Bobbejaanland is a theme park in Lichtaart, Belgium. The park was founded by Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Flemish singer, guitarist, and entertainer who enjoyed international success in the fifties and early sixties. In 1959, he bought a 30 hectare marsh, had it drained and built a 1,000 capacity venue that opened in December 1961 as Bobbejaanland. This developed into an amusement park and remained in his possession until he sold it in 2004.
The launched roller coaster is a modern form of roller coaster. A launched coaster initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains, or other mechanisms employing hydraulic or pneumatic power, along a launch track. This mode of acceleration powers many of the fastest rollercoasters in the world.
Superman: Escape from Krypton, originally known as Superman: The Escape, is a steel shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. When it opened in 1997, it was the tallest roller coaster in the world, and its maximum speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) was tied for the fastest with Tower of Terror II, a similar roller coaster which opened two months earlier at Dreamworld in Australia. Both were the first to utilize Linear Synchronous Motor (LSM) launch technology to propel vehicles, although the intended opening date in 1996 at Magic Mountain was postponed due to issues with the launch system.
Rita, formerly known as Rita: Queen of Speed, is a launched roller coaster located in the Dark Forest section of Alton Towers amusement park in Staffordshire Moorlands, England. Designed by Intamin, the Accelerator Coaster model opened to the public on 1 April 2005. It features an acceleration from 0 to 98.3 km/h (61.1 mph) in 2.5 seconds. The ride is loosely-themed to a drag racing concept, which partly changed when the section of the park transformed from "Ug Land" into the "Dark Forest" in 2010, when the ride TH13TEEN was added into that section. It is now themed as an abandoned drag racer that is used as the escape cart to escape the Dark Forest.
A rollback occurs on a launched roller coaster when the train is not launched fast enough to reach the top of the tower or hill. It will roll backwards down the tower, and will be stopped by brakes on the launch track. Any roller coaster on which it is possible for a rollback to occur will have these brakes. Intamin, a manufacturer of roller-coasters, refers to the "rollback" as a "short shot".
Shaman is a steel roller coaster located at Gardaland, Castelnuovo del Garda near Verona, Italy. Manufactured by Vekoma, the roller coaster originally opened as Magic Mountain, featuring Arrow Dynamics trains, which were replaced with newer Vekoma trains in 2008. A VR experience and additional new theming was added to the ride in 2017, and it was renamed Shaman. The VR was removed the following year. In November 2020, Gardaland began removing parts of the track. It was replaced with new track pieces, similar to what was done on Python at Efteling, to improve the smoothness of the ride experience. The supports & other theming items were also repainted to improve the theming of the area.
Furius Baco is a hydraulically launched steel roller coaster located at PortAventura Park in the resort PortAventura World, Salou, Catalonia, Spain. Manufactured by Intamin, the ride opened on June 5, 2007 as the fastest roller coaster in Europe at 83.9 mph, which the ride reaches in 3 seconds, although this record has since been surpassed by Red Force at neighboring Ferrari Land. Since opening, the ride has experienced some technical problems, and as a result has had to shut down for varying periods of time during opening hours.
The Illusion is a fully enclosed tubular steel roller coaster, manufactured by Vekoma. It runs on Vekoma's narrow MK-700 track system. Two were built, both in 1989, Chaos in Opryland USA (Tennessee), and Revolution / Mount Mara in Bobbejaanland (Belgium). Only the one in Bobbejaanland is still active.
An Impulse roller coaster is a form of a launched inverted roller coaster manufactured by Intamin. The first Impulse roller coaster appeared in Japan, and the ride type has since evolved to include four specific layouts, three of these varieties being built in the United States. It uses LIMs to launch a train out of the station and up a vertical spiral. The train then falls backward, is powered again through the station, and heads up a back tower. The train then falls forward, and continues in this fashion for a total of 2½ cycles per ride. On the final forward launch, with a slightly reduced speed, the train is sent up the front tower, and brakes then deploy on the launch track. The train then slows down and heads back into the station.
Mr. Freeze is a launched shuttle roller coaster located at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas, with another installation known as Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast at Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri. The steel coasters feature a linear induction motor (LIM) launch system that accelerate riders from 0–70 mph (0–113 km/h) in 3.8 seconds. The two installations are mirror images of one another and are themed to the famous Batman villain Mr. Freeze. Originally, they were themed after the 1997 film Batman & Robin prior to a conversion in 2012 to operate backward. The Over Texas version returned to forward operation in 2022, but in July 2023 started operating with one train launching backward and one train launching forward to offer different experiences.
Dreamcatcher is a roller coaster in Bobbejaanland in Belgium. Originally opening in 1987 as Air Race, Dreamcatcher was designed and built by Vekoma. It was Europe's first suspended roller coaster.
Untamed is a Rocky Mountain Construction hybrid steel-wood roller coaster at Walibi Holland, a theme park in the Netherlands. Untamed replaced Robin Hood, a wooden roller coaster that closed on 28 October 2018.
Formuła is a steel launched roller coaster at Energylandia in Zator, Poland. It was the first Space Warp Launch Coaster built by Dutch manufacturer Vekoma and opened on 25 June 2016. It has a height of 24.7 metres (81 ft), reaches a maximum speed of 79.2 kilometres per hour (49.2 mph), has a track length of 560 metres (1,840 ft), and features three inversions.
Star Trek: Operation Enterprise is a steel launched roller coaster at Movie Park Germany in Bottrop, Germany. The ride was manufactured by German company Mack Rides and opened to guests on 24 May 2017; however, its official opening ceremony took place on 14 June 2017.
Pulsar is a steel launched shuttle roller coaster at Walibi Belgium in Wavre, Belgium. It opened on 4 June 2016 as the first PowerSplash model by German manufacturer Mack Rides.
Max & Moritz are a pair of duelling powered roller coasters manufactured by Mack Rides opened in 2020 at theme park Efteling in the Netherlands. The coasters replace the bobsled roller coaster at the same location, with both attractions utilising the station building of their predecessor. The ride is based on the 1865 German illustrated story Max and Moritz by Wilhelm Busch.
Taiga is a steel roller coaster located at the Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. Taiga is the tallest (52m), fastest (106km/h) and longest (1,104m) roller coaster in Finland.
Kondaa is a steel roller coaster at Walibi Belgium in Wavre, Belgium. First unveiled at the IAAPA 2018 Expo, the coaster marks the end of a three-year park investment plan and upon opening became the tallest and fastest coaster in the Benelux region, as well as the park's ninth coaster. Kondaa features a top speed of 70.2 mph (113.0 km/h), a notable 15 airtime moments, and the world's first non-inverting cobra roll element.
The Ride to Happiness is a steel spinning roller coaster located at Plopsaland De Panne in Adinkerke, Belgium. It is Europe's first Mack Rides Xtreme Spinning Coaster, and holds the record for the most inversions on a spinning coaster. The attraction is themed to the world-famous Tomorrowland electronic dance music festival, annually held in Boom, Belgium.
