Steel Taipan
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Steel Taipan is a
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
launched roller coaster The launched roller coaster is a type of roller coaster that initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains, or other mechanism ...
at Dreamworld in
Coomera, Queensland Coomera () is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Coomera had a population of 20,225 people. Geography Located next to the Pacific Motorway (Brisbaneâ ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Steel Taipan is a direct replacement to the former
Thunder River Rapids Ride The Thunder River Rapids Ride was a river rapid type water ride located in the Town of Gold Rush section of the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. After four riders were killed on it on 25 October 2016, the rid ...
. The roller coaster, the first triple-launched coaster in the Southern Hemisphere, is named after the deadly
Taipan Taipans are snakes of the genus ''Oxyuranus'' in the elapid family. They are large, fast-moving, extremely venomous, and endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Three species are recognised, one of which, the coastal taipan, has two subspecies. Ta ...
family of snakes native to Australia.


History

Steel Taipan was first announced on 23 August 2019, alongside the announcement of the $7,000,000 ''Fully 6'' body slide complex in the adjacent
WhiteWater World WhiteWater World is a seasonal water park situated in the suburb of Coomera, Queensland, Coomera on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia. It is owned and operated by Coast Entertainment and is the sister park to Dreamworld (Austral ...
. Steel Taipan, then unnamed, was confirmed to be a near-clone of Mack's popular Blue Fire launched coaster model, except with a unique backwards portion and swing launch section as well as a spinning cart on the back row. The park had been able to secure the ride's hardware on a reduced timeline, as it was originally meant as a now-cancelled attraction at an unspecified Chinese park. Although a name had been undecided, two possible options had been trademarked during late November 2019; ''Hiss-teria'' and ''Steel Taipan''. On 19 March 2020, park owner
Ardent Leisure Coast Entertainment Holdings Limited (formerly Ardent Leisure Group and Macquarie Leisure Trust) is an Australian leisure company. It is most known for its operation of the Dreamworld (Australia), Dreamworld theme park and the WhiteWater World w ...
officially announced that they had established new financial measures to combat the then-emerging
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, which included freezing all non-essential costs. This included halting construction and thus indefinitely delaying Steel Taipan, removing it from its initial December 2020 target opening. Throughout the spring, supports and track would begin to arrive at the park, although very little groundwork had taken place by that point in time and construction had not yet started. Construction finally broke ground in late September, just after the park reopened from a COVID-induced shutdown. In late November 2020, ''Steel Taipan'' manufacturer
Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...
unveiled their brand new ''HybridTrain'' spinning coaster car test concept just after the
IAAPA The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) represents over 6,000 amusement-industry members in more than 100 countries worldwide and operates several global attractions-industry trade shows. Its annual IAAPA Expo in ...
annual convention, which was held virtually for 2020. Instead of the standard 4 seater spinning car, it would instead be a more agile 2 passenger car that could be more easily added onto existing and new launch coasters while abiding to tight clearances. The design also allowed for magnets in the seats to control the spinning speed. It was confirmed to debut on ''Steel Taipan'', and a prototype had been tested on the similar Blue Fire launch coaster at
Europa Park Europa-Park is a theme park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Covering a total area of 95 hectares, twenty themed areas offer around a hundred attractions, including shows and fourteen roller coasters. The park also includes six hotels, a ca ...
in Rust, Germany. In late November, Dreamworld formally announced the coaster's name to be ''Steel Taipan'', as expected. Excavation and groundwork had also started to begin some time prior to that, after the park reopened, and ''Steel Taipan'' was on track for a late 2021 opening. Vertical construction of Steel Taipan began in April 2021 when the launch track was installed. In May, the vertical loop was completed. During this time, Dreamworld confirmed that Steel Taipan would feature a tunnel and mist effects. The twisted spike was then topped off in June. The track layout was then completed in August and testing began the following month. Steel Taipan had a soft opening on 10 December 2021 to a selected group of people. On 11 December 2021, the roller coaster opened to annual pass holders. A full opening commenced on 15 December 2021.


