The Highlander is a

gyro drop tower A drop tower is a type of amusement park ride incorporating a central tower structure with one or more gondolas attached. In a typical modern configuration, each gondola carrying riders is lifted to the top of the tower and then released t ...

Hansa-Park Hansa-Park is a seasonal amusement park in Sierksdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany off the Baltic Sea. It was opened on May 15, 1977 under the name Hansaland and renamed Hansa-Park in 1987. It currently spans and includes more than 125 attractio ...

, located in

Sierksdorf Sierksdorf is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, situated on the Bay of Lübeck The Bay of Lübeck (, ) is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of the Germany, German states of Mec ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, with a total height of to the top and a fall height of . This made it the world's tallest gyro drop tower and the world's tallest and fastest gyro drop tower with tilting seats at the time of opening. After the 2021 opening of the taller

Orlando FreeFall Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people with ...

drop tower with a height of , Highlander is now the tallest gyro drop tower in the world after Orlando FreeFall was demolished in 2023.

Ride

The Highlander has two driving programs: ''Tilt'' and ''Super-Tilt''. The gondola rotates

counter-clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

as it travels upwards. Shortly before reaching the highest position, the seats tilt forward by 30°. Tilted like this, the gondola turns around the tower one more time. If the ''Tilt'' drive program is carried out, the seats tilt back to their normal position before the gondola falls. In the ''Super-Tilt'' drive program, on the other hand, the gondola falls with the seats tilted forward. These are only tilted back on the ground before the safety bar is unlocked.

Technical details

The tower stands on bored piles that reach deep into the ground. The gondola is braked by

magnetic brakes A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track that utilizes some form of brakes to slow or stop a roller coaster train. There are various types of braking methods employed on roller coasters, including friction brakes, skid brakes, and ...

, and offers space for 24 people who are secured with shoulder straps during the journey. After a fatal incident at a similar drop tower by the same manufacturer at ICON Park in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

in March 2022, where a rider fell from his seat during the ride, Hansa-Park stated that they "can rule out an incident like the one in Florida" since Highlander cannot be started "unless all safety bars have been closed in a defined minimum position". The park added additional seat belts to the ride in advance of the start of the season in April 2022.

Thematic context

The Highlander was opened on April 26, 2019 shortly after the start of the season on April 4, 2019 and at the same time formed the starting signal for the new themed area ''Beautiful Britain'', which is being built around the newly designed classic looping roller coaster Nessie. Its purpose is to introduce its visitors to the world of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and the

Eilean Donan Castle Eilean Donan () is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs ( Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland, about from the village of Dornie. It is connected to the mainland by a footbr ...

Soundtrack

The ''Highlander

Soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

'' was produced in a Scottish style by Andreas and Sebastian Kübler from IMAscore.

References

External links

*
Soundtrack of IMAscore
on

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{{Hansa-Park