Shambhala at PortAventura- Europe’s Tallest Roller Coaster
My Spanish coaster buddy Javi (creator of that cool Six Flags vs. Cedar Fair – War of 2012 picture) posted a few new construction photos of Shambhala. It’ll be Europe’s tallest roller coaster when it debuts this year at PortAventura (Salou, Spain). It’s being built next to another B&M coaster, the former looping record title-holder Dragon Khan.
As you can see from the photos, they’ve got quite a lot of work ahead of them. It’s safe to assume that PortAventura’s not aiming for a Late Spring/Early Summer opening like the parks here in the States are. And, here’s a No Limits simulation video of Shambhala.
If Shambhala looks anything like this simulation, it’ll be an amazing ride. It looks destined to become featured in an upcoming Most Wanted Coasters post. To be honest, it’s layout makes me look at my local hyper Intimidator and wonder. I’d love to be a fly on the wall during the conversations between the designers and the parks. I know that space has a lot to do with how rides are laid out, but a continuous hill after hill layout like those found on many hypers has nothing on a dynamic layout like this.
Read Javi’s full construction photo post and layout analysis. Again, if you’re as cool as me and you use Google Chrome (just kidding). You can right click anywhere on his post click ‘Translate to English’.
What’s Your Take?
How do you think Shambhala looks? Leave a comment below.
February 3, 2012 at 17:43
Wow. If the simulation is accurate, it will be awesome! I like back to back hill hypers obviously because of the airtime, but there are too many of them with too similar layouts (Nitro, Behemoth, Diamondback, and Intimidator have basically the same layout but different order of elements). We need more unique hypers like this might be. The underground/rock tunnels, splashdown, and rock formations will make this a great coaster. (again if this simulation is accurate).
February 4, 2012 at 02:18
Totally agreed. And it will be the tallest coaster in Europe!
February 6, 2012 at 17:10
This looks like B&M's best hyper yet from this simulation, not that I will ever ride because it's in Europe. The element that will set this coaster apart will be it's theming, and PortAventura is usually good with their theming.
May 3, 2012 at 11:18
Shambhalas layout is already finished, its testing now and will open in a few days. The ampersand-looking helix is even better than in the simulations, and the theming is also great.