Wildebeest - Coming to Holiday World in May 2010.

[Anonymous]

http://www.holidayworld.com/rides/wildebeest

Can you tame the Wildebeest? He’s a fast-moving rascal! Wildebeest is the World’s Longest Water Coaster, opening in May at Splashin' Safari. When we say Wildebeest is long, we really mean it. Wildebeest is one-third of a mile long and it will thrill riders for two-and-a-half splashing minutes of hills, drops, twists and turns.

Located to the north of Bahari wave pool, Wildebeest will begin with a conveyor ride up the water coaster’s lifthill. Following the four-story drop at a 45-degree angle, linear induction motors (LIMs) will propel the four-person rafts up seven additional hills, through three tunnels (two of them underground) and around a helix. Wildebeest will cover more than two acres; its top speed will hit 36 feet per second. Wildebeest’s tallest elevation is 64 feet higher than its lowest drop; the conveyor-style lifthill replaces any slide-tower stairs, making the water coaster accessible to riders who might have difficulty walking up stairs.

Geek Out with Will:
“The linear induction motor technology for shooting the rafts up the hills is fascinating,” says park president Will Koch, who earned an electrical engineering degree at Notre Dame. “An alternating magnetic field beneath the slide surface propels the rafts, pushing them rapidly and smoothly uphill. LIM technology is a popular feature in some steel roller coasters; it’s cool to see it applied to water coasters, too.”

Type: HydroMagnetic Rocket

Height: 64 feet

Length: 1/3 mile (1,710 feet)

Highest Drop: 38 feet at 45-degree angle

Drops: 7 drops, totaling 178 feet

Linear Induction Motors: 8

Top Speed: 36 feet/second (24 mph/38.4 km/h)

Average Speed: 20 feet/second (13 mph/20.8 km/h)

Tunnels: 3 (2 underground)

Ride Time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

World Record: World’s Longest Water Coaster

Rafts: Four-person toboggan-style with seatbacks

Theme: Wildebeest is a swift-moving safari animal

Designer: ProSlide Technology Inc., Ontario, Canada.


Opening in Holiday World, May of 2010.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Looks exciting.

But I didn't know that a mere 521 meters were enough to claim the title "longest watercoaster". Using 2 min 30 sec on that trip... well, you can walk faster...

Should still be a great addition to Holiday world, and another step towards overcoming the management's propersteelcoasterophobia. I look forward to seeing how this will turn out.

 

[Inverse]

Another is it/is it not a coaster ride. I personally don't think so, it's not got any wheels, it must be a water slide. You're not so much as coasting, as sliding...

Whatever it is, looks like a lot of fun.

 

[Jools]

Just going to say, remind me of that new water slide at Typhoon Lagoon in Florida, but longer obviously.

 

[Snoo]

Their water park is quite amazing even without this.. should be a good addition.

 

[tomahawk]

The water park is a huge hit, and I am sure this will even do even more for it. I may have to make another trip and test this out, well and ride Voyage again.

 

[Gazza]

Another is it/is it not a coaster ride.

Not really...There are heaps of uphill water slides out there by various manufacturers...Some use powerful water jets, some use high speed conveyers, this one uses LIMs combined with metal plates sewn into the bottom of the rafts. But none of these have ever really had debate on whether it is a coaster or not.

But I didn't know that a mere 521 meters were enough to claim the title "longest watercoaster". Using 2 min 30 sec on that trip... well, you can walk faster...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking#Walking_velocity
It says there that the average human walking speed is 80m a minute, so in 2.5 mins you'd walk 200m.

Bear in mind that ride time would include the slower part going up the first conveyor anyway.

It may not sound long compared to other rides out there, but a 521m long water slide is serious business....Most others tend to max out at around 150-180m simply because the start tower begins to get a bit tall. Here of course they can keep it going by boosting it uphill again.

Looks quite awesome actually.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I actually think these water coasters are boring, but hey, any addition is good for that park, really. It's not a huge park so pretty much anything is decent for it.

Yay for them!

 

[yinyang]

This would be a great asset for the park, a park of this size would thrive from this I think, look forward to seeing it there and riding it.

 

[Lofty]

Pro-slide really are the B&M/Intamin of the waterpark world. Youca nnot beat their slides, they run excellent and feel much more comfier then any other slides!

This looks really fun, to be honest, I never see anything that doesn't have a splash down as a water slide, fun non-the-less!

 

[Ollie]

Master Blaster type rides like this are usually really boring. This one does look quite good though but it's still nothing special.