.
Water Coasters Finally Make a Splash
Montanha Russa , SuperSplash, Vliegende Hollander, Splash Coaster

In the eight years since Mack opened their first Water Coaster at Sea World Atlantis, all has been quiet on the western front with little or not activity from this most amphibious of rides.

Buzzsaw Falls opened – and soon closed – at Silver Dollar City in America, an offering from American company Premier (also known for their prowess with launched coasters... and in fact little else) as was Vonkaputous at Linnanmäki.

Meanwhile Poseidon opened at Europa Park in Germany as if to showcase Mack’s abilities given 2742ft of track, four minutes of your time and several million gallons of water.

Given the space of the best part of a decade, that’s not the most illustrious history.

The Chinese say 2006 is the year of the dog, yet – far be it from us to debunk centuries of tradition – 2006 is actually the year of the Water Coaster. There are at least four opening around Europe alone, two of which are from Mack, the other two being prototypes.

Portugal gets one of its first major coasters in the form of Montanha Russa, which opens in March at Aquashow Fun Family Park, which is in the Algarve. The ride is apparently a virtual carbon copy of Poseidon with a few extra feet to its advantage, but it’s a great first major coaster for an otherwise neglected country.

Top: Plopsaland, Bottom: Mack Plopsaland vs Europa Plopsaland Europa Height 79ft 98ft Speed 42mph 49mph Length 984ft 1279ft Elements Vertical lift turntable Turntables, backwards section

A country less neglected, meanwhile, is Belgium, where Plopsaland is set to open a yet-unnamed Mack SuperSplash. This pirate-themed giant splash ride includes a 75ft tall enclosed vertical lift directly into the main drop. Presumably, like all other SuperSplash rides to date, Plopsaland’s will include a post-drop bunny-hop before returning to the station.

Dutch company Kumbak, who formed following the insolvency of Vekoma several years ago, are set to open their first full-scale coaster this year - Vliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman) – a surprisingly long (nearly 4 minutes) and unfeasibly expensive (nearly €20m EUR - £13.6 GBP) Water Coaster.

Part dark ride, part coaster, the building that houses Vliegende Hollander already gives a blatant indication of the level of detail going into the ride in terms of theming. It’s a cliché (although we’re normally the first to encourage them), but this really does look close to Disney’s standard of theming.

Speaking of Disney, like many Disney rides, Vliegende Hollander opts for a dual-loading station, much like Air or Big Thunder Mountain, which means an already high capacity ride is aided by the loading of at least two boats at the same time. Vliegende Hollander has a decent theoretical capacity of 1800 people per hour.

Your boat – one of eleven, seating 14 - then sails through six dark ride scenes telling the story of the fabled Flying Dutchman ghost ship, many using effects so-far unseen on dark rides, before climbing to a height of 73ft, swooping down a drop, through a tunnel, over a bunny hop into a horseshoe bend before splashing down.

Vliegende Hollander is more coaster than water ride – although you navigate the ride in galleon-shaped boats, unlike Poseidon and Journey to Atlantis, they never leave the tracks, not even in the dark ride section.

Despite the imposing tower, and contrary to initial reports, it doesn’t appear that the coaster has a vertical lift, but nevertheless Vliegende Hollander looks to be a unique ride, both in terms of track elements and the actual ride itself. Worst-case scenario, it might be utterly forgettable, but you can’t blame the park for not trying.

Elsewhere on the continent, European company L&T Systems have sold their first Splash Coaster to Spanish showmen Miguel Angel Banuls Loez and Enrique Banlus Bajo.

So, who are L&T Systems? Well, L&T Systems are... actually, I’m not sure. I’ll have to get back to you.

Seated in a four-seater hovercraft-themed car, riders float through some 270ft of water channels and navigate 1029ft of track with a maximum height of 45ft. Designed by Ingenieurbüro Stengel, this is a compact, family-sized coaster starting with a series of wild mouse-style turns, with swooping drops, helixes and a splashdown into an 8408-gallon reservoir.

Having stalled for time, I’ve done my research now. L&T, based in Italy, have around 30 coasters to their credit, mostly family coasters and Wild Mice. They also manufacture transportable log flumes that – to me, the layman – appear to be a near carbon copy of Reverchon’s ride.

As the first true transportable water coaster, this ride looks like it could make quite a splash. Not forgetting the family appeal (the cars, for example, seat four adults and two children), the coaster is of a pretty decent size, and while one concession with most travelling water rides is length, Splash Coaster looks to cram a noble amount of elements and track length into a relatively conservative 144ft by 65ft plot.

It will be interesting to see whether Splash Coaster starts a wave of similar rides. If not, we’re happy with L&T Systems’ entry into so-far uncharted territory. Continues....