Falcon is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated wheel ...

at the amusement park

Duinrell Duinrell is an amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures a ...

, located in

Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a municipality and town located in the province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies north of that city on the N44/A44 highway near the Nort ...

, Netherlands. The roller coaster is a

Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter The Euro-Fighter is a type of steel roller coaster developed by Gerstlauer. First launched in 2003, the trademark feature of the roller coaster is its beyond-vertical drop, which reaches an angle greater than 90 degrees. Although the majority of E ...

model coaster which was opened to the public on 14 May 2009. At 97 degrees, Falcon has a steeper-than-vertical drop, and the steepest drop of any roller coaster in the Netherlands.

History

Soon after it opened in 1935, Duinrell had the Netherlands' first artificial ski slope. This ski slope was ultimately removed for the installation of Falcon in 2009. The municipality of Wassenaar had often had disputes with Duinrell in regards to noise levels created by the amusement park. This was true again with the proposed construction of a new coaster. The new coaster was given the code name "Rick's Delight"—which was a reference to Duinrell's mascot, Rick the Frog. The park was awarded when a permit from the municipality of Wassenaar over the objections of some residents and after a lengthy court battle. Noise and traffic studies were conducted and showed that the new coaster would not adversely influence these environmental factors in the area surrounding the park (results were just under the 45 decibel benchmark). A Duinrell spokesperson also stated that measures were being taken to further mitigate the noise from the park. On 14 May 2009, Mayor Hoekema van Wassenaar and the director of Duinrell, Philip van Zuylen van Nijvelt opened the ride to the public. Objections from the community, however, had delayed the coaster opening 2 years later than had originally been planned.

Layout

Falcon has a track length of , a height of , and achieves a maximum speed of . The coaster has three inversions: a

vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, where a section of track causes the riders to complete a 360 degree turn, is the most basic of roller coaster inversions. At the top of the loop, riders are completely inverted. History The vertical l ...

, a cutback and a

heartline roll Roller coaster elements are the individual parts of roller coaster design and operation, such as a track, hill, loop, or turn. Variations in normal track movement that add thrill or excitement to the ride are often called "thrill elements". Comm ...

. The coaster layout for Falcon is particularly close to two other Euro-Fighter (model 320+) roller coasters:

Rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first-per ...

at Adventure Island amusement park and Untamed at

Canobie Lake Park Canobie Lake Park is an amusement park in Salem, New Hampshire, located about north of Boston. It was founded as a trolley park on the shore of Canobie Lake in 1902. Three local families currently run the park, which draws visitors from throu ...

References

{{reflist Roller coasters in the Netherlands Wassenaar