Holiday World announces Mammoth, the longest water coaster in the world
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[Ed. note: The following is an excerpt of a press release. -J]
The largest single-ride investment in Holiday World’s history is announced today: The World’s Longest Water Coaster will open in Splashin' Safari next May.
“We added Wildebeest water coaster last year and it was a runaway hit,” says park president Dan Koch. “So we asked our designers for something even bigger. It’s so huge, we’re calling it Mammoth.”
Located east of Wildebeest, Mammoth will begin with a conveyor ride up the water coaster’s lifthill. Following the five-story drop at a 45-degree angle, linear induction motors (LIMs) will propel the six-person round boats up additional hills, into dark enclosed sections and through twists and turns. Mammoth will cover three acres, increasing the water park’s size to 30 acres.
“The new twist to this water coaster is the six-passenger boats—this is a brand-new design,” says Koch. “These round boats add tremendous capacity, plus riders may be facing forward, backward or even sideways. It’s all the fun of Wildebeest, plus Mammoth is taller, longer and wider. Starting next season we’ll have the two longest water coasters on the planet!”
Mammoth’s tallest elevation is 69 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.
Today’s announcement, on the 65th anniversary of the park’s opening as Santa Claus Land, marks the largest single-ride investment in the park’s history. Koch says the price tag for Mammoth is $9 million. In addition, Koch announced that the park’s 2012 season will be extended to include a family-friendly event called Holiday World’s Happy Halloween Weekends throughout the month of October.
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Sweet. Lord knows Splashin' Safari could use something to spread out more people! Plus it has the added feature of everyone's feet being in the middle of the raft, rather than tucked under the squishy armpits/rolls of the person in front of you.
Watching the live video right now... Apparently they're also adding Halloween/fall festival weekends next October.
So it's safe to say Wildebeest was a success? Can't wait to ride!
As an enthusiast, I'm disappointed. But it will be interesting to see if there is a market for multiple water coaster attractions. Perhaps Holiday World is starting a trend.
When my daughter and I were there a couple weeks ago, the waterpark was absolutely mobbed. We got in line for Wildebeest, which had a posted hour wait, but wilted before we could get very far and gave up.
My author website: mgrantroberts.com
I slept through Wildebeest ERT at last years Holiwood Nights much to my dismay to have to wait through the hour line- though well worth it. Its hands down the best waterpark attraction on the planet so it's nice to know the line will shorten and I will get to try a possibly even better version in Mammoth.
I'm sheriff of this here rollercoaster.
Think about what Splashin' Safari has now:
2 Wave pools
2 Lazy rivers
2 Kids play structures with the big dumping bucket
2 Toddler slide play areas
2 Four person raft slides (Watubee and Zoombabwe)
2 "Drop and flush" type rides (Zinga and Bakuli)
and next year...
2 giant linear induction water coasters
This is amazing to me... most parks have one of only some of these.
Mammoth looks great! I think the "face-to-face" seating will be a hit.
Looks great, although I have to admit I was excited about the speculation of them installing a skyride.
AV Matt
Long live the Big Bad Wolf
Wonder if they will change the name to Splashin' Safari & Holiday World? ;)
Looks like a great ride. Mammoth is accurate! I'm not surprised they added another water coaster (considering the lines for Wildebeest), but I am surprised how quickly it happened. I wonder how much that raft will rotate? Interestingly enough the reaction from the GP (facebook, newspaper comments, etc) is surprisingly mixed.
Gotta love the announcement regarding a Halloween event!
How is this a new chapter in the HW history? Yea it breaks a record, but it is one they already have. Kind of like a track runner breaking his own record, big deal...
From what I have read and witnessed, Wildebeest consistently has the longest wait times of any attraction at the park. Adding Mammoth will certainly help with that and improve the overall guest experience.
It has been quite a while since they have added to the dry park so I am hoping that 2013 will bring us something to get excited about.
Before you can be older and wiser you first have to be young and stupid.
DaveStroem said:
It has been quite a while since they have added to the dry park so I am hoping that 2013 will bring us something to get excited about.
Oh yeah! Reason to celibrate in addition to me having 3 yrs sober ('clean & sober') today! I will celebrate by running through sprinklers and going to see Cowboys vs. Aliens.
I knew it. This is the perfect attraction for the park (for now!). I thought maybe they did something sneaky and made Wildebeest able to add a second track, guess this is even better.
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