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J is for... Jaw Dropping
Hurakan Condor, Port Aventura

After ten years, Dragon Khan’s stratospheric dominance in Salou is coming to an end.

From 18 March, the slender needle of Hurakan Condor will rise high into the sky as if poking a hole in the ozone layer, offering not only numerous freefall styles, but also some of the most elaborate theming on a freefall outside Disney’s Tower of Terror and Phantasia Land’s Mystery Castle.

The 300ft column rises from the ruins of a Mayan temple and balances the roof precariously at the top of the tower. The story of the temple’s destruction is told through many spectacular special effects in the 78ft show building at the foot of the tower, the architecture of which is inspired by the Torre de Palacio, a building in the Mexican city of Palenque in the State of Chiapas.

After choosing your fate – whether sit down, stand up or floorless – your car climbs to over 300ft into the rafters of building, where more effects precede the 70mph plunge as your photo is taken.

Coaster Kingdom regulars will know how we hold Drayton Manor’s Apocalypse in high regard, so it goes without saying that this puts Hurakan Condor in good stead to be on of the finest freefalls in Europe.

Not only does the Intamin freefall offer one of the best freefall sensations, at 325ft tall it will also be one of the most sustained moments of weightlessness in Europe.

K is for... Kickin' K
Kanonen, Liseburg 

Intamin’s Accelerator (also referred to as the Rocket Coaster) is to parks what Playdough is to kids. It can be moulded to virtually any specification and can be perfectly sculpted to suit the landscape and needs of your park.

Kanonen's 78ft top hat is topped off. Picture: Liseburg

Whether you’re looking for a 400ft+ record breaker, a 200ft multi-looper, a 100ft speed coaster or an 80ft junior looper which won’t leave a city in candlelight every time it launches, then chances are, a friendly Intamin salesman will be more than happy to deal with your requirements.

If your accommodating Intamin sales representative is having a hard time convincing you such versatility exists, then look no further than 2005, where Intamin have provided America with a 400ft 100mph non-looping monster, and Sweden’s Liseburg with the comparably petite Kanonen (Canon) which stands at a modest 80ft and takes its time with a top speed 46mph.

Ignoring these meagre statistics, Kanonen looks like a case of slow and steady wins the day. The layout includes a launch over the river dividing the park, an 80ft version of Intamin’s popular top hat with a bunnyhop, vertical loop, helix and inline twist thrown into the fray.

Coasters of this dimension are always an unknown entity. Nemesis (Alton Towers) is a textbook example of how statistics and unassuming layout can often amount to an amazing ride. Yet rides like Superman (Walibi World) can often show how a compact layout and large scope for potential go untapped.

L is for... Lunar Lift-off
Space Mountain: Mission 2, Disneyland Paris

Space Mountain: De la Terre a la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon) officially closed on 16 January 2004 to complete the largest ever rehab this massive attraction has ever had.

You see, despite being the most expensive single attraction Europe has ever seen, and even despite Disneyland Paris understandably lean with their expenditure, the park could not let the ride’s tenth anniversary come and go unnoticed.

Space Mountain Disneyana enthusiasts were treated to a special event on 15 January which featured Q&A sessions with SM Imagineers, as well as final rides on the multi-million pound coaster before the curtain fell and the ride re-launches (pun intended) as Space Mountain: Mission 2 in the Spring.

Contrary to popular speculation, the layout is not changing. The theme will be revised to encompass a more modern leaning on the classic visionaries theming in Discoveryland and will include a comet-chasing sequence and a new launch starting from the bottom of the cannon.

Fans have already had a candid glimpse of what’s in store already. The park have spent the last few months bringing the outside of the spectacular building back to its former glory and the new modern logo was revealed months ago.

As well as new effects, there will be a new soundtrack composed by Michael Giacchino who did the score for the hit-film Incredibles. The trains will be liveried in a striking silver, although are not planned to be replaced which comes as a body blow for fans as the roughness of the ride is the largest single criticism that SM enthusiasts have.  

M is for... Maurer’s Moment of Madness
Barnstorm, Drayton Manor

Ever wondered what would ever happen if a two year old designed coasters with a crayon? Well, wonder no more my inquisitive reader, for Barnstorm opens in 2005.

As far as I’m concerned, the design of Barnstorm borders on insanity. It all starts off very conventionally with a swoop from the elevated station into the lift-hill, but all starts going wrong when the lifthill steepens from 45-degrees to 180-degrees – that’s upside-down and we haven’t even left the lift-hill yet.

Maurer Sohne's lap restraints are designed as a comfortable alternative to standard overhead restraints. Picture: Maurer Sohne

What follows is no more orthodox. The lift-hill drops out into a drop that finishes off a 360-degree circle before the train goes through the most abrupt and sharp looking bunny hop ever forged from steel before going through a ‘cuban eight’ which looks like a cobra roll that was smudged on the drawing board.

And all of this is with lap bars.

Maurer have been going to some extraordinary lengths to show just how safe these lap bars are. The deep bucket seats and U-shaped lap bars that swing around from the side are pretty comfortable, and certainly tolerable upside-down, but to demonstrate the inescapability of this restraint, a bendy gymnast had no option but to remain seated with her arms and legs inside the car at all times as repeated efforts to writhe out went un-rewarded.

Meanwhile, train loads of passengers have been suspended upside-down over car parks from a crane as if to show in a particularly voyeuristic fashion just how safe these restraints are.

But, it’s better than that.

Whilst almost every ride in the park has an adversary at Alton Towers which always invites comparison between the two parks (Splash Canyon Vs Congo River Rapids, Haunting Vs Hex, Apocalypse Vs Oblivion, Pandemonium Vs Submission etc), Barnstorm will be without compare - not only at Alton, but internationally, too.

