Bolliger & Mabillard had on their stand one of the front car for Fury 325 on display.  Opening in March 2015, this record breaking Giga Coaster helped Carowinds (Charlotte) redevelop their main entrance and provided them with a high capacity roller coaster that drove impressive attendance growth.  The ride itself broke a few records:  largest drop on a non-launched roller coaster (320 feet), longest steel roller coaster in North America (6602 feet long) and joins Steel Dragon (at Nagashima Spaland in Japan) as fastest non-launched roller coasters in the world (95 mph).

The car feature huge road wheels and on-board lighting.

At the client request, Bolliger & Mabillard installed seatbelts as a secondary restraint to the lap bar.

Polin Waterparks introduced in 2006 RTM (Resin-Transfer Molding) technology which revolutionized the water slide manufacturing process.  It is a cleaner and more efficient manufacturing process that also allows new ideas with the look and feel of the slide.

Last year at IAAPA, Polin showed off last year at IAAPA a slide section that had beautiful sea life seemingly painted inside the tube and would give a unique view when coming down.  Interest in that new technology has been great and combined with the gorgeous theming already offered, the booth this year was changed to an “Art Gallery”.  Many tube styles were on display and we will describe them along with the following pictures.

Photo of that slide segment showed last year at IAAPA Attraction Expo 2014.

Honey Comb use various metals and geometrical shapes to create unique patterns.

Triangulated use visually pleasing triangular shapes to give a unique look.

Reflection gorgeous reflective look come from the metallic tones used in the RTM fabrication process.

Mosaic replicates the unique Italian art of Tesserae.  As beautiful as it looks, it is still one single piece of fiberglass and Polin offers it in many colors.

Polin provided this picture of the Graffiti style.  The possibilities are effectively endless since everything from licensed characters to quick spray paint drawings can be molded into the slide. http://www.polin.com.tr/

The idea behind the Wood ‘N Slide is to better integrate slides into a forest or wood setting.  Polin worked with wood specialists so they can imitate nearly any wood grain. http://www.polin.com.tr/

Natural Sound Effects is an interesting technology where sound is seemingly pumped through the tube itself.  This was on display at the show inside this Slide n Roll tube that could be closed and give the same feeling as going down the slide.

As well as the Art Gallery, Polin also featured the Space Race, a new racing bowl slide.  It was introduced in October 2015 and is a tall compact installation where the loading area is installed on top of the bowl. Guests access the slide with a staircase that spirals in the middle and bring guests to the platform. There, they board four passenger rafts that each have their launch area and go around their own path around the slide before reaching the bowl where they race against each other.  The innovation here is that even though you are racing another raft load of riders, it is much safer than sending down two rafts at once in a traditional bowl since the rafts each have their own customized path and exit.

The model on display at IAAPA showing the Space Race. We will talk more about that model in a future article about Bowl Slides.

Polin provided this great overhead view of the Space Race. http://www.polin.com.tr/

The Gravity Group and Walibi-Rhone Alpes (Les Avenieres, France) hosted a press conference on Wednesday November 18^th 2015 where the layout and visuals of a new wooden roller coaster were revealed.  We can now also say that the ride will be called Timber! and it will be referred as such from now on.

Timber! is the first wooden roller coaster to open in France since 1997 and is the first step on a major investment program in the park.  Compagnie des Alpes designers rode many roller coasters and after riding both Wooden Warrior (at Quassy in Middlebury, CT) and Twister (at Grona Lund in Stockholm, Sweden), the Gravity Group was selected to design and provide a custom wooden roller coaster for the park.  The idea behind Timber! is to have a mix of the out and back elements of Wooden Warrior that ends with the incredible tight turns that make Twister such a unique attraction. The end result is a 56 feet tall ride with a steep 59 degrees 55 feet first drop that will make good use of the terrain.  After the first drop, the ride will wrap around the existing Zamperla Zig-Zag roller coaster and will make a dramatic airtime hill/turn to lead to the second half of the ride.  In total, riders will experience 11 moments of airtime and two 12 passenger Timberliner trains will operate on the ride.

Example of a Timberline train running on Wooden Warrior.

Luc de Roo, Walibi-Rhones Alpes director and Korey Kiepert, partner at Gravity Group posing with one of Timber! front car.

In traditional Gravity Group fashion, a large poster showing off the new ride was also unveiled.

The Timberliner on display had incredible details.

The saw blade will spin throughout the ride.

The area around the ride will also be re themed and redressed to a new theme: Canadian trappers. The idea here is that we are visiting a Steampunk trapper camp called “Explorer Adventure” and Timber! is their invention to cut through the forest.  In addition to that, the existing Zamperla Zig Zag coaster formerly known as Scratch will be renamed and 40% of the ride hidden behind new facades to integrate the zone. Given that the ride already feature mine cars for the ride vehicles, it is a seamless integration to Explorer Adventure and Zamperla will also provide a brand new family ride: a Barnyard. A new food outlet will also be featured and the park is trying to find Canadian products to offer to their guests.

Walibi-Rhones Alpes provided this great concept art of Explorer Adventure.  https://www.walibi.fr/fr

Dennlys Parc ( Dennebrœucq, France) provided those two great pictures of an existing Barnyard attraction.  The one going to Walibi-Rhones Alpes will get a custom theme to fit with the Explorer Adventure zone.  http://www.dennlys-parc.com/

One important thing that the Compagnie des Alpes is pushing are visual gags along with clever puns in the theming.  For example, each train have their own name: Saw 6 and Saw 7. Now, many fans though we were getting a horror themed ride when the Saw 6 name was revealed, but Saw 6 pronounced quickly in French comes out to:  Saucisse, which translates in english to sausage and Saw 7 becomes Chaussette or “Sock” in English.

A close-up of the Saw 7 train.  Not bad for a sock?

Last, Walibi-Rhones Alpes provided this great shot of Walibi dressed in jeans and a plaid lumberjack shirt near Timber! first drop and lift. https://www.walibi.fr/fr