Characteristics


Location

''Steel Taipan'' is located in the Dreamworld Main Street section of the park. The ride was constructed on the site of the former
Eureka Mountain Mine Ride Eureka Mountain Mine Ride was a Wild Mouse steel roller coaster located at Dreamworld in Gold Coast, Australia. After closing for maintenance in 2006, the ride remained inactive for 11 years. Following a third-party assessment in December 20 ...
and the
Thunder River Rapids Ride The Thunder River Rapids Ride was a river rapid type water ride located in the Town of Gold Rush section of the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. After four riders were killed on it on 25 October 2016, the rid ...
, which closed permanently immediately following an October 2016 accident that saw four people killed and left the park's reputation and infrastructure mostly crippled. It also interacts with parts of the Dreamworld Express train ride, which received some modifications during construction in order to accommodate the coaster.


Similarities to other attractions

Blue Fire opened in 2009 at
Europa Park Europa-Park is a theme park in Rust, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Covering a total area of 95 hectares, twenty themed areas offer around a hundred attractions, including shows and fourteen roller coasters. The park also includes six hotels, a ca ...
in Rust, Germany, which was also run by
Mack Rides Mack Rides GmbH & Co KG, also known simply as Mack Rides, is a German company that designs and constructs amusement rides, based in Waldkirch, Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Ge ...
themselves. It was their first coaster to utilize a
Linear Synchronous Motor A linear motor is an electric motor that has had its stator and rotor "unrolled", thus, instead of producing a torque (rotation), it produces a linear force along its length. However, linear motors are not necessarily straight. Characteristicall ...
launch Launch or launched may refer to: Involving vehicles * Launch (boat), one of several different sorts of boat ** Motor launch (naval), a small military vessel used by the Royal Navy * Air launch, the practice of dropping an aircraft, rocket, or ...
, and proved to be very successful for the company. During the 2010s, the ride was heavily cloned and installed at parks in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, and the
UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...
. Blue Fire, since it was custom-built for Europa Park, includes an extended turn into the launch room, which makes up the ride's
dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...
section, and also has the ability to run up to 5 trains at a time. All the clones installed since then possess the same extended turnaround, although they feature a reduced number of trains. Steel Taipan's beginning and launch area differ greatly from these attractions, as the following modifications were made to the attraction; *The extended turn into the launch section was removed and instead replaced with a hairpin turn and switch track to the launch area. *The launch hardware and programming was reconfigured so that the train could be launched in both directions along the track. *The twisted spike shuttle track was added to the back end of the launch. *The maximum speed was increased from to , the length increased from to , and with the twisted spike, the model's total height was increased slightly from to .


Ride experience

The ride begins with a left hand turnaround out of the station and onto the launch track, parallel to the former
BuzzSaw A circular saw or a buzz saw, is a power-saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a ci ...
roller coaster and car park. The train launches up the attraction's signature tall wave turn, but ultimately does not gain enough speed to crest it, thus rolling back into the launch. The train is blasted backwards into a curved spike overtop the Dreamworld Express train ride; its one distinguishing feature from the standard Blue Fire layout. Rolling forwards once again, the train hits the launch track for the third and final time, where it reaches speeds of approximately and tops the wave turn, leading into the first of four inversions on the ride; a
vertical loop The generic roller coaster vertical loop, also known as a Loop-the-loop, or a Loop-de-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, rid ...
. Exiting such, it twists around and up into 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, an ...
, which then leads into a pair of back-to-back twisted horseshoe rolls and an airtime hill through the centre of the loop. Riders enter another slow turnaround and ride through the final inversion on the ride, a
heartline roll Roller coasters are widely known for their drops, inversions, 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 operation and safety ...
, before making a final right-hand turn into the
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 ...
.


See also

* 2021 in amusement parks


References


External links


Steel Taipan at Dreamworld
{{Dreamworld Roller coasters introduced in 2021 2021 establishments in Australia Dreamworld (Australia) Roller coasters in Australia Roller coasters operated by Ardent Leisure