Screaming of a Ride Christmas

It’s gift-giving time, and you’re wondering, “What do you get for a county that already has everything?”

More carpool lanes? Yeah, right. As if they’d make a difference.

A new airport? Not in MY backyard!

Another 30-screen movie warehouse? Geez! How many dozens of screenings of “A Bug’s Life” is enough?

Well, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park has the answer. On Tuesday, the park debuts GhostRider, Orange County’s first, and the Southland’s biggest, wooden roller coaster.

The grand opening of the massive timber twister is but one of dozens of seasonal events planned throughout December. For more highlights, see the holiday roundup that follows. Rising from the heart of Knott’s Ghost Town, GhostRider’s mountain of lumber reaches to a summit of 118 feet and sprawls over more than three-quarters of a mile.

Riders are whisked away on a two-minute romp of swooping drops--including a 108-foot, 51-degree banked plunge--sudden dips, 42-degree banked curves and speeds of up to 56 miles an hour. Along the way passengers will experience G-forces--the backward pressure you feel under rapid acceleration--of 3.14, or more than three times the force of Earth’s gravitational pull.

Yet as scary as it sounds, the coaster can accommodate younger riders too. Anyone who can hit the 48-inch height requirement can go for a whirl.

“When we designed the ride, we had the whole family in mind,” said Denise Dinn-Larrick of Ohio-based Custom Coasters Inc. “We wanted to make sure that the teenagers were loving it, because it’s a thrill-packed ride, but we also wanted to satisfy Mom and the smaller kids and Dad.”

Keeping with the park’s Old West theme, the ride is set amid the abandoned GhostRider mine (former site of the pan-for-gold attraction).

After walking through a rustic mine shaft, riders make their way through a wooded frontier wilderness to the three-story GhostRider mining company station, where gold, silver and copper colored cars sweep riders away on a high-speed journey.

Each of the three cars holds 28 passengers; park officials say that 1,600 guests should be able to ride each hour.

‘That Floating Feeling’

Hard-core coaster enthusiasts will be thrilled with the amount of air time--the weightless feeling you get when you hit zero Gs--built into the 4,533-foot-long ride.

“It’s like when you’re in the back seat of a big Cadillac on a country rode and you get that floating feeling as you go up and down over the hills,” Dinn-Larrick said.

In the middle of the ride is a section of twists and turns that Dinn-Larrick calls a double helix. In a classic “out-and-back” segment, the ride doubles back on itself before returning to the station.

Dinn-Larrick says she is most proud of GhostRider’s massive 108-foot plunge.

“It’s unique because it’s not just a straight drop. It swoops and turns in,” said Dinn-Larrick, who has helped build 24 other coasters around the world with Custom Coasters, which she founded with her husband and brothers in 1990.

“It’s going to fool people because they’ll think, ‘We’re not going down the drop yet,’ but they’ll be halfway through it and suddenly realize they are.”

A drive-tire unit starts the ride off with a bang. Where other wooden coasters lumber out of the station, the drive tire actually whisks out the car, giving the train some speed as it goes into the lift.

According to Dinn-Larrick, GhostRider is the first wooden coaster in California to incorporate the device.

More than 2 million board-feet of specially treated, southern yellow pine from Alabama and North Carolina went into the gigantic structure, whose graceful curves and grades look as if they could have been carved by a sculptor.

GhostRider’s wood construction distinguishes it from the park’s four other major roller coasters. Passengers should be able to notice the differences between GhostRider and its steel counterparts. The wood flexes and settles, making for a noisier, yet softer, ride that’s less stiff than a steel coaster. Also, according to Dinn-Larrick, fluctuations in temperature can change the experience.

“If you came and rode it in the morning, when it’s a little cooler, it’d be a little slower. . . . Later in day, when it’s really hot, it’d go faster. The heat works on the track, warms the grease and the bearings, and makes it move faster,” she explained.

GhostRider is the latest addition in the park’s $35-million renovation project, which includes the Supreme Scream free-fall ride that opened in July.

“We’ve packed a whole bunch of thrill elements into [GhostRider],” said Dinn-Larrick, who has ridden more than 150 coasters in her day.

It’s not only its construction but also its look that makes GhostRider special, she said. “It’s creative and decorative and adds personality to the park.”

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Ghost to Coast Trip

Billed as the tallest and longest wooden roller coaster in the West, GhostRider opens Tuesday at Knott’s Berry Farm.

The 12-story coaster is the biggest addition to the Buena Park amusement park since Walter Knott opened his berry farm 79 years ago.

The mega-structure promises to raise Knott’s profile in the ongoing Southern California coaster contest - challenging Magic Mountain for the wooden coaster crown. While Six Flags’ Colossus claims a seven foot higher drop, Knott’s ride is 208 feet longer.

One guarranteed winner in the coaster wars: riders. GhostRider, like it’s Magic Mountain brethren, attempts to adhere to a strict classic coaster code.

The classic “woody” features lap bars that allow riders to float during negative Gs, bench seats that promote side-to-side sliding, and eschews headrests - which block the view of rear riders.

Even the time of day can affect the experience, according to purists. Wooden coaster enthusiasts prefer to ride in the mid-afternoon - when the timber has expanded, the ride is looser and the giant structure seems to shift and sway.

All Aboard

The new Knott’s GhostRider wooden roller coaster clickety-clacks to a 118-foot precipice before rambling over 14 hills at speeds topping 50 mph along a nearly mile-long circuitous route that makes four passes over Grand Avenue. Come take a ride:

Air Time: GhostRider features nine “off the seat” weightless moments.

Legend of the GhostRider

The theme of Knott’s new coaster blends seamlessly with its Ghost Town surroundings. A Union soldier, as legend has it, heads West after the Civil War to seek his fortune in California’s mines. One night, he rides his wild mustang into a mine, never to be seen again. To this day, the GhostRider’s spirit haunts the mine shaft.

Entrance: Line winds through an abandoned mine shaft

Loading/Unloading: 1,600 riders per hour

Coaster trains resemble mine cars

Highest point: 118 ft.

108 ft. drop at 56 mph

Maximum Gs

Second highest point: 80 ft.Lowest point: 2 ft.

Coaster passes 22 feet above Grand Ave.

360-degree Helix creates “tunnel vision” illusion

By Comparison

How Knott’s new ride stack’s up against Magic Mountain’s largest wooden roller coaster:*--*

Length Time Drop Speed Built GhostRider 4,533’ 2:00 108’ 56 mph 1998 Colossus 4,325’ 2:30 115’ 62 mph 1978

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Park Admission

Regular price

Adults: $36

Children (3-11): $26

Seniors (60+): $26

Southern California resident discount

Adults: $28

Children: $12.50

Seniors: $12.50

*

For park hours and information, call (714) 220-5200

*

GhostRider minimum height: 48”

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By The Numbers

Wood: 475 miles laid end-to-end

Steel: 250 tons

Nuts and Bolts: 1,000 tons

Nails: 25 tons

Concrete: 1,410 cubic yards

Riders: 1,600 per hour

Sources: Bob Ochsner, Knott’s Berry Farm; Custom Coasters International; American Coaster Enthusiasts

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times