Mountain is spending $8 million to build the 188-foot-high, nearly three-quarter-mile long Viper Megacoaster. The steel coaster is being marketed as “the world’s tallest looping roller coaster.”

As impressive as it sounds, the Viper falls short of being the country’s tallest roller coaster. That distinction belongs to the 205-foot-high Magnum XL 200 at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Roller coaster fans say, however, that the height and length are not the most important factors in judging the quality of the ride.

“What you look for is the pacing of the ride, the steepness of the drops and the severity of the turns--the sequence of exciting things that the ride does to you,” Geisler said. “You could have a ride 50 feet tall and it could scare the beejeebees out of you.”

Those impressions are not lost on executives at Knott’s Berry Farm, who readily acknowledge that their new $5-million Boomerang pales in size compared to Magic Mountain’s Viper. They insist, however, that they are not suffering from a case of coaster envy.

“During the ride, you have the sensation that you actually have fallen off the track,” explained Stuart Zanville, a Knott’s spokesman. “With ours, it’s not the height or the speed, it’s how you feel when you get off.”

A bit nauseated, perhaps?

No, Zanville said. Boomerang is “a very disorienting experience, and we think it’s going to be extremely popular,” he said.

The popularity of a single ride can add significantly to an amusement park’s bottom line. The opening of Knott’s Bigfoot Rapids ride two years ago, Zanville said, boosted park attendance by 10%. Boomerang, which will be heavily promoted on television, radio and billboards, is expected to raise attendance another 5% to 10%, he said.

Courtney Simmons, a Magic Mountain spokeswoman, said the opening of the park’s Ninja roller coaster in 1988--in which the rail runs above the cars instead of below--boosted attendance by 8%.

Both parks say the new attractions are being added to keep current with the latest in coaster technology.

“We wanted a ride that has all the bells and whistles,” Simmons said. She added that Viper, which joins a stable of four other coasters, “helps position Magic Mountain as the roller-coaster capital of the world,”

Knott’s 110-foot-tall Boomerang replaces an older coaster that had become outdated. “Technology has a way of catching up to us,” said Diane Greene, a Knott’s spokeswoman. The new ride will take riders upside down a total of three times in a forward direction, then another three times backwards.

Ron Toomer, whose company designed Viper and several other coasters due to open around the country this year, said the appearance of true giant coasters has been most noticeable in the past five years.

“The amusement industry is really on a roll right now. Attendance is up. Earnings are up,” said Toomer, president of Arrow Dynamics in Clearfield, Utah, which specializes in theme park rides. “For the last 15 years, we’ve really had a steady output of coasters. The last four or five years have seen the advent of some really giant coasters.”

THE COMPARISON

BOOMERANG VIPER Knott’s Berry Farm Magic Mountain Opening Date April 6 April 7 Length of Ride 875 feet 3,830 feet Time of Ride Less that one minute 2.5 minutes Tallest Point 110 feet 180 feet Fastest Point 50 mph 70 mph No. of Riders 28 per train 28 per train Features 3 loops, cars go 3 loops, double-barrel forward and reverse boomerang, corkscrew

Magic Mountain: Viper: 188 feet Disneyland: Matterhorn Bobsled: 147 feet Magic Mountain: Colossus: 115 feet Source: Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain