Playland’s Castaway Cove Announces New Roller Coaster
Playland’s Castaway Cove made an announcement Tuesday to construct a major new roller coaster for the summer 2016 season.
The 125-foot-tall coaster dubbed as GaleForce will feature a triple-launch, speeds of 64-mph, seven “thrilling” elements including a beyond-90-degree drop as it winds its way around the track. Playland is between 10th and 11th streets on the Ocean City Boardwalk. Check out the video below.
Playland’s Castaway Cove Vice President Brian Hartley said the company has been quietly working on the project for several years.
“We’ve tried to keep it quiet. We’ve been working on it on and off for about three years,” he said. “This is something our owner, Scott Simpson, has really wanted for a long time. He’s really wanted to bring a new dynamic coaster here with cutting edge technology.”
The new ride will replace the Python Coaster and the Flitzer Roller Coaster near the 10th Street side of the amusement park, Hartley also said that a roller coaster and other rides still under design will also be added near the new GaleForce.
“It’s going where our two roller coasters are now,” he said. “There’s actually going to be another coaster that’s going in. I can’t talk about the details of that yet, but it’s going wrap around that coaster.”
Guests should expect to be thrilled on GaleForce. The 12-passenger ride utilizes a three-tier stadium seating design with four seats per row. The harness will wrap over the passengers’ shoulders.
The Ocean City Boardwalk is home to two amusement parks, Playland’s Castaway Cove between Ninth and 10th Street, and Gillian’s Wonderland Pier at Sixth Street, catering to families and young children. Because of their demographic, Playland has strived to keep the new coasters accessible to most of its customer base.
At 125-feet, Gale Force will be slightly higher than the 110-foot Double Shot ride at the park.
“It’s definitely huge,” Hartley said. “Obviously, we have a very small footprint here, so we tried to design something that utilizes its own track.”
Hartley is referring to the launch system, which takes riders forward, then backward before launching them around the track. He said he and other Playland staff traveled to San Francisco several years ago where they tried a coaster with a similar launch system.
Although the cost of the ride has yet to be released, construction is scheduled to begin mid-January with the ride opening in May, after a 30-day test period. GaleForce will be engineered and manufactured by S&S Sansei Technologies of Logan, Utah, who also designed the Double Shot 20 years ago.
For tickets and more details about Playland, visit their official website by clicking here.
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