Vekoma Rides is one of the largest roller coaster and attractions manufacturers in the world and a market leader in the industry with a presence in over 50 countries. It is known for its quality and innovation as reflected in the many installed family and thrill coasters and specialist attractions that meet the most stringent standards for safety, quality and comfort.
Vekoma’s passion for the pure joy of the ride is reflected in the game changing attractions designed and built by the 300+ experts that work at the company. Vekoma has everything under one roof with the world’s largest in-house expertise – from sales, R&D, engineering, production, project management, to parts and services. It’s where cutting-edge engineering meets creative design and imaginative storytelling to create an unforgettable experience.
Based in the Netherlands and with a presence in different countries around the world, Vekoma is easily accessible to their customers anywhere in the globe.
Vekoma Rides has over 450 rollercoasters and attractions installed worldwide and many new projects rolling out over the next few years. One of the milestones in the roller coaster industry is the world’s longest and first launched flying coaster F.L.Y. that opened in 2020 at Phantasialand in Germany. It marks a new generation of flying coaster with its technological advances pushing the boundary of the rider experience.
On this unique ride, riders are comfortably and safely harnessed in as they start in a sit-down position and are transported sideways to a dark ride section. They are immersed in a story to save the world using their flying super powers.
The track and seats are then turned 90º creating a smooth transformation from dark ride to flying coaster from where the flight begins and riders experience inversions, airtime moments, near miss moments and more. With their arms stretched out, face down and parallel to the track, this is as close as it gets to flying like superman.
Together with the team of Phantasialand, Vekoma started working on the new flying coaster back in 2014. It took until 2017 to finalise the new train design and begin prototype testing. In 2018, the track production was completed. The ride installation was a huge challenge due to the heavy theming, different floor layers, site complexity and the lack of space. It has been one of the most complex building sites they have ever experienced.
With F.L.Y. Vekoma has created a total flying experience like never seen before in the world and set the bar for attractions of the future. In 2021 this new flying coaster was awarded with an IAAPA Brass Ring Award for Best New Product.
Vekoma enjoyed a strong year in 2023, with the opening of its award-winning Family Launch Coasters ‘Big Bear Mountain’ at Dollywood in the US and ‘Lightning’ at Furuvik in Europe. This new type of family thrill coaster offers the best of both worlds – with its low height requirements it accommodates younger riders while also providing a fun coaster experience for the more adventurous. The whole family can join for a ride and create memories for a lifetime. It’s the culmination of decades of Vekoma’s meticulous work to revolutionise and perfect the family coaster experience.The ride’s effortlessly easy maintenance, ergonomic seating for all sizes and high-level safety makes it an embodiment of coaster excellence.
‘Big Bear Mountain’ has plenty of surprises, starting with the size of the coaster with 3,990ft of track. It is not everyday that we see a massive coaster for such a wide audience. The launches are forceful, the layout is full of airtime, ground hugging in different sections and cool curves and twists. The speed is high (max 48mph) and consistent. ‘Big Bear Mountain’ is almost like two family coasters in one, given how long the ride is and how the first section and second section are different. The ride packs three launches and an astonishing 23 airtime moments, with positive forces like no other family attraction – all with a 39ins height limit. While sitting in the train, you no longer feel like a park visitor but like an expeditioner about to embark on adventure.
Through the fun story elements, onboard audio and phenomenal theming including highly-detailed coaster trains resembling four-wheel-drive SUVs and working headlights and taillights, you really are immersed in the ride experience. Moreover, the impressive capacity of 1,000 riders per hour slices waiting times.
The MK711 train offers a comfortable and smooth ride with safety and ergonomics as the focus of the design. The body of the train presents an open design to deliver the best ride experience possible. Riders are restrained by a padded individual lap bar that comfortably locks riders into place, but does not take away from the ride experience. The locking system applied consists of stepless hydraulic units allowing for a safe and comfortable ride for both adults and children, with redundant hydraulic locking.
The train has a special rear accessibility coach with a single side load/unload with a foot pedal operated door integrated into the body of the vehicle which makes the ride accessible for riders with a disability by providing an ADA-Compliant transfer surface.
Family-thrill coasters with such a low height restriction are scarce. Family coasters with a much taller height restriction are common, which ultimately leave a large number of younger visitors out. Vekoma has been able to successfully tackle that with ‘Big Bear Mountain’. It’s a ride that the whole family can enjoy together.
In the summer of 2023, the world’s first super boomerang ‘Cloud Shuttle’ was launched at Xuzhou Fantawild Wonderland in China. The super boomerang is designed to offer a unique combination of modern-age thrill ride elements, all in a compact, narrow space.
Multiple launch sections, a vertical spike at 52.5-metres height which offers an iconic appearance of the park, maximum speed of 9 km/h, forward backward ride, vertical drops, four inversions, and 10 airtime elements – all of this action is packed into this compact design. The Super Boomerang brings Vekoma’s successful Boomerang concept to new levels of excitement and thrills to a wide demographics, with the rider height restriction of 1.2-metres. The ride uses the state-of-the-art LSM launch system, which is the most maintenance-friendly driving system available in the market.
Looking ahead to 2024, this will be a special and record-breaking year for Vekoma in the USA. Thrill coasters like the tilt coaster ‘Circuit Breaker’ will open at Cotaland, and North-America’s first super boomerang ‘THE FLASH: Vertical Velocity’ will rise at Six Flags Great Adventure. Furthermore, the Horus Family Coaster ‘Midnight Flyer’ will open at Santa’s Village in Jefferson, family boomerang rebound ‘Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers’ will open at Kings Island and ‘Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari is opening a custom design family boomerang ‘Good Gravy!’ located in their Thanksgiving section.
Other 2024 projects around the globe are a suspended thrill coaster and family boomerang with intertwined design at Emerald Park in Ireland, a Kalypso family coaster and Mine Train at Energylandia in Poland, a family boomerang and fifth Top Gun Launch Coaster at Fantawild in China. In Australia, Dreamworld will open the world’s first switchback coaster and Warner Bros. Movie World will open a family boomerang racer and suspended family coaster at the world’s first Wizard of Oz precinct.
“2024 is an unprecedented year for Vekoma globally and especially in the US, given the incredible number of projects we are working on. We are not only installing several new rides, but they are also very diverse, ranging from family-oriented rides to high thrill coasters. Several of the coasters we are installing in the US will be the first of their kind in America, like the Tilt Coaster, Super Boomerang and Family Boomerangs. We are also working hard on and gearing up for a successful 2025 with a variety of new rides opening next year,” said Ricardo Tonding Etges, Vice Presidents Sales & Marketing Americas.
“I expect a continuous focus on family-thrill coasters that appeal to a wide demographic and draw more families to the parks. This is a trend that is here to stay. We are also seeing a focus on uniqueness and innovation when it comes to ride systems, with different types of vehicles, ride elements, drive systems and theming. Parks do not want to do more of the same. Considering Vekoma’s focus on innovation and on creating new experiences on a constant basis, we are in a great market position.”
Images: Vekoma
