I’m having a bit of deja vu. I seem to remember construction photos of another Rocky Mountain coaster causing my eyes to nearly pop out of my head.
Well, the last few weeks the buzz about Silver Dollar City’s new 2013 roller coaster (rumored to be named Outlaw), has reached a fever pitch. All of the interest is thanks to this almost inversion that the wooden (okay, it’s technically a steel coaster) will perform. I’ve been waiting to see photos of the element completely take shape before covering it, but I received a (You)Report about it today. And I think at this point it’s clear what it’s going to look like.
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(You)Report – Silver Dollar City’s “Outlaw” Construction Video
This video clearly shows the new wooden coaster at Silver Dollar City being built. It will be going upside down as you can see clearly in the video I shot in HD. Freeze frame at the 11 second mark and 50 second mark. Also, the first drop looks near or over 80 degree drop.
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Woodie or Not, Loop or No Loop, I’m Geeking Out!
Now many will argue whether it’s a loop, not a loop, etc. My wife caught me making weird twisting gestures with my hand as I tried to imagine the path of this unique element. At that point, I gave up.
I’m not going to break out my protractor and compute the angles. ParkThoughts actually already did an excellent job of that here: Silver Dollar City’s 2013 Project: Is It an Inversion? At the end of the day, all that matters is that the park and designer have a ride that’s generating buzz well before it’s opening. The element looks unimaginably cool and again with the success of the New Texas Giant (a Top 10 Coaster in my book), a Silver Dollar City trip is near the top of my most wanted destinations for 2013.
What’s your take? What do you think of this element? Leave a comment below.
July 19, 2012 at 05:05
It's not an inversion, it's just insanely overbanked… or is it? One thing's for sure: this is very cool stuff!
July 19, 2012 at 10:46
to a person who isn't knowledgable about roller coasters, they might call it one. plus it's like less then fifteen degrees off of 180, or an inversion.
July 19, 2012 at 10:00
That essay's great: some of the other things mentioned there that are promoted as inversions are obviously not inversions!
(And they're not the only ones: the "Immelmann" counted as the second inversion in a Euro-Fighter 320+ (Rage, Falcon, Untamed) seems to me like it might really just be a fairly aggressive overbank. The new Iron Shark in Galveston gets promoted as having four inversions, but I notice RDCB lists it as having one. And then there's the "third loop" on the SFOG Mind Bender.)
July 21, 2012 at 01:33
It's an inversion even if it's not quite 100 percent upside down.
I've been on Enterprise rides that only lifted up about 80 degrees so the cars were as tilted as this coaster track.
It looks spectacular.
July 22, 2012 at 14:06
It’s inverted enough that I consider it an inversion, it also screams to me “come to Missouri in 2013!!” This ride has already made my jaw drop and it’s not even half way done.
August 1, 2012 at 12:41
That may not be a inversion, but it might have a double barrel roll. http://www.screamscape.com/html/sdc_-_woodcoaster…
August 3, 2012 at 08:18
You beat me to it Zach. I'd almost write another post just on that layout, but the official announcement is coming on August 9th. So we'll know all of the details soon enough. I can't even imagine a double barrel roll on a woodie-ish coaster. Insane!!!!
August 7, 2012 at 23:19
Ok rcdb lists this as a wooden coaster, but isnt it steel like Texas Giant???
August 9, 2012 at 01:25
well in ten hours and nine-ish minutes (at the time of writing this), we'll know a whole lot more about 'Outlaw' , and I can't wait until then, you can't keep an enormus wooden coaster rising in the woods with a rail line that goes under it hidden forever (even though they've done a pretty bad job at doing so)