Stinger (Dorney Park)

Last updated
Stinger
Previously known as Invertigo at California's Great America
Stinger Dorney Park 01.jpg
Stinger when it operated at Dorney Park
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
StatusRemoved
Opening dateApril 28, 2012 (2012-04-28)
Closing dateOctober 29, 2017 (2017-10-29)
Replaced Laser
California's Great America
StatusRelocated to Dorney Park
Opening dateMarch 21, 1998 (1998-03-21)
Closing dateJanuary 27, 2011 (2011-01-27)
Replaced by RailBlazer
General statistics
Type Steel  Shuttle  Inverted
Manufacturer Vekoma
ModelInvertigo
Lift/launch systemCable lift hill
Height131.3 ft (40.0 m)
Length367 ft (112 m)
Speed50.6 mph (81.4 km/h)
Inversions 3
Duration1:30
Height restriction54 in (137 cm)
TrainsSingle train with 7 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 28 riders per train.
Stinger at RCDB
Pictures of Stinger at RCDB

Stinger (formerly Invertigo) was a shuttle roller coaster located at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The coaster, a Boomerang model manufactured by Vekoma, originally opened at California's Great America on March 21, 1998. After more than a decade of operation, it was relocated to Dorney Park in 2011, where it was repainted and renamed Stinger. It closed permanently in 2017 and was demolished prior to the 2018 season. [1] [2] In 2019, Stinger's trains were moved to Kings Island, where they were used on Invertigo.

Contents

History

Invertigo: 1998–2011

Stinger when it was at California's Great America as Invertigo. Invertigo At Great America.jpg
Stinger when it was at California's Great America as Invertigo.

Stinger originally opened in 1998 at California's Great America where it opened as Invertigo and featured a yellow and light blue color scheme. [3] The roller coaster operated for nearly thirteen years before being relocated to Dorney Park, where it was repainted with a cyan and blue color scheme and was renamed to Stinger. Invertigo's previous location was reused for the construction of RailBlazer.

Stinger: 2012–2017

Stinger opened at Dorney Park on April 28, 2012, where it received a brand new cyan and blue color scheme. An incident on May 3, 2014, resulted in a temporary closure when the coaster experienced a rollback that injured two riders – both were transported to the hospital. [4]

During the 2017 offseason, it was announced by Dorney Park that Stinger would be removed to make way for future development. The coaster was demolished in April 2018. [5] [2] [6]

Ride experience

The layout of Stinger Vekoma Invertigo layout.png
The layout of Stinger

Stinger was a Vekoma Invertigo coaster, which is an inverted version of the Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster where riders sit face-to-face, staring at fellow passengers through the course of the ride. The train completes the circuit twice, running in the opposite direction as it returns to the station. This gives riders the opportunity to experience the ride in both directions, moving forwards and backwards. Many riders complained of neck pain due to the jerking motion of the ride.

The ride began when the train was pulled backwards from the station and up a 138-foot-tall (42 m) lift hill. It was held for several seconds before it released riders into a 130-foot (40 m) drop that sent them 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) through the loading station. The train then entered a Cobra roll element that transitioned into a vertical loop. When it exited the loop, the train climbed the second lift hill, making it most of the way up on its own momentum. Once towed to the top, the train was quickly released, which sent riders through the ride in reverse before being caught by the first lift hill and returned to the loading station. [7]

Related Research Articles

Vekoma roller coaster and thrill ride designer

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Shuttle roller coaster type of roller coaster that does a back-and-forth circuit

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Giant Inverted Boomerang Steel roller coaster

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Boomerang: Coast to Coaster

Boomerang: Coast to Coaster is a steel roller coaster of shuttle design currently in use at four different Six Flags & EPR theme parks. The ride was designed and manufactured by Vekoma, and is considered as one of its boomerang models. Each coaster has one train with a capacity of 28, two across in each row. Unlike Vekoma's suspended trains, "Boomerang: Coast to Coaster" operates a sit-down design. When the coaster starts, the train is pulled backwards up the lift hill, then dropped through the loading gate through a cobra roll and then one loop. At the end of this cycle the train is pulled up the lift hill at the end of the track, then dropped once again allowing the train to go back through the loops backwards, hence the name "Boomerang: Coast to Coaster."

Nighthawk (roller coaster) Steel roller coaster

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The Jester (roller coaster) roller coaster

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Sidewinder (Hersheypark) roller coaster

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Zoomerang (Lake Compounce)

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Thunderhawk (Michigans Adventure)

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Sea Serpent (Moreys Piers)

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References

  1. "Stinger - Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA)". rcdb.com. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  2. 1 2 http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2018/03/exclusive-photos-of-deconstruction-of.html
  3. "Invertigo - California's Great America (Santa Clara, California, USA)". rcdb.com. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  4. 69 News. "Two injured on Dorney Park's Stinger coaster". WFMZ. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  5. "NewsPlusNotes: Dorney Park to Remove Stinger Roller Coaster". newsplusnotes.blogspot.com. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  6. https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/88whbg/stinger_at_dorney_confirmed_to_be_scrapped/
  7. "Invertigo at Kings Island official site". Kings Island. Retrieved February 1, 2012.