Talon: The Grip of Fear, or simply Talon, is an

inverted roller coaster An inverted roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. Riders are seated in open cars, letting their feet swing freely. The inverted coaster wa ...

located at

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an Amusement park, amusement and water park located in Dorneyville, Pennsylvania, outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown, in the United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, Six Flags Entertainment Corpor ...

Dorneyville, Pennsylvania Dorneyville is a census-designated place in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 4,850. Dorneyville is located just west of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allento ...

. Manufactured by

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Cl ...

(B&M) and 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 ...

at a cost of $13 million, Talon opened to the public in 2001 and was marketed as the tallest and longest inverted coaster in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

. It stands tall, reaches a maximum speed of , and features four inversions.

History

On April 28, 2000, Dorney Park announced that a

with four inversions would be built for the 2001 season. No further details were given until August 30, 2000, when Dorney Park fully announced the ride, including its name, Talon. The ride would be the Northeast's longest inverted roller coaster and would be built on a portion of land set aside for a major attraction by

Cedar Fair Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, or simply Cedar Fair, was an American company headquartered at its flagship Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. The company was a publicly traded master limited partnership that origina ...

when they purchased the park in 1992. Construction began on September 5, 2000 and continued through the winter. The first parts of Talon to be put into place were the brake run and transfer track in October 2000. The roller coaster was topped off on November 21, 2000, and the track was completed in early 2001. After testing was completed, Talon opened on May 5, 2001.

Ride experience

After dispatching from the station, the train begins to climb the

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 ...

. Once at the top, the train goes through a pre-drop before making a sharp downward right turn. The train then enters a tall

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 ...

. After exiting the loop, the train goes through a zero-gravity roll before dropping back to the ground and entering an

Immelmann loop 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 ...

. The train then makes a full 360-degree upward right turn followed by a left turn leading into another drop. After the drop, the train makes a highly banked right turn into a flat spin. Next, the train makes a left turn extremely close to the ground, before entering a moment of airtime going 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 ...

. After exiting the brake run, the train makes a right turn into a second, shorter set of brakes before entering the station. One cycle of the ride lasts about 2 minutes.

Characteristics

Trains

Talon operates with two steel and fiberglass trains. Each train has eight cars that can seat four riders in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train. The train structure is colored blue and turquoise, the seats are black, and the over-the-shoulder restraints are yellow.

Track

The steel track of Talon is approximately long, the height of the lift is approximately high, and the entire track weighs just under . It was manufactured by

Clermont Steel Fabricators Clermont Steel Fabricators (abbreviated as CSF) is a private steel products manufacturing company known for making Bolliger & Mabillard roller coasters. The plant is located in Batavia, Ohio. CSF was founded in 2004 after the closing of Southern O ...

located in

Batavia, Ohio Batavia ( ) is a village in Clermont County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 1,972 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Batavia was surveyed on May ...

. Unlike other B&M coasters, the track is filled with sand to reduce the noise produced by the trains. The tracks are painted orange and yellow while the supports are blue.

Slogan & theme

The ride's slogan is "The grip of fear." Its name, "Talon", comes from the

claws A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tars ...

found on

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

and mythical creatures. The ride is themed after birds of prey.

Awards

References

External links

Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talon (Roller Coaster) Roller coasters introduced in 2001 Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Roller coasters in Pennsylvania Inverted roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard