Disney announces new coaster for Animal Kingdom, opening date for Mission: Space

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday a new roller coaster attraction for Disney's Animal Kingdom. The new Expedition Everest roller coaster will be contained in a 200-foot artificial mountain. They also announced a soft opening of August 15 for Mission: Space at Epcot, a motion simulation ride that will simulate space filght.

Read more from The Orlando Sentinel.

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Maybe i didnt catch on to it, but it doesnt indicate anywhere in the article what type of coaster it is. They might want to pull something in thats really unique if they want to beat IoA in coasters.

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G-Forces: The only positive addiction out there!
CoasterCount: 42

I doubt it with AK being more of a family park. Disney wants something semi thrilling but also something the whole family can ride. I expect it to be a little more thrilling than Space Mountain with lots of special effects but nothing really intense.

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Mike
Favorite Wood: Viper at SFGAM,Shivering Timbers
Favorite Steel: Magnum and Raging Bull

It is supposed to be a custom Vekoma Family Coaster. It will have the capability of travelling forwards and backwards. I donĀ“t know if this is achieved by rotating cars or by seperated tracks.

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i was a teenage rollercoaster designer

i'm thinking this coaster will have some intense parts to it, but hey, i thought space mountain in disneyland anaheim was quite intense, and i have ridden intense coasters! (look at my name^^)

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Colossus [1]
Nemesis: Inferno [6]

Well, with LIMs there are a lot of possibilities. Wasn't Maelstrom one of the first flume rides to have backward fluming? In that case the log slides into a transfer chute which rotates and sends the log backwards down the next hill. The process is reversed to get the log going in the forward direction again.

It may not be a stretch these days to say you could do something similar with transfer track and LIMs.

You can do a lot with a 200 ft. mountain. It'd be cool if it was a hypercoaster, then you will "reached the top."

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Im cold......

I'm just glad that Disney seems to finally be figuring out that they have to spend money and add quality attractions to their parks if they want customers to keep coming back. With Mission Space, Expedition Everest, and even smaller additions like Mickey's Philharmagic in Magic Kingdom and the reprogramming ot TOT, I finally have reasons to want to get back to WDW again in the future.
Anybody else find Expedition Everest very similar to the Matterhorn Bobsleds concept at the original Disney theme park? This time, it upgrades the concept and theme to fit within thrill-standards of modern day.
From what I know about it, it will be designed by Vekoma, but I don't know if I would label it a family coaster since it will have the largest drop of any coaster at WDW as well as a top speed of 55mph!! I doubt it will be at the same level of Hulk or Kraken, but I think it will be on par with Rock 'n Roller Coaster at MGM, if not a little better!! (just my opinion though)

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Kick The Sky's avatar
Anybody ever build a reverser coaster in RCT? Maybe that is what they are doing to some extent...

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Bob Hansen

Operation Wicked Twister
Goal: Lose enough weight (50lbs) to ride Wicked Twister in 2K3
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Personally, I don't think this ride will be anything like Matterhorn. This ride will be themed different, and it looks like from the modle that it won't have the same track or anything. See the model here. It looks like the straight piece up near the upper left will be the station and from there you will wind down through bamboo trees and ruins. Then from there you go in the mountain, and with the ride. It looks like the ride is gonna have a helix like Son of Beast. Maybe I'm wrong, like usual but it doesn't look the same like Matterhorn. The only thing that is the same between the two is the Yeti.
Maybe it will be the same design as Rockin' Rollercoaster...and they think no one will notice the difference..

Man Disney's cheap with them Vekoma selves...you know they could do better...

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For the sake of yourself, don't take anything I say seriously.

Astrofreak- No, it won't be anything like Rockin' Rollercoaster. If you look at the model that I posted above you can see that it doesn't look anything like roller coaster. And Disney's not being to cheap on this ride, it is said to cost somewhere around 100 million dollars.
Maybe you should have read my signature...

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For the sake of yourself, don't take anything I say seriously.

I think AK is a family themed park, but the rides they have in there at the moment are pretty intense, so I can imagine them putting an intense coaster in there. way more than any of the mountains. As far as the Rockn Roller Coaster goes, that ride is awesome and dont think this coaster would be up to par with it (unless they change their minds and surprise us with a hyper- that would be sweet).That;s a huge blow to the RRC. (in my opinion).

What's up with the ride they are replaced Kong with at Universal. Rumor had it, that was supposed to be similar to the RRC., not to change the subject. Sorry.

Anyway. Any new ride at AK will be great, but it doesn't (the model at least) look like it will compare to the biggies at IOA or Kraken. But, it may be still too soon to tell. Can't wait to find out.

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