Poltergeist is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

located at

Six Flags Fiesta Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Fiesta Texas, is an amusement park in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera master-planned development and district as the ...

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. Designed by

Werner Stengel Werner Stengel (born 22 August 1936, in Bochum) is a German roller coaster designer and engineer. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH (or Ingenieurbuero Stengel GmbH). Stengel first worked on a ...

and manufactured by Premier Rides, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 28, 1999. Its track was fabricated by Dynamic Structures and Intermountain Lift, Inc.

History

On October 8, 1998, Six Flags Fiesta Texas announced a $30 million expansion on new rides. There would be three major rides set to open that year, which were Poltergeist,

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

and Scream. Poltergeist would be built by Premier Rides and be an LIM launch coaster. The ride would replace Seaside Golf, a miniature golf course that opened with the park in 1992. Poltergeist officially opened on May 28, 1999. The attraction closed temporarily in 2021 for refurbishment, which included a new color scheme, upgraded queue line, and repainted station. The track was repainted a light green, while the supports were repainted a darker green-gray. New elements were added to the queue, such as an archway, refreshed railings, garage scenery, a hedge maze, an expanded indoor queue area, planters and other themed structures. Moreover, a ghostly statue was added on top of the station. The trains were also repainted. Poltergeist reopened on September 3, 2021.

Ride Layout

Poltergeist is located in the Rockville section of the park. After boarding Poltergeist, riders are launched through a narrow launch tunnel into a "spaghetti bowl" of track which contains a cobra roll, a sidewinder, and many twists and turns. This coaster doesn't feature a mid-course

brake run 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, a ...

like other clones including

Flight of Fear Flight of Fear is the name of two identical enclosed roller coasters located at Kings Island and Kings Dominion amusement parks. Built and designed by Premier Rides, they were the world's first launched roller coasters to feature Linear motor, l ...

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Islan ...

and

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia, United States, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, featuring over 60 rid ...

, or rings like

Joker's Jinx The Joker's Jinx is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. The ride utilizes linear induction motor technology to launch the train from 0 to in just over three seconds. The Joker's Jinx was designed by ...

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork (plug), corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attach ...

before arriving at the ride's final brake run. Premier Rides built several of these LIM Catapult roller coasters from 1996 to 1999, although, of those, only the two Flight of Fear rides are indoors. The other outdoor LIM Catapult coaster in the United States is

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,Mad Cobra Ewart Everton Brown (born 31 March 1968), better known by his stage name Mad Cobra or simply Cobra, is a Jamaican dancehall musician.Huey, Steve " Mad Cobra Biography, AllMusic, retrieved 2010-01-31Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia ...

operated at

Suzuka Circuit The , the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known by i ...

in Japan from 1998 to 2003; Mad Cobra was moved to China and reopened at Discoveryland in 2006. The five Premier LIM catapult coasters share a similar layout and have the same technical specifications. Poltergeist uses a LIM launching system instead of a traditional

lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from t ...

to propel riders into its first inversions. Initially, the ride had over-the-shoulder restraints, but due to numerous reports of pain and discomfort, these were replaced in 2002 with more traditional individual ratcheting lapbars.

Ride Elements

Cobra Roll Roller coasters are widely known for their drops, inversions, airtime (rides), airtime, and other intense ride elements that contribute to the ride. They are also made up of a variety of features and components responsible for the mechanical opera ...

* Sidewinder *

Corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork (plug), corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attach ...

Similar rides

Poltergeist opened in the same year as

The Joker's Jinx The Joker's Jinx is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, Maryland. The ride utilizes linear induction motor technology to launch the train from 0 to in just over three seconds. The Joker's Jinx was designed by ...

Six Flags America Six Flags America is an amusement park in Woodmore, Maryland, United States,Flight of Fear Flight of Fear is the name of two identical enclosed roller coasters located at Kings Island and Kings Dominion amusement parks. Built and designed by Premier Rides, they were the world's first launched roller coasters to feature Linear motor, l ...

, opened at

(1996) and

(1996).

In other media

Poltergeist is also featured in

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

's ''Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines''.Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines
on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

References

External links

Official Poltergeist website
{{Authority control Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Roller coasters manufactured by Dynamic Structures Steel roller coasters Roller coasters in Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas Roller coasters introduced in 1999 1999 establishments in Texas