Viper 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 in the Baja Ridge area of

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Viper is the last operating roller coaster with seven inversions to be built by American manufacturer

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (19 ...

. The other two,

Shockwave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

and the Great American Scream Machine at

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...

, were demolished in 2002 and 2010, respectively. The roller coaster replaced a

HUSS Huss or HUSS may refer to: Companies *HUSS Park Attractions, a German amusement ride manufacturer Places * Huss Township, Minnesota, United States People with the surname *a Swedish noble family, which is divided into two main groups * Andrea ...

ride type named

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History

In November 1989, Six Flags Magic Mountain announced that Viper would be added to the park. The ride opened on April 7, 1990. A week after opening, Viper was shut down. Inspectors found weak links in the long chain. Instead of replacing the links, a new chain had to be ordered. A trim brake was also installed after the first loop. The ride would reopen a few days later. In August 2018, Viper closed for an extended refurbishment. On December 22, 2018, Viper reopened to the public with new modifications.

Ride experience

After exiting the station, the train begins climbing the chain

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 ...

. At the top, the train curves into the drop and enters 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 ...

. The train then makes a sharp left, entering two additional vertical loops and climbing into the 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 ...

. This is followed by a zig-zag into a Batwing element, where the riders experience a half-corkscrew followed by a half loop. The train then proceeds into another half loop and half corkscrew, sending it in the opposite direction. An

on-ride camera An on-ride camera is a camera mounted alongside the track of a roller coaster, log flume or other thrill ride that automatically photographs all of the riders on each passing vehicle. They are often mounted at the most intense or fastest part o ...

photographs riders in the middle of this element. This is followed by a right turn and two corkscrews which invert the riders twice. The track leads into a flat section followed by an s-curve drop and rise into the final brake run, before turning right and returning to the station.

Records

When Viper opened in 1990, it was the tallest and fastest looping coaster in the world. Its speed record was eclipsed the following year by Steel Phantom at

Kennywood Kennywood is an amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. The park opened on May 30, 1898, as a trolley park attraction at the end of the Mellon family's Monongahela Street Railway. It was purchased in 1906 ...

, which opened in 1991 with a top speed of , but it regained the speed record in 2000 when Steel Phantom closed. The height record for the tallest vertical loop lasted until 2000, with the opening of Superman: Krypton Coaster 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 ...

In media

Viper was featured in the 1992 film ''

Encino Man ''Encino Man'' (also known as ''California Man'' in several territories) is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Les Mayfield in his directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates ...

'', in which it was referred to as "Vaper". Viper also made appearances in the 1993 film ''

True Romance ''True Romance'' is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt ...

'' and the 2000 film ''

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'', as well as in commercials for

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and

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. Viper was featured in the 1993 episode of ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'', "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", in which the cast goes to Magic Mountain on Senior Skip Day and Andrea conquers her

fear of roller coasters Fear of roller coasters, also known as veloxrotaphobia, is the extreme fear of roller coasters. It can also be informally referred to as coaster-phobia. Such a fear is thought to originate from one or more of three factors: childhood trauma, fea ...

. In 2012, it appeared in the ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' episode "

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * a brother senior in birth order Literature * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' * ''Big Brother'' (magazine), a skateboarding culture magazine * ' ...

", when the cast rides it during their visit to the park on senior ditch day. The song "Up, Up, Up" is sung over the experience. The coaster appears in the video game ''

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 2'' is a 2002 construction and management simulation game developed by Chris Sawyer and published by Atari Interactive, Infogrames Interactive. Released for Windows as the sequel to ''RollerCoaster Tycoon (video game), Rol ...

'' as part of a recreation of the Six Flags Magic Mountain park. Viper was also featured in ''

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

'' season 3, episode 25, when the character Dan rides it after being trapped by one of the suspects in that episode. Viper was featured in the 2021 Netflix Original ''

Yes Day ''Yes Day'' is a 2021 American family comedy film directed by Miguel Arteta, from a screenplay and screen story by Justin Malen, based upon the children's book of the same name by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. It stars Jennifer Garner ...

''.

References

External links

Viper POV on YouTube
{{SFMM Coasters Roller coasters in California Roller coasters operated by Six Flags Roller coasters introduced in 1990 Six Flags Magic Mountain 1990 establishments in California