Great Coasters will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024. The company was founded back in 1994 by Mike and Clair Hain Jr Boodley, two well-respected coaster builders in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. In 1996, the firm opened Wildcat at Hersheypark which contained several elements that Great Coasters would become known and loved for, including tight sweeping curves, high-speed and dramatic curved drops.
Recently, Great Coasters worked on the first ever wood and steel hybrid coaster, Mad Racers at OCT Xiangyang in China. The hybrid structure creates a ground-breaking, one-of-a-kind layout that guarantees strong visual appeal, high-thrills, and non-stop fun. The ride is located in the Kunlun Fantasy Land area of the park. It reaches 26.2-metres in height, with a total track length of 789.52-metres. Passengers enjoy top speeds of 78.9 km/h, with a 49.5º angle of inclination and a pivot angle of 67.2º. The ride runs two trains, each carrying a capacity of 24 passengers.
The OCT Xiangyang Beach Water Park project covers an area of 150,000sqm and was officially opened to the public on June 24, 2020. Drawing on the essence of Chinese culture and based on ocean legends and stories, it offers four imaginative theme areas for ocean exploration.
The areas include ‘Discovery Port’ with an exotic coastal town style, ‘Lost Bay’, which is full of ancient mythology, ‘Exotic Island’ that features tropical island wonders and seabed exploration, and ‘Adventure Cave’ – a mediaeval area with steam machine style attractions. OCT Xiangyang creates an all-round immersive experience through the four-fantasy ocean areas, original and vivid story cultural IP, day and night carnival performances, customised theme restaurants and more.
As well as celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2024, Great Coasters is preparing to open a brand-new wooden coaster named Colossus at Six Flags Qiddiya, a new theme park for Saudi Arabia. One of the most ambitious and talked about theme park projects of recent times, Six Flags has a goal to open with multiple record-breaking attractions including the tallest, longest, and fastest roller coaster in the world.
The park will feature 28 rides and attractions across 75 acres. It will be divided into six themed lands that will make Qiddiya Six Flags’ most immersive theme park yet. The first land is Steam Town which is said to be a place where the past merges with the future. Discovery Springs will focus on water and include many water features and fountains. Twilight Gardens will showcase beautiful foliage that glows at night. The Valley of Fortune will invite guests to experience adventure while showcasing Arabian architecture, World Expos of the Past will be the focus of the Grand Exposition, and City of Thrills will feature the park’s signature coaster, Falcon’s Flight.
Great Coasters’ input will be a steel track with a wooden structure that uses the company’s infinity flyer trains. The Infinity Flyer trains are Great Coasters innovative trains that allow for tighter turns, quicker crests, faster valleys, inversions, and more track in less space. There are 80% fewer wields, and the chassis is composed of large, machined parts.
Looking ahead to an exciting 2024, Clair Hain, founder and owner of Great Coasters said: “We celebrate a milestone birthday in 2024, so there is a lot to celebrate and look forward to. I think there are a lot of promising opportunities in Europe over the next couple of years, so we’re looking forward to branching out and seeing what we can achieve in that market.
“Since last year we have had a lot of parks reach out to enquire about our Titan Track, which is a steel track that’s capable of just about anything, including launches, inversions, tighter corners for our Infinity Flyer trains, and more extreme coaster elements. We’re expecting to put our Titan Track product on pre-existing and future projects this year and next.”
Images: Great Coasters
