Canada's Wonderland will move into the top echelon of the world's roller coaster parks in 2012 with the addition of Leviathan, the Toronto-area amusement park's 16th coaster.
The $28-million inversionless Giga coaster will include an 80-degree first drop followed by a series of camelback hills and a 115-degree overbanked hammerhead turn that will cross over the front gate of Canada's Wonderland.
Set to open in May 2012, the 3 1/2-minute ride will feature lap-bar restraints and over a mile of track along an L-shaped layout.
With 16 coasters, Canada's Wonderland will move into third place behind Six Flags Magic Mountain (18) and Cedar Point (17) in the battle for the coveted title of "Coaster Capital of the World."
Leviathan will be among the top 10 coasters in the world for height (306 feet) and speed (92 mph), according to Roller Coaster Database.
The new ride will be created by Switzerland's Bolliger & Mabillard, which also built the Behemoth hypercoaster at Canada's Wonderland in 2008.
The new metal beast already has the coaster community salivating.
"The name Leviathan comes from an Old Testament scripture in Job which refers to it as a monstrous sea creature whose combination of strength and grace no man could control," Ryan Shrout wrote at Coaster-Net. "Certainly the name sounds fitting for what Canada's Wonderland is about to unleash."
The next pics will come from the Leviathan website:
The station will be in the cleared site right next to Speed City (SC will stay), and the ride will start with a right u-turn out of the station. Afterwards, the ride will enter a 306 ft. lift hill, towering over Dragon Fire and then drop into the employee parking lot. It will then enter a 168 ft. "barrel roll" (I wouldn't call it a barrel roll though, more like a giant overbanked turn) turning right towards the front gate, followed by a high-speed turn to about 76 mph into a 185 ft. airtime camelback. Then it will go through a 147 ft. 115-degree overbanked turn in front of the entrance gate turning back, into another high-speed turn to about 60 mph into a 124 ft. airtime camelback and into a highly banked turn (turning towards Dragon Fire) next the Courtyard Catering area. The ride ends with a final brake run starting 60 ft. in the air (weird, but okay). And yes, B&M is building it, making it their first Giga Coaster.
Now for my reaction... awesome, awesome, AWESOME! Not only is this a huge investment for Canada's Wonderland, but it is also yet another step forward for B&M! This year, they built their first ever Wing Coaster (Raptor at Gardaland), added a vertical loop to their flying coaster concept (Starry Sky Ripper at World Joyland), and at the moment, Parc Asterix is building a B&M Invert with a dive loop. Now B&M is building a Giga Coaster! =D I really want to ride this someday (too bad it won't be anytime soon)!
For those who think it is too similar to Behemoth (B&M Hyper in the park)... think about it. Behemoth is about airtime hills, this ride seems to take advantage of speed more than airtime hills.
This makes me wonder what could eventually come to Kings Island and Carowinds... but for now, let's enjoy this sick ride! B)
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