SeaWorld San Antonio announces Catapult Falls, a launched flume
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From the press release:
SeaWorld San Antonio is thrilled to share that the much- anticipated “Catapult Falls” will now open in Spring 2024. The groundbreaking coaster will be the world’s first launched flume coaster with North America’s only vertical lift. It also will have riders screaming in anticipation of a speedy downward plunge with the steepest drop of any flume ride.
“Sometimes it takes a little delayed gratification to produce something completely innovative; it was important to us to ensure that our first-of-its-kind water flume coaster is perfected in every part of the ride experience and that is what we have done,” said Jodi Davenport, President of SeaWorld San Antonio. “We know our guests are going to agree it was worth the wait once they take their first jaw-dropping plunge on the world’s first launched flume coaster.”
“Catapult Falls” will combine the thrill of a launched roller coaster, the excitement of a vertical lift elevator that lifts riders above the theme park, and a water flume ride with the steepest drop, to produce multiple rushes of adrenaline as well as moments of exciting splashes to cool guests down.
Eleven boats, each with eight riders, will catapult through the launch at speeds of 30 feet per second, allowing riders to feel the rush of a coaster while experiencing the rocking and swaying of riding on a track of water. After winding through a series of twists and turns, “Catapult Falls” uses a state-of-the-art elevator, the only one on the continent in an attraction of this kind, to lift guests up seven feet per second to reach a height of over 55 feet.
Once at the peak of the ride, guests will experience the world’s steepest drop in a flume attraction! Angled at a staggering 53 degrees, the chute plummets riders into a watery splashdown at over 37 miles per hour. It’s a perfect ride for guests to get wet and cool down in the hot Texas heat.
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Considering it's an Intamin prototype...
I'm sure it won't be operating 50% of the time till 2025 anyway...
If it doesn't ummm.... do something bad first.
Ill say it again here... A launching flume ride doesn't make sense.
Also, a new observation. I know they are going for sleek and clean, but the theming looks so sterile and boring. A lot of recently built rides look like this lately, and it makes me sad. A ride like this might be pretty cool if it had a story that justified why the boat was launching and flying over a small bunny hill. Like you enter a cave and find a sci-fi time tunnel, and when you get to the time tunnel, you race through it into a land of dinosaurs or something.
But theming coasts money$$$.
On a positive note, I love it when a final drop has a bunny hill. Brings to mind Ripsaw Falls at IOA. Even earlier memories... Kings Island's old log flume in Rivertown had a small bunny hill at the bottom of the first drop, and that was about a hundred years ago.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
LostKause:
Kings Island's old log flume in Rivertown had a small bunny hill at the bottom of the first drop, and that was about a hundred years ago
Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal. And I still argue it should've never gotten the axe for the ill-fated Tomb Raider.
I agree and I wasn't suggesting the lack of theming made the park any less fun. We spent of couple of years going pretty frequently when we could take advantage of the free season passes for kids under 5 and teachers. The 4 hour drive and cheap hotels in the area made it a no-brainer for a few weekend trips.
I liked those Arrow Hydro Flumes. I think the only examples in the US left standing are Magic Mountain’s and Hershey’s. The two in Ohio were indeed removed in favor of a bigger and (arguably) better attraction. I don’t know how they were wearing or what kind of needed parts they could get, but MM’s and Hershey’s have been around a long time.
KI’s log ride, weirdly themed to Nickelodeon, got rebuilt with a new flume, which was nice. I believe it was Arrow Log Flume #3. Maybe 4. But it came from Coney, who back then seemed to always be one step behind Cedar Point, installing many similar, up-to-date new attractions.
Vater:
Y'all can suck the fun out of anything.
Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows over here.
Vater:
Y'all can suck the fun out of anything. This looks pretty cool to me.
It is cool. I think everyone is just mocking them at this point for putting out another press release for this ride making it sound like it's a new announcement. They announced it with the same video a year ago. It's fully built. They were even testing it months ago.
Y'all can suck the fun out of anything. This looks pretty cool to me.
I am pretty sure Shoot the Rapids sucked most of it out of us already.
...and that was about as ass basic of a flume ride as you can get and Intamin still managed to almost kill people. Now they're adding a LSM launch, airtime hill, and elevator lift. I think we have a right to be cynical. :)
Let me spit some of the fun that I sucked out back into the conversation.*
When I worked at Cedar Point, about once a week, when I'd get off work early, I'd change into my street clothes, and ride White Water landing over and over, sometimes until the ride closed. If there was no line, they would let me stay on for hours. My boat would enter the rotating platform, I'd have a conversation with one of the ride operators as I move around to the beginning of the ride again. I'd watch the sun set, ride in the dark, and just relax. It was so nice to just get away from all the stress of everything for a while. I could almost have taken a nap. It was fun, if you will...
I am a flume fan. I love them. It bothers me that so many have been removed over the last ten or so years. We need more new flumes to replace the old ones that have left us, even if they have launch tracks and elevator lifts, I suppose.
*That's what she said.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
No LSM launch on Catapult Falls. The launch will be done using two sets of belts placed in the water at a level where the boat will skim the water, shooting water around in a great visual feast.
I went to Vienna last week for IAAPA Expo Europe and went to FamilyPark during one of the event IAAPA organises around the show floor. The park was very, very proud to show off Biberburg, their new for 2022 Intamin next generation flume and they're extremely happy with it. I rode the ride a few times during our end of event ride session and wow, easy contender for best flume in the world. The pacing is fast, water flow is perfect with minimal bumping around the trough. The station, the backward turntable and elevator approach were simplified versus what was done on rides such as Valhalla and Typhoon SeaCoaster. Rather than using drive tires, massive turntables and the like, simple belts driven by motors do the job here, even on the elevator. The result is a fast, silent and smooth experience. The elevator is incredible, very fast and again, using drive belts, much simpler mechanically than what Mack, Hafema and other manufacturers have used before.
The backward turntable is insane: the boat gets on the belts and before it even reaches the end, the belts slide to the right, aligning the boat with the backward drop. Quick release and a small controlled splash later, the boat is heading backward to the elevator.
After the elevator, what is there to say except its the best drop on a flume I have ever experienced? 50 feet tall drop, perfectly angled and calculated leads to a small splash. Then, the boat goes over a perfect floater airtime hill. Due to the boat restraints, actual negative G's were not allowed, but Intamin designer was able to give riders a perfect butterfly in your stomach, floating sensation. Well done Intamin and I hope Catapult Falls is similar in experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixvqUb7aBi0
Beside Intamin, WhiteWater recently opened a large two drops SuperFlume in Vietnam. Inspired by Hopkins tech seen notably on Dollywood flume ride, WhiteWater seems to have done a great job with it.
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