N is for... Nearly New Nomad
Peking Heights, Chessington World of Adventures 

Eclipse at Thorpe Park has always been like playing Stairway to Heaven on hospital radio; it just wasn’t welcome.

Which is odd. Odd because Eclipse was added at a time when Thorpe Park were waging war against younger families with a biker on their website basically telling them to run for the hills and go elsewhere.

Evidently they did (although to Legoland it would appear, not Chessington as intended), and Eclipse was... um... eclipsed by the parks’ ample selection of white-knuckle rides.

Consequently, Eclipse soon became one of the most unpopular rides in the park with even Zodiac getting more riders per hour. Eclipse’s fate was sealed, and – as expected – the ride would make its way to Chessington World of Adventures.

After a re-theme, changes by Fabbri to improve reliability, the ride will open on the site of Samurai, the Top Scan which ironically was moved to Thorpe Park only last year, as Peking Heights.

Peking Heights will certainly be more at home at Chessington – it’s where families come first (©™® etc, etc), yet the ride still has only a limited appeal.

Firstly, it’s a big wheel. Sugar coat it by calling it an observation wheel all you want, but, at the end of the day, it really is a hugely basic big wheel. And it’s a small big wheel too. And many people would have ridden it already, and – let’s be honest here – Chessington really isn’t that scenic a park.

This isn’t to say it’s a bad choice. But the problem is thus:

Peking Heights doesn't have much potential to be wheely good.

Land of the Dragons was supposed to draw families in and basically tell them that Chessington is going for the family park jugular. Land of the Dragons is all very nice and lar-de-dar, but it was crippled by budget cuts and opened with two rides less than planned.

Nevertheless, it just about did the trick, but getting a hand-me-down from Thorpe Park really distorts the clear signal that Chessington mean business. This moment in time is supposed to be a grand milestone, much like Transylvania was fifteen years ago.

There is a saying that you have to speculate to accumulate. Chessington's masterplan seemed to embrace this ideal, yet the evidence to support this philosophy is greatly distorted by virtue of the fact a budget-cut area is followed by a basic second-hand ride. 

O is for... Ocean's Odyssey
Atlantica, Europa Park

Europa Park evidently caused bit of a storm with Poseidon. Despite there only being a handful of water coasters globally, Poseidon has embedded itself firmly within Europa Park’s lineup and quickly became one of the most popular rides in the park.

It would have been easy for the park to rest on their laurels and just enjoy the success of their ride, but Europa Park are opening yet another water coaster, Atlantica.

Atlantica, previously known as Super Splash, brings many new concepts and ideas to Europa Park, but also maintains the features that make Poseidon such a popular ride.

The ride will include a backwards drop, and will be a much larger ride than Poseidon, yet fans of Poseidon will rejoice at the prospect of another spectacularly themed family water ride – the very reason Poseidon is so popular in the first place.

Atlantica embodies the spirit of a 16th Century Portuguese port, forming the centrepiece of Portugal, coincidentally adjacent to Spain and Hotel Alcatraz.

P is for... Pinfari’s Pilgrimage
'Klonedike', Hayling Island
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Hayling Island seems to be a popular destination for rides that other parks don’t want. Last year, rather belatedly, Trocadero’s Intamin Giant Drop was modified to run up the side of a structure within the park, and this year the park has the dubious honour of receiving Drayton Manor’s Klonedike Mine Train.

The aging Pinfari Zyklon coaster was given its marching orders by Drayton Manor who have had the ride since 1995, itself replacing another Pinfari Zyklon, Python, removing it to make way for Barnstormer.

Put simply, the yet-unnamed coaster is a poor excuse for a ride surely by anybody’s standard. The claim of having a loop in a roller coaster has been nothing to brag about since the mid-eighties, and with the ride consisting of progressively more aggressive dips and turns, there has to be better ways to spend two minutes of your time.

Q is for... "Quiet on the Set!"
Parks with little or no plans for 2005

There are a lot of parks that have no plans for expansion in 2005, or at least haven’t shown any signs of adding major new attractions.

Movie World is having a quiet year - probably in more ways the one.

One such example is Movie World Madrid, which hasn’t added a major attraction since opening. It’s safe to say that with 1.1 million visitors a year, the park hasn’t yet met expectations, and last year a 99 year contract with the park and Six Flags was written off.

Needless to say, the self-managed park will be busy making plans on how to turn the park's fortunes around, and that could well include more rides and attractions in the future.

A park with similar woes, Walt Disney Studios, is also having a subdued year in 2005. Like Movie World Madrid, this is a park with serious attendance issues, as well as the resort battling $2.9 billion in debt.

While an action plan of new rides has been announced, there will be no major investment at Disney Studios this year, as Toon Studios doesn’t open until 2007 with the next major attraction, Tower of Terror, not opening until 2008.

Other parks conspicuous by their absence from the new years’ role call include Oakwood, whose Gerstauler beyond vertical drop coaster gets pushed back to 2007, and Efteling, where there have long been rumours about a new dark ride, yet nothing of any substance.

Smaller parks like Miribilandia and Holiday Park are also having quiet years, whilst the success of Tivoli Gardens’ Dæmonen carries them through to next year with only a new show and general park improvements planned.

Fantasy Island are having a quiet year for a change. Since the Millennium Coaster which opened – misleadingly – in 1999, the park have heavily invested, adding rides such as Beast, Jubilee Odyssey, Absolutely Insane, Eye on the Coast, Amazing Confusion and G-Force (though this has now left the park).